Hope someone can help, my car has gone into the garage for repair through my insurance, the garage have had my car for three weeks and it is still not finished, i have been given a courtesy car, the insurance off my car was swapped over to the courtesy car by either the garage or the insurance company, the problem i have is my insurance policy ran out on the 27th of december so i have been told i have to take the courtesy car back as i have no insurance as it has expired, now is it up to the insurance (which has now expired) to keep me insured on the courtesy car or do i have to find insurance myself? i phoned the insurance who said my policy has expired so its nothing to do with them, i explained i still have the courtesy car on my drive with no insurance and this claim is still with them, do they have to keep me provided with a car or not?

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks

Makes perfect sense.

Phone your insurance company back, tell them you fully understand their position, you accept that you cannot have a courtesy car whilst they return you to the position you were in before the accident (ie your car repaired and returned) and as such they can pick up the courtesy car when they deliver your hire car before 12 noon tomorrow.

If the hire car is not there before noon, you will have no option but to invoice them for a taxi fare to Glasgow/Inverness/London/Truro as you have a journey planned.

See if they are willing to add a few days on after that

Thanks for that i will try it first thing tomorrow.

Insurance of a courtesy car is down to you, they have provided you with a car, but you need to ensure adequate insurance is in place, if you hadn't had an accident and your insurance policy ran out then you would not be able to drive your own car.

If one of our policyholders used that 'taxi to Inverness' as suggested they would be told in no unceratin terms what the law is and who would end up paying the taxi fee (and that would be you)

Mossy

I agree with Mossy. You have use of a car while yours is being repaired so why have you not continued your insurance policy?

if its is part of your insurance that they will provide a courtesy car whilst yours is being repaired,it should be down to the insurers to continue to provide cover for the CC.

regardless if your policy has expired with them(cheaper quote elsewhere etc).

Why should you have to pay extra insurance for service you have already paid for in your premium?

I agree with Mossy. You have use of a car while yours is being repaired so why have you not continued your insurance policy?

I have not continued my policy because they wanted £1115 for insurance, it was £570 and i had a letter stating the insurers had changed their underwriting criteria and were no longer to offer me insurance through them and the new quote was the same broker but different insurers.

if its is part of your insurance that they will provide a courtesy car whilst yours is being repaired,it should be down to the insurers to continue to provide cover for the CC.

 

regardless if your policy has expired with them(cheaper quote elsewhere etc).

 

Why should you have to pay extra insurance for service you have already paid for in your premium?

That was my argument with them, anyhow ive just phoned them ive to find temporary insurance cover on the courtesy car and send them the reciept for it they will then reinburse me.

That was my argument with them, anyhow ive just phoned them ive to find temporary insurance cover on the courtesy car and send them the reciept for it they will then reinburse me.

Why can't they provide you with temporay cover? This just isn't adding up to me. Unless the liability of the claim is in dispute somehow.

I assume you will be obtaing insurance for your own car when it is fixed elsewhere?

Insurance of a courtesy car is down to you, they have provided you with a car, but you need to ensure adequate insurance is in place, if you hadn't had an accident and your insurance policy ran out then you would not be able to drive your own car.

 

If one of our policyholders used that 'taxi to Inverness' as suggested they would be told in no unceratin terms what the law is and who would end up paying the taxi fee (and that would be you)

 

Mossy

I disagree Mossy, any insurance customer of mine who had been given a courtesy or hire car would not be expected to pay insurance on said vehicle. They would also have it for the full duration of repairs, and would not be expected to pay out one red cent.

The second half of your post kind of tells us which sort of insurance company you work for:rolleyes:

Please explain to me how your company justifies leaving a customer in a worse off situation following a claim when they have insured themselves against it?

Why can't they provide you with temporay cover? This just isn't adding up to me. Unless the liability of the claim is in dispute somehow.

 

I assume you will be obtaing insurance for your own car when it is fixed elsewhere?

They said they can't provide temporary insurance because my insurance has lapsed or something to that effect, the accident was my fault i accepted full liability for it the insurance have accepted this and the garage was told to go ahead with repairs, i have insurance on my car with a different insurance company i was suppose to get my car back on the 17th of december before my insurance expired ive been told it might be ready by next week.

Regardless of fault your insurance needs to return you to the position you were in before the accident, minus any xs on your policy.

If you don't want to fight it/make a fuss then you could consider getting your new insurer to cover you either as a temp second vehicle or as a temp change of vehicle. In addition, most approved repairers have insurance covering the courtesy car for use by customers, sometimes this is limited to 7 days, however returning the vehicle to them and being reissued with it may restart the clock on that one.

End of the day I am sure you just hope this is over and done with as soon as possible.

Regardless of fault your insurance needs to return you to the position you were in before the accident, minus any xs on your policy.

 

If you don't want to fight it/make a fuss then you could consider getting your new insurer to cover you either as a temp second vehicle or as a temp change of vehicle. In addition, most approved repairers have insurance covering the courtesy car for use by customers, sometimes this is limited to 7 days, however returning the vehicle to them and being reissued with it may restart the clock on that one.

 

End of the day I am sure you just hope this is over and done with as soon as possible.

I have phoned my new insurer and they have put the courtesy car on as a temporary car, my old insurance said this was ok and to send them the bill for it, and your right i do want it over and done with and my own car back.

Thankyou for all your help.

I disagree Mossy, any insurance customer of mine who had been given a courtesy or hire car would not be expected to pay insurance on said vehicle. They would also have it for the full duration of repairs, and would not be expected to pay out one red cent.

