Claim back hire car fees from insurer?
Discussion
Hi all, Im looking for a bit of advice to see our insurance company should help us out with car hire fees. I will try to keep it short and to the facts 😄
Went into the back of someone at the end of Aug 22, went through insurers garage who are Mercedes approved (they were amazing!). No courtesy car available and offered us a 3 door C1/Aygo but need a bigger boot for work so upgraded to the next level at our expense as insurer refused. After a few weeks they advised us a safety part wasnt available till 2024. Waited and waited kept chasing the middle man (Vizion Network who were apalling!). They tried to force garage to fit a green part, they refused on safety grounds, they tried to get them to buy from ebay, garage refused, Vizion tried to get me to accept green parts and even said theyd move the car to another garage who would fit it - I refused! The insurer ended up putting in a complaint to Vizion on our behalf as they werent happy with how they dealt with it. Anyway, they managed to find a genuine new part in Europe and and we eventually got the car back this week after waiting 6 whole months (constantly chasing!) So on to the issue we have, the upgraded hire has cost us £1750 to date as it took so long and we have told the insurer we are not happy that we are out of pocket this much and will be going to the Ombudsman - they have offered us £500 compensation as a gesture to our complaint but Im wondering if we should take it or go to the Ombudsman to try and get the whole £1750 due to unreasonable time it took to fix the car? I must say we have no complaint at all with the garage as they kept us informed and were very honest with us - they even had to get their solicitors involved due to Vizion trying to force them to use a green part. We have since found out that they wrote off 2 other cars due to the shortage of this part so I suppose we should be grateful we got ours back. Sorry for the long post!
Went into the back of someone at the end of Aug 22, went through insurers garage who are Mercedes approved (they were amazing!). No courtesy car available and offered us a 3 door C1/Aygo but need a bigger boot for work so upgraded to the next level at our expense as insurer refused. After a few weeks they advised us a safety part wasnt available till 2024. Waited and waited kept chasing the middle man (Vizion Network who were apalling!). They tried to force garage to fit a green part, they refused on safety grounds, they tried to get them to buy from ebay, garage refused, Vizion tried to get me to accept green parts and even said theyd move the car to another garage who would fit it - I refused! The insurer ended up putting in a complaint to Vizion on our behalf as they werent happy with how they dealt with it. Anyway, they managed to find a genuine new part in Europe and and we eventually got the car back this week after waiting 6 whole months (constantly chasing!) So on to the issue we have, the upgraded hire has cost us £1750 to date as it took so long and we have told the insurer we are not happy that we are out of pocket this much and will be going to the Ombudsman - they have offered us £500 compensation as a gesture to our complaint but Im wondering if we should take it or go to the Ombudsman to try and get the whole £1750 due to unreasonable time it took to fix the car? I must say we have no complaint at all with the garage as they kept us informed and were very honest with us - they even had to get their solicitors involved due to Vizion trying to force them to use a green part. We have since found out that they wrote off 2 other cars due to the shortage of this part so I suppose we should be grateful we got ours back. Sorry for the long post!
MercedesMe said:
Hi all, Im looking for a bit of advice to see our insurance company should help us out with car hire fees. I will try to keep it short and to the facts ??
Went into the back of someone at the end of Aug 22, went through insurers garage who are Mercedes approved (they were amazing!). No courtesy car available and offered us a 3 door C1/Aygo but need a bigger boot for work so upgraded to the next level at our expense as insurer refused. After a few weeks they advised us a safety part wasnt available till 2024. Waited and waited kept chasing the middle man (Vizion Network who were apalling!). They tried to force garage to fit a green part, they refused on safety grounds, they tried to get them to buy from ebay, garage refused, Vizion tried to get me to accept green parts and even said theyd move the car to another garage who would fit it - I refused! The insurer ended up putting in a complaint to Vizion on our behalf as they werent happy with how they dealt with it. Anyway, they managed to find a genuine new part in Europe and and we eventually got the car back this week after waiting 6 whole months (constantly chasing!) So on to the issue we have, the upgraded hire has cost us £1750 to date as it took so long and we have told the insurer we are not happy that we are out of pocket this much and will be going to the Ombudsman - they have offered us £500 compensation as a gesture to our complaint but Im wondering if we should take it or go to the Ombudsman to try and get the whole £1750 due to unreasonable time it took to fix the car? I must say we have no complaint at all with the garage as they kept us informed and were very honest with us - they even had to get their solicitors involved due to Vizion trying to force them to use a green part. We have since found out that they wrote off 2 other cars due to the shortage of this part so I suppose we should be grateful we got ours back. Sorry for the long post!
