View Full Version : Hire car through insurance
Just trying to find out some more info. I've just had an accident in my car and have tried to claim on the insurance. I have paid for courtesy car cover and as such expected a courtesy car. I've just basically been told that I cannot have a courtesy car as I am too far north and they will offer me £210 instead and that is my only offer. I am doing a job that involved me being oncall at nights and weekends and I have to be in within 15 minutes of being called. I explained that I cannot be without a car for this reason and they have said that I could collect (and then drop off again) a car in Inverness.
I asked how they could sell a service that actually isn't offered - they didn't have an answer for this.
Has anyone else ever heard of this?
When we had a run in with a deer, the car had to be repaired and we got a courtesy car from the insurance company with no problem. The car was repaired by Kens Garage at Kildary and they offered to drive up to us with the courtesy car and take our car away to be fixed. When it was repaired they offered to bring it back to us. We decided to take it down and collect it ourselves, so we could go shopping to Inverness!
Thanks 98E - glad to know someone else has been through the same and got through it.
I asked how they could sell a service that actually isn't offered - they didn't have an answer for this.
Has anyone else ever heard of this?
can I ask who your insurance providers are?
Bobinovich
06-Dec-11, 21:53
Had a similar experience when a 3rd party shunted me from behind one mid December evening. My car, though still driveable, would require a weeks' work to repair during which I would need a courtesy car. The 3rd parties' insurance (1st Central) were prompt with the paperwork, but took ages before the wheels were set in motion (mid February) and the car duly booked in with Dunnets for repair (1st week March).
I was given the phone details for Kinderton (the firm they use for courtesy cars) to arrange delivery of a car and they promptly told me they don't service this area and they'd e-mailed 1st Central within a week of the accident to tell them so!! I got back onto 1st Central who suggested I contact local garages for car hire prices which they could then reimburse, however when faced with significantly higher charges than Kinderton, they renegged on the deal, leaving me without a car!
My own insurance had been contacted at the outset and informed of the situation so I got back in touch to see if they could offer anything. While aghast at my treatment by 1st Central, they said if I now raised any claim through them I would have to pay my £350 excess - as I explained I could hire a car for a week for less!
So I was left for a working week with no car - having examined my diary I was able to delay out-of-town jobs to the following week, so reacquainted myself with walking and the bike when the weather was ok, and resorted to taxis when it rained. It was my daughter's birthday that weekend and I'd promised a day trip to Inverness as her treat - Dunnet's came to the rescue and graciously offered a car for the weekend.
Once I got the car back I wrote a letter to 1st Central asking them how they could class that as good customer service. I also requested they cover my costs - phone calls, taxis, etc. - plus an ex-gratia payment for the inconvenience caused, all of which would have cost them much less than the car hire they would have had to pay for. They were fine with the costs but refused to accept any responsibility for the rest, and no agreement of counter offer on the ex-gratia payment.
The moral: next time, if there is one, I'll just let my own insurance deal with everything!
I got a courtesy car but only for 3 days because my car was deemed a write off. Had it been rapairable I could have kept the car until my one was ready. They both delivered the car and came for it again from Inverness If I mind right. RAC it was.
DeHaviLand
07-Dec-11, 11:48
These are the reasons why you should always have legal cover with your car insurance. Basically, insurers dont really want to know once they have your money. If you've already paid them, anything else they have to deal with for you is just an inconvenience to them. In your case gleeber, you were entitled to a hire car until you had accepted an offer for your write-off. In fact, you should have had the hire car right up until the insurers cheque cleared.
In your case Bobinovich, I'm sure you would have had a hire car without any problem if your legal cover was dealing with it.
And TAFKAL, if you've paid for a service, you're entitled to receive that service. Your insurer cant just back out now. They have entered into a contract with you to provide this service, and that is what they have to do. Take legal advice, that'll soon have them changing their mind.
I had a bike related incident some years ago, it was parked on the street and a numpty backed into it and knocked it over doing about £2500 of damage.:eek: I was contacted by a claims management company within a couple of hours of making my claim and they arranged for a curtesy bike to be delivered that I kept for 3 weeks untill my bike was assessed. My insurance company refused to persue the claim as their assessor disagreed with the assessment given by the repairer.
The upshot was as far as I am aware no claim was made but I still got a free bike for 3 weeks! These claims management companies get a bad press but they certainly know how to play the system!
What you can do (if the accident isnt your fault) is pay for a hire car and then "sue"/claim back it through the other peoples insurance.
cuddlepop
07-Dec-11, 16:59
Our car was damaged about the same time as yours so i've been following this thread with interest.
Basically our car was parked up when a "numpty" forgot to put her handbrake on which resulted in our "new" car being slammed into by her car which was travelling down hill gathering speed all the time.
Our car is right off and we too have been left with no courtesy car,garage our car went to does not supply courtesy cars this far north...its in Dingwall.
Other half bused it down to Oban and will finish his shift on the 23rd of this month.
Hopefully he'll bribe a good friend because until we get insurance check we're carless.
Even though her insurance verably accept full responsibilty NFU our insureres will pay out less excess,...its bad eneogh anytime of year but just before christmas its a nightmare.
OH and by the way because its not been registered in other halfs name yet we have to wait for DVLA to issue log book.
Keep praying nothing else can go wrong.
You have our sympathy.
Not insurance directly, but road rescue and recovery as part of car insurance. Asked before taking out policy if in the event of a breakdown we could be taken to our destination that was to be OK. When the worst happened on the way to an important, urgent hospital appointment we were told we could only be taken home. Long story short, the ombudsman is now looking into the policy having been "mis-sold" as the selling agents were still saying recovery to destination was an option as recently as last week. The annual policy expires on 31st January, so they won`t be getting the business again.
Only courtesy car I ever had was in Edinburgh. As soon as my car was fixed they wanted it back within the hour. We told them before we took the car we were coming to Caithness for the weekend and that was to be no problem. Luckily my insurers paid the extra when the situation was explained to them. They agreed the repairer was being unreasonable.
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