- Delivered across Sydney
- Bond and fees shown before you pay
- Never swapped to a lesser car
The call usually comes within a couple of days and it is friendly, efficient and designed to close. A small car is available, it can be delivered tomorrow, and would you like it. Most people say yes because they assume the offer reflects a rule. It does not. It reflects a preference, and understanding the difference is worth a great deal of money.
Offered something smaller than your car?
Send us the make, model and year and we will tell you what a fair match looks like.
Why the First Offer Is Always Small
There is nothing sinister in it. An insurer meeting a hire bill wants that bill to be as small
as it can defensibly be, and the cheapest defensible position is basic transport. Offering it costs
nothing, and in a large proportion of cases it is simply accepted.
The reason it is accepted is that the offer is presented as though it were the entitlement. It
is not. Since December 2021 the position in Australia is that a not-at-fault owner is entitled to
the reasonable cost of a broadly comparable or equivalent vehicle, following the
High Court's unanimous decision in Arsalan v Rixon; Nguyen v Cassim [2021] HCA 40.
What Changed, in One Paragraph
The old argument was that you had to demonstrate a need for a car, and that need meant getting
from A to B. The High Court held the concept of need "was a distraction from the proper focus",
identified the heads of damage as physical inconvenience and loss of amenity, and shifted the onus
so that a defendant must prove your conduct was unreasonable rather than you having to justify it
in advance. A base model addresses the inconvenience. It does not address the amenity.
What to Do When the Offer Arrives
Do not accept on the phone
Say you will consider it and ask for the offer in writing, including the specific make and model
being offered and the period. That single request changes the dynamic, costs you nothing, and gives
you something to respond to.
Do not refuse it outright either
An unanswered or flatly rejected offer of a reasonable replacement is one of the stronger
mitigation points available to a defendant later. You want a written record of a considered
response, not a refusal.
Write down what you actually lost
Before responding, list the characteristics of your vehicle that matter. Segment and size.
Seating capacity. Boot space. Drivetrain if genuinely relevant. Towing capacity if you tow.
Anything the car did for you that a smaller one will not.
Respond in writing, specifically
The effective response is short and concrete. Thank them for the offer. Identify your vehicle
precisely. Explain why the offered car is not broadly comparable by reference to those
characteristics rather than to price or brand. State what would be comparable. Ask them to confirm
whether they will provide it.
A model paragraph
"Thank you for the offer of a [offered vehicle]. My vehicle is a [year, make, model, variant],
a seven-seat diesel SUV with a 3,500kg towing capacity which I use to tow a trailer weekly. The
vehicle offered seats five and cannot tow. It is therefore not broadly comparable within the
meaning of Arsalan v Rixon. A comparable replacement would be [category]. Please confirm whether
you are able to provide one."
That is more effective than any amount of argument about entitlement in the abstract, because it
is specific, factual and easy to act on.
What Makes a Response Weak
Leading with brand
"My car is a Range Rover and I want a Range Rover" is a weaker position than describing what the
vehicle does. The test is broad comparability, and in the High Court cases a BMW was replaced with
an Infiniti without the Court disturbing it. Characteristics travel further than badges.
Overreaching
Asking for something conspicuously grander than your own vehicle undermines everything else you
say. The standard is equivalence, not upgrade, and an unreasonable ask makes a reasonable one
harder to obtain.
Silence
Not responding while quietly hiring something expensive is the worst combination. It hands the
other side a mitigation argument and a comparability argument at the same time.
When the Offer Is Actually Fine
Sometimes it is, and pretending otherwise wastes your time. If you drove a mid-size sedan and
you are offered a mid-size sedan, that is a comparable vehicle and there is no argument to have.
Accepting a reasonable offer is also the cleanest possible position on mitigation, and it removes
rate and comparability from the picture entirely.
The question is never whether the offer came from an insurer. It is whether the car is broadly
comparable to yours.
If They Will Not Provide Something Comparable
You then face a decision about arranging your own replacement and claiming the cost. That brings
in the funding question: paying yourself and claiming back, or a credit hire arrangement.
Whichever you choose, having already put your position in writing is valuable. It establishes
that you engaged with the offer, explained specifically why it did not meet the standard, and gave
them the opportunity to provide something that did. That is a materially stronger foundation than
arriving at the same place without the paper trail.
The Three Things They Can Still Argue, Even If You Win the Car
Getting a comparable vehicle agreed is not the end of it, and knowing what comes next helps you
keep the file in order from the start.