What is a 'green part'?Went into the back of someone at the end of Aug 22, went through insurers garage who are Mercedes approved (they were amazing!). No courtesy car available and offered us a 3 door C1/Aygo but need a bigger boot for work so upgraded to the next level at our expense as insurer refused. After a few weeks they advised us a safety part wasnt available till 2024. Waited and waited kept chasing the middle man (Vizion Network who were apalling!). They tried to force garage to fit a green part, they refused on safety grounds, they tried to get them to buy from ebay, garage refused, Vizion tried to get me to accept green parts and even said theyd move the car to another garage who would fit it - I refused! The insurer ended up putting in a complaint to Vizion on our behalf as they werent happy with how they dealt with it. Anyway, they managed to find a genuine new part in Europe and and we eventually got the car back this week after waiting 6 whole months (constantly chasing!) So on to the issue we have, the upgraded hire has cost us £1750 to date as it took so long and we have told the insurer we are not happy that we are out of pocket this much and will be going to the Ombudsman - they have offered us £500 compensation as a gesture to our complaint but Im wondering if we should take it or go to the Ombudsman to try and get the whole £1750 due to unreasonable time it took to fix the car? I must say we have no complaint at all with the garage as they kept us informed and were very honest with us - they even had to get their solicitors involved due to Vizion trying to force them to use a green part. We have since found out that they wrote off 2 other cars due to the shortage of this part so I suppose we should be grateful we got ours back. Sorry for the long post!
In terms of car hire... I would think there is no chance of recouping the costs from the insurer. Surely they have complied with their part of the contract by offering the Aygo?
If you upgraded to the next level courtesy car at your own expense then I can't see that you have any claim for the extra fees.
Despite how your repair has been handled parts are in short supply across the board so that probably isn't anyone's fault as such. The way your story reads is that you could have had the car back sooner if you'd have allowed a second hand part to be fitted. I can't see that helping your current stance on the hire car fees incurred.
Despite how your repair has been handled parts are in short supply across the board so that probably isn't anyone's fault as such. The way your story reads is that you could have had the car back sooner if you'd have allowed a second hand part to be fitted. I can't see that helping your current stance on the hire car fees incurred.
I think you're very lucky to get the £500 offer. You were offered a Citroen C1 as a courtesy car. I assume your insurance contract entitles you to a courtesy car, and that's it. So you got what you were entitled to under the contract. It wasn't suitable for you so you paid extra for something that was suitable. That's nothing to do with your insurer, the garage or anyone else.
I assume you could have had the C1 for the entire time, but you chose not to.
I assume you could have had the C1 for the entire time, but you chose not to.
Quite often when purchasing car insurance you are offered a courtesy car upgrade option. This will normally be a larger / more premium car and guaranteed for the time you are without your car.
Did you purchase this? If not then they seem to have offered you what I would expect, but you upgraded to a larger car at your own choice and expense.
Did you purchase this? If not then they seem to have offered you what I would expect, but you upgraded to a larger car at your own choice and expense.
No ideas for a name said:
What is a 'green part'?
From the same network of repairers (my local one has now closed thankfully), it is a part that can be either new and non-genuine, or genuine and used/refurbished.I had a similar argument, but mine only lasted the 3 months until the repairer could offer me ANY hire car (it ended up being a Vauxhall Viva 1.0)...and as I'd kept my insurer informed weekly all the way, and they accepted it was their/their repairer's cause, my insurer paid the full Enterprise hire costs back.
Still took almost 2 years to get the car back to how it was before the accident, as it seems the repairer decided to not put some items on the quote...to keep it below write-off level...and then 'found' more stuff after the work was approved. Then we found more stuff in the week we got it back...including a damaged half-shaft, LSD, disconnected handbrake, missing brake pad sensors, wrong size tyres.
MercedesMe said:
Went into the back of someone at the end of Aug 22, went through insurers garage who are Mercedes approved (they were amazing!). No courtesy car available and offered us a 3 door C1/Aygo but need a bigger boot for work so upgraded to the next level at our expense as insurer refused. After a few weeks they advised us a safety part wasnt available till 2024. Waited and waited kept chasing the middle man (Vizion Network who were apalling!).
If you went to your insurers garage, how does Vizion Network get in the middle of this?Anyway, as others have said, I think you've done pretty well to only have a bill as small as you've got for an upgrade for 6 months, and you've been offered £500 towards it - I'd bite their hand off.
How many miles have you driven in those 6 months? To make you feel better about the cost, think how much you've saved on wear and tear on your own car.
Hi all
Thank you so much for your advise - we will accept the £500 gratefully!
We didnt purchase the extra car hire option on insurance so definitely our fault for that, having never been in an accident before we really didnt see the need but will definitely get it on our next renewal.
