How is it a write-off if only a tail light is smashed....?

DullGreyGuy

TooManyPoints said:

Which local authority? They legally must have insurance from the ground up for third party liability....

Section 144 of the Road Traffic Act exempts many public bodies, including local authorities, fire and police departments, NHS services, etc. from the requirements of s143 (he need for compulsory Third Party insurance).

Of course some of those might have it, but they are not required to.

County Councils are exempt from the requirement, didnt think the lower tier local councils were

Beeblebr0x

daveyjp said:

Get your own quote.  A £250 job can quickly become £3k once insurance get involved.

It's outrageous that insurance companies expect drivers to be scrupulously honest in their dealings, but the regulator allows companies to get away with what I regard as fraud IMO.

Mildly_Miffed

Beeblebr0x said:

daveyjp said:

Get your own quote.  A £250 job can quickly become £3k once insurance get involved.

It's outrageous that insurance companies expect drivers to be scrupulously honest in their dealings, but the regulator allows companies to get away with what I regard as fraud IMO.

It's really not.

Your car gets hit, tail-light broken, wing dented.

Would you be happy if it came back with an eBay second-hand tail-light? Many wouldn't. And that's before the hassle factor (which has to be paid for) of sourcing and ordering and rejecting because it's damaged or the bulbholder's corroded or...

Then there's that dent. If it's good for PDR, great. But if not, the dent has to be pulled or filled, then painted. And that might mean spraying several panels to blend it in so there's no visible colour difference. Glass out?

What if it's not just a dent? What if it has bent something underneath? The bumper's going to have to come off to check it's all straight, although it's probably off for the paint anyway. My own car has a dink in the rear wing predating my ownership - doesn't look much, but the bumper won't stay clipped on, and the gap to the tailgate is MUCH tighter on that side, so the whole wing's moved slightly. It might come out by pulling, it might not.

And, of course, this takes time. Let's say it's a week with paint prep and curing time. So that's provision of a hire car for that week.

TooManyPoints

VERY few organisations are actually fully self-insured, with a sizeable deposit lodged with the government - and the government stopped any new ones from doing so in 2019.

Section 144 exempts the bodies it mentions from the requirements of s143 entirely. Until November 2019, s143 made it a requirement to have either TP insurance or for a security to be lodged. Section 144 made the authorities exempt from both of those requirements. Now that the option for securities has been removed, they are simply exempt from TP insurance requirements.

County Councils are exempt from the requirement, didnt think the lower tier local councils were...

Yes that's about it (though the Act is a little more verbose than that!).

DullGreyGuy

TooManyPoints said:

County Councils are exempt from the requirement, didnt think the lower tier local councils were...

Yes that's about it (though the Act is a little more verbose than that!).

So given it was stated it as a "local authority" it could have been something lower than a County Council and therefore not exempt

Beeblebr0x

Mildly_Miffed said:

Beeblebr0x said:

daveyjp said:

Get your own quote.  A £250 job can quickly become £3k once insurance get involved.

It's outrageous that insurance companies expect drivers to be scrupulously honest in their dealings, but the regulator allows companies to get away with what I regard as fraud IMO.

It's really not.

Your car gets hit, tail-light broken, wing dented.

Would you be happy if it came back with an eBay second-hand tail-light? Many wouldn't. And that's before the hassle factor (which has to be paid for) of sourcing and ordering and rejecting because it's damaged or the bulbholder's corroded or...

Then there's that dent. If it's good for PDR, great. But if not, the dent has to be pulled or filled, then painted. And that might mean spraying several panels to blend it in so there's no visible colour difference. Glass out?

What if it's not just a dent? What if it has bent something underneath? The bumper's going to have to come off to check it's all straight, although it's probably off for the paint anyway. My own car has a dink in the rear wing predating my ownership - doesn't look much, but the bumper won't stay clipped on, and the gap to the tailgate is MUCH tighter on that side, so the whole wing's moved slightly. It might come out by pulling, it might not.

And, of course, this takes time. Let's say it's a week with paint prep and curing time. So that's provision of a hire car for that week.

I was concerned about hire car costs, as highlighted by davejp

TooManyPoints

So given it was stated it as a "local authority" it could have been something lower than a County Council and therefore not exempt

Very possibly. I've no idea.

I was rather commenting on what seemed to be a general confusion between "self-insuring" (whatever that may mean), the now defunct option to lodge half a million quid as a surety and the complete exemption enjoyed by some government organisations from any of that.