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PCO Courtesy Car: What You Are Offered Versus What You Are Actually Entitled To

A garage, an insurer or your PCO rental company has offered you a courtesy car. Before you take the keys, there are two things that decide whether it is any use to you at all: is the vehicle itself licensed and plated as a London private hire vehicle, and is it insured for hire and reward. If the answer to either is no, the car does not put you back to work. This page explains the difference between the courtesy car being offered and the like-for-like licensed replacement a non-fault driver can ask for, subject to liability and eligibility.

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Reviewed: Written & reviewed by: CityGrip Editorial Team (City Grip Ltd)Applies to: TfL-licensed private hire drivers in London

Can a London PCO driver work in a courtesy car?

Usually not. A courtesy car is normally a small ordinary car lent by a repairing garage or provided under a policy add-on, and it is typically neither licensed and plated by TfL as a private hire vehicle nor insured for hire and reward. Working on it would mean driving an unlicensed, wrongly insured vehicle. As a non-fault driver your underlying position is different: the law aims to put you back where you were, which for a licensed London driver means a plated replacement on the correct class of cover, subject to liability and eligibility being established.

Key points

  • Since 1 January 2023 every vehicle licensed as a London private hire vehicle for the first time must be zero emission capable and meet Euro 6. Vehicles already licensed before then do not need to be zero emission capable but must be no more than 10 years old at re-licensing.
  • TfL requires hire and reward insurance documents to be produced at the private hire vehicle licensing inspection, and licensed private hire vehicles must display their TfL vehicle licence discs.
  • There is no general legal right to a courtesy car. It is either a contractual benefit you paid for on your policy or a discretionary goodwill loan from a garage.
  • A social, domestic and pleasure policy does not permit carrying paying passengers. Hire and reward cover is the class of use required for private hire work.
  • A claim for a replacement vehicle requires proof of a reasonable need to hire at all, for the period claimed, and for a vehicle of that type. For a PCO driver, plated and hire and reward insured is the minimum specification that restores the position.
  • In Copley v Lawn and Maden v Haller the Court of Appeal held that rejecting an insurer's replacement vehicle offer that did not state its cost was not unreasonable, and that even an unreasonable rejection does not forfeit the claim entirely.
  • In Lagden v O'Connor the House of Lords accepted that a claimant who could not afford to fund hire themselves can recover the reasonable cost of a credit hire arrangement.
01PCO DRIVERS

What a courtesy car actually is, and why the offer rarely fits a PCO driver

A courtesy car is a loan vehicle, and it comes from one of three places. It can be lent by the garage repairing your car, usually off that garage's own small fleet and covered by their motor trade policy. It can come from a courtesy car benefit you bought as an add-on to your own motor policy, which normally only applies if you use the insurer's approved repairer. Or it can be offered by the at-fault driver's insurer as an intervention, meaning they arrange a car directly so that they control the cost. In all three cases the vehicle is chosen for the supplier's convenience and budget, not for your job. It is typically a small petrol hatchback in the cheapest insurance group the supplier can get away with.

For an ordinary private motorist that is perfectly adequate. The car does the school run, the supermarket and the commute, and nobody asks any questions about it. For a London PCO driver the vehicle is not transport, it is the tool you earn with, and the whole point of a replacement is to stop the earnings loss while your own car is inspected, repaired or written off. A hatchback that cannot legally carry a paying passenger does not do that. It restores your private life and leaves your income exactly where the accident left it, which is at zero for every day you are off the road.

This is why the courtesy car conversation goes wrong so often for PCO drivers. The offer usually arrives within the first day or two, frequently before liability has been decided, and it is almost always described as free. Free is doing a great deal of work in that sentence, because a free car you cannot work in is more expensive to you than almost anything else on offer. If you want the underlying product comparison in plain terms, read our explainer at /credit-hire-vs-courtesy-car, then come back here for the PCO specific detail, because the licensing layer changes the answer completely.

