Admiral Insurance Confusion over Hire/Courtesy Car

asif10

Just a few days ago my car was stolen from outside my mums house. I informed the Police and insurance company regarding the car. I also tried to get a courtesy car from Admiral while they sorted the claim out and it turns out as the car was stolen I am not entitled to hire/courtesy car.

When i initially took the policy out i asked if a car would be provided if anything happened to my car and they said "yes", so i went ahead with the policy.

I have been now told by Admiral that the policy only includes a "courtesy" car and not a "hire" car.

At the time I wasn't aware or told that there was a difference between a courtesy and hire car or the fact if the car is stolen I wouldn't be entitled to one.

Got fed the same standard line "Its in your terms and conditions"

Just something people should be aware of if their car is stolen a "Courtesy" car isn't provided.

rs65

You also don't get one if your car is written off. Only applies if being repaired at one of their repairers.

asif10

rs65 wrote: »

You also don't get one if your car is written off. Only applies if being repaired at one of their repairers.

Yup, you're right that's also what Admiral told me, just so irritated about being lied too and not mentioning that fact to me

keith1950

You also only get a courtesy car once the repairs actually commence so if it takes a week or more for everything to be estimated, processed and authorised you can be without it for days/weeks before the actual repair.

Its one of the pitfalls of not reading the terms and conditions of what you are buying !

asif10

keith1950 wrote: »

...Its one of the pitfalls of not reading the terms and conditions of what you are buying !

Something i won't ignore in the future

InsideInsurance

If you asked a question and they gave you the wrong answer then log a complaint and give details of the call (time, date, number called from, number called to and person spoke to) or at least as much as you can.

A courtesy car typically comes from the garage and is "free", arguably built into the labour rate. As such garages only give them when they're getting paid for repairs so total loss or stolen/not recovered dont.

A hire car is what it says, but can be sold as a guaranteed courtesy car, advantage is you get one no matter what. Downside is you only get it for a set number of days even if repairs take a long time because parts are unavailable etc.

asif10

InsideInsurance wrote: »

If you asked a question and they gave you the wrong answer then log a complaint and give details of the call (time, date, number called from, number called to and person spoke to) or at least as much as you can.

A courtesy car typically comes from the garage and is "free", arguably built into the labour rate. As such garages only give them when they're getting paid for repairs so total loss or stolen/not recovered dont.

A hire car is what it says, but can be sold as a guaranteed courtesy car, advantage is you get one no matter what. Downside is you only get it for a set number of days even if repairs take a long time because parts are unavailable etc.

Their response was that at no point during the conversation did i request a hire car. I tried to explain to them that i asked the agent

"if anything happens to my car, would i get a courtesy car"

and her response at the time was "yes". What the customer services are arguing is the conversation was around a courtesy car and not a hire car.

I explained I wasn't aware or told that a "hire" car and "Courtesy" car are classed differently; nor was i informed that if the car is stolen i wouldn't receive a vehicle.

Their response was simple "that this isn't our fault", and that I should have requested a hire car. But they didn't seem to grasp that i wasn't aware of the differences between "hire" and "courtesy" car

InsideInsurance

asif10 wrote: »

Their response was that at no point during the conversation did i request a hire car. I tried to explain to them that i asked the agent

"if anything happens to my car, would i get a courtesy car"

The difference between the two is where the originate from. The key is the "anything happens". It could well be a garage that provides it rather than a hire car company and how they choose to fulfill their policy terms is fairly irrelevant to you.

Restate the complaint and ask for a final response letter so you can take the matter to the FOS

asif10

Thanks All
Will lodge a complaint request clarification on the matter, especially since they have a transcript of the original conversation as well.

therock585

the repair garage also are very slow its been over a week and still i am waiting for admiral's engineers to get back to me.

kingstreet

therock585 wrote: »

the repair garage also are very slow its been over a week and still i am waiting for admiral's engineers to get back to me.

Wrong thread?