Your car was hired from a company and while you were driving on holiday, you had a small accident. You will have to write a report to the company to explain it. Write a letter to the company. In your letter, you need to explain the following: - when and where you hired the car - describe how the accident happened - what kind of action you took after the accident
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I have recently rented a Maruti Suzuki Alto car from your company and let me tell you, you have some world-class employees working with you. The quality of the vehicle was top-notch and you provide an impressive service as per my experience. I hired this car a week ago from your Chandigarh office. However, it is a regret that an accident spoiled both my holiday and spirit and caused some damages to the car. I was driving to Kalka station from Chandigarh to pick one of my friends from the railway station when a small accident took place. I was standing at the red light when suddenly another car coming at a very high speed hit my vehicle from behind, leaving the bumper and the silencer of the car somewhat broken. A police officer on duty has lodged an FIR against the other driver, and after checking all the essential documents, he has advised the other driver to bear all the charges for the repairing and servicing of the car. I have reserved this vehicle till 14th March and require it for some important tasks. Hence I sincerely request you to arrange another car for me. I shall be very thankful to you. Thank you for giving the matter your attention and I hope to hear your reply soon. Yours faithfully, Pooja Gupta
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Remove conversational filler Original: and let me tell you Suggested revision: and I appreciate that Why it matters: Let me tell you is too conversational and distracts from the accident report.
- 2. Correct the preposition Original: with Suggested revision: for Why it matters: Employees work for a company or employer.
- 3. Use formal wording Original: top-notch Suggested revision: excellent Why it matters: Excellent is more suitable than the informal expression in a company report.
- 4. Correct the expression Original: as per my experience Suggested revision: in my experience Why it matters: In my experience is the natural phrase for a personal assessment.
- 5. Use natural wording Original: it is a regret that Suggested revision: I regret that Why it matters: The personal verb form is the conventional way to introduce an unfortunate event.
- 6. Use plural idiom Original: spirit Suggested revision: spirits Why it matters: Spirits is plural when it refers to a person's mood.
- 7. Use uncountable noun Original: damages Suggested revision: damage Why it matters: Damage is uncountable when referring generally to physical harm.
- 8. Add phrasal particle Original: to pick one of my friends Suggested revision: to pick up one of my friends Why it matters: Pick up is the correct phrasal verb for collecting a person.
- 9. Use precise driving term Original: standing Suggested revision: stopped Why it matters: A vehicle is stopped rather than standing at a traffic signal.
- 10. Improve adverb placement Original: when suddenly another car Suggested revision: when another car suddenly Why it matters: Placing suddenly beside the action it modifies creates natural word order.
- 11. Use concise wording Original: coming at a very high speed Suggested revision: travelling at high speed Why it matters: The revision is more concise and appropriate for an accident description.
- 12. Describe damage precisely Original: the bumper and the silencer of the car somewhat broken Suggested revision: the bumper and exhaust damaged Why it matters: Damaged is more precise than somewhat broken, and exhaust is the standard vehicle term here.
Suggested Rewrites
- and let me tell you and I appreciate that
- with for
- top-notch excellent
- as per my experience in my experience
- it is a regret that I regret that
- spirit spirits
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter clearly states when and where the car was hired, explains the rear-end collision in a coherent sequence, and describes the police action and responsibility assigned to the other driver. Its main limitation is register and precision: exaggerated praise such as ‘world-class’ and ‘top-notch’ is unnecessary in an incident report, while several accident and repair phrases are awkward. Prioritise a neutral factual tone and exact documentation details.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
All required points are covered with useful detail and a clear account of the police action, though an exact hire date or report reference would improve precision.
Provide the specific hire date, police report number, and current location of the damaged vehicle.
Coherence and Cohesion
The incident develops logically from hire information through the collision and police response to the replacement request.
Condense the opening praise and use separate paragraphs for rental details, accident circumstances, and actions taken.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a reasonable range of vehicle and accident vocabulary, but informal praise and several repair collocations reduce professional precision.
Use neutral terms such as ‘rear-end collision’, ‘damaged bumper’, ‘repair costs’, ‘police report’, and ‘replacement car’.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Meaning remains clear through varied structures, with occasional errors in tense, articles, plural forms, prepositions, and punctuation.
Keep the accident narrative consistently in the past tense and add commas after introductory linking expressions.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your car was hired from a company and while you were driving on holiday, you had a small accident. You will have to write a report to the company to explain it. Write a letter to the company. In your letter, you need to explain the following:
- when and where you hired the car
- describe how the accident happened
- what kind of action you took after the accident
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.