02PCO DRIVERS

Plated and on hire and reward, or you are not legally working

In London the private hire vehicle licence attaches to a specific vehicle, not to you and not to your operator. TfL issues the licence for that registration, and licensed private hire vehicles must display their vehicle licence discs, with exemptions only considered in limited circumstances. When a vehicle is presented for licensing, TfL requires hire and reward insurance documents to be produced at the inspection alongside the V5C and a recent MOT certificate. The practical consequence for you is simple and non-negotiable: a replacement vehicle only lets you accept private hire bookings if that vehicle itself holds a current TfL private hire vehicle licence. A borrowed car does not inherit the plate from your own car.

The insurance layer is separate and equally hard. A standard social, domestic and pleasure policy, which is the class of use most courtesy cars sit on, does not cover carrying passengers for payment. Hire and reward cover is the class of use required to carry paying passengers, and driving a vehicle for a purpose your certificate does not permit is a road traffic insurance offence rather than a technicality you can argue about later. It also creates a second problem with the apps: to change vehicle on your driver account you have to have the replacement's details and a valid TfL private hire vehicle licence accepted, with the registration and the make and model matching your profile.

There is a third layer that catches drivers out when someone suggests simply getting a courtesy car plated. Since 1 January 2023, any vehicle licensed as a London private hire vehicle for the first time must be zero emission capable and meet Euro 6. To qualify as zero emission capable a plug-in hybrid must emit no more than 50g/km CO2 with at least a 10 mile zero emission range, or no more than 75g/km CO2 with at least a 20 mile zero emission range, while battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles satisfy the standard outright. Vehicles already licensed before that change do not have to be zero emission capable, but they must be no more than 10 years old at re-licensing. So the pool of cars that can lawfully be put on your job is a specific, limited pool, and a random petrol courtesy hatchback is very unlikely to be in it.

PCO DRIVERS

03

Section 3 of the walkthrough.

A courtesy car is a favour or a policy clause. Your replacement position is neither.

There is no general legal right in the United Kingdom to be given a courtesy car after an accident. A courtesy car exists for one of two reasons. Either you paid for it as an optional benefit on your own policy, in which case it is a contractual promise and is bound by whatever conditions that policy sets, or a garage lends you one as a goodwill gesture as part of their service, in which case it is discretionary and can be withdrawn. That is why the conditions attached feel so arbitrary: approved repairer only, subject to availability, minimum driver age, a security deposit, a mileage cap, a fuel policy, and almost always a restriction on the use you can put the car to.

The position of a non-fault driver is different in kind, not just in degree. The general principle in a claim against the driver who caused the damage is that damages should put the innocent party back in the position they were in before the collision. That is a measure of loss, not a favour, and what it covers depends on what you actually lost. If what you lost was a licensed, plated, hire and reward insured vehicle that generated your income, then a small unplated hatchback on a social, domestic and pleasure certificate does not restore what was taken away. This is the whole reason like-for-like matters more for PCO drivers than for anyone else on the road.

It follows that the first question to ask about any offered vehicle is not whether it is free. It is whether it lets you work. There is also a quieter risk in accepting the wrong car without saying anything, which is that the other side will later argue that you had a vehicle available and therefore had no further need, and that any earnings loss after that point was your own choice. Say clearly, in writing, at the time, why the offered car does not meet your need. For how the wider non-fault PCO claim fits together, including recovery, storage, engineer inspection and dealing with the third party insurer, see our hub at /pco-accident-claims.

04PCO DRIVERS

Four questions to ask before you take the keys

Question one: is this vehicle itself licensed by TfL as a private hire vehicle, and does it carry a current licence disc? Ask for the registration and the vehicle licence number, and check it rather than taking a verbal yes. Question two: is it insured for hire and reward, in whose name is the policy, and can I see the certificate or schedule showing the class of use? A garage saying the car is fully insured is answering a different question. Fully comprehensive describes the level of cover. Class of use describes what you are allowed to do with it, and hire and reward is the part that matters here.

Question three: who is paying, on what basis, and what happens if the other insurer does not accept liability? A courtesy car provided under your own policy may be limited to a fixed number of days, may require you to pay your excess first, and may end the moment the repair finishes even if you are still without your own car because it has been declared a total loss. Question four: how long is it for, and what happens if the repair overruns, parts are delayed, or the engineer inspection is not booked for a fortnight? Get the answer before you sign the loan agreement, because the terms of that agreement are what will be quoted back at you.

