Martin* was parked outside the grocery store in the parking lot when all of a sudden an elderly man reversed into him, damaging his car. The old man had insurance and agreed to repair the damages, so Martin sent his car in to the panel beater. But Martin is a sales rep and he has to be able to get to clients for his job – his car will be at the panel beater for at least 3-4 days! Martin got a quote for a rental car and sent this on to the old man who reversed into him. Now the old man is refusing to talk to him, and no one wants to pay for the rental car. Who’s responsible for this mess? Scorpion Legal Protection discusses how insurance works and what the law says.

Scorpion Legal Protection’s advice

Unfortunately for Martin, general practice when it comes to insurance is that they will provide car hire services to the person insured, but not to the people affected by the accident. Martin would have to look to his own insurance to get his car hire paid for – if he has a benefit like this in his insurance plan.

Martin can contact the old man’s insurance to find out if maybe they do offer a car rental benefit before hiring the car himself. He should also inform the insurer that he plans on claiming the cost of the car hire from them.

There is a possibility that they will take care of the cost, as long as Martin is not the negligent party in the accident and he took reasonable steps to avoid the accident. Martin would also have to prove that his own insurance does not offer car hire and that he has not claimed from them for this. Even if an accident is not your fault, usually you will still have to pay the insurance excess. After the claim has been settled, your insurer may try to get the excess back from the guilty party’s insurer.

Martin should communicate with the old man’s insurance company, and not the old man himself.

Tips:

• It’s a good idea to get familiar with the terms and conditions of your own insurance, so that you know what’s covered and what’s not.
• You, as the claimant, also have a duty to mitigate (lessen) your own costs – for example, choosing the cheaper car hire option over the expensive one.

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* This is only basic advice and cannot be relied on solely. Names have been changed to protect identity.