Car hire on insurance after accident?

thenashlegend

So yesterday I had the misfortune of being hit from behind by another car, the guards were called and the details exchanged. But my car is now out of action for the next few weeks while she puts all the information through her insurance company, Zurich to be exact!

Is there any way I can hire a car at her insurance company's expense or is it just a case of being stuck without one?

I wouldn't go looking for it just to be awkward but I do quite a bit of driving for college and work, without the car I can't get anywhere.

Any information would be appreciated, thanks.

oldyouth

If the other party is at fault, you are entitled to reasonable car hire for the length of time it reasonably will take to repair your vehicle, usually limited to 2 weeks. You should ring her insurer, not wait for her to do it. They may have an arrangement with a garage to supply hire cars

Anan1

thenashlegend wrote: »

So yesterday I had the misfortune of being hit from behind by another car, the guards were called and the details exchanged. But my car is now out of action for the next few weeks while she puts all the information through her insurance company, Zurich to be exact!

Is there any way I can hire a car at her insurance company's expense or is it just a case of being stuck without one?

I wouldn't go looking for it just to be awkward but I do quite a bit of driving for college and work, without the car I can't get anywhere.

Any information would be appreciated, thanks.

The easiest way for you to proceed is to let your own insurance company handle the whole thing. They'll give you a car, arrange the repair of your own car, and recover the money from Zurich on your behalf. As the claim will ultimately be against the other party's insurance your own NCB won't be affected.

chris85

Anan1 wrote: »

The easiest way for you to proceed is to let your own insurance company handle the whole thing. They'll give you a car, arrange the repair of your own car, and recover the money from Zurich on your behalf. As the claim will ultimately be against the other party's insurance your own NCB won't be affected.

This is what I have done in the past. I always ring my insurer and I bring car to my insurers authorised garage where they have a rental waiting for me to pick up and go with. They ring when repairs are sorted and car ready and I pick up. Its always been other parties fault so my insurer just claim from other insurer I imagine.

Just deal through your insurance company and tell them you need a car, they will sort this for you and claim from other persons insurance. Will not affect your NCB.

thenashlegend

Thanks for the replies, will have to get on the phone to my own insurance company tomorrow so and see what they can put in place. Hopefully the repairs won't take too long anyway!

Neilw

Don't forget you can bring your car anywhere to be fixed, it doesn't need to be your or the other persons "approved" repairer. If you know of a better body shop you can bring it there.

You are also entitled to depreciation on your car, iirc it's 10% of the cost of the repairs.

thenashlegend

Thanks again for all the replies, finally in the process of getting it sorted. My own insurance company Aviva, wouldn't deal with it unless I brought it to one of their repairers. As it turned out, the person at fault put it through their insurance company(Zurich), who I have to say, were very quick and efficient!

They called me within a couple of hours of it being reported, had an assessor out the same day and organised my rental car too. My own is now gone to the garage for repair but all in all it was a good thumbs up to Zurich.

Wexfordian

Anan1 wrote: »

The easiest way for you to proceed is to let your own insurance company handle the whole thing. They'll give you a car, arrange the repair of your own car, and recover the money from Zurich on your behalf. As the claim will ultimately be against the other party's insurance your own NCB won't be affected.

You need to be careful with this though. If your insurance is up for renewal before the issue is settled, its an open claim on your insurance, and will impact your renewal. You will also not be able to switch insurers as you have an open claim. The fact that there is no question as to you being at fault isn't relevant to this. I no longer deal with one company for not making this clear and being awkward about it at renewal.

Anan1

Wexfordian wrote: »

You need to be careful with this though. If your insurance is up for renewal before the issue is settled, its an open claim on your insurance, and will impact your renewal. You will also not be able to switch insurers as you have an open claim. The fact that there is no question as to you being at fault isn't relevant to this. I no longer deal with one company for not making this clear and being awkward about it at renewal.

That's true but it's been my experience that, in a case of clear-cut liability, they'll issue a letter to the effect that they've paid out but expect to get all the money back, which will then be accepted by other insurers.