Car insurance courtesy car

hd10

My husband had a low speed bump on the way home last Friday which left his car pretty much undriveable - front bumper hanging off 1/2 way across, unable to open the bonnet. He managed to get it home as it wasn’t far away but Admiral won’t provide a courtesy car until ours has been taken in. We were told today that their authorised repairer has to contact us within 48h (which will be this Wed) to arrange booking the car in for an assessment. Then they will contact us to say what needs doing, then they can book it in for repairs if viable. 

Apparently there is also a delay of 4-6 weeks on getting hold of parts in general, which means we are potentially without a courtesy car for the next few weeks until the garage actually come and collect it. I checked our policy and it says a courtesy car will be provided ‘whilst your car is being repaired’. 

My question is (for future renewals), are there other insurers who provide a courtesy car once you make a claim and tell them the car is undriveable, or is it standard that it’s only once the car has been taken in? My only experience had my car collected at the roadside and I was offered a courtesy car the next day. This is very frustrating as he can’t get to work without a car, do we bite the bullet and hire one short term, or even buy a run around, whilst waiting to hear back? 

TadleyBaggie

It's pretty standard for the courtesy car to be provided my the repairer. However the last accident I had, the courtesy car was supplied by Enterprise. The insurer was Aviva.

shiraz99

It's pretty much standard policy across most insurers only to supply the courtesy car when yours is in for repair. I'm sure there are exceptions but they will be at an expense. You do tend to get what you pay for in car insurance. Have a look at places like DirectLine or Aviva on their premium policies.

I assume it was your husband's own fault? It would be a different story if you were claiming from a third party's insurer as they tend to get you a replacement vehicle pretty much straight away.

diystarter7

Depends on who the ins outfit is and possibly if you had added extras like I have , eG enhanced car/etc.
As others have said, it is standard practice unless other drivers clear fault and you are claiming from them.

Read the T&C's before you take out an ins policy.

hd10

shiraz99 said:

It's pretty much standard policy across most insurers only to supply the courtesy car when yours is in for repair. I'm sure there are exceptions but they will be at an expense. You do tend to get what you pay for in car insurance. Have a look at places like DirectLine or Aviva on their premium policies.

I assume it was your husband's own fault? It would be a different story if you were claiming from a third party's insurer as they tend to get you a replacement vehicle pretty much straight away.

It was deemed his fault as he was pulling out of a side road on a bend. Also good to know that Admiral weren’t bothered about the speed either vehicle was doing! 

We did wonder over the weekend if calling the insurance at the time and asking for it to be collected would have sped up the process? 

DB1904

hd10 said:

shiraz99 said:

It's pretty much standard policy across most insurers only to supply the courtesy car when yours is in for repair. I'm sure there are exceptions but they will be at an expense. You do tend to get what you pay for in car insurance. Have a look at places like DirectLine or Aviva on their premium policies.

I assume it was your husband's own fault? It would be a different story if you were claiming from a third party's insurer as they tend to get you a replacement vehicle pretty much straight away.

It was deemed his fault as he was pulling out of a side road on a bend. Also good to know that Admiral weren’t bothered about the speed either vehicle was doing! 

We did wonder over the weekend if calling the insurance at the time and asking for it to be collected would have sped up the process? 

In your OP you said it was low speed. 

hd10

DB1904 said:

hd10 said:

shiraz99 said:

It's pretty much standard policy across most insurers only to supply the courtesy car when yours is in for repair. I'm sure there are exceptions but they will be at an expense. You do tend to get what you pay for in car insurance. Have a look at places like DirectLine or Aviva on their premium policies.

I assume it was your husband's own fault? It would be a different story if you were claiming from a third party's insurer as they tend to get you a replacement vehicle pretty much straight away.

It was deemed his fault as he was pulling out of a side road on a bend. Also good to know that Admiral weren’t bothered about the speed either vehicle was doing! 

We did wonder over the weekend if calling the insurance at the time and asking for it to be collected would have sped up the process? 

In your OP you said it was low speed. 

Yes my husband pulled out of the side road, about 10mph as there were queuing cars. It’s on a bend and the road he was joining is a 20mph limit. When my husband asked Admiral if they could assess the damage to determine the speed, they said they don’t bother. As he hit the other car it was his fault and no other outcome. 

Aretnap

hd10 said:

My question is (for future renewals), are there other insurers who provide a courtesy car once you make a claim and tell them the car is undriveable, or is it standard that it’s only once the car has been taken in? 

Direct Line offer this as an optional extra called 'guaranteed hire car'or something similar. Or you can pay more still and get a promise that the his car will be roughly the same size and function as your own rather than getting a small runabout to replace your MPV. (Guaranteed Hire Car Plus or something like that).

cheekyweegit

Not sure if this helps, but I was in a non fault accident at the start of May and I'm insured with RAC, phoned them night of the accident and they said Enterprise would call me next day within 2 hours of them being open with details of a hire car.  They phoned and came to collect me for my hire car the day after that.

I got a text message the day after with a link to complete with information to complete about the damage to my car and I could upload photographs of the damage.  From this link I chose the date for my own car to be collected to be assessed for repair.  I also had to let them know if it was drivable so they could arrange suitable transport for collecting it.

Mine wasn't, so a 8 car transporter arrived to pick it up.  An easy pain free process which I was able to do at a time to suit myself.

I had another claim many years ago, again non fault where my car was damaged in a car park via hit an run but someone got the registration number of the car which did it as they disappeared.  This was via Avivia and a hire car was arranged through them and claimed back from their insurance.

Many policies now, hire cars when you are classed as the fault driver are an additional extra when buying the policy and easy to miss as is legal cover.

diystarter7

@cheekyweegit

I looked at my insurance outfit last night before I'd been with Aviva for years and enhanced car but did not read fully up on it. Then I was with LV I think I paid for an enhanced car there as well

Now with Saga - paid a bit more for fixed 3 yr price if no change in circumstances. I've paid for an enhanced car but reading through it I was shocked as I doubt anyone or a low percentage read the T&C's in detail re replacement car and I think it read 2when your car is being repaired"  - their standard car is a Ford Ka and a manual. We have two cars and both are hardly used so we are not too bothered

I suggest all read their T&C's re repalcment car in event of it being stolen/accident etc and you may be shocked to see what is covered.

I read Saga as and I may be wrong and I skimmed through it - if your car is stolen you dont get a replacement car and I'm not sure how quickly they pay out as someone I know got their car back after two weeks it was stolen, run dry of petrol and parked on a road for more than a week before someone reported it.

tightauldgit

Normally insurers will offer you the option of paying extra to get cover which provides a replacement car when yours is out of action but it seems you don't have that. A courtesy car is a slightly different thing which is provided by the repairing garage and only when your car is in their premises - and it's entirely at their discretion. 

Had it been a non-fault claim you could have potentially received a credit hire car or claimed back expenses as uninsured losses but since in this case its not then I think you will have to foot your own bill or just deal with not having a car until your car is repaired. 

 If the authorised repairer say you have to wait 6 weeks for parts then I would at least try complaining to your insurer and see what they might offer you as a goodwill gesture as that does seem unreasonable to me but I think contractually they would be within their rights to say that's just how it is.