Consumer gets in touch about the wait for her car to be fixed

Repairs Motor Insurance Distress and inconvenience Up to £100

Elena contacted us when repairs to her car took longer than she was told, and didn't accept the amount of compensation being offered. 

What happened

Elena’s car was damaged when another car reversed into the driver’s side door in a carpark. She made a claim on her car insurance as there was a dent in the door and it needed to be repaired. The insurer collected the car and took it to a garage to do this. They gave Elena a courtesy car to use in the meantime.

The insurer said that it would be repaired within a week. However, after two weeks the repair still hadn’t been carried out and Elena didn’t have her car back. She contacted the insurer but wasn’t able to get an answer as to when her car would be ready – so raised a complaint.

The next day the insurer called Elena in response to her complaint to say her car had now been repaired and would be delivered back to her that day. The insurer explained that there had been a longer wait than expected for the part needed. They accepted this had delayed Elena getting her car back by a week and apologised for not keeping her updated. The insurer also offered her £50 compensation for the inconvenience caused. Elena didn’t accept this amount and asked us to review things.

What we said

The insurer accepted it had made a mistake by not keeping Elena updated. We could see Elena had been worried enough about what was happening with the repairs to call the insurer but hadn’t been overly concerned up until that point as she still had the courtesy car. The insurer not knowing when her car would be repaired when she called to chase would also have been frustrating. But the insurer put things right quickly once a complaint was raised by getting Elena’s car back to her the next day, explaining the reason behind the delay and apologising.

We were satisfied the insurer’s apology and offer of £50 fairly compensated Elena for the inconvenience of having to call to chase, as well as the short-lived concern and frustration it had caused her. So overall, we said the insurer didn’t need to do anything further to resolve the complaint.