Well my car is away for repair and the loan car turned up.

A 1.7d vauxhall zafeira covered in scratches which aren't on the paperwork.

Not impressed. Phoned Skoda, apparently it's the only car europcar had but they've got it in the diary to speak to them tomorrow so looks like they're on the job.

 

Europcar have 250 branches with lots of cars in each so are very unlikely to run out of cars. My guest is that ensurance, being the parasites they are pay europcar a pittance whilst obviously charging the other persons insurance (and therefore all other insurance premium payers) top dollar. I'm guessing that europcar have given you whatever they are unlikely to be able to rent out at full price on the open market.  

 

When I had a hire care through Albany, a similar bunch of parasites it was an immaculate insignia Sri with 1000 miles on the clock. The other persons insurers did say though that the £112 a day charged by Albany was excessive, at £70 a day above standard prices charged by europcar, i'd agree.  The other insurers said that they would contest the car hire charges as apparently, all parties involved in the claims processes have a legal obligation to try to minimise unreasonable costs.

 

What I'm saying is, if you need to vent your spleen, I'd do it to the parasites, ensurance that you invited to handle your claim. They will be making an absolute mint from the other blokes insurer. I also wouldn't be surprised if the other persons insurer asks why you need an identical spec car when the idea of courtesy cars is to keep you mobile with a similar size of car... or if they offer you a courtesy car at a reasonable rental cost to themselves rather than the exploitative one ensurance will invoice them for.

There's a few issues here but my take of it is,

I was hit my a 3rd party who in addition to the police saying were at fault, their insurance has admitted fault.

I am inconvenienced through no fault of mine by having to deal with all this carp.

On top of that. I pay hundreds of pounds a month to have a decent car. Why should I have to pay all that money in finance or depreciation etc and have a car that clearly isn't up to scratch.

Would anyone like to swap their vrs for a zafera?

In addition to this the car isn't actually a fair replacement. I do a lot of miles there's no bluetooth no satnav no xenons etc etc etc.

Agreed but best you can get is a similar size.  No one will match the spec or car the loaner is to replace.

Deleted

Edited 18 February, 201412 yr by JamesVRSmk3

- A dirty white van with builders mud all over. 

Sounds lovely, just like my daily driver. 

I find it helps me to appreciate the nice car I have 

all the more on the rare occasions I take that out.

Like today for example.  

Frankly at the moment I'd settle for a car rather than the van with windows vauxhall try to flog for 20 grand that I've been lumped with.  It really does drive like one of the work's Vauxhall Vivaros just with worst blind spots (car mirrors) and less comfortable, although at least not limited to 60 - I almost lost the plot last time I had to travel 400 miles on the motorway in a limited van.

Was useful for shifting a bed tonight though. But it really is awful, not 1.6 Astra automatic awful but close.

I can understand people needing a people carrier but why does anyone buy vauxhall? With exception of the insignia they don't even use proper switch gear on the indicators, wipers etc.

My back is killing me as well. Awesome - back to the physio I go, stopped having shooting pains down both legs after moving from the fabia to octavia got a feeling it's coming back.

As for Skoda ensurance I'm afraid I don't much care at the moment who I shout at whether it be them or europcar as I'm not hugely happy. Although Skoda ensurance have actually been very good for me so far.

Looks like it'll be an interesting "2 to 4" weeks

Edited 19 February, 201412 yr by gullyg

You posted news of your a accident on January 8th. It was a relatively small amount of damage with police testimony that the other driver was a fault. You get a hire car yesterday that you're obviously not satisfied with and yet you still say that ensurance have been very good. Waiting well over five weeks for a repair to even start is, in my opinion very poor and significantly longer than many companies would take had another interested party not been involved.

You posted news of your a accident on January 8th. It was a relatively small amount of damage with police testimony that the other driver was a fault. You get a hire car yesterday that you're obviously not satisfied with and yet you still say that ensurance have been very good. Waiting well over five weeks for a repair to even start is, in my opinion very poor and significantly longer than many companies would take had another interested party not been involved.

 

Agreed, this is why I'd never bother with Skoda Ensurance.  I'd much rather deal with things myself, yes it's hassle and stress, but it'll be worse if your comes back and they've done a crap job after waiting all those weeks.

