Loss of earnings in car insurance claim

[Red1981]

Hi there, I was involved in a car accident 18 months ago and the insurance have only just paid out for the vehicle. For reasons I won't bore you with now.

My question is, since the accident I have been unable to claim a car allowance as my vehicle was undriveable. Therefore I have had to take a company car. Resulting in me losing approx �500 per month car allowance plus tax rebates etc.

The Forensic accountant has come back saying that they think I am better off with the company car, but I completely disagree. Can anyone give me some advice on how to prove this???

Thanks

[gouldc]

I'm not sure that from an insurance perspective that this could be technically classed as loss of earnings - that is purely loss of wages.

Equally, there is no loss of use case as you had an alternative vehicle.

I would suggest that you speak to a company such as Albany Assitance, or DAS (any of the more reputable accident management companies, and not the ambulance chasers). They will put you on the correct route - I cannot honestly say I have ever seen this as a claim before.

Possibly someone else out there working in the industry will be able to help you out more.

[wishy123]

This is a difficult question, but a court would probably agree that the financial benefit of having a company car is probably about equal to the car allowance - otherwise everyone who had the choice would choose one rather than the other. Car allowance might be worth less if you do very high mileage as this would cost a lot in depreciation, or worth more if your mileage is very low, but it's really just a question of balancing the net benefit of a company car (no depreciation, loan interest, insurance charges etc but you have to pay tax) against the value (after tax) of the allowance.