[Richard Stevenson]

Hi all, my nice neighbour decided to reverse his car into my 4 month old van .
It's been off the road now for 4 weeks, his insurance has provided me with a hire van no kit in the back . I phoned my local supplier , X  Line, they very generously have let me use a 750 tank with pumps and filters , super great full. Just a word of warning, this is so stressful and disruptive.
Hopefully my van will be back soon and I can put this behind me
 

[dd]

How have you fitted tank into hire van?

[AuRavelling79]

My van was off the road for just over a month after one of the local great unwashed pulled across my path in 2023.

I only had a hire van for a week as my van was a financial write-off and I put it back on the road.

So I had four weeks working out of my wife's Suzuki with 5 barrels and a backpack!

[Jonny 87]

I’d always recommended to spend more on your insurance and go with a specialised window cleaning insurance.

They will give me a hire van with window cleaning kit fitted in the back if my van is off the road. It costs a few hundred a year more, but I think it’s worth it.

Especially nowadays where garages and body shops seem to take weeks and weeks to fit you in.

[AuRavelling79]

I’d always recommended to spend more on your insurance and go with a specialised window cleaning insurance.

They will give me a hire van with window cleaning kit fitted in the back if my van is off the road. It costs a few hundred a year more, but I think it’s worth it.

Especially nowadays where garages and body shops seem to take weeks and weeks to fit you in.

My situation is a bit different. I work part time and made a conscious decision not to let my van be written off and buy another. So I saved £1000's there and could plod on through.

[AuRavelling79]

How have you fitted tank into hire van?

I had a hire van for 9 days and put my 650L up against the bulkhead and used my lorry straps to the manufacturer's tie down points.

I put the battery, one pump and one reel on a sheet of ply wedged between the wheel arches and against the back of the tank.

I decided to not fill it beyond 325L too. (The hire van was a Vivaro with a 1200kg payload)

My son in law helped me and I paid him for his time out of the insurance payout.

He also did a lot of the work repairing the van after the crash.

[The Jester of Wibbly]

It's frustrating.  Surely if making a claim from someone else we should be able to claim loss of earnings. 

Crazy world we live in.

[AuRavelling79]

It's frustrating.  Surely if making a claim from someone else we should be able to claim loss of earnings. 

Crazy world we live in.

You can. I did.

However you have to have a pretty good case that the third party is at fault and be prepared to have your schedule for work ready for inspection.

Mine was small beer and the bulk of my claim was paid by my own insurer with my uninsured losses claimed and eventually won later.

The main claim was settled quickly at about £7000. The other stuff including paying for my system to be moved into and back from the hire van.

It was about £500 in total and took almost two years to get.

[Spruce]

It's frustrating.  Surely if making a claim from someone else we should be able to claim loss of earnings. 

Crazy world we live in.

You can. I did.

However you have to have a pretty good case that the third party is at fault and be prepared to have your schedule for work ready for inspection.

Mine was small beer and the bulk of my claim was paid by my own insurer with my uninsured losses claimed and eventually won later.

The main claim was settled quickly at about £7000. The other stuff including paying for my system to be moved into and back from the hire van.

It was about £500 in total and took almost two years to get.

Sorry to ask, but how does the tax man look at this?

I was just trying to put myself in a similar situation. If the £500 is paid out due to loss of earning, I would image that I must declare it as part of my annual earnings that tax year and be charged tax on that.

My cost of my van has been written off against tax. So if I sell it, whatever I get for it has to be declared  against capital gains tax. If the insurance company feel the value of my van is £7000 and pay me out, then I would have to declare that £7000 as capital gains less any excess as though I have sold it.  Now if I bought the van back from the insurance company for £2000, then I have spent £3000 on repair costs,  how does this effect your tax, and what happens if you sell the van in a couple of years time?

[colin bird]

Feel your pain,I think in that situation I would go and buy a trolley system asap and purchase water from spotless water not ideal but it keep you working and earning,and put it in the loan vehichle

[AuRavelling79]

It's frustrating.  Surely if making a claim from someone else we should be able to claim loss of earnings. 

Crazy world we live in.

You can. I did.

However you have to have a pretty good case that the third party is at fault and be prepared to have your schedule for work ready for inspection.

Mine was small beer and the bulk of my claim was paid by my own insurer with my uninsured losses claimed and eventually won later.

The main claim was settled quickly at about £7000. The other stuff including paying for my system to be moved into and back from the hire van.

It was about £500 in total and took almost two years to get.

Sorry to ask, but how does the tax man look at this?

I was just trying to put myself in a similar situation. If the £500 is paid out due to loss of earning, I would image that I must declare it as part of my annual earnings that tax year and be charged tax on that.

My cost of my van has been written off against tax. So if I sell it, whatever I get for it has to be declared  against capital gains tax. If the insurance company feel the value of my van is £7000 and pay me out, then I would have to declare that £7000 as capital gains less any excess as though I have sold it.  Now if I bought the van back from the insurance company for £2000, then I have spent £3000 on repair costs,  how does this effect your tax, and what happens if you sell the van in a couple of years time?

My take is this. (As a non vat registered self employed person)

The insurance payout as a write off is like selling your van (to the insurer.)

Buying the salvage is like buying a van (from the insurer.)

The parts, repair and bodywork are business expenses.

If I sell in the future (as a Cat N or Cat S) then the difference between the salvage cost and the money realised needs to be declared or claimed.

