Car insurance claim with Diamond

83libby

Hi there

Seven weeks ago my partner was involved in a car accident. It was his fault (he went into the rear of someone) but all involved are fine. At the time he was on his way to see a client – we have Business Class 2 insurance with Diamond.

Our car was taken away to a garage in Bristol despite us living nowhere near, in Oxford. We were told by the vehicle repairers we lived too far away for them to provide us with a courtesy car. Diamond also advised we would not be getting a courtesy car, despite their website stating all fully comprehensive drivers are entitled to one.

Our vehicle is a 4 x 4 which is used for getting to clients for the business, often to rural and farm land with difficult terrain / access and is also used for frequently towing horseboxes, also as part of our business.

After much persistence, Diamond relented and provided a courtesy car from a private car hire company – but would only supply the smallest class car (we were offered a Ford Ka).

Despite us insisting we needed something to tow and go off road – or at very minimum something larger and safer to fit our tools and equipment into and for the frequent long motorway journeys we do to visit clients, they would not better the offer of the Ford Ka. We were informed our car repairs would take 2 weeks, so my partner agreed to pay the difference for a larger car (albeit not a 4 x 4).

That was 7 weeks ago, since then we have been given several revised dates for our 4 x 4 to be repaired. All the while this has cost us a massive amount having to hire horse lorries several times for the business, we hired a 4 x 4, we have had to turn work down because we can’t get access the properties, we have been messing client appointments around as the garage keeps promising our car back, plus the bill for the difference for the larger hire car which originally we were told we’d only need for 2 weeks.

Diamond will get getting a complaint letter shortly. But I have a few questions…

• Is it reasonable to ask them to pay for the additional hire car amount, horse lorry and 4 x 4 expenses? Given all the delays have been theirs / their garage’s. And what are the chances of them paying? Loss of earnings is a bit more difficult to prove so we will go without. But financially this accident has impacted us significantly.

• We are paying for Business Class 2 insurance. Should they not have provided us with an equivalent car so we could continue to run our business? I cannot find anything on this on the internet. We are just about to hire a 4 x 4 for another week (and possibly more as I find it hard to believe any date the garage now gives us for finishing the fix). Surely Diamond should be providing an equivalent given we are paying for Business insurance?

Any help or advice you may have, or similar experiences are welcome.

Many thanks

Libby

adamc260

About point 2 and the 'business class 2' that just entitles you to use the car for that purpose, doesn't mean Diamond have to provide you with a like for like hire as stated quite clearly in their policy booklet.

"If you have an accident or make a (non glass) claim and our Approved Repairer are authorised to do the work, you will get a FREE replacement car whilst your car is being repaired. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee like for like. The replacement car will be insured by us under your car insurance on the same terms and conditions as your own car."

In regards to the additional hire car amount, you chose to hire that type of vehicle, whilst Diamond have delayed the repairs you need to see why that is, if it is down to parts on back order that isn't the garages fault, if the parts are available but they have forgot to order them or caused un-necessary delays etc etc you may look to get a good will payment from their complaints team but I wouldnt hold your breath.

This is a true case where going for the 'cheapest' policy, isn't always the best I'm afraid.

lisyloo

You are not generally entitled to a like for like hire car on your own policy.

You would have been better off having the car fixed at a gaarge of your choice.
It would have given you the option of visiting the garage in person if necessary, also makes it a lot easier to collect/deliver courtesy cars.

Did you get your policy via a broker or did you DIY.
If you did it yourself then it's your responsibility to check these kind of details.
A broker with an understanding of your business may have pointed out the hire car issue to you in advance.

As Adam says it's not clear if the delays are outside the control of the garage or they are negligence on the part of the garage.
You may have grounds for complaint on the other hand the delays may be entirely outside the control of the garage concerned.
What's the hold up?

adamc260

lisyloo wrote: »

Did you get your policy via a broker or did you DIY.

Diamond only operate on a Direct basis, they do not sell via brokers. (Worked for them for 2 years)

vaio

As it was your fault you have to abide by the terms & conditions of your policy.

If your policy says you get a hire vehicle then you should get one and any costs you incur because you didn’t are recoverable.

On slightly shakier ground I might go a bit further and argue that as you had business insurance on a business vehicle then there is an implied term that the hire vehicle should be suitable to enable you to carry on your business. As an extreme example if I had an artic or a horse transporter on a policy with a replacement vehicle clause then I struggle to see how any judge or FOS adjudicator would agree that a Ford Ka was a suitable replacement vehicle and whilst a judge might be inclined to rely on the policy wording the FOS might lean towards the treating the customer fairly ethos. At the end of the day it costs you nothing too complain and escalate to FOS if still unhappy whereas, providing you get past the FOS first sift to remove ridiculous claims, it will cost Diamond £500 even if you don’t win.

