If you’ve been involved in a non-fault PCO accident, your first instinct might be to call your insurer. It feels like the right thing to do, after all, that’s what insurance is for. But for private hire drivers, this can actually lead to unnecessary costs, downtime, and even higher premiums. Here’s why you should think twice before calling your own insurer and why turning to an accident management company instead is the smarter move.
It’s a frustrating truth of the insurance world: even if you weren’t to blame, reporting a claim through your own insurance can affect your renewal price. Insurers see any claim, fault or not, as an added risk. By working with an accident management company, the claim is handled directly through the at-fault driver’s insurer, protecting your no-claims bonus and keeping your future premiums intact.
As a PCO driver, your vehicle isn’t just transport; it’s your income. Insurers can take days or even weeks to arrange a courtesy car, and it’s rarely a PCO-licensed one. Accident management companies like Pearl Assistance specialise in helping private hire drivers, offering like-for-like replacement vehicles that are fully insured and TfL-compliant, usually within 24 hours. That means you can keep earning while your own car is repaired.
When you go through your insurer, repairs often happen at their preferred garages, which may not be used to dealing with high-mileage or PCO-licensed vehicles. Accident management companies work with specialist repair centres that understand the needs of private hire drivers and restore your car to professional standards, using manufacturer-approved parts where possible.
From claim forms to constant follow-ups, insurance claims can eat into your working hours. Accident management companies handle every part of the process for you, arranging repairs, managing communication, and recovering costs directly from the third party’s insurer. You stay in the loop but never get stuck in the middle.
If you’ve been in a non-fault PCO accident, don’t risk losing income or damaging your insurance record. Let the experts handle it. At Pearl Assistance, we take care of your claim from start to finish, keeping you on the road, protected, and stress-free.
