How long to keep hire car if car written off?

Korkyb

A garage has damaged my other half's car & looks as if it may well get written off.

Liability has been accepted by the garage & we currently have a hire car through their insurers (our insurance company isn't involved beyond noting a no claim incident).

If the car is written off & we are made an offer to settle is there a standard time for long will we have access to the hire car for after the offer.

We stay in the sticks and my wife has to travel 25 miles to work (nurse) so any time without a vehicle will be problematic.

I'm just a bit concerned that if the car is written off we might have a period of time between them taking the car back and us finding / buying another.


If the car is written off will the insurance company give us a week or 2 with the hire car to source a replacement vehicle?


I also don't want to waste time looking for a car beforehand in case it isn't written off (although that seems unlikely) as I cant really commit to buying until a decision is made about write off or not (as any cars we see now may well be sold meantime).

Ta for any advice.

forgotmyname

It maybe taken back within days of you accepting a settlement offer.

Korkyb

forgotmyname said:

It maybe taken back within days of you accepting a settlement offer.

That's my concern.....

onashoestring

As above if the car is deemed a write -off you should expect & prepare for the hire car to be taken back as soon as you have accepted and been paid the settlement amount. The insurance company will have fulfilled their obligations at this point and are not required to pay out for further car- hire while you look for a replacement.

Prepare now with that in mind -Is there a friend or family member’s car that your wife could borrow while you look for a new one ?  

Maybe as a goodwill gesture the garage might be prepared provide a car - but there is no obligation on them to do so once you have accepted and been paid settlement. If it’s a local business they may want to ensure good customer relations and be willing to help .

Is car- sharing an option for the interim ? Look at local web-sites or employer may have a scheme ? 

sheslookinhot

Would you really be wasting time looking at potential replacement cars ?

tifo

Wait until you know if the car is written off then look for a replacement if it is. The insurer takes some weeks paying you and you'll have the hire car until at least then. So you've plenty of time to look for another car if needed.

Korkyb

sheslookinhot said:

Would you really be wasting time looking at potential replacement cars ?

 We would be if the car doesn't end up being written off.

Korkyb

tifo said:

Wait until you know if the car is written off then look for a replacement if it is. The insurer takes some weeks paying you and you'll have the hire car until at least then. So you've plenty of time to look for another car if needed.

If we do have a week or 2 between confirmation of write off and payment of settlement that would be perfect. Might be worth us drawing out the settlement amount "haggle" :-)

As suggested by onashoestring we put a plan B in place so that she can get to work.

Flight3287462

Do you know how much you are going to need to pay for a replacement car?  If not best start getting some ideas at least and short list a few models and figure out what a good deal looks like.

Goudy

If the car is written off and you agree to a settlement, it could be as little as a few hours or the next day before the insurance company pays out.
They will most likely transfer the settlement directly into your bank account once the lost adjuster confirms you have accepted the offer.

As for the hire car, you can usually expect them to let you keep it a while longer but they will try and get you to give it back asap.

It's usually easier if your own insurance have arranged it and then they claim the cost back from the other party's policy.

If you are dealing directly with the other party's insurance company and they have arranged the hire car, you might have to tell them that they may have paid out on your vehicle, but they has not fully settled the claim yet and got you back into the position your were in before the claim, so you want to keep the hire car longer.

They have accepted liablity, so they need to put you back in that preclaim position.
You will likely have to negociate with them on it, but think days rather than weeks.

Herzlos

There's nothing stopping you narrowing down on a car and putting down a deposit somewhere that offers refundable deposits (most of the big chains).

Though realistically you should be able to walk into a dealership, buy a car and drive away with it later that day or early the next day, but it'd be a lot better to know exactly what you want in advance.

How bad is the damage and what's the car worth? How likely is a write off?