THE TIMES 16TH OCTOBER 2003

Speedy Substitutes

Specialist insurers and brokers in the prestige car insurance market take the line that you get what you pay for. Sticking to the specialists has worked, as far as Ian Terry, a senior litigation partner with the international law firm Freshfields, is concerned.His broker, Stackhouse Poland, arranged cover for his three cars, his home and a holiday home in France through Chubb’s Masterpiece scheme. In May, Terry’s Range Rover HSE was stolen from outside his London home. Chubb arranged for a replacement vehicle – a similar four-wheel-drive model. Most insurers will provide only a basic courtesy car and then only for damaged cars – not vehicles lost through fire or theft.Nearly a month after the car was taken, Terry heard from the police that the Range Rover had been found in good condition. It had, however, been involved in a drugs heist and was now in Spain, and unlikely to be released by the authorities during criminals proceedings – something which could take up to a year.The insurer quickly accepted this as a total loss and paid out the full agreed value, which meant that Terry could replace the car with exactly the same model."Apparently some insurers may have refused to pay up on the basis that the car was technically recovered. That argument would ultimately have failed, but could have caused problems for us," Terry says."Chubb was very understanding and simply paid us by return. It was also very good to have a comparable replacement car when we needed one."