Friend borrowed my car and had an accident.

Have you seen any of the evidence relating to the accident? I’d be starting to wonder if it really was 100% not her fault.

If it's been written off, the OP really needs to start communicating directly with the insurance company. She can't let her "friend" do the negotiating re value etc. As others have said, the insurers should be providing a courtesy car.

What category have they classed the total loss? And what is the pre—accident value quoted for the car compared to the net cost of repair? You may be able to ask for a cash in lieu offer instead of the car being uneconomical to repair which you can then take the cash and go to a local garage for repair within that budget if you can get it agreed. Just an option if you’d rather it wasn’t declared a t/l but it may be too late if already registered as one

If you have a 3 point plug you do have charging facilities
Now the car is written off, I think this is reasonable until you can sort your own new car

It’s her insurance that’s dealing with it so that’s the main thing. I thought the thread was going to be about her not being insured. It 100% wasn’t her fault so def not worth falling out over. You can gently pressurise her to chase them but these things take time

btw we had a bump earlier this year that needed bodywork doing- took ages. Did get done though, after about 4 months.

My husband is a panel beater with his own garage and is fully booked until end of September and some jobs into October. If they take your car now it’ll be lying in the garage until they can repair, at least this way you have use of the car.

You need to get her to give you written permission to talk to her insurer.

You can get temporary policies on a vehicle

Does the insurer covering the repair contain courtesy car cover? If so, tell them you want a courtesy car. Your car is not safe due to one door not being able to open.

I have been on the other end of this and crashed my friends car on holiday. I was chasing every day to ensure a speedy fix. If she won't do this I think you should get all the numbers and details from your friend and follow it all up yourself. I won't ever borrow another car.

If she’s a good enough friend you lent her your car then you can be honest and share with her the stress and inconvenience this is causing you!

We recently let someone borrow our campervan and they got their own temporary insurance as adding them to our policy, if they had an accident it would mean we’d lose our no claims and our premiums would go up.

I would insist I kept her car until it was fixed. It’s the very least she can do given the circumstances

Can you borrow her car while she’s away if yours isn’t fixed? I think that’s the least she can do!

Didn't you add her to your insurance? Relying on her cover might mean third party cover only.

When I worked for an insurance company, it was possible to add someone temporarily onto your own insurance policy to allow them to drive hour car, but not possible for the temporary driver to take out a temporary insurance policy with another company on a car they don't own. Maybe things have changed since then, though?

I agree, it wasn't her fault and even if you have a prang yourself it can take ages with insurance/ garage.

It can take a while for insurance companies to sort repairs out. Can your friend give you all the insurance details and authorise for them to deal with you? Then if not sorted when she goes away you can deal with them?

I'm surprised, both times someone has hit my car in the last 2 years (one very recent) the insurance company having been very quick and efficient to sort it (Tesco and Aviva if you are intersted). It was pretty much booked in on the same day I reported it and car organised for me from Enterprise. They didn't need to wait for anything from the other insurance company they reclaimed that after and refunded me once it was sorted....that bit did take ages.

Hope you can get this sorted out quickly by the means suggested OP.

Have you got a hire car from your friend’s insurance company? With door damage and that you have said that they don’t open, this should be classed as unroadworthy and a hire car provided. This is assuming that your friend ticked the ‘courtesy car’ box of course.
You can be an authorised person on your friend’s policy, they just need to give your name, date of birth, permission, etc. to the insurance company and then they can speak with you.
The estimate, authorisation phase is generally quite controlled and has strict SLAs attached. It’s getting the vehicle booked in to a busy workshop that can take the time.
This is speaking from my claims handling experience of course, not all insurance companies are the same. I hope it all sorts soon, for you.