Smash repairer keeping your prestige car too long?
If a smash repairer is keeping your prestige car too long, you are entitled to keep driving a like-for-like replacement at the at-fault party's cost for as long as the repair reasonably takes, and a repairer who cannot give you a written schedule is the first problem to fix. The hire clock does not stop just because a workshop is busy, but it does stop when a court decides the delay was unreasonable.
This is the practical playbook for Sydney drivers of prestige and performance cars whose repair estimate keeps slipping: what a fair repair time looks like, how to force a schedule out of a workshop, when to escalate, and what you can and cannot claim for the extra weeks.
Key takeaways
- A repairer who cannot give you a written schedule with dates is the first problem to solve.
- The replacement car entitlement follows the repair, so a genuine parts delay extends the hire.
- Escalate to the at-fault insurer in writing after five business days without a schedule.
- You can move the car to another repairer, but only with the old shop's written position and a start date from the new one.
- Bring in a solicitor when the hire period is refused or the repair runs past three months with no end date.
- What a reasonable repair time looks like for a prestige car
- Why repairers sit on cars: parts, paint, approval, space
- How to ask for a written repair schedule
- When to escalate to the at-fault insurer
- Does the hire keep running during the delay?
- What you can and cannot claim for the extra weeks
- Moving the car to another repairer without losing the claim
- When to bring in a solicitor
- The 30-second version
What a reasonable repair time looks like for a prestige car
There is no statutory stopwatch. What you have is the principle in Arsalan v Rixon [2021] NSWCA 242: a not-at-fault owner can recover the reasonable cost of a substitute vehicle while the damaged car is being repaired, provided the replacement is broadly comparable and the hire period is reasonable. Reasonableness is judged on the facts of your repair, not on a blanket number an insurer likes to quote.
In Sydney, a fair baseline for a prestige car looks roughly like this:
| Repair type | Typical realistic window |
|---|---|
| Bumper, guard, headlight and paint blend | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Panel and structural with alloy or carbon parts | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Air suspension, adaptive damping or chassis work | 6 to 12 weeks |
| Anything needing a part ex-Germany or ex-UK | 8 weeks and up |
Two weeks for a rear quarter panel on a 911 is not unreasonable. Nine weeks for the same job, with no explanation, is where the conversation changes. The test is whether the repairer has been actively progressing the job, not whether they were busy.
Keep a simple timeline from day one: the date of the accident, the date the car was towed, the date the assessor saw it, the date parts were ordered, and the date the repairer last gave you an update. That timeline is what a solicitor or an insurer's dispute team will ask for first. If you are still working out your position, start with the first 24 hours after a not-at-fault accident.
Why repairers sit on cars: parts, paint, approval, space
Most delays are boring and fixable. A minority are not.
- Parts. Prestige marques run lean local stock. A Macan front bumper skin might be a Sydney warehouse item; a specific AMG or M car trim piece can be a six-week factory order. If the part is on a national backorder, the repairer genuinely cannot finish.
- Paint. Some colours and finishes, particularly matte, pearl and tri-coat, need a dedicated booth slot and a longer cure. A shop with one booth and twelve cars queues you behind a fleet of white HiAces.
- Approval. The repairer may be waiting on the at-fault insurer's assessor to authorise a supplement. This is where weeks vanish quietly. Ask directly: has the supplement been submitted, and on what date?
- Space. A prestige shop in Alexandria, Artarmon or Silverwater may be holding your car outside because the indoor bays are full. That is a storage problem, not a repair problem, and it is worth naming.
The distinction matters because it changes your move. A parts delay is usually a wait, and the hire continues. A shop that has not submitted the supplement for three weeks is an escalation, and possibly a reason to move the car.
If the delay is specifically parts, read parts delays in prestige car repairs in NSW before you decide anything.
Age limits are set per car. Drivers under 25 can hire most cars with Young Driver Cover; the exact terms are shown before you pay.
How to ask for a written repair schedule
Verbal reassurance is not a schedule. Ask by email so there is a record, and ask for four specific things:
- The date the parts were ordered, and the expected delivery date for each outstanding part.
- The date the car is booked into the booth, or the date it is next scheduled for work.
- The name of the person at the insurer who must approve any supplement, and the date the last supplement was sent.
- A realistic handover date, with the caveat that it may move if a part slips.
Copy the at-fault insurer's claims contact on that email. You are not being difficult. You are creating the paper trail that shows you acted reasonably while the car sat.
If the repairer will not put dates in writing, that is information in itself. A shop that cannot commit to a booth date usually cannot commit to a handover date either, and you should be thinking about your own repairer versus the insurer's preferred shop.
While the car is in the shop, you still need to get to work. That is the point at which most people look for a replacement. Bookings through this site are fulfilled by Drive Tribe (drivetribe.com.au), and this site is part of that group. You can see how the process works at your car is being repaired.
If you drive something with a badge that matters, a comparable car is the whole point:
Porsche MACAN
2019 Porsche MACAN...
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Start my claimWhen to escalate to the at-fault insurer
Escalate when the delay stops looking like a repair problem and starts looking like an administrative one. Practical triggers:
- No written schedule within five business days of your request.
- A supplement not submitted for more than ten business days after the repairer identified the extra work.
- The car has not moved bays or been touched in three weeks.
- You are being told a date verbally that changes every time you call.
Escalation is not a complaint. It is a short, factual email to the at-fault insurer's claims team with your claim number, the repairer's name, the dates, and one question: what is being done this week to progress the repair. Ask for a response within five business days.
