3rd party refusing hire costs?

3rd party refusing hire costs?

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justanother5tar

Original Poster:

1,314 posts

124 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
After being involved in a crash at the the end of Jan, my insurers fobbed me off to an accident management co.

Hire car dropped off, not a lot seemed to be happening for 2 weeks. Called up, no engineer even been contacted, let alone booked! Engineer arranged for 2 days later.

Settlement agreed, so I went out and bought a new car. Sent hire car back the day after.

Now without the 2 weeks in between where no one did anything, this could have all been resolved in about a week.

The problem now is that I've received a letter from AM co. stating that 3rd party aren't fully settling! I was made aware that this may happen in a thread I started a few weeks ago, but was hoping it wouldn't.

What do I do now? I haven't seen a final figure for the hire, but have worked out roughly how much it is from the day rate shown on the hire agreement. It's a large amount, and one that I certainly can't afford.

Thanks.

Andehh

7,107 posts

205 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
Have you contacted your insurance and theirs to ask? I think it will have been down to ridiculously high hire car costs beyond what they feel is reasonable, that sadly you probably agreed into it. frown

Edit: how much are the high car costs? Anything more then £30-40 a day which is what I expect when hiring an average car?

Edited by Andehh on Saturday 21st March 12:35

Andehh

7,107 posts

205 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
Have you contacted your insurance and theirs to ask? I think it will have been down to ridiculously high hire car costs beyond what they feel is reasonable, that sadly you probably agreed into it. frown

Edit: how much are the high car costs? Anything more then £30-40 a day which is what I expect when hiring an average car?

Edited by Andehh on Saturday 21st March 12:36

justanother5tar

Original Poster:

1,314 posts

124 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
Andehh said:
Have you contacted your insurance and theirs to ask? I think it will have been down to ridiculously high hire car costs beyond what they feel is reasonable, that sadly you probably agreed into it. frown

Edit: how much are the high car costs? Anything more then £30-40 a day which is what I expect when hiring an average car?

Edited by Andehh on Saturday 21st March 12:35
I've just tried ringing mine, and they're helpfully closed on the weekend.

I was told specifically NOT to contact 3rd party insurers, and their t&cs do say that they can look to recover costs from me if I do.

Yeah, I (rather foolishly) assumed I was getting the 'like for like hire car' I paid for with my years premium so simply signed the forms. I'm kicking myself now. I was at work when it was dropped of, so the OH signed the drop off sheet.

Hire car was £120 a day. With a fair percentage of that being costs.

KungFuPanda

4,324 posts

169 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
If you couldn't afford the credit hire bill, why did you incur it? You would always have had a personal responsibility to settle it.

justanother5tar

Original Poster:

1,314 posts

124 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
KungFuPanda said:
If you couldn't afford the credit hire bill, why did you incur it? You would always have had a personal responsibility to settle it.
Never heard of credit hire before this. Never had an accident before so I didn't even know what was happening 75% of the time.

Like I said a couple of posts up. I paid for a hire car in my yearly payment. I thought that's what I was getting!

I got the email whilst I was at work, and assuming it was the hire car that I should get I simply signed it.

I didn't even know my insurers could fob me off like they did!

Magic919

14,126 posts

200 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
From one of your numerous threads regarding the accident.

LoonR1 said:
Big surprise. Accident Exchange acting to maximise their own income rather than sorting your claim out.

Get into your insurers to sort it out. All that's happening currently is you're building up a big credit bill for hiring the car.

justanother5tar

Original Poster:

1,314 posts

124 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
Yes, I did read through that thread, before starting this one, to see if the answer was in there.

I did contact my insurers, the inspection was the arranged 2 days later. I was told when I made the claim that i would be contacted 'by the company that handles our claims for us, who will sort everything out for you. You'll not need to do a thing.'



I am now simply asking the question; what happens next?

vonhosen

40,194 posts

216 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
justanother5tar said:
After being involved in a crash at the the end of Jan, my insurers fobbed me off to an accident management co.

Hire car dropped off, not a lot seemed to be happening for 2 weeks. Called up, no engineer even been contacted, let alone booked! Engineer arranged for 2 days later.

Settlement agreed, so I went out and bought a new car. Sent hire car back the day after.

Now without the 2 weeks in between where no one did anything, this could have all been resolved in about a week.

The problem now is that I've received a letter from AM co. stating that 3rd party aren't fully settling! I was made aware that this may happen in a thread I started a few weeks ago, but was hoping it wouldn't.

What do I do now? I haven't seen a final figure for the hire, but have worked out roughly how much it is from the day rate shown on the hire agreement. It's a large amount, and one that I certainly can't afford.

Thanks.
What were the conditions of hire etc?
Was there an indemnity of costs against you?
The 3rd party insurers were only ever likely to accept what they see as reasonable hire costs.

vonhosen

40,194 posts

216 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
justanother5tar said:
Yes, I did read through that thread, before starting this one, to see if the answer was in there.

I did contact my insurers, the inspection was the arranged 2 days later. I was told when I made the claim that i would be contacted 'by the company that handles our claims for us, who will sort everything out for you. You'll not need to do a thing.'



I am now simply asking the question; what happens next?
Depends on what the AM/hire T&Cs say.

justanother5tar

Original Poster:

1,314 posts

124 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
vonhosen said:
What were the conditions of hire etc?
Was there an indemnity of costs against you?
The 3rd party insurers were only ever likely to accept what they see as reasonable hire costs.
Conditions such as?
I don't know what an 'indemnity of costs' is, sorry.

