Am I covered? Courtesy car

balearic

Hi all

So, hopefully, this is not too complicated, but here goes.

- Broke down in France in my VW Tiguan
My wife and I returned to the UK on Eurostar
- Car is under service plan, which includes extended warranty and recovery (including Europe)
The car is currently in the French VW Dealership but will be towed to the UK VW Dealership over the next couple of weeks (already agreed)
The VW Dealership in the UK agreed to provide a courtesy car for up to one month so that my car could be returned to the UK and repaired there (that took some wrangling!). 
- My wife is American, only passed her UK test a couple of months ago, but has held a USA driving licence for more than 20 years
- Courtesy car provided by Europcar
- Europcar stated that they could not cover my wife on their insurance has had a UK licence for less than 12 months
Europcar stated that if my car insurance provider (Aviva) can offer coverage state to state that I'm insured, they will do so. Europcar gave me the registration of the vehicle they have held for me. 
- My wife is a named driver on my insurance. 
- Aviva stated that they no longer provide cover notes; they pointed to the Certificate of Insurance, which says

The insured vehicle

The vehicle registration mark described above or

1. any vehicle loaned to the principal policyholder for a maximum of seven days from a garage, motor engineer or vehicle

repairer while the vehicle registration described above is being either serviced, repaired or having an MOT test.

2. any vehicle loaned to the principal policyholder or, any other person entitled to drive as described in permitted drivers by

the insurer’s nominated supplier as a result of a claim under this policy:

i) whilst the vehicle registration described above is being repaired

- I spoke to Aviva, and they said I'm covered and 'she believed it was for seven days,' but wasn't sure how i) applied. It seems to suggest it's for the duration of the repair. The advisor couldn't give a clear answer on this. (I could call back and get a different advisor, but honestly, it's painful, and I'm hoping somebody here will know based on experience)
- I've sent the certificate and policy documents to Europcar as requested and pointed to these clauses. I haven't heard back from them.

I read that my wife (named driver) and I are insured with Aviva on the replacement vehicle for the duration of the repair conducted by VW. 

Does anybody have a different take on this?

Much appreciate any help. Sorry, it's a complicated one! 

BarelySentientAI

For 7 days.

Clause 1 applies, clause 2 doesn't.

XRS200

I'm not convinced it is being loaned to you from a garage.  

I would ask them specifically to add it as a temporary vehicle.

Ayr_Rage

Agree with post #2, clause 2 does not apply as you are not claiming under your insurance policy.

cw8825

XRS200 said:

I'm not convinced it is being loaned to you from a garage.  

I would ask them specifically to add it as a temporary vehicle.

I would agree clause 1 does not apply 

this is a hire vehicle being provided. 

Whether they would look to add it to the policy to cover your wife? To me unlikely

can you cope with just you driving until your car is back l?

DullGreyGuy

You need to add the hire car to your policy as a Temporary Additional Vehicle for the likely duration you'll be without a vehicle. Alternatively you could buy temp cover for your wife on the car for the same period 

balearic

DullGreyGuy said:

You need to add the hire car to your policy as a Temporary Additional Vehicle for the likely duration you'll be without a vehicle. Alternatively you could buy temp cover for your wife on the car for the same period 

Thanks. I was trying to find a suitable policy as there is no option for a 'temporary additional vehicle' on my existing car insurance policy. 

When I look at the short-term covers, they all seem to exclude rental vehicles where they are comprehensive cover, or if just rental insurance cover, they only cover the excess. The rental company (Europcar) has not provided insurance, so there is no policy to pay the excess unless I'm mistaken in some way. 

balearic

BarelySentientAI said:

For 7 days.

Clause 1 applies, clause 2 doesn't.

Thank you for confirming. That's a shame. I wasn't convinced by the agent's answers as they initially told me I was not covered at all for any duration, but then later admitted that was an error, and then they weren't sure about the 7-day duration. 

Am I still covered third party? 

balearic

cw8825 said:

XRS200 said:

I'm not convinced it is being loaned to you from a garage.  

I would ask them specifically to add it as a temporary vehicle.

I would agree clause 1 does not apply 

this is a hire vehicle being provided. 

Whether they would look to add it to the policy to cover your wife? To me unlikely

can you cope with just you driving until your car is back l?

Europcar had their insurers examine my insurance certificate and policy and stated that they were satisfied that my existing insurance policy covered my wife and me for at least seven days under clause 1. Aviva confirmed this was the case as well. I suppose they could both be wrong (at this point, given the conflicting advice they gave me, it wouldn't surprise me), but they have permitted car hire on this basis. It was delivered earlier today. 

I think it is because while I'm getting the car through Europcar, they are acting on behalf of VW, whom my contract is with, so I am getting it from a garage.