Courtesy car not provided

Disappearingfruit23

I’ve recently been involved in an accident where another driver hit me from behind whilst changing lanes. It was initially submitted as a non-fault claim on my part, however my insurance has since decided that they will be treating it as an at fault claim as they believe they won’t be able to claim costs from the 3rd party’s insurer despite the individual driver have admitted liability. My car is currently in the garage waiting to get fixed and my policy does provide a courtesy car whether I am at fault or not.

At the time it was a non-fault claim I was provided with a replacement car via my insurance/enterprise which was going to be covered by the 3rd parties insurer. When the claim got changed to an at fault claim, I was told I had to hand in the replacement car but that I would get one from my garage instead. It’s now been 3 days since I was informed of this and returned the replacement car but the garage are unable to provide me a car as they state my insurance/enterprise repairs have not informed them of this need. However, when I call my insurance they say that they have a process and that the garage has been informed and will get back to me.

The issue is that whilst I’m waiting, I’m having to get to work using public transport, train and walking which is taking 1.5hrs instead of 20 minutes and costing me a fortune as I don’t live in an area well served by public transport. I have already asked my insurance to escalate this but I’m being told there’s nothing to do but wait. The garage have now got in touch to say they have received the request for a courtesy car but that they have nothing available for up to a week and they can’t guarantee when they will provide one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how to go about getting it sorted as it’s becoming a nuisance.

DullGreyGuy

Disappearingfruit23 said:

I’ve recently been involved in an accident where another driver hit me from behind whilst changing lanes. It was initially submitted as a non-fault claim on my part, however my insurance has since decided that they will be treating it as an at fault claim as they believe they won’t be able to claim costs from the 3rd party’s insurer despite the individual driver have admitted liability. My car is currently in the garage waiting to get fixed and my policy does provide a courtesy car whether I am at fault or not.

At the time it was a non-fault claim I was provided with a replacement car via my insurance/enterprise which was going to be covered by the 3rd parties insurer. When the claim got changed to an at fault claim, I was told I had to hand in the replacement car but that I would get one from my garage instead. It’s now been 3 days since I was informed of this and returned the replacement car but the garage are unable to provide me a car as they state my insurance/enterprise repairs have not informed them of this need. However, when I call my insurance they say that they have a process and that the garage has been informed and will get back to me.

The issue is that whilst I’m waiting, I’m having to get to work using public transport, train and walking which is taking 1.5hrs instead of 20 minutes and costing me a fortune as I don’t live in an area well served by public transport. I have already asked my insurance to escalate this but I’m being told there’s nothing to do but wait. The garage have now got in touch to say they have received the request for a courtesy car but that they have nothing available for up to a week and they can’t guarantee when they will provide one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how to go about getting it sorted as it’s becoming a nuisance.

You initially had a credit hire vehicle from Enterprise. 

If you read your policy book it will almost certainly say that the provision of a courtesy car will be done by the garage and is based on availability. Many insurers offer the option to upgrade from a garage provided courtesy car thats subject to availability to a hire car provided under the terms of your policy and so is "guaranteed". If you either didnt buy the upgrade or went with an insurer doesnt offer the option then you are subject to them being able to supply one. 

The traditional courtesy car also isnt available if the car is a total loss as the insurers dont actually pay for the courtesy car but its blended into the labour rate hence no labour no car. 

Mildly_Miffed

Disappearingfruit23 said:

The issue is that whilst I’m waiting, I’m having to get to work using public transport, train and walking which is taking 1.5hrs instead of 20 minutes and costing me a fortune as I don’t live in an area well served by public transport. I have already asked my insurance to escalate this but I’m being told there’s nothing to do but wait. The garage have now got in touch to say they have received the request for a courtesy car but that they have nothing available for up to a week and they can’t guarantee when they will provide one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how to go about getting it sorted as it’s becoming a nuisance.

Just tell your insurer they have 24hrs, else you'll hire a car, and will be sending them the bill as part of the claim.

Nothing flash - just the smallest, cheapest that the local hire company will do you.

DullGreyGuy

Mildly_Miffed said:

Disappearingfruit23 said:

The issue is that whilst I’m waiting, I’m having to get to work using public transport, train and walking which is taking 1.5hrs instead of 20 minutes and costing me a fortune as I don’t live in an area well served by public transport. I have already asked my insurance to escalate this but I’m being told there’s nothing to do but wait. The garage have now got in touch to say they have received the request for a courtesy car but that they have nothing available for up to a week and they can’t guarantee when they will provide one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how to go about getting it sorted as it’s becoming a nuisance.

Just tell your insurer they have 24hrs, else you'll hire a car, and will be sending them the bill as part of the claim.

Nothing flash - just the smallest, cheapest that the local hire company will do you.

