Easter and long weekends: getting mobile again

Why long weekend crashes cluster on the highway

Easter and long weekends do two things at once. They put far more cars on a small number of roads, and they put them there at the worst possible times.

Think about the Thursday before Good Friday. From about 1pm the Hume Highway southbound backs up through Campbelltown and the Menangle interchange, and the M1 Pacific Motorway northbound is stop-start from Wahroonga through the Hawkesbury River bridge. The F3, as most people still call it, carries the same volume it carries on a Friday afternoon but with tired drivers, unfamiliar hire cars, roof pods and caravans. Then everyone comes home on Easter Monday in the dark.

The result is a predictable crash pattern:

• Rear-end collisions in queue traffic on the Hume near Pheasants Nest and Berrima.
• Lane-change and merge collisions on the M1 around Ourimbah and Tuggerah.
• Single-vehicle and head-on crashes on the coast roads: the Central Coast Highway, the Old Pacific Highway, Putty Road and the roads into Jervis Bay and the South Coast.
• Car park and street damage in coastal towns, where a car that lives in a tight inner-city garage meets a holiday crowd.

Two things follow from that. First, the not-at-fault driver is often a long way from home, which changes the towing and repair decisions. Second, the at-fault driver is often from interstate, which changes the claim. Both are covered below.

If you have just been hit, the sequence in the first day is the same whether it is Easter Sunday or a Wednesday in March. Our guide to the first 24 hours after a not-at-fault crash sets it out step by step.

What is open and what is not over the break

This is the part people get wrong. They assume that because the repair industry is closed, nothing can happen until Tuesday. In fact the two sides of the claim run on different calendars.

Read that table again. The thing you need most urgently, a car, is the thing that stays available. The things that can wait until Tuesday, an assessment and a repair booking, are the things that shut.

What that means in practice:

1. Report the crash to police if anyone was injured, if a driver failed to stop or exchange details, or if the damage looks significant. Police Assistance Line and local stations operate through the break.
2. Collect the other driver's name, licence number, registration, insurer and phone number, and photograph everything.
3. Call the replacement car side of things, not the repair side, because that is the part that can move today.
4. Leave the repair booking for Tuesday. Nothing is lost by doing so.

If you would rather read the general position first, what not at fault means in NSW is a short primer.

Getting a car the same day when repairers are shut

A replacement car does not depend on a repairer being open. It depends on the claim being a not-at-fault claim, and on the hire being arranged properly from the start.

On a long weekend the practical steps are these.

1. Get the other driver's details before anyone leaves. Without a name, a registration and an insurer, the claim becomes a fight rather than a process.
2. Photograph the scene and the damage in daylight if you can. Long weekend prangs are often photographed at dusk with a phone flash, which is useless for a later dispute.
3. Note the location precisely. "Hume Highway" is not enough. "Hume Highway southbound, 2km past the Berrima exit" is.
4. Arrange the replacement car the same day. Delivery to a home, a motel, a holiday house or a repairer's yard can be organised, including on the coast.
5. Do not sign anything from the at-fault insurer that settles the claim or releases them from further liability before you have taken advice.

Like-for-like is the standard that matters here. If you were driving a prestige or performance car, the replacement should be comparable, not a base model compact. Our explanation of like-for-like replacement covers how that is assessed.

If you are ready to arrange a car now, the booking side is handled by Drive Tribe, the trading name of Australian Business Holdings Pty Ltd, and this site is part of that group. You can start at accident replacement car Sydney.

A large SUV is the usual answer when a family is stranded mid-trip and needs to keep going with luggage and kids.

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Interstate at-fault drivers and how claims run

A large share of long weekend crashes involve a driver whose car is registered and insured in another state. That does not weaken your claim, but it does change the paperwork.

What you need from an interstate at-fault driver is the same as from a local one: name, address, licence number, registration, insurer and policy details if they have them. The complication is that their insurer may not have a NSW claims presence, and their call centre may be in another time zone or closed for a public holiday that NSW does not share.

In practice:

• The claim is still governed by NSW law because the crash happened here.
• The at-fault insurer still owes you the reasonable cost of a comparable replacement car while yours is off the road, subject to the claim being accepted.
• Correspondence may take longer, so keep your own records tidy: photos, a written timeline, the police report number if there is one, and every message you send.
• If the other driver is uninsured or cannot be identified, the claim usually moves to the Nominal Defendant or to your own insurer under the uninsured driver provisions of your policy. That is a different process and worth a separate conversation.

Where an interstate insurer drags its feet, the dispute is usually about whether the hire was reasonable, not whether you were at fault. Our page on insurer disputes over hire car claims sets out how those arguments are usually resolved.

One practical tip: ask the interstate driver to send you a photo of their licence and their insurer's details by message while you are both still at the scene. Chasing that by email three days later rarely works.