Green parts are as others have said, second hand/refurbished/non genuine etc which the garage being a Mercedes approved were unable to fit due to Mercedes not allowing it - the garage also said it could be a safety issue which they would then be liable for. We didnt want this fitted either and wanted genuine Mercedes parts to be used.
Vizion Network are apparently employed as the repair middle man by many insurance companies - I didnt even know this was a thing to be honest and just presumed insurance companies dealt with it. Our opinion of Vizion Network and having read reviews now online are that they are a bunch of cowboys and it will definitely make us think twice about using an insurance company in the future if they use these as their middle man although having looked online it is a lot so we would have a pretty limited pool left.
Thanks for all your advice I will email them and accept their offer 👍
Thank you so much for your advise - we will accept the £500 gratefully!
We didnt purchase the extra car hire option on insurance so definitely our fault for that, having never been in an accident before we really didnt see the need but will definitely get it on our next renewal.
Green parts are as others have said, second hand/refurbished/non genuine etc which the garage being a Mercedes approved were unable to fit due to Mercedes not allowing it - the garage also said it could be a safety issue which they would then be liable for. We didnt want this fitted either and wanted genuine Mercedes parts to be used.
Vizion Network are apparently employed as the repair middle man by many insurance companies - I didnt even know this was a thing to be honest and just presumed insurance companies dealt with it. Our opinion of Vizion Network and having read reviews now online are that they are a bunch of cowboys and it will definitely make us think twice about using an insurance company in the future if they use these as their middle man although having looked online it is a lot so we would have a pretty limited pool left.
Thanks for all your advice I will email them and accept their offer 👍
MercedesMe said:
Green parts are as others have said, second hand/refurbished/non genuine etc which the garage being a Mercedes approved were unable to fit due to Mercedes not allowing it - the garage also said it could be a safety issue which they would then be liable for. We didnt want this fitted either and wanted genuine Mercedes parts to be used.
I am intrigued though as to the part in question?Matt_E_Mulsion said:
If you upgraded to the next level courtesy car at your own expense then I can't see that you have any claim for the extra fees.
Despite how your repair has been handled parts are in short supply across the board so that probably isn't anyone's fault as such. The way your story reads is that you could have had the car back sooner if you'd have allowed a second hand part to be fitted. I can't see that helping your current stance on the hire car fees incurred.
Yeah they did say some parts were terrible and on back order for years and that some cars had been sitting for a couple of months we just didnt expect it to be 6 mths - the radar being one of the parts they were unable to get hold of. We werent allowed the car sooner as they wouldnt fit a green part - the part was a safety part and therefore the car was unfortunately undrivable. It could have been worse I suppose and they could have wrote the car off so we are thankful we have it back now.Despite how your repair has been handled parts are in short supply across the board so that probably isn't anyone's fault as such. The way your story reads is that you could have had the car back sooner if you'd have allowed a second hand part to be fitted. I can't see that helping your current stance on the hire car fees incurred.
Lots of cars are not considered unsafe for not even having this device. Could this not have been temporarily disabled via the car's software and the car driven without as all others are?
Then when back in stock the part could have been installed. The safety argument of permanently fitting a an unknown part is understandable but otherwise driving without even if they make you sign a disclaimer seems to me to be perfectly reasonable. After all the Aygo or its upgrade certainly / almost certainly does not have this feature. Shock horror death is imminent (not).
Then when back in stock the part could have been installed. The safety argument of permanently fitting a an unknown part is understandable but otherwise driving without even if they make you sign a disclaimer seems to me to be perfectly reasonable. After all the Aygo or its upgrade certainly / almost certainly does not have this feature. Shock horror death is imminent (not).
996TT02 said:
Lots of cars are not considered unsafe for not even having this device. Could this not have been temporarily disabled via the car's software and the car driven without as all others are?
Then when back in stock the part could have been installed. The safety argument of permanently fitting a an unknown part is understandable but otherwise driving without even if they make you sign a disclaimer seems to me to be perfectly reasonable. After all the Aygo or its upgrade certainly / almost certainly does not have this feature. Shock horror death is imminent (not).
Iffy from an insurance POV as the car is rated based on its fitted safety features.Then when back in stock the part could have been installed. The safety argument of permanently fitting a an unknown part is understandable but otherwise driving without even if they make you sign a disclaimer seems to me to be perfectly reasonable. After all the Aygo or its upgrade certainly / almost certainly does not have this feature. Shock horror death is imminent (not).
Indeed it's a term in some policies now that any such features mustn't be disabled - so even turning them off, where possible, is a bit dodgy. Coding things out is a definite no no.
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