House sitters crashed car - not covered by THS insurance

Just wanted to let everyone know that the insurance provided by THS does NOT cover you for when the sitters crash your car and probably have totalled it. I assumed it was covered as it’s our property but apparently not. They took our dogs out this morning and probably totalled the car. Luckily no one was hurt but suspect dogs are bruised as it was quite a jolt.

We have to now claim it on our own car insurance which will make our premium go up. If you loan sitters your car, please be advised that it’s not covered by THS.

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Of course your car is not covered for accidental damage by the sitter.
The cost of car insurance depends on so many personal factors of the proposed driver - age, type of driving license, driving experience, number of accidents/incidences in the past. How can one insurance policy cover all? It would be so expensive no one would buy it.
Did you your own car insurance company that the sitter was driving your car? And did they put them on your policy? Good luck trying to get them to cover the accident if the answer to those questions is no.
And a little advice, read the policy next time.

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Most people understand that THS coverage doesn’t cover hosts’ cars. That’s why most hosts won’t offer use of their cars.

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Imagining that THS insurance covers your car too is akin to thinking that house insurance covers it as well.
I am sorry this happened to you, and hope that the sitters are covered under your policy.

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Even if the car was covered by the THS “insurance” you would still be expected to have and to claim on your own insurance first. The THS insurance requires you to have existing insurance cover which must be used first, it is only a top-up for whatever you insurance does not cover.

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Hi @Debandbee,
It’s nice of you to share that information in case some people didn’t know. Thanks

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I agree @Newpetlover.
Sorry i feel some of the above responses a little rude.
@Debandbee were just passing on their experience,

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Sorry this happened to you @Debandbee . Thank you for sharing with the forum as others might find the information useful. Hope it works out allright for you.

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Some of these responses are downright rude. It was meant to educate people. In Spain, the car is insured as long as anyone driving it is over 25 and has a full license. We have made a claim on our car insurance. There was no need for the rudeness .

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I agree, thankyou for sharing.
Its by sharing, both good and bad we can learn & educate each other.
Even being fully insured any car claim is stressfull and inevetably leads to some financial loss.

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@Debandbee sorry to hear about your car, I hope both your sitters and your dogs are ok?

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Yes they’re fine. A bit shook up. Thank you for asking

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That’s my point. I was curious to see if anything was covered such as excess

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Where the use of a car has been agreed between owner and sitter, paying the excess should an accident occur needs to be sorted out by both parties prior to confirmation of the sit. Something for members to consider in future.

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Sorry to hear this @Debandbee and glad the sitters and pets are ok. It’s a risk letting anyone drive your car, family, friend or sitter.

Totally agree with @temba that owners and sitters need to agree on what will happen in the event the car (or anything) is damaged. We only offer the use of our car to sitters we feel 100% confident about but that doesn’t mean accidents won’t happen. When we do offer our car to sitters we ensure they are aware of being responsible for the insurance claim excess by including this in our welcome guide, that the car insurance excess is $xx. The sitter can then decide if they want to go forward with the sit or not or use the car or not. We cross our fingers everytime that no accident will happen but it’s the risk we are prepared to take, a bit like inviting a stranger in to your home…

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@Debandbee, sorry to hear of accident and glad that people and pets seem ok.
As experienced housesitters, we’ve had use of many vehicles of Pet Parents.

Car insurance policies vary materially by country. For example, some countries insure the vehicle (irrespective of drivers) and some insure the driver (irrespective of vehicle).

We have never used a Pet Parent vehicle without confirmation that we are covered under their car insurance policy.

From our experience, Pet Parent effort to add housesitter varies a lot. Where the car is insured then it seems to take near zero effort and we believe zero cost. Where the driver is insured then it takes more effort and some cost.

Probably the trickiest country, in our experience, is the UK. We’ve had two instances where Pet Parent offered use of car then discovered challenges with some form of car insurance company/policy/stuff. Good to work details well in advance of housesit.

Hope that it works out ok.

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I see you live in Spain, usually its the car thats covered in spain not individual drivers so you should be ok.

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In the UK it’s the driver and the specified car. Possibly for this reason it would be culturally unheard of to lend your car to a stranger. You wouldn’t even lend it to a family member without stringent checks about the insurance being valid. That would mean adding them onto the insurance at some cost and major inconvenience. For us in the UK, it would be a bit like lending your phone to someone: you just wouldn’t do it.

HI @Antelope

Although we live in the UK and have our own car, there have been many UK house sits where the HO has insured their car for us if it is required to take the dogs for walks.

We offer to pay the additional premium, are aware of the excess and it is an easy process for the HO to contact the Insurance Co.

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That may be because you are UK resident. With a lot of insurance companies it is difficult to add someone with a non UK driving licence and insurance costs have also soared do people won’t be keen to do this. On one sit in a small lane of cottages the previous sitters from overseas had rented a huge landrover type vehicle and had demolished the neighbours wall trying to turn round. It pays to do your homework about where you will be based.