Not their fault expect perhaps the hire car.

My insurance were initially slow, then switched to lorrys insurance once they admitted fault as I don't need to pay excess etc.

Then it's taken weeks and weeks for the vw repair centre to get the parts. Again not ensurances fault and perfectly understandable.

What I have had is regular contact with a single claims handler who has arranged specialist repairers, dealt with the insurance companies and kept me up to date on a week by week basis even when there was no news and updated me as soon as there was.

The hire car has been a **** up with swmbo not being insured either but europcar have admitted fault on that one and have stated Skoda did ask for a better car and for the insurance properly.

Having had a similar situation when swmbo was rear ended and the start of the year marks and Spencer's insurance weren't as good. Direct line when I dealt with them were completely hopeless.

You are entitled to your opinion of Skoda ensure calling them parasites if you want. However my experience with them has been a good one and would use them again.

Just count your blessings you get a similar size vehicle IMHO!

 

We only get a vehicle, no guarantees which size.

 

YES I've had a Fiat 500 as a courtesy car when my Mazda 626 estate was being repaired. Why is that so bad you might ask? well ... I play a besson sovereign Bb tuba ...

Actually an older model which is a few cm longer from bell to bottom.

 

Does it fit in the trunk? No!

It doesn't even fit behind 1 front seat if you fold half the backseat.

It doesn't go into the backseat, since the bell is too big to get it in (it was a 3 door ...)

What I had to do was fold both sides of the backseat and place the tuba DIAGONALLY with the bell closest to the front seat (meaning most of the weight furthest possible away from the body when you load it into the car).

 

On the plus side the mechanic had gotten the electric window aligned so it would actually go up - the Ford mechanic I'd used after a break in had managed to screw that up and had no idea how to fix it... 

Seems at least something is consistent in both UK and DK - the quality of Ford workshops !

So europcar just delivered a shiny new. Less than 1500 miles, 1.6tdi "blue motion" passat estate.

Nice looking car but not have a chance to actually drive it or anything yet.

Good thing though. That zafera was chewing diesel, only got 30mpg.

Edited 21 February, 201412 yr by gullyg

Well hopefully this is almost the end of the saga, apart from the whole increased insurance premiums and endless reliving of the bl**dy thing every time I get a quote for insurance for the next 5 years.

 

So the repair centre dropped off the car yesterday when I was out, the repair looks perfect - there's no way to tell that the car was in an accident.  The only issue is it looks like the bonding for the quarter-light hasn't set properly and the seal flexes very slightly.  I don't know if this is right or not, all I can say is it's not the same on the other side, it may just need more time to set.

 

I phoned the repair centre and they're going to come down from Kirkcaldy on monday to look at it and are bringing a courtesy car in case it needs to go away.

 

Europcar picked up the Passat this morning, out of a "bluemotion" I got 39.8 mpg, less than the vRS!  The passat was a really nice car to dive, but it did feel really dull and lifeless compared to the vRS.

 

A little present the repair centre left for me in the boot of the car were the two Gemini wheels that were lightly (very very slightly) damaged in the smash.  Now I'm left with the question of what to do with them.  I have 4 winter (currently on the car) tyres and 4 summer tyres, I'm tempted to get another 2 geminis and put the summer tyres on the best of the set but they're £300 a wheel.  The other option would be possibly to sell the 2 damaged alloys for what I can get for them and buy four turinis for my winter tyres, assuming that doesn't put the insurance up too much with the non-standard wheels.

I haven't read all the posts but the Honest John Website has good advice on such circumstances. There is a strong warning about accident management companies providing hires cars and the potential loss to the driver whether at fault or not.

 

Also if the insurance co will not fight your corner you can sue the driver for your losses.

Maybe you need to look at these options and seek proper legal advice.

I haven't read all the posts but the Honest John Website has good advice on such circumstances. There is a strong warning about accident management companies providing hires cars and the potential loss to the driver whether at fault or not.

 

Also if the insurance co will not fight your corner you can sue the driver for your losses.

Maybe you need to look at these options and seek proper legal advice.

 

 

The lorry's insurance admitted fault and I couldn't fault Skoda ensurance. 

 

It'll still cost me a fortune in increased insurance premiums.

What Skoda approved body shop did they use in kirkcaldy? The warranty work on my car was done in west Lothian somewhere. I think!