Towing from the Hume or the Central Coast

Towing is the part of a long weekend crash that goes wrong most often, because demand spikes and the tow operators who are working are working flat out.

On the Hume, the usual pickup points are the breakdown lanes and rest areas between Campbelltown and Goulburn, and the service centres at Pheasants Nest and Marulan. On the M1, it is the shoulders around Berowra, Mount White, Ourimbah and the Tuggerah interchange. On the coast, it is the Central Coast Highway and the roads around Terrigal, Avoca and The Entrance.

What to do:

1. Get off the carriageway if you safely can. A car on the shoulder of the Hume at dusk is a second crash waiting to happen.
2. Call your insurer's roadside number or a tow operator directly. Do not accept a tow from someone who arrives unasked and will not name a price or a destination.
3. Nominate the destination. If the car is going to a repairer, that repairer may be shut until Tuesday. Ask where the car can be stored securely in the meantime, and confirm that in writing.
4. Photograph the car before it is moved and again on the tilt tray. Disputes about pre-existing damage are common.
5. Keep the tow docket. It is part of the claim.

If the car is not drivable and you are far from home, the replacement car should be delivered to you, not collected from a depot in the city. Delivery is part of how the service works, and it matters most on a long weekend.

For a full walk-through of the aftermath, including what to say to insurers, see not at fault in a car accident in NSW.

Keeping a family mobile through the school break

Easter usually falls inside the school holidays, which means the car you lost was probably carrying more than one person and more than one bag. A compact hatchback is not a like-for-like replacement for a seven-seat SUV with a roof pod.

Three things matter when the whole family is affected:

• Seats. If you need seven, say so at the time of booking. A five-seat SUV will not do the school run plus grandparents.
• Luggage and child seats. Tell the provider what you are carrying. Child seats and capsules can usually be arranged if you ask in advance, not on the day.
• Delivery point. If you are staying at a holiday house in Pearl Beach or a motel in Merimbula, the car should come to you. Driving three hours to collect a replacement defeats the purpose.

Where a large prestige SUV is the right answer, these are the two that come up most often for families mid-trip.

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If the repair is going to run past the school holidays, plan for the whole period rather than a few days. Our page on how long prestige car repairs take in Sydney explains why parts availability, not labour, is usually the delay.

It also helps to know how the hire is funded. If you are not at fault, the at-fault insurer is generally responsible for the reasonable cost of a comparable car. Our explanation of how credit hire works covers the mechanics without the jargon.

One warning: do not let a repairer or an insurer talk you into a smaller, cheaper car "just for the holidays". Like-for-like is the standard, and a holiday is exactly when the difference is felt.

What the at-fault insurer still owes you

A public holiday does not suspend the at-fault driver's liability. It delays the paperwork.

Where you are not at fault, the at-fault insurer is generally liable for:

• The reasonable cost of hiring a comparable replacement car while yours is being repaired or replaced.
• Loss of use, which is the legal principle behind the hire.
• Towing and storage that was reasonably necessary.
• The cost of repairing your car, or its market value if it is written off.

What it does not owe you is an unlimited hire at any rate. Reasonableness is the test, and reasonableness is judged against your own car, the length of the repair and the market. That is why a documented, like-for-like hire arranged through a proper process is far easier to recover than a random rental.

The leading NSW authority on this is the decision in Arsalan v Rixon, which confirmed that a not-at-fault driver can recover the reasonable cost of a replacement vehicle even where no car was actually hired. It is the case insurers and solicitors both work from, and it is why the hire does not have to be an argument.

If the at-fault insurer refuses the hire, or offers a much cheaper car, the dispute is usually resolved with the hire company and, if needed, a solicitor. Our page on dealing with insurers covers the letters and the timelines.

And if the car is a write-off rather than a repair, the process changes. See repairs and write-offs.

Setting up a referral before the next long weekend

If you are a repairer, a broker or a solicitor, the long weekend is the wrong time to be setting up a referral relationship. You want it in place before the phones start ringing on Easter Thursday.

What a good referral partner should give you:

• A single contact who answers on a public holiday, not a call centre queue.
• Delivery to your yard, or to the client's home, without the client having to chase it.
• Like-for-like vehicles that match the client's own car, so the repairer is not fielding complaints about a downgrade.
• Clear, transparent paperwork that a solicitor can rely on if the claim is disputed.
• No cost to the client where the claim is not at fault, and no pressure on the client to settle early.

The commercial detail is worth reading before you commit. Our pages on how referral partnerships work and referral partner transparency set out what to ask.

Repairers should also read what repairers need from a hire partner, and brokers should read referral partner for brokers. Solicitors will want solicitor referral not at fault.

If you want to see the fleet and the booking process before you refer anyone, start at accident replacement vehicles or go straight to the main site at drivetribe.com.au.

The rate, the bond and every fee are shown on the car's page before payment, so there are no surprises for your client or for you.