Expensive windscreen chip...

[tangoss]

My 986 S went into OPC on Monday for RMS replacement under warranty, whilst it was there I had a courtesy '08 Boxster on the OPC insurance (£12 a day) which suffered a stone chip to windscreen on the way home. The OPC are gonna charge me for a new windscreen (albeit at cost...) saying the excess on the policy is £500. This doesn't sound right to me, on a normal car insurance policy there is a usually a seperate windscreen excess which is much less than this. I'll be asking the OPC for a copy of the policy..... Anyone else had any experience of OPC insurance excesses ?

 

[johnk]

at the 2 opc's i worked at the excess was 5oo gbp due to the nature of the business and if you take a courtesy car out on their policy it applies whereas if you had got it put on your own policy for the day it would have been much lower...

what are they trying to charge you the excess or the screen which should be way lower than the excess

 

[944s2]

Would ask if chip is repairable

Does seem a bit excessive

 

[tangoss]

They're going to see if it is repairable first (it's about the size of a penny on the passenger side) but I suspect it won't be...
They will charge me windscreen 'cost' price only, in the region of £350 they said...
Lesson learnt, should've put it on my policy....

 

[colinbythesea]

It might be worth phoning your own insurers to see if any part of your policy was in force whilst driving the OPC car, especially the windscreen cover. Most insurance's give you a level of cover in somebody else's car as long as that person has insured it, however, on this occasion you might have insured it yourself causing a dilemma. They might have just been charging you a fee to cover their admin and not communicated your usage to the insurers so technically they insure the car.

We own a driving school and have the occasional need to swap around cars and named drivers, all our instructors insure their own cars. In most cases the insurers take a £10 to £20 admin fee to swap short term, my own insurers take nothing. I would always suggest doing this when you take a car in and borrow another, at least you know the terms of your own policy and should something more serious than a windscreen go you know what you are in for.

 

[spyderman]

I can sort of believe that the excess on their loan car policy is £500, since they will be lending them to all and sundry, with all sorts of driving records, and loan cars often get a bit of a thrashing. But as you say, the windscreen excess is more likely to be around £50 - I can't remember ever reading a motor vehicle quote or policy that didn't have a separate excess for the windscreen. Is this another sad example of the OPC trying it on, I wonder?

 

[johnk]

did they not give you a copy of the courtesy car policy for the day which you would have signed agreeing to use of the car and on their policy

 

[colinbythesea]

ORIGINAL: spyderman

I can sort of believe that the excess on their loan car policy is £500, since they will be lending them to all and sundry, with all sorts of driving records, and loan cars often get a bit of a thrashing. But as you say, the windscreen excess is more likely to be around £50 - I can't remember ever reading a motor vehicle quote or policy that didn't have a separate excess for the windscreen. Is this another sad example of the OPC trying it on, I wonder?

They probably have a general motor trade insurance policy which covers insuring all cars in their care and on their premises and any employee or customer to drive it also incorporates all of their other insurance's and has no provision for windscreens. They probably don't have to inform the insurers of individual drivers. Probably not in an OPC, but a lot of dealers will give you a car to try if you are thinking of buying one without any fees being asked for. We have had cars for whole days unaccompanied when we mention the driving school. The same dealers keep dual controlled courtesy cars but want a fee when you borrow them at service time. It looks like the service departments can charge the fee so they do.

 

[tangoss]

Rang my insurers who were helpful but there is nothing they can do. Spoke to the OPC and their policy is just a straight £500 excess for any damage, there is no seperate windscreen excess ( I haven't got a copy of the insurance form that I signed but I don't think they'd try it on, would they ?) The chip can't be repaired as it's too big and has too many fine cracks which can't be filled with resin. I'll just have to take this one on the chin I s'pose... Thanks for the replies and advice.