You may be able to sue the individual for "uninsured losses".

What Skoda approved body shop did they use in kirkcaldy? The warranty work on my car was done in west Lothian somewhere. I think!

 

 

Specialist Cars, they are a VW Dealer (John Clark I think). 

 

I worked in retail for almost 10 years mainly dealing with other companies on warranty work and mistakes always happen no matter how good a company is, how well they rectify the issue is more important. They seem genuinely concerned that the window isn't right.  So far, very impressed.

Edited 1 March, 201412 yr by gullyg

Fingers crossed it's all sorted soon

Well hopefully this is almost the end of the saga, apart from the whole increased insurance premiums and endless reliving of the bl**dy thing every time I get a quote for insurance for the next 5 years.

Some insurers only ask if you've made a claim in the last 3 years so (privilege being one) so just go with one I them, that's what I've done in the past.

As, I hope, a final update on this...  Thanks to everyone for their kind words and support.

 

So the car is back again, this time the window is fixed, the repair looks perfect and the car came back with almost a full tank of fuel - although in sport mode unlike the eco mode I'd deliberately left it in

 

Specialist cars were excellent, very apologetic about the poor seal on the window and picked up the car from swmbo's work on monday leaving her a 1.4TSI Golf (Which apparently was "horrible" and "uncomfortable").  On calling them about the fuel situation Specialist Cars told swmbo not to worry about the fuel in the golf and they'd put some fuel in the Octy by way of an apology as well as actually apologising profusely.

 

I was down south most of last week for work so didn't get to deal with it, the Octy went and was back whilst I was driving a 1.4i Astra around heathrow (scarred for life - I don't think I've driven a car with so little go for a long long time).

 

A few things I've "got out" of this whole experiance,

I would recommend Skoda ensurance, at all times they were helpful and kept me up do date.

I would also recommend Specialist Cars up in Kirkcaldy.  They did make one mistake. bonding the window poorly but quickly rectified it and otherwise the repair appears to be perfect, although the car is in the garage on thursday to get the sound generator rattle looked at so it'll be interesting to see what the dealer makes of it.

I wouldn't recommend europcar - I thought Enterprise was bad .... ... ..

I still hate Vauxhall with a passion, along with every single people carrier I have ever had the misfortune to drive.  But the Passat is a nice car, if a little thirsty and boring.

 

I went for a drive up to St. Abbs Head this afternoon but didn't manage to get many decent photos, partly because it was really windy but also because a lowered Saxo with black wheels parked right next to me and it was a bit odd taking photos with another car with people in it.  But the car drives perfectly (although it aways did) and yet again reminded me how good the mk3 Octavia is compared to so many other cars.

 

I wouldn't recommend getting hit by a lorry but at least everything is back to "normal" plus I have two very lightly damaged Gemini wheels to show for it - thinking I'm going to try and flog them and buy a set of Turini wheels to put my winter tyres on.

Edited 8 March, 201412 yr by gullyg

happy ending

Excellent news. Congratulations. I think getting in your own car after driving others is like getting in your own bed after staying in a hotel.  It just feels like home.

 

Out of interest, do you need to have the total cost of the claim for subsequent insurers?

 

Time to make up for lost miles now

Excellent news. Congratulations. I think getting in your own car after driving others is like getting in your own bed after staying in a hotel.  It just feels like home.

 

Out of interest, do you need to have the total cost of the claim for subsequent insurers?

 

Time to make up for lost miles now

 

 

I think it was £3200ish plus £37/day for the hire car which was about 10 days ish.  About £3500.

 

As for making up for the lost miles - that's maybe the only good thing, I noticed the odo is up to over 4000 miles now and I only got the car in late November on a 10k/year pcp - oops.

Ha ha. Yes, my 10k will also be too low as I do more driving for pleasure than I expected to. Oh well, 7.2 pence per mile it is then.

Been quietly following your issues and Its great to hear you finally have a resolution to this ordeal!

Touching on your hire car issue.

I also cant stand vauxhalls. Had them a few times as hire cars around 6 or 7 years back (Astra's). Cheap, underpowered cars, with horrible materials. Indicator stalks were just plain odd.

Eventually got fed up using Europcar as they only ever seemed to have vauxhalls.