Replacement car from Insurance Co after accident?

mouse.on.mars

Will my insurance company likely offer me a replacement car while mine is off the road? I can't call them until Monday morning, so I was just wondering in the meantime if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing. If they do, how long does that usually take to get a car?
I'm fully comp - but I can't seem to find my policy details at the minute.
Also, I was supposed to be driving to France on the ferry this week with my car, but now it's off the road, are they going to tell me I can't take the replacement car out of the country?
Thanks -

bazz26

Any answers here would just be speculation, it totally depends on your policy. But very unlikely any rental car provided would be covered to leave the country.

mouse.on.mars

bazz26 wrote: »

Any answers here would just be speculation, it totally depends on your policy. But very unlikely any rental car provided would be covered to leave the country.

Sure I get that - I won't really know until tomorrow, but surely if I pay for insurance that allows me to drive that car out of the country, then would that not apply to any vehicle I'm insured with on that policy?

mgbgt1978

It would be part of the Rental Company's Terms & Conditions....nothing to do with your Insurer.
All your Insurer will do is pay the cost of a Hire Car for X amount of days.

bazz26

mouse.on.mars wrote: »

Sure I get that - I won't really know until tomorrow, but surely if I pay for insurance that allows me to drive that car out of the country, then would that not apply to any vehicle I'm insured with on that policy?

That logic doesn't apply to a replacement rental car under an insurance policy though. A rental car is only given to you as a temporary measure to get you around as per the agreement of your insurance policy. You don't own it and the terms of the agreement will most likely not cover taking it outside the country.

Generally rental car cover under insurance companies is the bare minimum expense to the insurance company where you get the cheapest available rental car. Also they will most likely only offer you rental cover if your car is off the road through an accident, not mechanical failure.

CiniO

bazz26 wrote: »

Any answers here would just be speculation, it totally depends on your policy. But very unlikely any rental car provided would be covered to leave the country.

Would that be common among Irish rental companies?
Wherever I rented a car in Europe, there was never a problem with driving abroad. Sometimes this cost a tiny bit extra, but such option was always available.
Is it different in Ireland?

mouse.on.mars

bazz26 wrote: »

That logic doesn't apply to a replacement rental car under an insurance policy though. A rental car is only given to you as a temporary measure to get you around as per the agreement of your insurance policy. You don't own it and the terms of the agreement will most likely not cover taking it outside the country.

Generally rental car cover under insurance companies is the bare minimum expense to the insurance company where you get the cheapest available rental car. Also they will most likely only offer you rental cover if your car is off the road through an accident, not mechanical failure.

Sure - yes, it was an accident. I'm not sure what I can do now. Rental companies seem to not let you take a car out of the country whatsoever... Cannot NOT go on this trip

CiniO

bazz26 wrote: »

That logic doesn't apply to a replacement rental car under an insurance policy though. A rental car is only given to you as a temporary measure to get you around as per the agreement of your insurance policy. You don't own it and the terms of the agreement will most likely not cover taking it outside the country.

Generally rental car cover under insurance companies is the bare minimum expense to the insurance company where you get the cheapest available rental car. Also they will most likely only offer you rental cover if your car is off the road through an accident, not mechanical failure.

Does it not depend on who is at fault in the accident?
If it's OP, then his insurer might or might not offer him replacement car for as long as insurer will be happy to offer it (usually 5 to 7 days).
On the other hand, if it's other party's fault, then OP should be entitled to rental car of the same class and size as his, and he should be able to drive it wherever he wishes including abroad.
That would be to compensate fact that he can not use his own car not because of his own fault.

mouse.on.mars

CiniO wrote: »

Does it not depend on who is at fault in the accident?
If it's OP, then his insurer might or might not offer him replacement car for as long as insurer will be happy to offer it (usually 5 to 7 days).
On the other hand, if it's other party's fault, then OP should be entitled to rental car of the same class and size as his, and he should be able to drive it wherever he wishes including abroad.
That would be to compensate fact that he can not use his own car not because of his own fault.

No other car involved in accident - car spun off the road in ice

bazz26

CiniO wrote: »

Would that be common among Irish rental companies?
Wherever I rented a car in Europe, there was never a problem with driving abroad. Sometimes this cost a tiny bit extra, but such option was always available.
Is it different in Ireland?

Generally any replacement rental car supplied under your insurance policy really only covers the minimum as insurance companies only pay the cheapest rate to the rental company. It might be something the OP can negotiate with the rental company to upgrade but not with their insurance company.

I had my car off the road a few years back and insurance company only provided me with a very small replacement rental car. I was able to upgrade to a bigger car for an additional fee but the insurance company would not pay the additional fee. Some insurance companies however may have in their policy to replace like for like and/or other benefits under their policy.

