Thank you Lucy for taking the time to reply.

I had thought that Broker Assistance were quite well regarded and I must stress that ,at the moment, they have not made any demands whatsoever. Hopefully they will drag the 3rd party's insurers to court for this.

Thank you for putting my mind at rest.

I felt it might be helpful to state here my own ongoing experience with credit hire.

My car was hit by another in February 2010. The other car pulled out of a side road and hit mine on the major road, so liability should not have been at issue. After I had reported the accident to my insurers, Admiral, I was called by Albany to confirm next steps in the process, and was offered a “loan” car under a credit hire agreement with Albany. In the circumstances this seemed reasonable because Admiral and Albany are interrelated companies, thus (possibly naively) I accepted it. The agreement provides me with a Free Credit Protection Policy whereby no charges will accrue to me if they cannot be recovered from the third party/insurer. Whilst the third party did, at the time, deny liability, it seemed to me that my report and subsequent interview with an investigator from AIS 2000 made a clear and irrefutable case. Since then, the situation has escalated and a court hearing will now take place on 9 February 2011, almost 12 months after the accident. There have been various references in communications with the insurer, Albany and their appointed solicitor to “hire vehicle” and “hire charges”. One of these, from Admiral/Albany, states: “The third party insurers are refusing to settle the claim for hire charges incurred following the above dated accident.” In a subsequent telephone conversation with Albany’s appointed solicitor on 18 October 2010, I was asked: “… could I have afforded to rent a car myself at lower cost, whilst mine was being repaired?” My response to this was that possibly I could, but this issue had simply not arisen during the original conversation with Albany in February 2010. A later letter from Albany’s solicitor stated: “As the Claimant in this matter and in accordance with the hire contract you have signed, you are required to attend the hearing and give evidence …” and I am still unsure on whose behalf the solicitor is actually acting.

Having since found your site and the many references to credit hire experiences, I am now wondering whether the third party in my own case has been persuaded to maintain their denial of liability, of necessity regarding the whole incident, solely because of the credit hire charges. These charges are not as wildly excessive as some of those mentioned in your column, being 10 days at c. £57 per day plus a £60 drop-off and pick-up charge. However, I was advised on 8 March 2010, when booking the car in with the recommended repairer, that it would be needed for perhaps 3 days. The paperwork on the rental car showed that it was due back on 15 March. Meanwhile, I called the repairer on 12 March and was advised that, because they were running a little behind, the car would probably not be ready until 16 March 2010. They said they would speak with Albany Vehicle Rental to extend the rental period. Not having heard from them on 16 March, I called the repairer on 17 March a.m. and was told that a wrong trim part had been delivered but that it would be ready later on 17 March, which indeed it was.

Whilst this whole epic has not, so far, cost me anything but time, I feel sure that all of the administration, (possibly inflated) hire charges, solicitors’ fees and court costs will come to an appreciable amount. I shall attend the hearing on 9 February 2011, as required, but will doubtless feel that this whole thing has been a totally unnecessary expense that will feed back into already inflating motor insurance premiums.

I was interested to note your reference: "However they will require you support them (in court if necessary) and you may be asked to provide details of means, income, credit card bills and bank statements if faced with a determined defence." Should this occur in my own case, I shall refuse to provide such personal information, as I cannot see any possible justification for it. However, perhaps you will advise what the result of my refusal to do so might be?