If your car is rented or on rent-to-buy from a PCO provider, add a fifth step and actually read the replacement clause in your own agreement. Providers commonly promise a replacement in conditional language: subject to availability, on a case-by-case basis, with priority given to non-fault incidents, or where a vehicle can be offered. Some publish nothing at all about replacement terms, so we are not going to tell you what your provider promises. We do not know, and neither does any page that claims to. Find the clause, read exactly what it says about who supplies the vehicle, whether rent keeps running, and whether you pay a damage excess. Who claims what when you rent rather than own is covered separately at /pco-car-hire-accident.

05PCO DRIVERS

Reasonable need, and why refusing an unsuitable car is not unreasonable

A claim for the cost of a replacement vehicle is not automatic. The courts have consistently required a claimant to establish a reasonable need to hire at all, a reasonable need for the period claimed, and a reasonable need for a vehicle of that type or standard. For most private motorists the argument happens on the first and second limbs. For a licensed London driver the real work is on the third. A plated private hire vehicle on hire and reward cover is not an upgrade or a luxury for you, it is the minimum specification that returns you to the position you were in, because anything below it leaves you unable to accept a single booking. That argument is much easier to make with your PCO licence, your vehicle licence and your earnings records in front of you.

Mitigation cuts both ways, and this is where drivers make expensive mistakes. If the at-fault insurer contacts you and offers a vehicle, do not simply ignore it. The Court of Appeal in Copley v Lawn and Maden v Haller held that it was not unreasonable for claimants to reject an insurer's offer of a free vehicle where the offer did not set out the cost to the insurer, so that no realistic comparison could be made. The same decision confirmed that even where a claimant unreasonably rejects an offer, the claim is not lost altogether: recovery is reduced to the cost the defendant can show would reasonably have been incurred. The safe approach is to respond in writing, state that you hold a TfL private hire driver's licence, and ask the specific question of whether the offered vehicle is plated and insured for hire and reward.

Two further points shape what is recoverable. Where a claimant genuinely could not afford to lay out hire charges themselves, the House of Lords in Lagden v O'Connor accepted that the reasonable cost of a credit hire arrangement can be recovered rather than a bare basic rate, so your financial position is relevant evidence rather than something to hide. Separately, the reasonableness of the hire period is judged on your conduct, so authorise repairs promptly, make the vehicle available for engineer inspection, answer the total loss valuation without sitting on it, and hand the replacement back the day your own car is ready. None of this produces a guaranteed outcome. Liability, eligibility and the evidence you keep will always qualify what a replacement vehicle claim recovers.

06PCO DRIVERSKey takeaway

What to do if you have already accepted an unsuitable courtesy car

First, stop working in it until you have written confirmation that it is plated and on hire and reward cover. This is the single most important sentence on this page. Carrying an app passenger in an unlicensed vehicle on a social, domestic and pleasure certificate exposes you to a licensing problem with TfL and to an uninsured use allegation, and either of those costs vastly more than a handful of days off the road. The temptation to do one more shift because the rent or the finance payment is due is completely understandable, and it is still the wrong call.

Second, put it in writing to whoever handed you the keys, whether that is the garage, the claims handler, your own insurer or your rental provider. Keep it short and factual: you are a licensed London private hire driver, you were supplied vehicle registration X on a given date, and you are asking them to confirm in writing whether that vehicle holds a current TfL private hire vehicle licence and whether its insurance permits hire and reward. Ask them to substitute a compliant vehicle or arrange collection. Their written answer, or their silence, becomes part of your evidence about why the vehicle supplied did not meet your need.

Third, evidence the gap while it is still fresh. Record the date the accident took off the road, the dates you were without a usable licensed vehicle, and your earnings history from your operator statements for the weeks before, because that is what any conversation about lost income will be measured against. Then ask for a compliant like-for-like replacement rather than another loan car. Our work here is accident management: recovery, secure storage, engineer inspection, repair coordination, sourcing a licensed replacement where liability and eligibility allow, and dealing with the third party insurer on your behalf. We do not handle personal injury in-house, and any injury enquiry is only referred to authorised legal partners with your separate written consent. For sourcing a compliant plated replacement more generally, see /pco-replacement-car.