And you'll have the bill returned as their policy will state the courtesy car is subject to availability

jimjames

Disappearingfruit23 said:

The issue is that whilst I’m waiting, I’m having to get to work using public transport, train and walking which is taking 1.5hrs instead of 20 minutes and costing me a fortune as I don’t live in an area well served by public transport. I have already asked my insurance to escalate this but I’m being told there’s nothing to do but wait. The garage have now got in touch to say they have received the request for a courtesy car but that they have nothing available for up to a week and they can’t guarantee when they will provide one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how to go about getting it sorted as it’s becoming a nuisance.

Hire a car yourself? Might be cheaper if you say it's costing you a fortune at the moment

force_ten1

you said you were hit from behind whilst changing lanes

are you saying that you were changing lanes and the driver that collided with you was already in the lane you were moving into 

Aretnap

Mildly_Miffed said:

Disappearingfruit23 said:

The issue is that whilst I’m waiting, I’m having to get to work using public transport, train and walking which is taking 1.5hrs instead of 20 minutes and costing me a fortune as I don’t live in an area well served by public transport. I have already asked my insurance to escalate this but I’m being told there’s nothing to do but wait. The garage have now got in touch to say they have received the request for a courtesy car but that they have nothing available for up to a week and they can’t guarantee when they will provide one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how to go about getting it sorted as it’s becoming a nuisance.

Just tell your insurer they have 24hrs, else you'll hire a car, and will be sending them the bill as part of the claim.

And when the insurance replies that they won't be paying that bill, what do you do next?

Disappearingfruit23

force_ten1 said:

you said you were hit from behind whilst changing lanes

are you saying that you were changing lanes and the driver that collided with you was already in the lane you were moving into 

Hi, yes I was. It’s the first time I’ve had an accident/incident, but from speaking with the insurance and understanding their terms, I understand why it was changed to an at fault claim, even though I don’t fully agree with it.  

Disappearingfruit23

jimjames said:

Disappearingfruit23 said:

The issue is that whilst I’m waiting, I’m having to get to work using public transport, train and walking which is taking 1.5hrs instead of 20 minutes and costing me a fortune as I don’t live in an area well served by public transport. I have already asked my insurance to escalate this but I’m being told there’s nothing to do but wait. The garage have now got in touch to say they have received the request for a courtesy car but that they have nothing available for up to a week and they can’t guarantee when they will provide one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how to go about getting it sorted as it’s becoming a nuisance.

Hire a car yourself? Might be cheaper if you say it's costing you a fortune at the moment

Yeah I’ve decided to do this as it’s been a week since my car’s been in the garage, I had been waiting as I hoped they’d get me something sooner. 

Unfortunately hire cars are also expensive, but they are more convenient! 

Disappearingfruit23

DullGreyGuy said:

Disappearingfruit23 said:

I’ve recently been involved in an accident where another driver hit me from behind whilst changing lanes. It was initially submitted as a non-fault claim on my part, however my insurance has since decided that they will be treating it as an at fault claim as they believe they won’t be able to claim costs from the 3rd party’s insurer despite the individual driver have admitted liability. My car is currently in the garage waiting to get fixed and my policy does provide a courtesy car whether I am at fault or not.

At the time it was a non-fault claim I was provided with a replacement car via my insurance/enterprise which was going to be covered by the 3rd parties insurer. When the claim got changed to an at fault claim, I was told I had to hand in the replacement car but that I would get one from my garage instead. It’s now been 3 days since I was informed of this and returned the replacement car but the garage are unable to provide me a car as they state my insurance/enterprise repairs have not informed them of this need. However, when I call my insurance they say that they have a process and that the garage has been informed and will get back to me.

The issue is that whilst I’m waiting, I’m having to get to work using public transport, train and walking which is taking 1.5hrs instead of 20 minutes and costing me a fortune as I don’t live in an area well served by public transport. I have already asked my insurance to escalate this but I’m being told there’s nothing to do but wait. The garage have now got in touch to say they have received the request for a courtesy car but that they have nothing available for up to a week and they can’t guarantee when they will provide one. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue before and how to go about getting it sorted as it’s becoming a nuisance.

You initially had a credit hire vehicle from Enterprise. 

If you read your policy book it will almost certainly say that the provision of a courtesy car will be done by the garage and is based on availability. Many insurers offer the option to upgrade from a garage provided courtesy car thats subject to availability to a hire car provided under the terms of your policy and so is "guaranteed". If you either didnt buy the upgrade or went with an insurer doesnt offer the option then you are subject to them being able to supply one. 

The traditional courtesy car also isnt available if the car is a total loss as the insurers dont actually pay for the courtesy car but its blended into the labour rate hence no labour no car. 

Thanks for this. I’ve had a proper read of my policy but it actually doesn’t state that it’s based on availability, only that it’s based on whether the car requires repair or a total loss. It’s currently being repaired. But I imagine if the garage are saying they have no cars available then there’s not much to be done. 

force_ten1

as stated by your policy 

"the replacement car will be provided by your nominated repairer"

was the car still in a roadworthy and drivable condition if so i would be asking them to return the car and delay the repair untill they have a courtesy car available 

a guaranteed replacement hire car for an at fault claim is normally an insurance add on and somthing that could look at going forward if you need a car whilst yours is away for repair