Just had a bump in my Car. Advise needed about Repair and Courtesy Car etc

Danatthepub

Hi Guys,

I think this is my first post so please be gentle!

Right, just had a bump in my car. Someone went into the back of me and caused a bit of damage. She has admitted causing damage etc and contacted her insurance company (Tesco) who's claims mangement comapny, elite incident management, as contacted me to arrange to get my car repairs and use a courtesy car. Fair enough. They are sending some stuff through the post.

I thought I would contact my insurance company (Elephant) just to explain that i've had a accident and its being dealt with by the other insurers. They said to go through us to get your car repaired and we can arrange a courtesy car also. They use Albany Assistance. So I went through all of the stuff and they are sending out some stuff through the post.

Now (finally!) my question. Should I go with the women's insurance who hit me, elite incident management or go with my own and go through albany assistance.

I guess my main concern is the courtesy car and the stories what you hear that they overcharge and the insurance comapny wont pay up so you are liable and things like that really.

Sorry for the long windedness of my post and thanks in advance for you help.

Thanks

chanz4

They will want you togo through Albany as they get comission.

keith1950

Hi, if you go through an accident management company you will be provided with a "hire car" not a courtesy car.

A courtesy car is usually provided by the bodyshop doing the repairs while it is in for the actual repairs, not prior to going in.

You are usually better off going through the third parties accident management process.

Christopher7

My advice to you is that all the parties you mention (Albany, Elephant, Tesco and Elite) will want to make money or save money out of your your misfortune.

If you go to the Albany route they will hire you a like for like vehicle and if you let them manage the repair, they will send it to a body repairer that refers the most hires to them.

If you choose to go the Elite/Tesco route, they will want to save as much as they possible. So your car will be sent to their approved repairer and they will ask this garage to supply a courtesy car, usually a class A or B car, e.g. Corsa or Fiesta. This repairer will be making a very small margin on this repair, as Tesco/Elite will be squeezing them tightly, this encourages repairers to take shortcuts to maximise profit. Also it is common place for Insurers to demand their repairers use copy or 'pattern' parts in order to further reduce the repair bill. This may reduce the value of your vehicle when you come to sell or trade it in.

You do have the right to choose who repairs your vehicle, after all it is your car, so i would take it to a repairer you know and trust. If you don't know any, then speak to your local dealer.

i hope this helps.

Danatthepub

Thanks peeps. I think that I will definitely go with my insurers company Albany. Just makes everything a bit more cleaner, plus at least I will have a bit of comeback if anything happens.

vaio

Albany are a credit hire company who will try and charge Tesco an inflated amount for the car hire.

As Tesco have offered a foc hire car they might well resist paying the inflated Albany hire costs so make sure that Albany are aware of this and get them to confirm (in writing) that they will not try and recover the extra cost from you should Tesco be successful in resisting paying

Danatthepub

vaio wrote: »

As Tesco have offered a foc hire car they might well resist paying the inflated Albany hire costs so make sure that Albany are aware of this and get them to confirm (in writing) that they will not try and recover the extra cost from you should Tesco be successful in resisting paying

Very good point, this is the kind of thing that I was worried about. Will do this before I sign anything.

ashleypride

Danatthepub wrote: »

Very good point, this is the kind of thing that I was worried about. Will do this before I sign anything.

They won't give you that in writing, but they may say that porky over the phone. Albany are best avoided, there is a good chance that Tesco won't pay the overinflated hire car charges, and you will have to go to Small claims court for Albany to recover the charges.