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!

I said upthread, OP as legal owner and loss payee has the right to engage directly, no need to be nominated as agent for the friend.

No. The insurance firm will be paying top whack for a high quality repair using new parts and using an approved bodyshop (who charge more). They'll also have to pay for a courtesy/hire car whilst being repaired.

If the OP buys it back, they can use their own chosen (cheaper) bodyshop who will probably use second hand parts (probably from scrapyard) and won't provide a courtesy car. They'll probably have money left over if they haggle/negotiate a proper value from the insurers, i.e. cost of a replacement vehicle of the same age, mileage, condition, etc.

When a moronic neighbour wrote off our car, the bodyshop had quoted £5k for repairs inc courtesy car. The car was worth £2,500. We had it repaired by a "grease monkey" bodyshop on the industrial estate for £1,500 so actually made some money on it, (to compensate for it's lower resale value as a previous write off). That was all cosmetic too, no structural damage.

Depends on category. Cosmetic write offs are fine to put back on the road. There are different categories according to extent and nature of damage. Some are written off with a specific category that are banned from being repaired and put back on the road. You can google for the different categories.

It's only "uneconomical" for the insurance firm to repair as they have to use new parts, approved bodyshops and are on the hook to provide a hire/courtesy car for the duration until the car is repaired. That can sometimes be several weeks of the bodyshops are busy or they have trouble sourcing parts. At a few hundred pounds per week, the hire/courtesy car costs soon mount up.

For cosmetic only damage, it's usually better to take the market value from the insurer (don't forget to haggle), buy it back from them for scrap value (usually £300 or so), and get a back street grease monkey bodyshop to do the repair using scrapyard parts.

You can deal with the problem through your insurance company or hers. Phone them.

You don't have to use the insurer approved garage, you can push to nominate your own but the excess may be higher (this only matters if you have to pay excess).

It really doesn't sound like your friend is pushing for your best interests very much if at all. I know you've said she's lovely but I'd really be taking a long look at the friendship as letting someone suffer after they did you a massive favour is pretty shabby.

I would still query this with the insurance company. In my case as I was only dealing with the other drivers insurance, as soon as they heard I couldn’t open a back door they demanded I stop driving the car immediately (as it was back passenger door i didn’t even think!) and had a rental out to me as door damage affects road worthiness and then they become liable. Therefore although I had to wait months to have it fixed I was having a lovely time in my new rental car!

Massive CF. Why should you be out of pocket at all when she caused it!

Are you sure she was actually insured? Regardless she's a cf and why on earth should you be out of pocket for her crashing your car. The cheeky fuckery of some people is mind-boggling! NO NO No op do not be sharing any of these costs this one is on her to sort out.

Comprehensive doesn't always cover cars lent or hired to you, why didn't you get her added to your insurance? It doesn't normally cost much about £30

Yup. The damage has certainly been done.

No.

Tell her she has to pay in full. CF.

Just an fyi your vehicle isn't road legal if the door doesn't open. The vehicle wouldn't pass it's MOT as all doors are classed as an escape route.

Get on to her insurance and ask they take the car away straight away to be fixed. It will all be down to parts ETA as well.

This!

What an awful situation. A lot now will depend on how much the insurance will pay out for the car , how much you need to buy the car back off the insurance then how much the repairs will cost .
At the very least your friend should make sure you're not out of pocket. This should also include her providing you with a car while yours is off the road .

She didn’t “cause” it though did she. She happened to be the person driving when a car crashed into it.

It does still open and shut.

Here’s the damage. I can still open the doors but the back one makes an awful noise .

i would get advice if that would pass an MOT. It may be that as they are damaged this could make it harder in a accident.

my insurance said I have two weeks to get a MOT. If there’s structural damage I’ll have to scrap it otherwise hoping to repair. Will see what they say.

That’s good. I was told that my insurance would have been invalidated as I was driving a car knowingly un road worthy. My case was a bit more clear cut as I def couldn’t open the door.

Have you tried approaching the fault persons insurance company? They might offer a cash in lieu and not write it off. You can then get the repairs done.
It's probably only a CAT N write off

But the OP a had absolutely nothing to do with the accident. So the “friend” suggesting that OP should be out of pocket for 50% of the costs is totally outrageous.

If you can’t see this, you need to be aware that you may well be a CF/user in your own life

My car went into garage for repairs at the end of June and it is still not ready! I was given crappy tiny courtesy car after 28days passed (during which I had similar replacement car to what I originally had) and insurance company said that according to my insurance agreement, I am only entitled to 'like for like' car for 28 days only. Absolutely crap crap crap service, but can not do anything about it 😤
There's nothing your friend can do at this point, I believe, but wait. Ask her to authorise you to speak on her behalf (especially, that she is going abroad soon) and try calling the insurance. But it wouldn't move your case faster, I am afraid 😟

Irrelevant. It wouldn't have happened had the OP not lent the car. The friend may not have caused it, but we don't know if she contributed to it by parking badly, or where she shouldn't have done. But that's irrelevant. It wouldn't have been in that place and at that time if the friend hadn't taken it.

It's 100% on the friend to sort this out and ensure the OP isn't out of pocket at all.

You claim the "extras" costs via uninsured loss recovery. That includes the full time a hire/courtesy car may be required if not provided/paid for by the insurer. You can also claim lots of other costs too, such as costs of phone calls, taxis to/from the bodyshop if necessary, the loss of your excess, etc etc. The OP needs to start being more proactive and assertive with both her "friend" and the various insurance firms involved. She shouldn't be out of pocket for even a penny if it wasn't her fault and she wasn't the one driving it at the time.