AIBU to think I should have a curtesy car by now?

[Moon30]

So in the early hours of last Friday the police knocked on our door and said that they was in persuit of another vehicle after it failed to stop, the other vehicle eventually hit our parked car and the driver was arrested. It's not major damage, but because there's a small gap between the panels, they've deemed it unsafe to drive, so they'll arrange a curtesy car for me while mine is being repaired. However, it's now Tuesday, and I've had no curtesy car arranged, nor has my car been booked in for repairs. The garage, who is arranging the repairs and curtesy car are saying they need to speak with the other cars insurer first. However, they were on hold for too long yesterday, so will try again within 72 hours. I need my car, I'm self-employed and having to cancel work because I have no way of getting there as it's outside of my local area. Does it normally take this long? Looking online, it seems to me that usually a curtesy car is arranged within a day 🤷‍♀️ I've already chased them up twice but still getting the same answer. Surely the police log ref is enough evidence? my insurer have already stated that I'm not at fault, and they'll claim costs back with the other insurer.
This is the first time I've had to deal with anything like this, but I was expecting the process to be a little quicker

There is still some cosmetic repairs that are needed to my car however they can't proceed until they've had confirmation from the other insurer, if they can't regain their costs through their insurance then it may have to go to court which will take longer.

Atleast I can drive my own car now while waiting for the repairs to be organised, this has reduced my stress levels massively lol

In a similar situation my insurance suggested a rental company (one I didn't know) who were comparatively cheap, delivered the car promptly and took it back when my car was fixed. The insurance did pay for the hire, but I had to cover it first and claim it back. Talk to your insurance and say you have to have a car now, and see what they can offer.

Have you n3ver heard of a bus or a train or walking lol people who drive n then loose access to tjeir cars are th3 funniest people ever omg ive no car i now housebound cannot go to work or take k8ds to school or anywhere i can't even go to the bar or the shops without my car lol

Depends on your insurance cover. But in my experience your insurer usually tells you where to take your car and hires you a car from a rental place. Legally they can't claim anything from the other person's insurance until all the work is completed so they know exactly how much they need to claim back.
Unless they suspect the other driver had no insurance; then they might drag their feet

Wow this is quite the assumption given that you know absolutely nothing about me 🤣 I actually use my car for work, I'm self employed and I carry alot of equipment with me, unfortunately i can't lug that around on a bus to another town, I'm not an octopus 🙄

I'm currently still waiting for a hire car, nor has my car been taken in for repair yet. I'm thankful that I'm allowed to drive my car now otherwise I'd have lost alot of income. My insurance need the name of the driver however they are reluctant to get the name from the police because it will cost them to put in a request for the police report. The other insurer won't deal with anything until mine have the name, so I'm not sure if there is some questions regarding it being stolen or not. Would easily be resolved if they requested the police report but that's a last resort option, my insurer are hoping the 3rd party admits liability first, rather then going down the more expensive route.
But even if the car was stolen I do have uninsured driver protection on my policy so would my insurer still have a responsibility to repair my car?

Why can you not ask for the name of the driver from the police?

I've tried, they've said that my insurer will need to request it due to data protection.

I think your insurance company is having you on slightly, I’d make a formal complaint

use resolver and mention if it’s not resolved soon you will be pursuing with the
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

that might make them pull their finger out. They are being exceptionally unprofessional to tell you they aren’t pursuing a police report because they’d need to pay and for that alone you should be able to get your complaint moving

out of interest which cowboy company is this so we can all avoid them?

eta www.resolver.co.uk/complaints/insurance-complaints

I'm very tempted to just drop this claim.

It's all very complicated and so much more stressful than I anticipated.
My insurer passed me on to a company to organise the repairs and courtesy car, and now they have passed me to a local garage for the repairs and have said that they can no longer give me a courtesy car but the repair garage can instead, I spoke with the repair garage yesterday who was under the impression my courtesy car was with the previous company, but said they would arrange one anyway and someone will call me. Now I've just found in my junk folder an email for me to sign an agreement for a hire car with the first company.

I saw a post on here yesterday where the OP signed up for a credit hire car without realising and now I'm worrying that I'm about to sign onto the same thing without really understanding what's going on at all. I'm going to call my insurer tomorrow and ask them to clarify what's going on because I'm so confused 😔

And now I'm being asked to pay my excess fee despite being told originally by my insurance that they had wavered the fee due to not being at fault. They've said I can claim the fee back later but with the 3rd party being difficult I'm beginning to think that the only way they'll get the 3rd party to cooperate is through legal action

I'm very tempted to just drop this claim

Before you do, you need to check (get it in writing) that it won’t affect your premiums for next year. I know it wasn’t your fault and that, to date, you’ve not cost them any money, but just reporting it can make a difference in some circumstances.

Thank you, I will! I'm hoping it won't because I do pay extra for no claims bonus protection, but it seems they just do as they please anyway 😏

The difficulty is that the uninsured driver clause requires the driver to be identified, ie the name has to be known.
If the driver is not known, it is an untracked driver scenario.
How much is the damage to your car?

It's not major damage, you can't see it from a distance anyway 🤣

It's likely that the back passenger wing above the tyre will need replacing due to some dints along the edge that likely won't come out due to their postition. The lights at the back may also need replacing as they're scratched along the bottom half which may effect the visibility and the corner bumper will also need replacing due some deep grooves in the bumper and 1 of the clips snapped so it no longer clicks into place correctly. The door scratches will probably buff out or could be touched up in the more deep scratches. I've seen worse damage on other cars though and was expecting it to be much worse than it was when the police knocked on the door.

The issue with not having the drivers name could be resolved if my insurers requested the police report, the lady I spoke to last did say that she would put a request in further up but it may be rejected this early into the claim and it's usually only for the last resort before taking legal action.

I kinda feel that we shouldn't drop the claim out of principle because the 3rd party can't just evade the police and then drive recklessly in the process because it could have been a very different outcome if he had hit a pedestrian or a car with people in. I'm hoping atleast some charges for dangerous driving will have stuck but we've no idea what he's been charged with either.

They've declared my car is a write off, without anyone actually seeing it in person 😬
I was going to call and cancel the claim today, because of the massive headache it's been.
And now i've no idea whether I'll still get a curtesy car until they've paid out. This is all very messy 😔

It is a pain in the behind when they write your car off- you do not get a courtesy car after that. You could get another reputable garage to give you an estimate and look at the value of the car and challenge it, but I do not know many people who have succeeded.
I would contact the complaints department at your insurer for messy you around.
Also even if you cancel your claim your car will still be registered as a right off- which would affect the resale value
My sympathies