Who Pays for Storage After a Non-Fault Accident?
Your car has been recovered to a compound and the charges are ticking over daily. Here is who is actually liable for that bill, what it typically costs, and how to make sure it never lands on you.
If the accident was not your fault, the at-fault driver's insurer pays your storage and recovery charges - not you. Those charges form part of your claim against them, alongside vehicle damage and any replacement vehicle costs.
You should never have to fund them yourself. When PTH Claims arranges your recovery and storage, you pay nothing regardless of how the claim ends.
Why your car ends up in storage
After a serious accident your vehicle usually cannot be driven away. It gets recovered from the roadside and taken to a secure compound - and then it has to wait for three things.
An engineer inspects it
Someone has to decide whether the vehicle is repairable or a total loss. Nothing moves until they have been.
Liability is established
Insurers agree who was at fault, and therefore who is paying. This is usually the slowest part.
The vehicle is released
Either a repairer takes it in, or the total loss settlement is agreed and the salvage is collected.
Every one of those steps runs on someone else's timetable - which is why cars routinely sit for weeks.
What you would normally be charged - and what you pay us
This is the part that rarely gets explained at the roadside. A recovery operator takes your vehicle away, the meter starts running, and the first many people hear about the daily rate is when an invoice arrives weeks later.
Here is what these charges typically look like in the industry, against what you pay with PTH Claims:
| Charge | Typical provider | PTH Claims |
|---|---|---|
| Recovery from the scene | £150 - £350 | FREE |
| Storage - standard car | £15 - £30 per day | FREE |
| Storage - van or large vehicle | £25 - £40 per day | FREE |
| Release or handling fee | £50 - £150 | FREE |
| Six weeks in storage | £1,200+ | £0 |
Terms and conditions apply. Typical provider figures are industry ranges and vary by site, location and vehicle. All claims are subject to identity, fraud and anti-money laundering checks.
The daily rate is what catches people out. At £25 a day, a vehicle sitting for six weeks has built up over £1,000 in storage alone - before recovery and release fees are added.
With PTH Claims that figure is zero. We arrange the recovery and the storage, we carry the cost, and we recover it from the at-fault driver's insurer. It never reaches you, and it never depends on how your claim ends. Terms and conditions apply, and all claims are subject to identity, fraud and anti-money laundering checks.
A vehicle is recovered from the roadside after a rear-end shunt and taken to a compound while the third party's insurer investigates liability. The engineer's inspection takes a week or so, and liability is admitted some weeks after that.
By the time the vehicle is released, weeks of storage have built up on top of the recovery charge. Handled properly, all of it is recovered from the at-fault insurer - and with PTH Claims the client is never asked for a penny at any point.
Is your vehicle sitting in storage right now?
The charges are accruing daily. The sooner we take it over, the less there is to argue about later.
When you could be left with the bill
Storage charges are recoverable, but not automatically. Three situations leave people out of pocket:
You arranged storage privately
If you called a recovery firm yourself and signed their paperwork, you owe them. You then have to reclaim it from the other side - and if liability is split, you may carry part of it.
Nobody is pushing the claim
Charges keep running while insurers argue. Without someone chasing it, a vehicle can sit for months and produce a bill nobody wants to pay.
The charges are judged unreasonable
You have a duty to keep losses reasonable. If a vehicle sat for four months when it could have gone after four weeks, an insurer may refuse the excess.
Be careful what you sign at the roadside. Recovery operators sometimes ask you to sign paperwork making you personally liable for storage. Read it before you sign, and if you are unsure, call us first - we can take the vehicle over and deal with the compound directly.
How PTH Claims handles it
We arrange the recovery and the storage, carry the cost ourselves, and recover it from the at-fault insurer once liability is settled.
You pay nothing
Whatever the outcome of your claim, the bill never reaches you.
Anywhere in the UK
Recovery and storage arranged nationwide, day or night.
We deal with the compound
No paperwork in your name and no invoices sent to you.
We push the timetable
Chasing the inspection and the liability decision so it isn't sitting there needlessly.
If your vehicle has already been recovered somewhere and the charges have started, call us anyway. We can usually take the claim over, deal with the compound directly, and stop you being chased for it.
Common questions
Not when PTH Claims arranged it. The charges sit with us and are recovered from the at-fault insurer. If you signed a recovery firm's paperwork yourself, that is a different matter and they can pursue you directly.
Usually the same day, and often within a few hours depending on where it is. Call as soon as you can - every day it sits somewhere else is another day of charges.
Normal, and it does not stop us acting. Storage continues while insurers investigate, and we pursue it as part of the claim once liability is settled. You still pay nothing in the meantime.
A non-fault claim handled against the other driver's insurer does not go through your own policy, so there is no claim on your record and no excess to pay. That is one of the main reasons people use an accident management company rather than claiming on their own cover.
Yes, until the settlement is agreed and the salvage is collected. This is often where charges build up most, because valuation disputes can drag on. We push for a decision to keep that period as short as possible.
Terms and conditions apply to all services described on this page. Free recovery, storage and replacement vehicles are provided on the basis that the charges are recovered from the at-fault party’s insurer. We will explain the terms in plain English before anything is arranged.
Before we act for you we are required to verify your identity and to carry out fraud and anti-money laundering checks. This may include checks with credit reference and fraud prevention agencies, which will leave a record on your file.
Where fraud is suspected, information may be shared with fraud prevention agencies, insurers and law enforcement. Providing false or misleading information in support of a claim may mean your claim is refused, and can be a criminal offence.