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!

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?

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

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

So messaged her today for an update and just got back ‘no, nothing yet’. I’m beginning to feel like it’s really not a priority for her 😞

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

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.

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!

Don’t really want her car, it’s electric and we don’t have charging facilities.

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.

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.

You can get temporary policies on a vehicle

Arghhhh. The nightmare continues. She just phoned me to say the car has been written off. So now I can’t drive it at all. We live rurally so this a real nightmare.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

Then you need to be tougher that she needs to sort this asap! Sounds like she's being flaky.

I am assuming your friend’s fully comprehensive insurance didn’t include uninsured loss recovery? It is worth checking to see if it did, as you would then be covered for car hire while yours is unusable. Ask to see the insurance policy.

If car hire is not included, you can still make a claim for uninsured losses against the third party who was responsible for the damage to the car. It’s payable by his insurance, because his liability is for all your losses. So you contact your insurers and the third party insurers and tell them you are making a claim for car hire because your car has been written off and you need a car. I used to do this but thirty years ago and I was in a law office where we had all the information - insurers and third party insurers and driver’s information. I think you do need to get your friend to name you as agent - you need to talk to the insurers as the owner of the car and explain your needs and your wish to make a claim for car hire. Also you need to be the person agreeing the amount of money you are prepared to accept for the written off vehicle, because insurers always offer the minimum on the first go and you have to go back and tell them that’s not enough. Just how the game is played. Good luck.

My DS had an accident in my car beginning of March. Was almost the end of April before it went for repair. We did t get it back till mid June! I think it can just be a slow process with insurance companies only using certain repair companies so there may be a long wait if the garage is busy. Very frustrating for customers though!

Where is the car now op? If its been written off then no you shouldnt drive it.

When my car was hit, I had to take photos of the damage to send to my insurance, they informed me it was written off within 2 days. Its strange her insurance told her to take it to a garage then said its not repairable three weeks later. I got the value of my car but lost my excess even though i was not at fault. So you probably won't get fully what it's worth.
Moral of the story, don't buy electric, they can't be charged everywhere if your doing a road trip.

No, the moral is, don't lend anyone your car.