Insurance question and claim hire company involvement...

[Frances The Mute]

I've tried contacting my insurer today to clarify my question but 'their systems are down' so I thought I'd throw this to the GG floor in advance of my call, tomorrow.

I've just had to start a new claim after being hit by a third party who has admited liability so fairly straight-forward.
I've been sent a barrage of emails and files regarding the start of the claim which ultimately, ends up with it being dealt with by a claims management company.

However, on studying the 'agreement', it appears that they are asking me to sign a credit agreement which effectively gives insurance cover for my, well, insurance and offer me credit for up to 49 weeks until the payment it secured from the TP insurer. The seems an awfu lot of emphasis on what 'I' am responsible for including a statement that I will may to assist with the reclamation of said payment. Given I've already paid for motor legal protection, I find this a bit of a sauce and it reeks of being a PPI style scam, which, given the last time I made a claim, is possibly now standard fare.

I don't see why I need to agree to this and am wondering what my options are hence the questions. Is this the case for claims these days or am I right to be wary?

[douglasb]

You are right to be wary, but I'm surprised that searching for similar questions didn't turn up the answers as this comes up on here about once every three weeks.....

If you involve an accident management company then you are hiring a car. You are not getting a courtesy car. If the third party insurer thinks that (a) the daily hire charge is excessive, or (b) that the repairer took too long to repair your car so the hire cost is too much you will find yourself a lot out of pocket.

If the third party's insurer has admitted liability your best bet is to contact them and ask them to handle the claim. This will mean that you can't be stung for unexpected bills from the crooks "accident management company" - aka rip off hire care people.

[dacouch]

Could you reasonably afford to pay for the same hire vehicle from a normal car hire company eg not at the inflated costs a Credit Hire Company charge?

Your answer makes a difference

[PistonBroker]

douglasb said:

You are right to be wary, but I'm surprised that searching for similar questions didn't turn up the answers as this comes up on here about once every three weeks.....

If you involve an accident management company then you are hiring a car. You are not getting a courtesy car. If the third party insurer thinks that (a) the daily hire charge is excessive, or (b) that the repairer took too long to repair your car so the hire cost is too much you will find yourself a lot out of pocket.

If the third party's insurer has admitted liability your best bet is to contact them and ask them to handle the claim. This will mean that you can't be stung for unexpected bills from the crooks "accident management company" - aka rip off hire care people.

What he said.

End of thread.

[Frances The Mute]

I don't need a replacement car and was upfront with them on this topic at the start. This is purely in relation to handling the damages claim.

It's become clear that the insurer is subbing out the work and both the insurer and the claims management company are mitigating any potential risk against themselves by trying to tie me into this agreement which just doesnt sit well with me.

I guess its one of these situations where you only realise how good your insurer is, is when you actually have to make a claim.

[Newstuart]

Make contact with the third parties insurer (to be honest im suprosed they havent contacted you if they have been given the info from their policyholder). They will usually be falling over themselves if its an obvious fault claim to settle direct and save on the management companies fees and excessive hire fees so will do whatever they can to get you dealt with.

[Sheepshanks]

douglasb said:

(b) that the repairer took too long to repair your car so the hire cost is too much you will find yourself a lot out of pocket.

I'm not aware that's ever happened.

douglasb said:

If the third party's insurer has admitted liability your best bet is to contact them and ask them to handle the claim.

Touch wood, I've only been in this position once, and I let my insurer take care of the whole thing. They handled in in-house and didn't use an AMC.

My concern with letting the 3rd parties insurer do it is; what happens if, as is often the case, there's a problem with the quality of repairs? The repairer and the 3rd parties insurer aren't going to give a toss as you're not their customer.

[Newstuart]

Usually the third party will allow you ti use your preferred repairer if you ask and depending on the costs will get their own loss adjuster to visit the car at your reoaorers garage ti validate and authorise repairs

[pork911]

Thread from Saturday (there are many other longer and more detailed threads):-
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Frances The Mute]

pork911 said:

Thread from Saturday (there are many other longer and more detailed threads):-
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Thanks. That makes for some pretty grim reading.

[Starfighter]

Sheepshanks said:

douglasb said:

(b) that the repairer took too long to repair your car so the hire cost is too much you will find yourself a lot out of pocket.

I'm not aware that's ever happened.

I am. - Mrs Starfighter scuffed a number on a very elderly A4, we came off worse and our damaged buffed out. The other owner took the opportunity to demand a brand. Ew A4 as equivalent and kept it weeks for what should be a smart repair. Our insurer refused to pay more than 1 week and the remaining weeks of hire got sent back for payment.

[Sheepshanks]

Starfighter said:

I am. - Mrs Starfighter scuffed a number on a very elderly A4, we came off worse and our damaged buffed out. The other owner took the opportunity to demand a brand. Ew A4 as equivalent and kept it weeks for what should be a smart repair. Our insurer refused to pay more than 1 week and the remaining weeks of hire got sent back for payment.

