Gap in Insurance cover for Business car hires UK

bumpydog123

Hi,

I am new to the forum but I am in need of some wise advice. I work for a large organisation and my job entails travelling for work. The organisation has a business account with a car rental company and has asked that I, and members of my team, hire cars, using the corporate account, to travel to various geographical locations for work. I only found out recently that the insurance policy for the rental cars is the standard Third Party only and that there is no Personal Accident cover for myself in the event of a 50:50 or no fault accident. The legal team from the organisation are content that they are protected in the case of an employee being involved in an accident and they are exempt from Employer Liability Insurance. However, I feel very anxious knowing that i am driving long distances in a rental car without the same level of cover, in the event of an accident, that I have with my own car. is there anything i could do or say to the organisation to persuade them to take my concerns seriously? Any advice would be gratefully appreciated! 

DullGreyGuy

bumpydog123 said:

I am new to the forum but I am in need of some wise advice. I work for a large organisation and my job entails travelling for work. The organisation has a business account with a car rental company and has asked that I, and members of my team, hire cars, using the corporate account, to travel to various geographical locations for work. I only found out recently that the insurance policy for the rental cars is the standard Third Party only and that there is no Personal Accident cover for myself in the event of a 50:50 or no fault accident. The legal team from the organisation are content that they are protected in the case of an employee being involved in an accident and they are exempt from Employer Liability Insurance. However, I feel very anxious knowing that i am driving long distances in a rental car without the same level of cover, in the event of an accident, that I have with my own car. is there anything i could do or say to the organisation to persuade them to take my concerns seriously? Any advice would be gratefully appreciated! 

Personal Accident on motor insurance is very token when it does exists... it only covers injuries that are life changing in nature (loss of limb, loss of eye etc) and typically has a very low limit, DL for example is £5k and loss of a limb is 50%. In all my years of claims handling dont ever recall a single PA claim being made, indeed in training I asked how a PA claim is handled and the trainer of 15 years experience said she didnt know. 

The main difference between your insurance and the hire car is damage to the hire car itself and thats your employers decision if they want to insurer for it or not, its their account so they're the ones paying up if they dont want CDW.

bumpydog123

Thanks for your comment. I am trying to understand the difference and possible gaps between my own fully comprehensive car insurance which i assume, would cover me in the event of an injury in a no fault accident, and the Third party only level of insurance with the rental car. Is there any difference at all or is the level of cover exactly the same? 

cw8825

bumpydog123 said:

Thanks for your comment. I am trying to understand the difference and possible gaps between my own fully comprehensive car insurance which i assume, would cover me in the event of an injury in a no fault accident, and the Third party only level of insurance with the rental car. Is there any difference at all or is the level of cover exactly the same? 

the cover is exactly the same in principle
If you were in an accident and injured you would be claiming from the at fault party, not from your own policy
the comprehensive is to cover if you were in an accident and it was your fault, or nobody else involved(theft type situation)

DullGreyGuy

bumpydog123 said:

Thanks for your comment. I am trying to understand the difference and possible gaps between my own fully comprehensive car insurance which i assume, would cover me in the event of an injury in a no fault accident, and the Third party only level of insurance with the rental car. Is there any difference at all or is the level of cover exactly the same? 

You need to have Legal Expenses insurance to cover claiming for an injury from a third party in a non-fault accident. They just provide the lawyer, they dont actually make the payout for the injury. 

You can get standalone LE but some may also get something appropriate via a Union or Club... note LE on Home explicitly excludes RTAs when you are in a vehicle