Friend borrowed my car and had an accident.

[Bullbreedbliss]

So my friend, who is lovely, went on holiday to a remote area in the uk but she was worried as she has an electric car and there are limited charging stations so I let her borrow my car. Unfortunately someone drove into them and damaged the passenger doors. I can still drive the car but I can’t open the damaged doors and it looks awful. It wasn’t her fault as someone drove into her however it was her accident so we are having to deal with her insurance to get it fixed. We are approaching three weeks post accident and we are still waiting for the garage to take the car. First the garage said they were waiting for the insurance company to approve work, but that appears so have been authorised now so I don’t understand what’s taking so long. It’s frustrating as it’s her insurance company so it’s not like I can phone up to talk to them, and we are stuck using the insurance approved garage. I’m starting to feel quite anxious as she goes away abroad for six weeks soon and I feel like the longer we leave it, the less likely that it will be repaired. I feel guilty as I’ve been messaging her for updates and starting to feel like I’m badgering her. Moral of the story.. never lend your car out!

Sorry OP, that’s shit. Doesn’t sound like there’s anything you can do but wait for the process to complete. It will get there eventually.

Why are you feeling guilty for badgering her?
In her shoes I would feel awful and be doing everything I could to get this sorted as quickly as possible while apologising profusely

That’s not the moral of the story.

Shit happens, it could have happened to you when you were driving it.

I think you need to get her to speak to them and confirm the process. When someone hit us and we had to claim it was very confusing as to whether the work was approved and could go ahead and it turned out that actually we were supposed to pass on a certain bit of paperwork to the garage whereas we'd not been told that and thought we were still waiting for further approvals. It took absolutely ages but lots of that was unnecessary waiting so do make sure you know what happens when and how long they expect it to take

Its crap but you just have to wait. When I had an accident in my own car it took about 4 weeks for it to get booked in after approval and that was me dealing with it directly and chasing every week. It just takes time for things to be booked in and as you can still drive it it probably wont be a priority for the garage. Also if they need parts these can sometimes be on back order (that was my issue I needed a new bumper that took 4 weeks to arrive)
Dont feel guilty about chasing but also know that there is probably nothing your friend can do but wait for a repair date

I am surprised her insurance covers it at all, to be honest. My partner is only covered by his fully comp on his car for third party damage and himself while driving my car. It's always a gamble letting him drive mine. Luckily, my car is very cheap and bought for cash so I am not breaking any lease agreements.. Otherwise he would have to cycle while his car is in a garage.

No, the moral of the story is don't lend your car to people if you don't want to deal with a potential accident.

I agree with this. Most comprehensive insurance only cover third party when driving someone else's car. Are you sure she's covered for the repairs?

Yes. We made sure she got comprehensive insurance although its wasn’t her fault so the other driver’s insurance will have to pay.

Yep. Accidents happen, and car accidents are inconvenient, costly, and take ages to deal with regardless of who was driving at the time.

Neither of you has done anything wrong. Just be glad no-one was actually hurt.

Is she definitely insured on your car to cover the damage to your car? I guess the insurance of the car who hit her is the one paying? I’m surprised it isn’t your insurance involved though. On my insurance I can drive other cars but I think it’s only covered third party. I would have thought it would have been better to have added her to your policy as a named driver for the period she was using your car.

If she wasn't at fault it's not her level of cover that counts - it's the other driver's insurer that will ultimately be paying.

You can also get temporary comprehensive cover to drive someone else's car. We did this to borrow my Dad's car once as it was cheaper than adding me on to his policy as a named driver.

Tbh though, if I was your friend I'd have given you the option of driving my car, seeing as it's her fault that you are without one.

Honestly OP this sort of thing takes ages unfortunately.
We had a crash two years ago; someone drove into the back of us whilst we were stationary in a queue - totally his fault, he wasn't paying attention.
The call was drivable but not really safe; we got a curtesy car through our insurance . But the authorised garage was over an hour drive away.
It then took over a month for it to be fixed - problems with parts etc.
We got our car back over a month later but the close has only just been finally closed in our favour nearly 2 & half years later!
Don't feel guilty about contacting your friend, she should be doing everything possible to get it sorted asap for you.

She could have added it as a temp car on cover on her own policy

How did she get comprehensive insurance on your car? I'd have thought you'd have to add her as a named driver on your comprehensive policy?
Either way, it's surely the other party's insurance who should be paying out, but are you sure all is as she says it is re the insurance situation?

The obvious solution is for you to have her car and her to have yours until it's fixed, then you have a perfectly good car to use and she has more incentive to chase up the insurance company and get the one she's driving sorted.

Can you suggest that to her?

She should be chasing them and keeping you updated. That's the most she can do.

Not ideal. I did have her car whilst she had mine although it’s electric and I don’t have any charging facilities so it was a pain having so drive out to a charger and wait. It worked out more expensive too. She did say to me to keep her car then she wanted it back as apparently it’s due to go into the garage for something.

Yeah. She got comprehensive insurance on my car.

Can she give her insurers authority to discuss the case with you? I appreciate this puts more of the onus on you, but it might be easier if you can go direct to them for updates, arranging the repairs, etc.

People are mentioning that fully comp insurance gives you third party cover to drive any car. This used to be standard, but nowadays it really isn’t. A lot of insurance policies these days do not cover the policyholder to drive other cars - always check your policy before driving a different car. Driving without insurance carries a big fine (150% of weekly come, plus costs, iirc) and at least six points - eight if there’s any sort of accident.

The moral of the story is that shit happens - accidents happen all the time.

The moral of this story is electric cars are shit.

Are you sure she has insurance?

Temporary insurance is a thing.