Your vehicle has been so badly damaged in an accident that it needs to be towed away. This often involves high costs. In this article, you’ll find out who pays the towing costs following an accident and how you can claim your costs quickly and easily.
- Towing costs are usually covered by the third-party liability insurance of the person responsible for the accident.
- You should have your car towed to the nearest garage (duty to minimise damage).
- You don’t need to compare prices from breakdown services.
- As the person responsible for the accident, you will have to pay the towing costs yourself if you do not have comprehensive insurance.
Entitlement to reimbursement of towing costs following an accident
As a general rule, the person responsible for the accident – or their liability insurer – must cover all damages. They are obliged to restore the property to its original condition prior to the accident. You are not only entitled to reimbursement of the Repair– and Car hire costs, but also to the reimbursement of the vehicle’s towing costs.
Insurance companies generally want to keep their costs as low as possible. They are therefore keen to reduce the amount of claims to which you are actually entitled. As towing costs are often very high, insurance companies tend to make cuts here and do not pay out the full amount.
If you are towed away immediately after an accident, you do not need to compare prices before booking the towing service. This means that even if the towing costs are high, your insurance company must pay the full amount of the costs incurred for the towing.
Are you unsure whether you can claim for towing costs following a road traffic accident? We can help!
Who pays the towing costs following an accident?
The first step is to establish who is at fault. If you are not at fault for the road traffic accident, the other party’s third-party liability insurance will always cover the compensation. You are entitled not only to reimbursement of the costs of repairs and a hire car, but also to the towing costs following the accident.
If you are at fault in a road traffic accident, you are liable for the costs. If you have comprehensive insurance, the towing costs will be covered by this. If you do not have comprehensive insurance, as the person responsible for the accident, you will have to cover the costs yourself.
You can find guidance on settling claims in cases of partial liability here.
Towing to the nearest garage following a road traffic accident
In principle, there is what is known as a Duty to minimise damage. This means that even as the injured party, you are obliged to keep the costs of settling the claim as low as possible. As a rule, therefore, your car must be towed to the nearest garage. Exceptions prove the rule: there are, of course, cases where the nearest garage is not the cheapest option.
Here are a few examples:
- You can only have your vehicle repaired at a specialist garage.
- You must have the car repaired at your authorised repairer so as not to lose your warranty entitlement.
- The garages are closed. In that case, you can leave your vehicle with the breakdown service for the time being.
If you’re not sure whether the insurance company has to pay out in your case, then have your claims now check.
Reimbursement of towing costs following an accident
Are you looking for a quick solution to get your towing costs reimbursed following an accident?
Here is the tried-and-tested solution. Licensed experts from the faire-Regulierung network will ensure your claims are upheld and will personally assist you with all matters right through to full payment.
✔ Report your road traffic accident to us within 2 minutes, either online or by calling our freephone number 0800 – 30 111 60.
✔ A specialist from our network will call you back to discuss the next steps with you.
✔ We will now handle the entire claims settlement process for you, liaising with all parties involved in the claims management process, such as your insurer, solicitor, garage, loss adjuster, etc. In this way, we minimise the hassle for you and ensure you don’t have to worry about a thing.
✔ Up to date
You can view the current status of your case via our KIS (Customer Information System). The best thing is that you can simply access the KIS via your web browser. There’s no need to install anything on your PC or smartphone. You can view important documents such as invoices or loss assessment reports directly online. This means you always have the very latest versions of your documents to hand – without a pile of paper.
