December 2007
ACCIDENTS AND OUTCOMES
Let’s take a look at a typical accident scenario. It is a summer weekend, and your motorhome is sideswiped by a HGV on a narrow road. There is significant damage to the offside of your vehicle (mirror, door, side panel etc.). Security of the vehicle may be compromised, and you are not happy that you can continue your journey/holiday in the vehicle as it stands. The claim can probably be reported on your insurer’s 24-hour help line, and arrangements made for your vehicle to be taken to an appropriate repairer. It is what happens next that seems to cause the problems. If your vehicle had been a private car, the situation would be fairly simple – the “approved repairer” would provide a small replacement (courtesy) car for the duration of the repairs, normally a few days. Things get a bit more complicated where a motorhome is involved, whether the claim occurs in the UK or abroad. It has to be remembered that the repairers provide courtesy cars, and each approved repairer maintains a small fleet of such cars for this purpose. They do not provide a courtesy car if the vehicle is simply broken down or has been stolen, only whilst they are actually carrying out repairs. How many repairers do you know that keep a fleet of (or any) motorhomes for courtesy use? A replacement motorhome in such circumstances is rarely possible.
Even if such a facility did exist, the few vehicles available could be in the wrong part of the country, or the wrong country completely. There are some motorhomes available for hire, but trying to match any of these to individual customer needs, i.e. to provide a replacement similar to the damaged vehicle, could be a hit and miss affair. Little wonder then that occasional letters on the subject appear in magazines.
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