 

The second half of your post kind of tells us which sort of insurance company you work for:rolleyes:

 

Please explain to me how your company justifies leaving a customer in a worse off situation following a claim when they have insured themselves against it?

The customer isn't in a worse off position, before the accident they had a vehicle and they had insurance. After the accident they didn't have a vehicle but they still had insurance, so they effect a temporary COV (change of vehicle) to the courtesy car. They are then in the exact same position as they were pre-accident. If the policy runs out then they can no longer legally take their own car on the road, so likewise they cannot take the courtesy car on the road.

If the courtesy car came with insurance included then it would be betterment, which is not the underlying principal of insurance, and if the policyholder incurs any additional expenses then they claim them back under uninsured losses if the accident was not their fault.

The second half of my post tells you that I work for a Company that does not get intimidated by customers trying on threat tactics, if we did then our premiums would rise and our level of service would go down.

Mossy

Hardly a threat if a customer has a journey to make and a taxi is required because A. Their car has not been repaired as yet. B. The "courtesy" car can no longer be used. (not really correct to call it a courtesy car as it is no longer useable).

So no, I do not see it as betterment.

Obviously cars take time to be fixed, however the repairer (approved by the insurance company and working a contract for) gave the OP an estimate of when it would be ready, they did not complete the job in time. If the repairer had treated the repairs as a priority I am sure they could have been done in the original timescale without all this fuss, the insurer is equally responsible for their repairers timescale on repairs. Why should the OP lose out financially?

Your premiums may rise if your company did things correctly and for the benefit of the customer, however I think you will find the level of service would also increase.

If the hire car is not there before noon, you will have no option but to invoice them for a taxi fare to Glasgow/Inverness/London/Truro as you have a journey planned.

 

See if they are willing to add a few days on after that

That was the threat you suggested the OP to make.

If the journey was a real one and existed 'outside of your head' then I would consider it, but we don't entertain intimidation by people who 'think' they know what is correct

Try looking up the phrase 'mitigation of losses' maybe then you will realise why no insurer would be liable for a taxi fare, if you don't like what you learn then write to your MP and get the law changed, until then it's as I have stated.

Mossy

totally agree with Mossy here, if the OP paid insurance for a vehicle prior to the ax, not paying premiums now would clearly be betterment.

with regards to repair delays, if you worked in the industry surely you would know that very rarely are repairs completed ontime, quite often due to problems in QC or Valet on a friday afternoon!

totally agree with Mossy here, if the OP paid insurance for a vehicle prior to the ax, not paying premiums now would clearly be betterment.

 

with regards to repair delays, if you worked in the industry surely you would know that very rarely are repairs completed ontime, quite often due to problems in QC or Valet on a friday afternoon!

Yeah but 10 days is stretchin a bit. I have to say though, I can't see why the OP is finding it hard to understand that he still needs to re-new his premium. He says the accident was his fault so obviously it is going to cost him more.The cost of covering the courtesy car dosn't really come in to it because cover for it had been transfered from his own car so where is the issue here?

the OP said the insurers or the garage swapped the insurance over

they have no right to amend the OP policy cover without his permission

also the insurers would not re-insure him and passed him onto someone else.

If the PH has paid his full premium for the year 2008-2009 and the accident has occured during that period and if his policy states that they will provide a CC for the duration of the repairs following an accident (regardless of blame),why should he pay and another yearly premium just so can drive around in a courtesy car?

why should he pay and another yearly premium just so can drive around in a courtesy car?

Because his policy had expired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He doesn't have to take out a full years policy he can arrange temporary cover for the days or weeks it was needed, probably through the owner of the courtesy car

Mossy

yes his policy has expired....."courtesy car for the duration of the reapairs"

If this is the policy wording and he has fully paid, it should continue until the repairs are completed,regardless if the policy has since expired & it should be then down to the insurance company to provide cover. Should they also stop repairs??

Best to have an accident while you have got a few months left on your policy then;)

yes his policy has expired....."courtesy car for the duration of the reapairs"

 

I was under the impression they were willing to allow him to keep the courtesy car for the duration of the repairs, provision of a courtesy car is one thing insurance for it is another

Mossy

Yeah but 10 days is stretchin a bit. I have to say though, I can't see why the OP is finding it hard to understand that he still needs to re-new his premium. He says the accident was his fault so obviously it is going to cost him more.The cost of covering the courtesy car dosn't really come in to it because cover for it had been transfered from his own car so where is the issue here?

I have renewed my premium with a different insurer, like i said the company i was with will no longer insure me and i was told by them last week i would have to take the courtesy car back because my insurance had expired, the garage where my car is at also told me that its was down to my old insurers to keep me insured on the courtesy car whether my insurance had expired or not because the claim happened before it had expired, anyhow i phoned my old insurance yesterday like i say and got told to find temporary insurance on the courtesy car and send the reciepts into them they will then refund me the money.

Best to have an accident while you have got a few months left on your policy then;)

I fully agree with you on that

I have renewed my premium with a different insurer, like i said the company i was with will no longer insure me and i was told by them last week i would have to take the courtesy car back because my insurance had expired, the garage where my car is at also told me that its was down to my old insurers to keep me insured on the courtesy car whether my insurance had expired or not because the claim happened before it had expired, anyhow i phoned my old insurance yesterday like i say and got told to find temporary insurance on the courtesy car and send the reciepts into them they will then refund me the money.

So problem solved then!