If the at-fault driver is uninsured, or the insurer is slow to accept liability, the same discipline applies but the target changes. Read dealing with insurers after a not-at-fault accident and insurer disputes over a hire car claim.
Keep every email. Do not argue on the phone. If you have a broker or a solicitor, loop them in at this point rather than at month three, because a documented escalation is what makes a later recovery argument stick.
Fleet managers should escalate earlier, not later. A car off the road is a revenue problem, and fleet vehicle repair and write-off delays covers the parallel process.
Does the hire keep running during the delay?
Yes, while the delay is reasonable. The entitlement to a like-for-like replacement follows the repair, not a fixed number of days. If the repairer is waiting on a factory part and the car genuinely cannot be finished, the hire period extends with it.
What ends the entitlement is unreasonable delay. If a court or an insurer's dispute team decides the extra weeks were caused by your choice of repairer, or by you refusing a reasonable repair, the hire for that period can be refused. That is the risk to manage, and it is managed with the paper trail above.
Three practical rules:
- Keep the replacement car booked continuously while the repair is live. Gaps look like you did not need it.
- Do not extend into a period you cannot justify. If the car is finished and you keep hiring, that is on you.
- Tell the hire provider the moment the repair date moves, so the booking is extended properly rather than lapsing.
The broader timeline question is covered at how long you can keep a not-at-fault replacement car in NSW, and on this site at how long you can keep a replacement car.
If the repair is dragging into a third month, the question of whether the car should be repaired at all becomes real. See cash settlement versus repair when you are not at fault.
What you can and cannot claim for the extra weeks
You can claim the reasonable cost of a comparable replacement vehicle for the period the repair reasonably takes, including a delay caused by parts availability, provided you acted reasonably throughout.
You generally cannot claim:
- Hire for a car materially better than your own, unless your own car was in that class.
- Hire after the repair was finished and you simply kept the car.
- Hire for a period extended by your own refusal of a reasonable repair or a reasonable repairer.
- Loss of use as a separate cash figure on top of the hire, unless it is calculated properly and you have advice.
What you can usually claim beyond the car itself is narrow: towing and storage that flowed from the accident, and in some cases a modest amount for the inconvenience of the delay if it is documented. Anything larger, particularly lost income for a business vehicle, needs a solicitor and a proper calculation. This is general information, not personal advice, and a solicitor or your accountant is the right person for your numbers.
Keep the invoices and the hire agreement. The recovery argument is won on documents, not on how frustrating the experience was. If you are weighing up how the entitlement works, how credit hire works and what credit hire is, explained are the starting points.
Moving the car to another repairer without losing the claim
You can move the car. What you must not do is move it in a way that lets the insurer argue the delay was your fault.
- Get the current repairer's position in writing: work done, parts ordered, parts received, money owed, and whether the car is drivable.
- Confirm the car is not in a partially dismantled state that makes it unsafe or unroadworthy to tow.
- Get a written quote and a start date from the new repairer before you authorise the tow.
- Tell the at-fault insurer in writing, with the reason, the dates, and the new repairer's details.
- Pay or resolve any storage or assessment charges that are genuinely owed, and keep the receipts.
The risk is a gap. If the car sits at the old shop for two weeks while you find a new one, the at-fault insurer will argue that period is on you. Line up the new shop first, then move the car within a day or two.
Moving is most defensible when the first shop cannot give a date, has not ordered parts, or has stopped responding. It is least defensible when you are simply impatient with a genuine factory backorder.
For the wider picture on repairer choice, see prestige repairer versus insurer preferred repairer and repairs, delays and write-offs.
When to bring in a solicitor
Bring in a solicitor when the money at stake is larger than the cost of the advice, or when the insurer has stopped engaging. Specific triggers in NSW:
- The at-fault insurer has refused the hire period outright, or is offering a much shorter period than the repair took.
- The repair has run past three months with no credible end date.
- The car has been declared a repairable write-off and you disagree with the assessment.
- You are a fleet and the downtime is material to the business.
- You have been served with something, or an insurer has threatened recovery against you.
A solicitor will want the same timeline you have been keeping: accident date, tow date, assessor date, parts dates, supplement dates, hire invoices, and every email. If you have that, the advice is cheaper and faster.
If the car has been written off rather than delayed, the path changes. See statutory write-off in NSW, what happens next and the repairable write-off guide for NSW.
If you need a replacement while the argument runs, check availability at accident replacement cars in Sydney. And if you refer clients into this space, partners and referrals explains how that works.
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The 30-second version
Ask for a written schedule. Escalate in writing when it slips. Keep the replacement car booked continuously. Move the car only when the paper trail supports it.
Most prestige repair delays in Sydney are parts or approval problems, and both are survivable with a like-for-like car underneath you. The ones that turn into disputes are the ones with no dates on paper. Fix that first.
If you are not at fault and you need a comparable car while the repair runs, the process starts at not-at-fault accident replacement or at drivetribe.com.au.
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Questions people ask
Can I move my car to a different repairer if the first is too slow?
Who pays for the replacement car during a repair delay?
How long is too long for a prestige repair?
Does the hire keep running while I argue with the insurer?
What if the repairer says the parts are on backorder?
Should I accept the insurer's preferred repairer to speed things up?
Injured in the accident?
A replacement car covers the car. For legal advice about an injury, speak to Jameson Law, the most trusted personal injury firm in NSW (motor vehicle accident claims) on (02) 8806 0866.
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Start the claim online in five short steps, or call 0468 011 118. Replacement hires are arranged and fulfilled by Drive Tribe.
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