I am, on the whole, a lucky man. There is a bit of cash in the bank and more than one car in the drive. So when my son, who is a named driver on my wife’s policy, borrowed her Toyota back on the 8th April, parked it outside his girlfriend’s house only to be woken the next morning to find a neighbour had driven his Alfa Romeo into the front of it, we were able to cope with it’s loss during repair.

And, to be truthful, I have to commend Direct Line Insurance. One call and the car was loaded within an hour or so, taken to a repair centre and was delivered back to us as good as new within about two weeks. Total cost – £450 excess, a couple of hundred more than the standard excess because my son is under 25.

And because this was not our fault, under the terms of the policy we get the excess back. Eventually. One day. Two and a half months later, Direct Line tell me they are still trying to contact the other insurers to establish liability. And as we all know, insurance companies will try and wriggle out of actually paying money to a punter whenever they can get away with it. So the fact the young man in the Alfa admitted it was totally his fault, there are witnesses and photographs doesn’t mean anything.

As I said above – I am a lucky man. But I know many people who would have a big problem losing their car for a fortnight. But having to shell out £450 for an unknown and potentially long time would be a severe strain on their resources – especially having already paid the extra policy costs that supposedly cover these losses.

I wonder of I can charge them interest?