Rate
What the vehicle cost per day, measured against the market for an equivalent car. If you
self-funded at an ordinary retail rate this rarely becomes an issue. Credit hire rates sit above
retail and attract more scrutiny.
Duration
How long the hire ran, measured against the documented repair timeline. Keep the dates: report,
assessment, repair authority, parts correspondence, completion, collection. Return the vehicle
promptly when your own car is ready.
Comparability, again
Even where an insurer has agreed in principle, the specific vehicle you took can be revisited.
This is why the written exchange matters. If you told them what you needed and why, and they did
not provide it, the vehicle you then hired is far easier to justify.
What If You Already Accepted a Base Model?
People often ask this after the fact, having taken the small car for a fortnight before
realising the repair will run for two months.
Accepting an offer initially does not necessarily lock you in for the whole period, particularly
where circumstances change or the repair timeline extends well beyond what was contemplated. The
sensible step is to raise it in writing at the point it becomes a problem, explaining what has
changed, rather than silently swapping vehicles or simply enduring it. Whether a variation is
available depends on the facts and is worth advice if the remaining period is long.
Keep It Proportionate
Most of these never become disputes. Where liability is admitted and the vehicle offered is
sensible, this is a five-minute conversation and nothing more. The situations that turn into
arguments are the ones where an expensive car meets a base-model offer and neither side puts
anything in writing.
If the replacement vehicle is booked
We never move you down a tier. If your dates are taken, these are the luxury cars we will offer instead, and we will tell you plainly if none of them is free rather than substituting something lesser on the day.
Range Rover Sport
- 294kW
- 5.9s
- AWD
- 5 seats
The kind of broadly comparable replacement the principle contemplates when the damaged car was a prestige SUV.
Mercedes-Benz GLS
- 243kW
- 6.3s
- AWD
- 7 seats
Seven seats, for when the car off the road was the family vehicle and a hatchback genuinely will not do the job.
Want a straight answer?
We will tell you when what you were offered is actually reasonable, as well as when it is not. Both happen.
General information only. Every claim turns on its own facts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to accept the car the insurer offers?
The offer is a starting position rather than a statement of your entitlement. The standard is the reasonable cost of a broadly comparable or equivalent vehicle. Whether a particular offer meets that depends on the facts, so respond specifically rather than accepting or refusing on assumption.
What should I say when they call?
Say you will consider it and ask for the offer in writing including the specific make, model and period. Do not accept on the phone and do not refuse outright. You want a written record of a considered response.
How do I explain why the offer is not comparable?
By reference to characteristics rather than brand: seating, size, boot space, drivetrain where relevant, and capabilities such as towing. Describe what the vehicle did for you and why the offered car does not do it.
Is it enough to say I drive a prestige car?
No, and it is a weak position. In the High Court cases a BMW was replaced with an Infiniti without the Court disturbing it. The test is broad comparability, so characteristics carry far more weight than the badge.
What happens if I just ignore the offer?
It becomes one of the stronger mitigation arguments available to the other side. An unanswered offer of a reasonable replacement is much harder to explain later than a refused one with a stated reason.
Can they revisit the vehicle later even after agreeing?
The specific car you took can still be examined on comparability, along with rate and duration. This is exactly why the written exchange matters. If you told them what you needed and why, and they did not provide it, the vehicle you then hired is considerably easier to justify afterwards.
What if the offer is actually reasonable?
Then accept it. If you drove a mid-size sedan and are offered a mid-size sedan there is no argument to have, and accepting removes rate, duration and comparability disputes entirely. The question is never who made the offer, only whether the car is comparable.
I already accepted a small car. Am I stuck with it?
Not necessarily, particularly where the repair timeline has extended well beyond what was contemplated when you accepted. Raise it in writing at the point it becomes a problem, explaining what has changed, rather than silently swapping vehicles or simply enduring it. Whether a variation is available depends on the facts and is worth advice if the remaining period is long.
What if they refuse to provide anything comparable?
You then decide whether to arrange your own and claim the cost, which raises the funding question of self-funding versus credit hire. Having already put your position in writing puts you in a considerably stronger position at that point.
Is this legal advice?
No. This is general information about how replacement vehicle claims usually work in New South Wales. It does not take account of your circumstances and no solicitor-client relationship arises from reading it. For advice on your own claim, speak to a solicitor.
Does Drive Tribe run my claim?
No. We are a vehicle hire business. What we can do is supply a broadly equivalent replacement from a prestige fleet, and tell you honestly whether what we have is a reasonable match for what you were driving.