[Tam1872]

I smashed my van the other yesr and the insurance company took over 3 months to decide if the vehicle was a write off or not. Without me having a courtesy vehicle in the meantime.

Ended up taking them to the Ombudsman and getting a few grand compensation.

[AuRavelling79]

I smashed my van the other yesr and the insurance company took over 3 months to decide if the vehicle was a write off or not. Without me having a courtesy vehicle in the meantime.

Ended up taking them to the Ombudsman and getting a few grand compensation.

Well done!

Did it end up being written off?

[Tam1872]

I smashed my van the other yesr and the insurance company took over 3 months to decide if the vehicle was a write off or not. Without me having a courtesy vehicle in the meantime.

Ended up taking them to the Ombudsman and getting a few grand compensation.

Well done!

Did it end up being written off?

Yeah, they had lost my van, they didn't have snap clue where they had put it. All the time telling me ofcourse they know where it is.

I done a subject access request for my calls. I'm on hold and some womans phoning departments in one of them saying how could we have lost his vehicle, then coming back onto the call telling lies saying yip it's at x y or z etc.

I knew it would be written off and after 2 weeks getting nowhere with them I went and got anothrt van anyway indeed of waiting for the insuramce first.

At the end of the claim I told them to give me £300 as that was the cost of a hire vehicle for a few days, told them it's obvious there's been mistakes on your end but cover that and il not escalate it any further.  The guy on the phone told me that seemed reasonable. A manager called me back telling me they weren't paying it.

I told them that unless there trying to tell me a typical insuramce claim takes 3 months to assess the damage of a vehicle then there's been mistakes made. Told them I wasn't bluffing and was willing to take them to the Ombudsman. I think alot of people wouldn't bother as it takes a bit of time.

I emailed the manager when it got settled thanking her for rejecting my £300 claim, as today £3600 landed in my account instead of the £300 they could have originally paid.

[AuRavelling79]

I smashed my van the other yesr and the insurance company took over 3 months to decide if the vehicle was a write off or not. Without me having a courtesy vehicle in the meantime.

Ended up taking them to the Ombudsman and getting a few grand compensation.

Well done!

Did it end up being written off?

Yeah, they had lost my van, they didn't have snap clue where they had put it. All the time telling me ofcourse they know where it is.

I done a subject access request for my calls. I'm on hold and some womans phoning departments in one of them saying how could we have lost his vehicle, then coming back onto the call telling lies saying yip it's at x y or z etc.

I knew it would be written off and after 2 weeks getting nowhere with them I went and got anothrt van anyway indeed of waiting for the insuramce first.

At the end of the claim I told them to give me £300 as that was the cost of a hire vehicle for a few days, told them it's obvious there's been mistakes on your end but cover that and il not escalate it any further.  The guy on the phone told me that seemed reasonable. A manager called me back telling me they weren't paying it.

I told them that unless there trying to tell me a typical insuramce claim takes 3 months to assess the damage of a vehicle then there's been mistakes made. Told them I wasn't bluffing and was willing to take them to the Ombudsman. I think alot of people wouldn't bother as it takes a bit of time.

I emailed the manager when it got settled thanking her for rejecting my £300 claim, as today £3600 landed in my account instead of the £300 they could have originally paid.

Oh, sweet!

[Stoots]

Whenever ive had van off road for a while, just whipped tank, pump and abttery out and slung it in a hire van with ratchet straps.

Ive just bought my old van back off the chap who i sold it to 3 years ago for £350 as he was going to scrap it  . So will be fixing it up and using it as a spare and a run about. Will be great to have a spare van theres nothing worse than a breakdown.

[dazmond]

Whenever ive had van off road for a while, just whipped tank, pump and abttery out and slung it in a hire van with ratchet straps.

Ive just bought my old van back off the chap who i sold it to 3 years ago for £350 as he was going to scrap it  . So will be fixing it up and using it as a spare and a run about. Will be great to have a spare van theres nothing worse than a breakdown.

A spare van for a part time window cleaner? How often does your current van break down?

Personally I prefer to have a nice car to drive around in when not cleaning. If i really needed to i could use it with 4 barrels and a backpack if van off the road but its not broke down in 8 years....

[Stoots]

Whenever ive had van off road for a while, just whipped tank, pump and abttery out and slung it in a hire van with ratchet straps.

Ive just bought my old van back off the chap who i sold it to 3 years ago for £350 as he was going to scrap it  . So will be fixing it up and using it as a spare and a run about. Will be great to have a spare van theres nothing worse than a breakdown.

A spare van for a part time window cleaner? How often does your current van break down?

Personally I prefer to have a nice car to drive around in when not cleaning. If i really needed to i could use it with 4 barrels and a backpack if van off the road but its not broke down in 8 years....

Yeh i didnt get it just soley for a spare van thats just a bonus, i agree dont really need a spare van but the first time mine breaks down i bet i will be glad i have it...Mainly got it because it was going cheap and i fancied the project, will be fun to sort it out because its battered, has a side door the wrong colour, needs welding etc. Will come in handy as i often go fishing and cycling and do a lot of tip runs and D.I.Y picking up wood and all sorts of stuff, its bigger than my current van so get stuff it it easier. Can also mount my pressure washer in it.

We bought a nice family car last year,  but mainly the wife that uses it day to day