I know that, but i assumed I got the cheapest they had at short notice. Evidently I couldn't have been more wrong.

vonhosen

40,194 posts

216 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
justanother5tar said:
vonhosen said:
What were the conditions of hire etc?
Was there an indemnity of costs against you?
The 3rd party insurers were only ever likely to accept what they see as reasonable hire costs.
Conditions such as?
I don't know what an 'indemnity of costs' is, sorry.

I know that, but i assumed I got the cheapest they had at short notice. Evidently I couldn't have been more wrong.
When my father in law had a non fault collision I made sure that the hire car provided by the AM Co had an indemnity against costs for him.
i.e. If the 3rd party insurers wouldn't cover all of the hire car costs, the AM Co had a separate insurance policy to cover the shortfall, that separate policy was at the AM Co's cost. In other words he was guaranteed to not have to pay a penny.
It was in the AM Co's, the 3rd party insurers & his interests to not drag their feet. It was all settled in a few weeks & everybody kept in communication about what was happening.


Edited by vonhosen on Saturday 21st March 13:34

btcc123

1,243 posts

146 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
When I had a non fault accident late last year my insurance company wanted me to use their management company that wanted me to have a hire car with credit agreement.As i was not happy to do that and the third party insurance were keen for me to use them so they did the repair to my car at my suggested bodyshop and give me a hire car all painless and no problems.

I know for a fact that Swiftcover the third party insurance company in my case have a claim limit of £170 plus VAT per day for a hire car and the Mercedes C Class I had cost them £70 plus VAT a day from Enterprise,So if insurance companies reject hire car charges from credit hire companies they must charge silly prices for their cars.

OP I think that as you have a credit agreement for your hire car these management companies also give you some sort of guarantee that you will not be liable for any charges if the third party insurance reject the hire car charges.I have read that if the management company sues the third party insurer for the money you may have to go to court to explain the circumstances of your accident but not be liable for anything.

Thats what I was told before I decided not to use the management/credit car company.You should tell your insurance company to sort it out as they insured your car and as you had an accident they need to sort out the repair and hire car for you with no problems,hassle or you being liable for any charges.

justanother5tar

Original Poster:

1,314 posts

124 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
vonhosen said:
When my father in law had a non fault collision I made sure that the hire car provided by the AM Co had an indemnity against costs for him.
i.e. If the 3rd party insurers wouldn't cover all of the hire car costs, the AM Co had a separate insurance policy to cover the shortfall, that separate policy was at the AM Co's cost. In other words he was guaranteed to not have to pay a penny.
It was in the AM Co's, the 3rd party insurers & his interests to not drag their feet. It was all settled in a few weeks & everybody kept in communication about what was happening.


Edited by vonhosen on Saturday 21st March 13:34
Right, now I understand what you mean.

The documents I signed say that I have an insurance policy included that covers me against any charges they can't recover.

PurpleMoonlight

22,362 posts

156 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
If the 3rd party insurer refuses to pay, the hire company will then likely seek payment from you.

You then need to personally sue the third party via the County court for the cost, the third party will pass to their insurance company who will then either pay up or fight it. If they fight it, the Judge will decide if the claim is justified.

What car did you get for £120 per day and was that similar to yours?

Has the third party insurer offered anything towards the hire car, or just refused point blank?

justanother5tar

Original Poster:

1,314 posts

124 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
btcc123 said:
When I had a non fault accident late last year my insurance company wanted me to use their management company that wanted me to have a hire car with credit agreement.As i was not happy to do that and the third party insurance were keen for me to use them so they did the repair to my car at my suggested bodyshop and give me a hire car all painless and no problems.

I know for a fact that Swiftcover the third party insurance company in my case have a claim limit of £170 plus VAT per day for a hire car and the Mercedes C Class I had cost them £70 plus VAT a day from Enterprise,So if insurance companies reject hire car charges from credit hire companies they must charge silly prices for their cars.

OP I think that as you have a credit agreement for your hire car these management companies also give you some sort of guarantee that you will not be liable for any charges if the third party insurance reject the hire car charges.I have read that if the management company sues the third party insurer for the money you may have to go to court to explain the circumstances of your accident but not be liable for anything.

Thats what I was told before I decided not to use the management/credit car company.You should tell your insurance company to sort it out as they insured your car and as you had an accident they need to sort out the repair and hire car for you with no problems,hassle or you being liable for any charges.
As soon as I informed them, I was passed to the AMC.

if there's a next time (hopefully not, fingers crossed) I'll just deal with the 3rd party insurers myself.

bitchstewie

50,767 posts

209 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
£120 a day for a hire car - what the hell was it?

pork911

7,086 posts

182 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
bhstewie said:
£120 a day for a hire car - what the hell was it?
Probably something basic wink

OP take a look at this thread http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=10&...

pork911

7,086 posts

182 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
justanother5tar said:
As soon as I informed them, I was passed to the AMC.

if there's a next time (hopefully not, fingers crossed) I'll just deal with the 3rd party insurers myself.
ask your insurer how much the referral fee was they earnt for doing so

IanMorewood

4,309 posts

247 months

Saturday 21st March 2015
quotequote all
Passat CC if its the same person that I remember.