All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident | Legal matters | Back Room Forum

What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Mon 4 Apr 2011 14:16

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - Yowch

Good afternoon,

I am being asked for permission for a company called Broker Assitance to take the insurer of a car that hit me to court to reclaim car hire costs incurred whilst my car was being repaired. The company is asking me to sign a piece of paper authorising a company of solicitors to undertake legal action <<on my behalf>>. Is it a good idea to sign this or not.

The background is that my car was hit whilst parked. The lady who hit my car admitted liability and her insurance company gave me a claim number to get my car repaired. I took it to the nearest repair shop and they agreed to do the work on my car. They said that they would arrange a hire car for me whilst my car was off the road. I received a phone call from a company that said it would sort out a hire car and deal with the insurance company. I had no idea how motor insurance claims work so I just accepted this as the way these things work.

Anyway, my car took two weeks to repair during which time I had the hire car.

Now, some weeks later I have received the letter detailed above.

I have (now) read quite a lot of worrying stories about how the <<accident system>> seems to work and I am really worried about what I should do.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thank-you

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Mon 4 Apr 2011 15:07

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - LucyBC

They have put you in a credit hire and the at-fault insurance company is challenging the claim.

The case will be in your name and is against the third party but is really against their insurance company. Because of the way the car was provided you will have signed a contract to assist the hirer in the event that the insurer refuses to pay.

You will need to cooperate with the lawyers as requested. If you do not then you could end up paying the bill.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Mon 4 Apr 2011 15:38

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - Yowch

Thank-you,

I will sign and send the forms off. The hire was for two weeks and was a basic family car (Vauxhall Insignia) whilst my Mazda 6 was off the road. I don't think that the repairs could have been carried out much more quickly (replace two doors and respray car). I'm not really sure how I could have avoided all this, I can't really afford to hire a car myself for two weeks and I needed a car to get to and from work and ferry my children around.

Do insurance companies regularly contest claims like this?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Wed 13 Apr 2011 16:25

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - stivvy

Thank-you,

I will sign and send the forms off. The hire was for two weeks and was a basic family car (Vauxhall Insignia) whilst my Mazda 6 was off the road. I don't think that the repairs could have been carried out much more quickly (replace two doors and respray car). I'm not really sure how I could have avoided all this, I can't really afford to hire a car myself for two weeks and I needed a car to get to and from work and ferry my children around.

Do insurance companies regularly contest claims like this?

It seems yes they do. We had a similar experience which has now been resolved after almost 12months. What surprised us was that taking up the offer of a replacement vehicle for the repair period, even though we tried in vain to decline, by signing the car-hire form we were entering into a Credit Agreement even though the instructions had come from the insurer's agent. A detail that was not pointed out to us nor is it all that clear on the hire documents. Deep in the small print on the reverse of the form, would you believe. That is one issue which I doubt many are aware of. Aother is the number of different bodies involved in the chain all taking their cut. The insurers, their claim agents, the hire-car company and two legal teams. All over a damage claim of less than £300 but with a hire charge of £1900! And who pays for all these costs? No prizes. Hopefully, you will find that the offending party's insurers will cough up at the last minute.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Fri 15 Apr 2011 15:32

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - nortones2

We declined any involvement of "accident management" touts when we had a no-fault accident recently. They spring into action, and are deliberatley vague re liability. Primarily because of the information on this site, but also cautious about incurring more than is absolutely necessary. They try to coax into entering a contract on the phone. I wouldn't do it re mobile phones, not to mention more expensive items like car repairs. Punter always on the back foot from information point of view.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 5 Jul 2011 10:17

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - Russ Jones

Copy the letter and send to the third parties insurers and see what repsonse you get from them!

There is a great deal of media interest in referral fees at the moment, however with you not sustaining injury the 'fees' for your incident are linited to credit hire.

Good luck

Edited by Russ Jones on 05/07/2011 at 10:24

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 8 Jun 2017 12:38

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - martinwinlow

Well, it seems I now find myself in this particular boat - 6 years after the 'accident' (my van was rammed by a looter during the London riots in 2011 and which promptly drove of.. Lots of witnesses, police managed to prosecute the R/K of the other vehicle because he did not nominate a driver - surprise, surprise - £800 fine and 6 points), I am being asked to sign a Form of Authority and Acceptance (to allow a solicitor to act on 'my' behalf). My original broker was Adrian Flux.
Like others here (and many more here... www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/28/car-insuranc...0 ) the documents I signed after my accident did not make it clear *at all* that I was signing a hire car agreement, let alone that, push come to shove, I woud be liable for the cost! If it had I would never have signed it. As it was the company that 'handled the claim' AI Claims Solutions, made a *total* hash of the job. I then had about 4 years of nuisance calls all asking me to claim for my injuries despite my original accident reort making it clear I had received none.

After that I have had about 2 years of peace and quiet and now suddenly this letter!

Anyway, I shall follow HJ's advice and sign the legal document and send it off and just hope I won't still be dealing with this in another 6 years.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Thu 8 Jun 2017 13:11

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - gordonbennet

I'm as far from informed or knowledgeable on this subject as anyone on the planet, but isn't there a disclaimer/exclusion on many insurance policies about riot/civil disturbance etc.

What would worry me, seeing as it's apparently you

''sign a Form of Authority and Acceptance (to allow a solicitor to act on 'my' behalf).''

that is claiming against the other party, but if the other party's insurer washes their hands of their client due to riot/civil clause, and the third party is potless (or dead?), could you be in the unfortunate position of the innocent party who wins but no way of getting them to pay up.

Not trying to be the harbinger of bad news, sorry and all that, but i think i'd be inclined to take a bit of legal advice (unless some expert here knows the answer) as to what could happen, though you may have no choice but to comply.

Generally, i'd go nowhere near any ambulance chasing style mobs whether referred to by my insurer or not, i'm surprised there isn't a huge sticky at the top of the website advising people to do exactly that, maybe there is and i haven't seen it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Mon 12 Jun 2017 18:40

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - concrete

I am afraid you did enter into a credit hire agreement for the courtesy car. Usually the repair shop have their own cars. Not very exciting, Fabias, i10 etc but at least for a couple of weeks you are mobile.. If it was essential you needed something larger, say for your job, then you should have hired your own and invoiced the offending partys' insurance company. The cost for this would be significantly lower than a credit hire company. These companies don't offer to help you out because they are nice people, they do it to make money. If something is too good to be true- then it is!!! Let us hope your legal advisors can sort this out, especially with it being no fault of yours. But you are now a wiser man should this situation re-occur. Cheers Concrete

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Mon 12 Jun 2017 23:18

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - Falkirk Bairn

I was driving 500 miles per week.

Car offered by bodyshop was a knackered 3/4 yr old Micra

Approached 3r party insurer and asked for a hire car.

The call handler told me to pxxx off.(in a nice way)

I asked to speak to te chap;s manager - I said I can hire a car for £40/day

they could get it for £20/ day

It was their choice - they agreed & covered the insurance of the hire car with them - estimated time was 5 days but this became 8/9 days. Most 3rd party insurers will pay for car when you are 100% innocent .

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Tue 13 Jun 2017 18:40

All - Claim for hire car costs after an accident - concrete

Good example FB. It certainly pays to have knowledge of your position and bit of hard nose.

Cheers Concrete

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Ask Honest John

Sell Your Car

Real MPG

Fuel Calculator