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Running up rental costs whilst waiting for a part for my Freelander 2 - should I be driving the loan car?
My Freelander 2 was shunted in mid-September. The other car was a write-off but there was hardly any visible damage to mine. However, the absorbent cones behind the bumper and the bumper itself have had to be replaced. The car was taken to an approved repairer and a brand new £40,000 Discovery delivered to me as a loan car. Land Rover say they have no bumpers in stock and the car has now been off the road for eight weeks waiting for the part during which time the other party's insurance is paying for my loan car. No wonder insurance premiums are so high. How can it be possible to be out of stock for so long on such a basic item? The workshop says it is waiting for bumpers for two other Freelanders as well.
Asked on 12 January 2013 by RM, via email
Answered by
Honest John
The Freelander has been facelifted, which explains the shortage of old style bumpers, which are no longer in production and have to be specially made in batches. But this reads like a typical 'accident management' outfit scam. If you have signed anything, then it could be that you will have to pay for the completely unnecessary hire of the Discovery under a credit hire agreement. If the bumper is not in stock but your Freelander remains perfectly drivable, then you should be driving it, not the Discovery. The other party's insurer will argue in court that you could have done this and did not mitigate your costs. Instead you ran up a rental bill of possibly as much as £15,000
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