Step by step

What to do next

  1. 1Get the offer in writing before you agree to anything. Ask the garage, insurer, claims handler or rental provider to email you the make, model and registration of the vehicle they are offering, plus the start date and the expected duration. A verbal offer over the phone gives you nothing to check and nothing to point to later. If they will not put the registration in writing, treat that as your answer.
  2. 2Check the vehicle's TfL private hire vehicle licence. Ask for the vehicle licence number and confirm the car is currently licensed as a London private hire vehicle and displays its licence disc. Remember the plate belongs to the vehicle, not to you, so your own car being licensed is irrelevant to the loan car. If nobody can produce a vehicle licence number, the car is not one you can accept bookings in.
  3. 3Check the class of use on the insurance, not just the level of cover. Ask to see the certificate or schedule and look for hire and reward. Fully comprehensive tells you the level of cover, not what you are permitted to do with the car. Social, domestic and pleasure, including commuting, does not permit carrying paying passengers. Confirm whose policy it is and whether you are a named or permitted driver on it.
  4. 4Read the replacement clause in your own rental or rent-to-buy agreement. If your PCO car is rented or on rent-to-buy, find the clause dealing with accidents and replacement vehicles. Note whether the promise is conditional wording such as subject to availability or case by case, whether your rent keeps running while you are off the road, what damage excess applies, and whether you must use their nominated repairer. Terms differ between providers and are often not published, so rely on your own signed agreement.
  5. 5Respond to any insurer offer in writing rather than ignoring it. Reply, confirm that you hold a TfL private hire driver's licence and that your vehicle is a licensed private hire vehicle, and ask directly whether the offered vehicle is plated and insured for hire and reward. Ask what the vehicle would cost them. A clear written response protects your position on mitigation far better than silence does.
  6. 6Ask for a like-for-like licensed replacement instead. Where the offered courtesy car cannot lawfully be used for private hire work, state that it does not meet your need and request a plated replacement on hire and reward cover so you can continue working. Set out the days you have already lost. Any replacement remains subject to liability being established and to eligibility.
  7. 7Build the evidence pack while it is fresh. Keep your PCO driver's licence, the vehicle licence, insurance schedule, the accident report, repair authority and engineer inspection dates, all correspondence about the courtesy car, and your operator earnings statements for the weeks before and after. Log every date you were without a usable licensed vehicle. This is the material that supports both the replacement vehicle and any loss of earnings discussion.
  8. 8Off-hire the moment your own vehicle is back. Return any replacement the day your repaired car is available or the day a total loss settlement is agreed and you have a vehicle again. The reasonableness of the hire period is judged on your conduct, so avoid unexplained gaps, respond promptly to valuations, and keep proof of the return date.