On the broken delivery dates issue, delays happen that can’t be predicted or are out of the control of the garage. I’d be tempted to write and ask for an explanation of what has caused each of the delays. If any could have easily been avoided or are the fault of the insurance company then I’d say you should get your costs covered.

83libby

Thanks for both your replies Adamc260 and Lisyloo.

It seems perhaps then that we should just be grateful for even getting a hire car at all and don't really have grounds for complaining about the replacement they have provided.

However, what has impacted us is the delay. The garage is telling us week on week that the car would be ready, if they were just honest and told us it was going to be x months, we could plan for that. It would still be expensive, but less frustrating, at least we'd know rough timescales.

We have had various reasons for the delay - low staff levels, staff on holiday, parts needing to be ordered from Japan. We were told a few weeks ago they had all the parts and work would commence and now we have just been told that actually there are still some parts missing. Feels like the usual general garage excuses.

A couple of other things...

1. We were never told we could have the car fixed at a garage of our choice. The car was towed away and we weren't informed where it was going. The garage in Bristol even called a few weeks after the accident to ask me if they could collect the car as they didn't have it. When I told them that Diamond had told us they did, they asked me to ignore the call and pretend it had never happened - apparently they'd had a powercut the night before which was the reason they didn't know where our car was (?!)

2. The garage has also told us that the car should have been a write off. The only reason it isn't is because it's worth too much. They have also told us we shouldn't keep the vehicle once we get it back because of the damage and should sell it on as soon as we get it back. We're going to do this, but why is Diamond getting them to fix a car if the garage suggests we shouldn't keep it? Is our safety at risk? Is it going to break down all the time?

3. Finally, all of this has been done with Diamond and the car garage over the phone. We don't have a single piece of paperwork - nothing to confirm their decision to fix not write the car off, nothing to confirm where the car is, nothing to confirm the process or next steps, nothing to confirm timescales for the car being fixed. Not a single email, text, letter since the accident. That just doesn't feel right to me, but maybe that's the norm these days?

adamc260

As much as I don't rate the EUI Group, it does seem weird you haven't had anything come through. When a claim is registered a document is automatically sent out saying you've registered the claim, here is your claim reference, it will be going to 'x' garage, if you wish to use your own please submit 2 estimates and contact details. If the car is written off, you'll get another letter saying 'your car has been looked at by our engineers and deemed a write off, please submit x, y, z documents'. Next letter would say 'Thank you for your documents, we have made an offer of ..... etc etc'

Seems weird you've had nothing

lisyloo

I would not be happy at all with the level of service you've received.
It sounds like you've been given the run around and it's not acceptable.
I would be writing a formal complaint, detailing all the things you can remember (dates, times, names) then send it in accordance with the formal compalints procedure. I would also detail all your losses.
You may not get it all back, but a long list might make them want to stop it getting any bigger at least.
This often gets a different department on the case, sometimes with dramatic results.
I would send it recorded deilvery for an extra 74p so that the other side knows you won't be fobbed off with a "lost in the post" excuse.
It's important for this to go in line with the insurers formal complaints process (not just any old address on your paperwork) but I'd be tempted to send a copy to the manager of the garage.

When I was using a trailer for hot air balloonoing (private not commercial) I was aware that I would not be entitled to a car with a tow bar on my social, domestic and pleasure policy.
Whether a different standard would apply to a business policy I'm not sure, but generally on normal car policies if you use a roof rack or a towbar then you aren't guaranteed to get a like for like replacement.
Be aware that just because a company says something does not make it fair in law.

huckster

If you are a member of AA or RAC, it might be worth speaking to their helpline. Is it worth having the car inspected by one of their engineers ?

Sounds a bit dodgy to me that the garage are saying it should be a write off and that you should sell it. If you sold it, after having loads of repairs done, the buyer would need to be made aware, otherwise you are taking a risk of being sued if anything went wrong with it.

The garage may be having problems with parts from Japan because of the Tsunami, as many factories were destroyed or have not worked for awhile. Suggest that you find out what parts are missing and make enquires. You could be waiting many months !!

lisyloo

If you sold it, after having loads of repairs done, the buyer would need to be made aware, otherwise you are taking a risk of being sued if anything went wrong with it.

Isn't it a case of "buyer beware"?
If it's not roadworthy then that's a different matter and there is a law about that.
If the car isnt' roadworthy then you have to make that clear.
The phrase often used is "for parts".

They cannot sue you if you haven't bben negligent. Having a car repaired and selling it on is not negligent.

Although I agree I would be very concerned about the comments wrt safety and/or reliability.

huckster

In theory if it is a private sale, it is up to the buyer to check service/repair information and to properly inspect the car. But I would not take the risk of selling it, without disclosing all relevant information. It is just not worth the hassle of not doing so, if the buyers were ever to find a reason to try to take action.