No fault total loss - courtesy car rights

thriftychick

We had our 8 month old car written off by a tractor in August. The car was a total loss and our insurance company collected the car and organised a courtesy car within 24 hours. A new car was eventually ordered for us but will not be available until 5th December.

2 weeks ago we received a call from the hire car company to say that our courtesy car needed to be returned in 2 days. After hours on the phone to the insurance company, car hire company and underwriters, no one was willing to give us a response to our request to keep the car until ours was ready. Our insurance company are "looking into our complaint".

In the meantime, we are a family of four working adults in a rural area with one car - logistical nightmare. We are coping with lifts, buses, walking an hours of hanging around. Are we entitled to a courtesy car until our new one is ready? Any advice gratefully received.

paddyandstumpy

What does your policy wording say?

Normally you're only entitled to a courtesy car until the car has been written off, at which point you'll be paid out for the value of the car.

It's not the insurers fault your new car has a lead time to being delivered, why should they bear the brunt of the cost of the hire car?

forgotmyname

Have the insurance settled the accident and you ordered the car yourself?

If they have paid out then it wont be their fault your waiting for a car to be delivered.

TadleyBaggie

I had a car that was in an accident but due to the nature of the incident was impounded for several months before it could be written off. I only got a courtesy car for 2 weeks, this was with Aviva. Each insurer will have they own rules.

keith1950

You are not being clear as to why the new car isn't going to be available until December.
If the new car was being provided by the insurer then they should provide one however if you have received your settlement from the insurer then it is your problem not theirs..... if you don't pick a model that is readily available at a dealership.

thriftychick

Thank you for your replies, much appreciated.

The car has been ordered by the Underwriters as we have a new for old policy (the car was under 12 months old). The did drag their feet (which they have admitted) hence the wait until December. They have ordered the same make, model and spec as the one written off.

The third party insurers apparently paid for the courtesy car even though our own insurance covered us for a courtesy car for 28 days. The insurance company also confirmed by webchat straight after the accident that we would have the courtesy car until the new one had been delivered. They now say that was a mistake by their employee.

OnanTheBarbarian

You are being left without a vehicle as a direct consequence of the negligence of the third party driver.

The steps being taken by utilising the benefits of your fully comp policy which provides for a new for old vehicle due to your own vehicle being less than 12 months old are not going to be criticised (who would not want a new vehicle again rather than buying a second hand vehicle) so you are all safe on that front and the delays are just being caused by the channels used by your insurers as to how they procure the vehicle.

You have also used the policy benefit of the maximum period your insurers are contractually obliged to provide a "courtesy car" of 28 days. I would assume after that the third party insurers have agreed to provide or pay for the ongoing hire up to this point?

So now presumably the third party insurers are refusing to directly fund any ongoing hire up to the point you are provide with the new vehicle?

I deal with RTA claims for a living (so I'm not just some chump playing armchair expert), so take from this what you want.

You have a duty to keep losses to a minimum, so the first step would be to speak with the third party insurers and ask them to agree to be reasonable and continue to pay for ongoing hire for the relevant period.

Argument being you have a legitimate and justifiable need for the use of a vehicle as you have explained in your original post (rural location, vehicle used my many household occupants, significant inconvenience etc etc- so you are not just using the car to do 15 miles a week to get some shopping in) plus the period you would be without a vehicle if they take the hire car from you is not just a couple of days.

If they don't agree to this then your options are to either go and hire a vehicle yourself (if you have the funds to do this without incurring hardship) and claim the money back from the third party insurers, by court action if needed. Or you can speak with a claims management company who would pass you onto a credit hire company.
A credit hire company, assuming they are happy with the risks involved after you have explained the situation, would hire a like for like vehicle to you and then pursue the costs of it from the other party' insurer. The cost of this is far higher than what it would cost you to hire personally and this is something which would therefore hopefully encourage the third party insurers to assist you, rather than get pummelled for greater hire costs than they would incur with their own commercial arrangements with the like of Enterprise etc.

The final option is you buy a cheap smoker to get about in and sell it when done with, duly seeking any expenses associated with this such as insurance admin fees, premiums costs of selling etc etc.

Hope that helps.

thriftychick

OnantheBarbarian-Thank you so much for taking the time to give us your advice. We will contact the third party insurers and hopefully they will consider our request.

rs65

If you're a good customer of the garage, I would be asking them for a demonstrator until your new one arrives.

Jason666

I’m in a similar situation, my car got written off this week after a car took out my car , my neighbours and a bus on my street . The 3rd party abandoned vehicle and done a runner . Trying to get 3rd party insurer to cover a courtesy car is a bit of a nightmare at the moment.