Frequently asked questions

Can I do Uber or Bolt work in a courtesy car?
Only if that specific vehicle is itself licensed by TfL as a private hire vehicle and is insured for hire and reward, which most courtesy cars are not. The private hire vehicle licence belongs to the registration, so your own car being plated does nothing for a loan car. On top of that, to change vehicle on your driver account you need the replacement's details and a valid TfL private hire vehicle licence accepted, with the registration, make and model matching your profile. If the courtesy car cannot clear both the licensing and the insurance test, it is a personal car, not a work car.
The garage says the courtesy car is fully insured. Is that enough?
No, because fully insured and correctly insured are different questions. Comprehensive describes the level of cover if the car is damaged. Class of use describes what you are legally permitted to do with it, and carrying paying passengers requires hire and reward. Most courtesy cars sit on social, domestic and pleasure, sometimes with commuting added, which does not extend to private hire work. Ask to see the certificate or schedule and look for the words hire and reward. Using a vehicle outside the permitted class of use is an insurance offence, not a paperwork detail you can sort out afterwards.
Am I legally entitled to a courtesy car at all?
There is no general legal right to a courtesy car in the United Kingdom. You get one either because you bought courtesy car cover as an add-on to your own policy, which makes it a contractual benefit subject to that policy's conditions, or because a garage chooses to lend you one as part of its service. Both are conditional and can be limited by availability, approved repairer requirements, driver age or duration caps. The position of a non-fault driver is separate: damages aim to put you back where you were before the collision, and for a licensed driver that means a vehicle you can actually work in, subject to liability and eligibility.
The at-fault insurer said if I refuse their car I will get nothing. Is that right?
That is an overstatement. The Court of Appeal in Copley v Lawn and Maden v Haller held that it was not unreasonable for a claimant to reject an insurer's offer of a free vehicle where the offer did not make the cost clear enough to allow a realistic comparison. The same case confirmed that even where a refusal is found unreasonable, the claim is not wiped out: recovery is reduced to what the defendant shows would reasonably have been incurred. The sensible response is never silence. Reply in writing, explain that you are a licensed private hire driver, and ask whether the offered vehicle is plated and on hire and reward.
My PCO rental company says a replacement is subject to availability. What can I do?
Read the exact clause in your own agreement rather than relying on what you were told at the counter. Conditional wording such as subject to availability, case by case, or priority given to non-fault incidents is common across the London PCO rental market, and it means a replacement is possible rather than promised. Check three things specifically: whether your rent keeps running while you are off the road, what damage excess applies, and whether you must use their nominated repairer. Providers do not always publish these terms, so no website can tell you what yours says. If the provider cannot supply a plated car, the non-fault route may still be open, subject to liability.
Can a courtesy car just be plated so I can work in it?
Realistically, no, not on the timescale you need. Since 1 January 2023 any vehicle licensed as a London private hire vehicle for the first time must be zero emission capable and meet Euro 6, meaning battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell, or a plug-in hybrid emitting no more than 50g/km CO2 with at least a 10 mile zero emission range or no more than 75g/km CO2 with at least a 20 mile zero emission range. Vehicles already licensed before that date do not need to be zero emission capable but must be no more than 10 years old at re-licensing. A standard petrol courtesy hatchback will not qualify, and licensing also requires an inspection and hire and reward insurance.
Does accepting a courtesy car damage my claim?
Accepting one does not automatically damage anything, but accepting one silently can weaken your position on the days you lost afterwards, because the other side may argue you had a vehicle available and therefore no continuing need. The fix is to be explicit at the time. Confirm in writing that the vehicle supplied is not licensed or insured for private hire work, that it does not allow you to earn, and that you are still asking for a compliant replacement. Keep the reply. A contemporaneous written record is far more persuasive than an explanation constructed weeks later.
What is the actual difference between a courtesy car and credit hire for a PCO driver?
A courtesy car is a loan vehicle provided under a policy add-on or as garage goodwill while your car is repaired, usually a small ordinary car on social, domestic and pleasure cover, and it typically ends when the repair ends. Credit hire is a like-for-like replacement supplied on hire while a non-fault claim is pursued, and for a London PCO driver like-for-like means a TfL licensed, plated private hire vehicle on hire and reward cover. One keeps you mobile. The other is intended to keep you working. The general comparison is set out at /credit-hire-vs-courtesy-car, and eligibility always depends on liability.
I have already been working in the courtesy car. What now?
Stop using it for bookings until you have written confirmation that it is plated and insured for hire and reward. Working an unlicensed vehicle on the wrong class of use risks both a licensing problem with TfL and an uninsured use allegation, and either outcome is far more costly than the shifts you would lose. Then write to whoever supplied the car, ask them to confirm the vehicle's licensing and insurance position in writing, and ask them to substitute a compliant vehicle or collect it. Record the dates you were without a usable licensed vehicle and keep your operator earnings statements.

Important notice for PCO drivers

Liability remains subject to the at-fault driver's insurer's assessment and the available evidence. Replacement vehicle, credit hire, recovery, storage, repair and loss of earnings support are subject to eligibility, the evidential record and reasonable need. We do not provide legal advice and we do not handle personal injury in-house: injury enquiries are referred only with your separate written consent to authorised legal or regulated partners. Information about TfL private hire licensing, Zero Emission Capable standards, vehicle age limits and notification duties is general guidance, not legal or licensing advice, and the position applying to your own licence at the relevant date will govern. Rental, rent-to-buy and finance terms vary between providers: always check the specific clauses in your own agreement.

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