My parents’ car was hit by an uninsured driver. They were taken to hospital but suffered no serious injuries. The repair was being organised by their insurer, Saga, but four months later they are still waiting for the return of their damaged vehicle. This is causing significant hardship since my mother is disabled and the car, a Volkswagen T-Roc, was recently purchased to accommodate her specialist wheelchair.
Saga initially insisted they were only entitled to a compact courtesy car because it had erroneously recorded that my father was at fault for the accident. I complained to Saga’s head office but received no reply. Four days after the collision, Saga told my father that its chosen garage had refused the repair job, and that he should find another garage. My sister rang the garage in question, which claimed it had not turned down the job, and that it was waiting for the car to be brought in.
It was another week before Saga had the car delivered for repair. It was decided that replacement airbags and seatbelts were required. Saga eventually accepted that the courtesy car was too small for my mum’s needs, and said the only other option was a 4x4 off-road vehicle which my elderly father was too nervous to drive.
It offered him £200 for the “inconvenience” he’d suffered. Since then, the return of the car has been repeatedly delayed with no communication from Saga. We contacted the garage, which told us there were long back orders for replacement seatbelts from Volkswagen, and no known delivery date. Volkswagen UK told him it could only speak to approved dealers. Saga advised that it could do nothing to help, and that in some instances repairs were taking so long that it was writing the car off.
AE, Exeter
A global shortage of spare parts is keeping drivers off the road for months with no end in sight. It’s also driving up insurance premiums, as insurers are having to fund courtesy cars for longer and, as you were told, in some cases deem it cheaper to write the vehicle off. Manufacturers blame the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the fact that they have summoned parts at will when I’ve questioned the delays in other cases, suggests they are prioritising stock for new vehicles, rather than repairs. In any event, they are too big and self-important to trouble over stranded customers, or even to keep their own dealers in the loop.
It took several overtures on my part to Volkswagen before seatbelts were finally unearthed, and the car returned. By then, five months had passed since the accident and you are certain your parents would still be waiting if media pressure had not been applied. Saga tells me that it had offered your father a larger car during the wait but he, nervous of getting acquainted with a new vehicle when a repair seemed imminent, declined. Volkswagen has not provided a comment.
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