CiniO wrote: »

Does it not depend on who is at fault in the accident?
If it's OP, then his insurer might or might not offer him replacement car for as long as insurer will be happy to offer it (usually 5 to 7 days).
On the other hand, if it's other party's fault, then OP should be entitled to rental car of the same class and size as his, and he should be able to drive it wherever he wishes including abroad.
That would be to compensate fact that he can not use his own car not because of his own fault.

The OP mentioned in his/her first post that he/she could not find their policy documents and was ringing their insurance company for an answer tomorrow so I assumed they are claiming from their own policy. I'm guessing that they probably had an accident due to snow/ice and no other party was involved.

CiniO

bazz26 wrote: »

Generally any replacement rental car supplied under your insurance policy really only covers the minimum as insurance companies only pay the cheapest rate to the rental company. It might be something the OP can negotiate with the rental company to upgrade but not with their insurance company.

I had my car off the road a few years back and insurance company only provided me with a very small replacement rental car. I was able to upgrade to a bigger car for an additional fee but the insurance company would not pay the additional fee. Some insurance companies however may have in their policy to replace like for like and/or other benefits under their policy.

This makes sense when it's replacement car under OP's policy because of accident out of his own fault.

The OP mentioned in his/her first post that he/she could not find their policy documents and was ringing their insurance company for an answer tomorrow so I assumed they are claiming from their own policy. I'm guessing that they probably had an accident due to snow/ice and no other party was involved.

Well OP confirmed above exactly what you were guessing

Anyway - hypothetically if it wasn't OP's fault, I would assume OP be entitled to car of the same class and size and his, which could be taken abroad, and this should be paid by third party insurer.

mouse.on.mars

bazz26 wrote: »

Generally any replacement rental car supplied under your insurance policy really only covers the minimum as insurance companies only pay the cheapest rate to the rental company. It might be something the OP can negotiate with the rental company to upgrade but not with their insurance company.

I had my car off the road a few years back and insurance company only provided me with a very small replacement rental car. I was able to upgrade to a bigger car for an additional fee but the insurance company would not pay the additional fee. Some insurance companies however may have in their policy to replace like for like and/or other benefits under their policy.



The OP mentioned in his/her first post that he/she could not find their policy documents and was ringing their insurance company for an answer tomorrow so I assumed they are claiming from their own policy. I'm guessing that they probably had an accident due to snow/ice and no other party was involved.

Well - my insurance company hilariously don't even offer a courtesy car ... first I've ever heard of this. That's a long-standing customer, fully comp, First Ireland. Lovely.

delthedriver

mouse.on.mars wrote: »

Well - my insurance company hilariously don't even offer a courtesy car ... first I've ever heard of this. That's a long-standing customer, fully comp, First Ireland. Lovely.

First Ireland are your broker, not Insurer.

Terms and conditions will vary between different Insurers. Usually the cheapest premium , may mean a no frills policy!

Del2005

mouse.on.mars wrote: »

Well - my insurance company hilariously don't even offer a courtesy car ... first I've ever heard of this. That's a long-standing customer, fully comp, First Ireland. Lovely.

Your first problem is thinking that insurance companies actually care about their customers, their product is mandatory so they do as they please. Then you have to fully compare products to make sure that they meet your needs as insurance companies are constantly cutting benefits to make policies cheaper, as they keep increasing them.

Its going to be expensive to get a hire car here to go to France, might be cheaper to travel as a foot passenger and hire in France with the added benefit of sitting on the correct side.

mouse.on.mars

delthedriver wrote: »

First Ireland are your broker, not Insurer.

Terms and conditions will vary between different Insurers. Usually the cheapest premium , may mean a no frills policy!

Yes - sorry, to clarify - Wrightway Insurance, First Ireland broker, though it was First Ireland who sold me the policy.

mouse.on.mars

Del2005 wrote: »

Your first problem is thinking that insurance companies actually care about their customers, their product is mandatory so they do as they please. Then you have to fully compare products to make sure that they meet your needs as insurance companies are constantly cutting benefits to make policies cheaper, as they keep increasing them.

Its going to be expensive to get a hire car here to go to France, might be cheaper to travel as a foot passenger and hire in France with the added benefit of sitting on the correct side.

I've got some good quotes over here for 2 weeks car rental, however they won't let me take the car out of the country. I've too much stuff I was taking over in the car to be able to do the foot passenger thing unfortunately.

My last resort is this...
I'm allowed to choose the garage I want the repair work to be done at, is that correct?
If so, there's a Citroen garage here who will give me a car while they're doing the work.
It's my last option!

mgbgt1978

Up to a point. If they have asessed the value of repair at say €1,400 and this Citroen garage are looking for €2,500 then you would have to foot the bill for the difference.
If there were a relatively small price difference between 'their' repairers and your garage then you could probably haggle with them to pay your garage's quote.