What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Devon help us

I write regarding the letter from MM in last Saturday's Telegraph. As an accident to my wife's car was deemed to be the fault of the other party, our claim was passed to CLAIMFAST who, amongst other things, were to arrange a replacement car. Incidentally a replacement car is covered by our Policy irrespective of who is at fault.

Our car is a 2011 BMW 1 Series and we said that a small automatic would do as a courtesy car. The Rental Company said that a small Automatic was not available. Instead they delivered a near new Vauxhall Insignia, which the paperwork indicated would incur a Daily Hire Charge of £139.13 plus VAT. We could hardly complain about the car offered, but we did complain about the paperwork that we were expected to sign - one form from CLAIMFAST in terms we could not agree, with a page of further terms attached and another form from the car rental company with three pages of terms attached. We refused to accept the rental car on the terms offered. Instead the Accident Repair Company lent us a City Car, which seemingly would only have incurred a hire charge of £40 per day plus VAT had we kept it longer than necessary. On the basis of the above figures we appear to have saved the Insurance Industry about £1,200 in rental charges. Yet another illustration of how car accident costs mount up.

Asked on 15 August 2011 by APK, Devon

Answered by Honest John
Well done. I hope more readers will adopt the same attitude and by saving their insurers money will save themselves stiff increases in insurance premiums caused by these pariahs.
Similar questions
My car was damaged recently. I contacted my insurance and they gave me two options: claim through them and I would have to pay my excess or go through a claims management company that they deal with at...
You don't advise using a claims management company if there's any potential for dispute after an accident. Why is that? What should one use when there is a dispute over liability?
Our car was hit from behind whilst waiting to turn at a junction. The other motorist was profusely apologetic and accepted liability. Our bumper was squashed and pushed out of shape, parking sensors squished...
Related models
A very entertaining car to drive, efficient yet powerful engines, superb infotainment.
 

Value my car

Save £75 on Warranty using code HJ75

with MotorEasy

Get a warranty quote

Save 12% on GAP Insurance

Use HJ21 to save on an ALA policy

See offer