That wasn't through an AMC though.

[saaby93]

Frances The Mute said:

I've tried contacting my insurer today to clarify my question but 'their systems are down' so I thought I'd throw this to the GG floor in advance of my call, tomorrow.

I've just had to start a new claim after being hit by a third party who has admited liability so fairly straight-forward.
I've been sent a barrage of emails and files regarding the start of the claim which ultimately, ends up with it being dealt with by a claims management company.

However, on studying the 'agreement', it appears that they are asking me to sign a credit agreement which effectively gives insurance cover for my, well, insurance and offer me credit for up to 49 weeks until the payment it secured from the TP insurer. The seems an awfu lot of emphasis on what 'I' am responsible for including a statement that I will may to assist with the reclamation of said payment. Given I've already paid for motor legal protection, I find this a bit of a sauce and it reeks of being a PPI style scam, which, given the last time I made a claim, is possibly now standard fare.

I don't see why I need to agree to this and am wondering what my options are hence the questions. Is this the case for claims these days or am I right to be wary?

Why are you even thinking about putting it through your own insurer as its a third party claim?
Havent there been enough threads on this to know that if its a third party claim you claim from the third party insurer?
That way you get a decent look in on who repairs your car rather than having to use your own insurers preferred repairer and hang around while your insurer tries to claim the money back from the TP and if youre really unlucky get into an argument with your own insurer about whether the repairs are up to scratch
More here
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Starfighter]

Sheepshanks said:

Starfighter said:

I am. - Mrs Starfighter scuffed a number on a very elderly A4, we came off worse and our damaged buffed out. The other owner took the opportunity to demand a brand. Ew A4 as equivalent and kept it weeks for what should be a smart repair. Our insurer refused to pay more than 1 week and the remaining weeks of hire got sent back for payment.

That wasn't through an AMC though.

Yes it was. The other person went through an AMC to get a like for like and then taking masses of time getting quotes and not collecting the car from repair etc. I don't know how much of that was being pushed by the AMC and how much AA stage driver preferring to have a new car to drive. Either way my insurer said it was unreasonable and refused to pay for over 1 week and left them hanging on the other 3.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

PistonBroker said:

douglasb said:

You are right to be wary, but I'm surprised that searching for similar questions didn't turn up the answers as this comes up on here about once every three weeks.....

If you involve an accident management company then you are hiring a car. You are not getting a courtesy car. If the third party insurer thinks that (a) the daily hire charge is excessive, or (b) that the repairer took too long to repair your car so the hire cost is too much you will find yourself a lot out of pocket.

If the third party's insurer has admitted liability your best bet is to contact them and ask them to handle the claim. This will mean that you can't be stung for unexpected bills from the crooks "accident management company" - aka rip off hire care people.

What he said.

End of thread.

Not quite. All AMCs have insurance in place to cover any instances where they supply a credit hire car and can't recover the money. That's why you'll only ever get a hire car under these circumstances when the tp has admitted liability and you have the tp insurance details. That's because the AMCs insurers insist on that before underwriting the credit hire costs.

[Sheepshanks]

Starfighter said:

Yes it was. The other person went through an AMC to get a like for like and then taking masses of time getting quotes and not collecting the car from repair etc. I don't know how much of that was being pushed by the AMC and how much AA stage driver preferring to have a new car to drive. Either way my insurer said it was unreasonable and refused to pay for over 1 week and left them hanging on the other 3.

Hmmm...it's the AMC's job to take care of the whole thing (the clue is in the name). You don't "get quotes" - the AMC arranges to take the car away, fix it and then bring it back.

Of course if the injured party was deliberately awkward about it, ie was out when the driver came to collect the hire car, then the AMC should go after them for excess hire charges.

[Starfighter]

Sheepshanks said:

Hmmm...it's the AMC's job to take care of the whole thing (the clue is in the name). You don't "get quotes" - the AMC arranges to take the car away, fix it and then bring it back.

Of course if the injured party was deliberately awkward about it, ie was out when the driver came to collect the hire car, then the AMC should go after them for excess hire charges.

The other car owner was indeed an arse hole, starting with being highly abusive to my wife on the phone, making threats to make her pay etc. Fair play to her, she just told him to talk to the insurer and put the phone down. It was kind of nice to support the insurer in refusing all the claim as he had gone out of his way to make things hard, slow and expensive.

[pork911]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Not quite. All AMCs have insurance in place to cover any instances where they supply a credit hire car and can't recover the money. That's why you'll only ever get a hire car under these circumstances when the tp has admitted liability and you have the tp insurance details. That's because the AMCs insurers insist on that before underwriting the credit hire costs.

Therein lies the fraudulent rub

[pork911]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Not quite. All AMCs have insurance in place to cover any instances where they supply a credit hire car and can't recover the money. That's why you'll only ever get a hire car under these circumstances when the tp has admitted liability and you have the tp insurance details. That's because the AMCs insurers insist on that before underwriting the credit hire costs.

Therein lies the fraudulent rub