HelpHire

[guyvert1]

I'm due to speak to Helphire today regarding replacement car whilst mines in the garage, they seem to be ok, website a tad 'cheap looking' but the guys in the workshop recommended them aswell..

Interested in any views of people who've used them...

[anniesdad]

Helphire are the biggest player in our market. They are a well respected PLC company with a big vehicle fleet. Out of interest what car are they providing you with? I'm assuming your RTA was non-fault by the way.

>> Edited by anniesdad on Monday 6th June 09:45

[guyvert1]

Check here for more details [url]www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=183848&f=48&h=0[/url]

I suspect it will be 100% their fault...

I'm more concerned at the moment about the car being repaired and then being worth less on resale due to crash/repair.

As for car, they've offered a Merc E270 till Wednesday, then a '911' afterwards, but are having trouble defining 911, which I'm trying to find out.

>> Edited by guyvert1 on Monday 6th June 10:01

[guyvert1]

Hi John,

Once again sorry to hear about the accident. The damage doesn't look too bad from your pictures and is arguably repairable. Presumably Helphire have been instructed by your chosen repairers to pay for the repairs and deal with the accident administration for you, along with providing a replacement vehicle...or...are your insurers instructed to deal with the repairs and Helphire simply providing the replacement vehicle? If your insurers are paying for your vehicle damage (and claiming it back from his insurers) and it's just a 996 that you require, I can sort this out for you. Interestingly you say Helphire don't appear to understand the car that you have?

Making sure you get the right engineer inspecting your vehicle is the key. Someone in the thread mentioned instructing your own engineer to get a second opinion which is actually quite good advice. I can recommend somebody if you like.

Kindest regards

Steve

Thanks for the info, Helphire will be dealing from here as Admiral have yet to even call me since I've reported accident on Friday!..

[anniesdad]

Sorry John, forgot to say YHM. Anyway, sadly i'm not surprised that your insurers haven't acted promptly further to you reporting the claim. Let me know if there are any issues and I'd be happy to advise. Helphire will be doing a full credit repair and hire for you. Hopefully, you'll get the service you desire from them.

Regards

Steve

[132]

They lent me a Cayenne S for around 5 weeks. They are now claiming a rental charge of around £14,000 from the third party!

Aside from that, I was very happy with the service.

[dazren]

£14k for supplying a Cayenne for 5 weeks? Sounds like theft. Can they get away with this or will they settle for about £2k?

DAZ

[guyvert1]

Sounds about the same for the '911' they've offered me! no wonder they're doing well

[pdV6]

dazren said:

£14k for supplying a Cayenne for 5 weeks? Sounds like theft.

This is, I guess, why the insurance industry doesn't like them and similar companies - it drives costs up. Personally, I prefer not to use such services for this very reason, but have done on 2 occasions as getting back on the road asap is a priority and if the other side can't get their act together in short order, HH gets the nod and a car arrives on my driveway. Their loss.

[dazren]

PETE

I'm aware of how these companies operate, and how they are viewed by the insurance industry. What I was not aware of was the extremeness of the rental fees they charge. Eg I'm guessing for £14k you could take out a 12 month lease on a new Cayenne.

DAZ

[dazren]

guyvert1 said:

Sounds about the same for the '911' they've offered me! no wonder everyones insurance premiums have gone through the roof

[guyvert1]

I suspect if the insurance companies dealt with accidents with the same vigour/respect these other companies did, then we wouldn't need them!.. But like most 'legal robberies', they like taking money, but don't really like paying out, so you have to play them at their own game until they wake up!

Why the hell should I let should I drive a Corsa and have my 911 repaired at some shite garage that the insures picked taking months to deal with, when I can get a like for like and a proper service..

[anniesdad]

Sorry Daz, I work in accident management and feel that the service companies like ours provide is of tremendous benefit to the innocent motorist. Please understand that on the more mainstream credit hire cases, the holding cost is much lower, however as is the rate achievable, but you will find that there is very little profit to be made on these cases. Utilisation on prestige rentals is poorer than on mainstream and there will be an element of uplift to counter for this. Factoring in the cost to run these cars on fleet, means high daily rates. If you can find one, you'll find to hire a Cayenne/911 for a day will cost you around these sorts of figures anyway. Don't forget that these rates are set through agreement with the Insurers and the ABI and generally uniform throughout the industry.

Crashing into a prestige car is not cheap. Maybe if there weren't so many prestige cars around, everybodies insurance would be cheaper.

Furthermore if you have multiple vehicle's dependent on what you use your 996 Carrera for, may mean, by law, you are not actually entitled to a like for like replacement. Hence you may find that a car cannot always be provided, this sometimes upsets people, but our company and others work with the insurers on this.

YHM by the way.

>> Edited by anniesdad on Monday 6th June 11:39

>> Edited by anniesdad on Monday 6th June 11:43

[dazren]

I'm not arguing about getting cars repaired at decent garages, eg porsches repaired at approved porsche repair specialists. Of course they should be fixed properly.

I am arguing against insurance companies having to pay out £14k for 5 weeks rental of a Cayenne, when one can probably be leased for 12 months for less.

What with this type of apparantly legal extortion, the NHS reclaiming for the costs of dealing with accident victims/sending out ambulances etc and the compensation culture we live in, it suddenly becomes clear why I'm paying £3k to insure two cars with out having made a claim in 11+ years.

DAZ

>> Edited by dazren on Monday 6th June 11:38

[guyvert1]

Seems my mysterious '911' is now a '53 C3 Cab!...

[dazren]

C3 Cab? Have one of the drive shafts broken prior to delivery?

DAZ

[guyvert1]

lol...no justs my shakey hand nr the 2 key

[132]

132 said:

They lent me a Cayenne S for around 5 weeks. They are now claiming a rental charge of around £14,000 from the third party! Aside from that, I was very happy with the service.

It does seem like a scandalous amount of money, but I have no idea what the rental cost, just for comparison, would be on a Cayenne. Unsurprisingly, the third party insurers are taking this to court. I suspect there is a huge margin in this, so will probably settle for a lower figure.

The up-side for me was that my car was fixed, there was no impact on my insurance, and I liked the extended test drive of the Cayenne so much that I am buying my own...