Insurance rental cars

On Tuesday night, while we were at our Spanish lesson, someone crashed into Geoff's ute. We heard the crash and spoke to the person involved. He'd been affected by sunstrike. We swapped details, the ute was driveable so all was (sort of) well.

FMG had the panelbeaters look at the ute and, depending on whether they replace the tray in one go or bit by bit, it will either take a couple of days or a couple of weeks. So far so good.

Geoff uses the ute to get to work each day - an 80k round trip. We also use it around the farm to shift things and it's used to pick up hay and feed from Cambridge. So he needs a replacement vehicle, preferably a ute but not necessarily.

FMG say the insurance doesn't cover a rental vehicle. When Geoff pointed out that he wasn't at fault so shouldn't have to pay for a rental vehicle FMG agreed that it was reasonable to sue the other party for the costs of a rental car but that we'd have to do it on our own - they won't do it.

The panelbeaters said at first that they didn't have a courtesy car but changed their mind after a couple of phone calls.

So - finally to my point - when you're at no fault why are you expected to put up with a dodgy courtesy car or pay out for a rental car? I admit the ute is a bit of a donger but if you have a nice car for making business calls it's not reasonable.

Just wanted to vent [}][}]
Kate

I have to say that as far as FMG goes with car insurance, I'm not impressed by them one little bit. When it's time for renewal we're going elsewhere!

Insurance works differently here in NZ

We went through this when an idiot drove, no, crashed at high speed around a blind corner, into our ute. As we haven't selected the higher-priced option of having our insurance cover a replacement vehicle, we knew we'd have to make some other arrangement, although we did ask if the pbeaters had one. If you hadn't seen who it was who crashed into the ute, you'd have been up for the excess as well!

Years ago in NSW I was involved in a crash on the western motorway, a woman in an F100 changed lanes without looking and a young mum in a small 1970's corona have to swerve to miss the F100 coming across on top of her, but went sideways across my lane instead, and I hit her....

Anyhow at the time I was insured with NRMA (their insurance business has long been sold out to IAG who is in NZ and who we are dealing with for the burned house issue) and I was able to hire a rental car to replace my car whilst my Uncle had it in his shop being fixed.

My insurer did all the necessary work to have the lot paid for, told me they would handle chasing the other drivers insurer for all costs, and they said the others party's insurer would have to cough for the rental anyhow, no question at all. I never heard any more about it, so presume all went according to what I was told.

However.... we have found out with the burned house issue, lots of "little" bits of coverage that one might find in others policies are not in ours, our latest discovery is to find out we need to take out a building policy whilst the new house gets replaced/built, in case of storm damage or theft. This is while we are still paying for the original house insurance policy that no longer exists, because a claim is in place and the policy must remain up to date whilst the claim is active...... go figure.

The rental car option is now an "optional extra" for which you pay an extra on your premium.

I agree, it should be standard practice, not an optional extra. But most of the panel beaters seem to have a courtesy vehicle available for your use while yours is in being repaired. But when Ronnie's car was off the road, I had to take him to work, then go and get him again later in the day for the first 4 days, before the courtesy car became available.

Not sure how much extra the rental car option is on the insurance, but might just look into it as it is a real hassle without a vehicle.

It's really a case of you can have whatever bells and whistles you want on your insurance - if you are prepared to pay the higher premiums!

If the panel beater won't give you a courtesy car, find another one that will.

But doesn't the rental car option on your policy only cover you if you are at fault, and ultimately, if someone else is at fault, then they have to pick up your costs?:confused:

tigger;143250 wrote: ...If the panel beater won't give you a courtesy car, find another one that will.

You assume an element of choice in the matter.

swaggie;143294 wrote: But doesn't the rental car option on your policy only cover you if you are at fault, and ultimately, if someone else is at fault, then they have to pick up your costs?:confused:

If someone else is at fault but hit and ran, you pick up the excess, any extra costs, the inconvenience ... You have to provide the identity of the other party for them to be taken to task by the insurer, otherwise it's all yours. [!]

I have always been able to chose the panel beater I use, Isla, no matter what the prang involved. Hamilton is full of them, so you are spoilt for choice - not that far for Kate and hubby to go if it means they can get a courtesy car out of it.

Kate, have they specified who you must use or something?

Not a problem with me... more cars than sense... I just hop in the next and go shopping for a new one.

Um, is that because they are wrecks to begin with, kiwi?? [}] [:0]

well... except for two, I've never paid more than 2.5K for a car... most were under 1.5K One is the serena van which I got through a dealer since I needed a work van that would actually keep going and deliver me to a customers house and the other was the nifty little MGF I had to sell cause payments were high when I ended up unable to work for a while... Excess demerits are a pain in the arse

tigger;143339 wrote: I have always been able to chose the panel beater I use, Isla, no matter what the prang involved. Hamilton is full of them, so you are spoilt for choice ...

Lucky you. We have one to choose from.

tigger;143339 wrote: I have always been able to chose the panel beater I use, Isla, no matter what the prang involved. Hamilton is full of them, so you are spoilt for choice - not that far for Kate and hubby to go if it means they can get a courtesy car out of it.

Kate, have they specified who you must use or something?

I've always found that insurance companies have a recommended panel beater. On the numerous occasions my car has been hit I use a Cambridge panel beater but Geoff is using a Hamilton one that FMG told him to ring...

If he really needs a courtesy car, ring FMG and tell them that you're not happy using that outfit. They'll have a list of options, I'm sure.

We've always used Hamilton Panelworks on Devon St, good workmanship, reliable, and courtesy cars.