Courtesy car damage insurance issues

SunshineRainbow

Hello

I am hoping you lovely people can offer me some advice. A friend of mine took their car into be repaired at a local dealer under warranty and had a Courtesy car to get to work and back. Sadly , They damaged the Dealer’s car.That has not disputed and accept they need to pay for the damage and have told the dealer in return.

They are trying to work out the best solution to mitigate against future costs.

The dealer told them there is £1000 excess to go through their insurance and made some phone calls (assume to the insurance?) they came back and Here is the bill for £1000.

My friend has only just past their test so was worried about making a claim in their first year.

So they asked if they can just pay for the damage instead in cash rather than insurance.It is actually more than the excess but hope this would not effect future insurance premiums in long term.

My friend is not trying to get out of anything and is honest so accepts they need to pay for this. They just want to know the best way to mitigate this bad situation.

The dealer said this was ok to pay in cash
Do you think this is sensible?
1. We are not sure if the dealer’s insurance has been informed officially or the staff just went into the office to make phone calls?
2. Even if the insurance has not made a claim will it be on the radar as a result of this ‘phone call’ if an actual claim hasn’t been made. Nothing has been signed. They were just told about the excess to pay and given an invoice.
3. So will my friend’s insurance know now anyway and they do get stung anyway when they renew even if this doesn’t any insurance
4. Can my friend use their own insurance to have the work done as the excess is lower? By contacting their insurance to ask a hypothetical question is this informing them and putting it on their record?
5. Ispaying in cash sensible? No paperwork? No breakdown of costs. We are not sure that their ‘quote is reasonable’
6. Can they ask for the work to be done else where? Or is it the Dealer’s choice and they are holding in the cards
6. Should they just go through the Dealer’s insurance and pay the excess and then assume a massive renewal premium as made a claim in first year.
7. Another concern is when looking back at the insurance, after the incident, the terms and conditions say they cover those driving more than a year. Yes the y should have seen this before they signed but this is down to inexperience. My friend has only recently past their test does anyone know what would happen? When they process the insurance will this flag up anyway? Was the insurance completely void ? If so I assume they will have to pay the damage so can’t do insurance s route. If so do all the other issues about being flagged on a system apply? Will they they will get in trouble regardless now? Will it effect future insurance.Can my friend be in trouble with the police for that respectively? Will the dealer have to inform the authorities Or was that the responsibly of the dealer to check when they took a copy of the License.

This is obviously very stressful for my friend who is really honest but taking responsibility and feels devastated by it. They are inexperienced in all of this so completely sadly have learnt a lot the hard way.

Thank you for your time in reading this and I look forward to your advice. many thanks

AdrianC

When "your friend" gets insurance quotes, they're asked if they've had any incidents, collisions, damage - whether they claimed or not. If they're so honest, they're going to answer "yes" to that, right, so it doesn't matter whether it's on the insurer's radar or not...

SunshineRainbow

Thanks AdrianC yes, if that is what is expected to be done.

sheramber

She has to tell her insurance company whatever way she does it.

If her insurance covers for driving other cars- not all do- it only gives third party cover. So it would not cover the car she was driving unless she had previously arranged such cover with her own insurance company.

The dealer should be able to show her the insurance policy stating the excess .

If the claim goes through the insurance company she could arrange to pay the insurance direct rather than the dealer. It depends on how she feels about paying the money to the dealer.

If the car is repaired by the insurance company they will advise the repairer to be used.
If your friend is paying for the damage herself she could ask for three estimates but the dealer is entitled to use an approved repairer.

The dealer may have cover for a replacement car through his insurance. Has that been mentioned as it could an extra cost if she pays herself?

The restriction on the insurance could be a problem but the dealer should have checked her licence before giving her the car and seen the date of issue.

SunshineRainbow

Thank you sheramber. We will check both policies. I suggested getting repair elsewhere already, I wasn’t sure if this was allowed.

SunshineRainbow

What I meant is, does everything legally have to be dictated by the Dealer or is there any options to get the work done elsewhere does the customer have any rights in this even though they were at fault?

AdrianC

SunshineRainbow wrote: »

What I meant is, does everything legally have to be dictated by the Dealer or is there any options to get the work done elsewhere does the customer have any rights in this even though they were at fault?

It's their car. The time to do your own repair was before it was handed back.

wgl2014

I can't see any real advantage to just paying the dealers excess and forgetting about it.

Whilst your friend could agree to fund the repair it still needs to be declared just the same and will cost them more. There is also the chance that additional damage or work could be identified and a £1200 job ends up being £2000.

chrisw

Can your friend not claim on their own insurance?

The last 2 companies I've been with - Direct Line and LV - both cover comprehensively any car lent to me by a garage whilst mine is in for service or repair.

It would affect their insurance premiums in the future but might not be too bad if there is already no NCD to lose.

debtdebt

People seem to have glossed over point 7. The OP's "friend" may have been driving uninsured. If that is the case their options will be limited to paying the garage the cash to effect the repairs.

SunshineRainbow

Thank you everyone for their replies. We really appreciate your time to respond.

Is it normal they can claim off their own insurance? I know they hadn’t informed them they were using the car though. Would that be the best thing to do?

Obviously it’s really upsetting for them as they only used it to drive to work and back which is about 5 miles and the car got damaged at the work place. so couldn’t get it repaired before returning it to Dealer. It the first time they taken it in for work and had a courtesy car before so very gutted about the damage but then to find out that they might not have been covered after has thrown the spanner in the works as to what the best thing to do now.