Car Insurance and Courtesy Car Cover

hollie.weimeraner

I currently have a car in for a fault and am paying £7 a day for insurance which isn't an issue for short term but if it was in for longer then it gets expensive.  MY insurance is actually coming up for renewal and I'm just wiondering if anyone knows of any insurers that will cover this instance or alternatively whats  the cheapest option?

DullGreyGuy

What is the £7/day covering? 

A courtesy car is normally covered by the garage's (or hire car company's) insurance though some add it to your own policy as a Temporary Additional Vehicle. 

Often any additional charge is just an optional insurance to reduce the excess payable as like a hire car, it can be much higher than your personal insurance policy. 

EssexExile

I'm pretty sure LV= cover courtesy cars.

sheramber

I currently have a car in for a fault 

Would insurance pay for a courtesy car for a car in the garage because of a fault- not after an accident?

Ebe_Scrooge

sheramber said:

I currently have a car in for a fault 

Would insurance pay for a courtesy car for a car in the garage because of a fault- not after an accident?

Well spotted!

Absolutely, insurance will not usually (ever?) cover a "fault" or a routine repair.  Perhaps the OP could clarify?

Grey_Critic

Back in the day when cars were in the bodyshop and customer into a courtesy car the the insurance company used to do a temporary switch of insurance to the courtesy car - very handy the time a woman in one of our cars with the insurance being covered on her insurance as she wrote off 7 cars on her way home.

DullGreyGuy

sheramber said:

I currently have a car in for a fault 

Would insurance pay for a courtesy car for a car in the garage because of a fault- not after an accident?

Ahh, read fault accident rather than mechanical/electrical fault

Car insurance wouldnt, think some breakdown covers used to give a hire car temporarily, but you could add the courtesy car to your own insurance as a temporary additional vehicle or it may be covered by Driving Other Cars extension depending on the exact wordings.

Garages wont typically accept DOC it because its TPO cover however certain Exec and HNW policies given comp cover under DOC which they may accept

Ebe_Scrooge

DullGreyGuy said:

sheramber said:

I currently have a car in for a fault 

Would insurance pay for a courtesy car for a car in the garage because of a fault- not after an accident?

or it may be covered by Driving Other Cars extension depending on the exact wordings.

In my experience, the DOC cover usually specifically excludes "cars used under a hire agreement".  And it is, as you say, usually limited to third-party only, which would usually exclude a hire car anyway.

Crabman

Some policies do allow cover for a vehicle provided to you temporarily in context of a repair to your own vehicle (not a test drive) but I've found dealerships generally refuse to allow this as they get commission on the insurance they force customers to pay for.

Grumpy_chap

sheramber said:

I currently have a car in for a fault 

Would insurance pay for a courtesy car for a car in the garage because of a fault- not after an accident?

I did not read the OP's question like that.

I don't think the OP is expecting the insurance to pay for the courtesy car.

I read the OP that the courtesy car has been provided by the garage for "free" but the OP is paying £7 per day to insure the courtesy car.  Using a "short-term" insurance type cover.

I then took the question to be "is there any annual policy for my regular car that will also insure a courtesy car if I ever need one while my car is in the garage for any reason?"

On this final point, I thought that was standard practice and covered under most policies.  It certainly was when I last had a courtesy car which asked for me to cover the insurance - but that was a long time ago in 2008.  Standard policies could have changed since then.  Most courtesy cars seem to have been insured by the garage anyway (albeit with a high excess).  It could be that the OP chose to take out short-term cover to avoid the excess and / or could have taken hire car excess policy.

DullGreyGuy

Ebe_Scrooge said:

DullGreyGuy said:

sheramber said:

I currently have a car in for a fault 

Would insurance pay for a courtesy car for a car in the garage because of a fault- not after an accident?

or it may be covered by Driving Other Cars extension depending on the exact wordings.

In my experience, the DOC cover usually specifically excludes "cars used under a hire agreement".  And it is, as you say, usually limited to third-party only, which would usually exclude a hire car anyway.

But courtesy cars are not normally subject to a hire agreement