Courtesy car insurance

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Wed 9 May 2012 14:36
Courtesy car insurance - davecooper

I have just booked my car in for its first service. I asked for a courtesy car as I live a fair distance from the dealer. I was asked whether I had fully comprehensive insurance to drive a courtesy car and I said I would check. I looked at my policy document and it says that I am covered for a courtesy car if mine is in for accident repairs with a garage recommended by the insurance company. I rang the insurance company and asked whether this extended to a courtesy car while my car was in for a service and they said no. If I wanted this, I would have to find out the details of the courtesy car in advance and take out insurance for this car for the day. This would cost me £20. I have never had to do this before and I have had a number of courtesy cars over the years. Is this normal now?

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Wed 9 May 2012 15:50
Courtesy car insurance - Bromptonaut

Depends on garage and your insurer. Last time I was offered one it was insured by garage but with a wapping £1k excess. Phoning my own company I was able to arrange a 'temporary additional vehicle' at nil or token cost.

Needed the car details though so there was a glitch when car offered (Saxo) was late back and I got a Picasso demonstrator instead.

I think it's like foreign use, change of details etc etc. Admin that used to be free is now charged for.

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Thu 10 May 2012 00:11
Courtesy car insurance - bonzo dog

Until fairly recently most dealerships would insure the courtesy car on their trade policy.

However as the cost of insurance has gone up & up it now makes more sence for them to exclude this (& obtain a better premium accordingly) & ask the customer to arrange & / or pay for the insurance

As you have found out, the cost is say £20. Multiply this by the amount of times a dealership lends out a courtesy car & you can see why they are doing it

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Thu 10 May 2012 17:17
Courtesy car insurance - galileo

Until fairly recently most dealerships would insure the courtesy car on their trade policy.

However as the cost of insurance has gone up & up it now makes more sence for them to exclude this (& obtain a better premium accordingly) & ask the customer to arrange & / or pay for the insurance

As you have found out, the cost is say £20. Multiply this by the amount of times a dealership lends out a courtesy car & you can see why they are doing it.

Surely courtesy car insurance is no different to insuring cars for test drives?

Is this why one large chain reputedly refuses test drives unless the victim (sorry, customer) signs up to buy first?

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Thu 10 May 2012 18:22
Courtesy car insurance - bonzo dog

Surely courtesy car insurance is no different to insuring cars for test drives?

No idea if or how insurance companies view them differently.

What I do know is that lending out 10 courtesy cars for an average of say 15 hours per day X 7 days per week = a lot more hours that a dealer's cars are on the road than they are for test drives; plus where are they parked etc

Is this why one large chain reputedly refuses test drives unless the victim (sorry, customer) signs up to buy first?

In my experience the use of the word "reputedly" means it's untrue.

Certainly I know of dealerships who, when dealing with customers who endlessly want to test-drive cars but who never actually buy, have said enough is enough & refuse any further test-drives until the customer signs to say he will purchase (which never happens, obviously).

I also know of groups who ask the customer to agree to purchase "subject to a satisfactory test-drive" before transporting the car from one site to another. In the case of national groups this cost can be quite substantial & so IMO understandable.

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