Insurance claims - replacement car and accident management.
Insurance claims - replacement car and accident management.
Author
Discussion

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,751 posts

281 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
quotequote all
Wife has just been rammed by a blind, useless fkwit. He was in a Hertz rental car - because he'd been in a smash the week before! Not surprising really. He just pulled out from a side street straight into her!

Anyway, her car is a BMW 320 convertible. It will be away for a while for repair - door, sill and rear quarter damage.

What sort of rental/ replacement car would be reasonable and what pitfalls should we avoid to ensure she's not at risk of credit hire charges etc? A golf or similar would be fine.

Our insurers ( A-Plan) seem to use Minster Law for their claims management. Any horror stories to report dealing with them?

Anything to do other than report to the insurers? Do we need to inform the police?

Just spend a few hundred quid prepping it for sale too!! £200 down the drain...

Jujuuk68

364 posts

188 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
quotequote all
Just ring Hertz, get the details for their claims department and call them and ask them for a hire car.

If they dont spring into action, they deserve an AMC credit hire bill, but as they're ultimately the paying party, why not approach them first.


TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

157 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
quotequote all
Just go straight to Hertz and deal direct with them/their insurers.

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,751 posts

281 months

Saturday 6th September 2014
quotequote all
Cheers

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,751 posts

281 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
So, against my advice wife leaves it in the hands of her insurer - a Mercedes CLS turns up at £206/day.

No doubt the other driver is insured via Hertz (via his rental agreement) - but all it takes s for him to produce some witnesses to say it was 100% his fault and I can see it all getting messy.

Still - I tried to warn her!

Jujuuk68

364 posts

188 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
Your insurer? It's a credit hire car.

When it was delivered, you signed the legal CREDIT agreement that you take responsibility for the cost of the hire - the cost being afforded to you on CREDIT. It's NOT A FREE CAR.

Most insurer disputes tend to be about the cost of a hire car, rather than anything else. Your more likely to end up in Court giving evidence to justify £10k;s worth of hire, than liability. Well done.




catman

2,504 posts

206 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
Jujuuk68 said:
Your insurer? It's a credit hire car.

When it was delivered, you signed the legal CREDIT agreement that you take responsibility for the cost of the hire - the cost being afforded to you on CREDIT. It's NOT A FREE CAR.

Most insurer disputes tend to be about the cost of a hire car, rather than anything else. Your more likely to end up in Court giving evidence to justify £10k;s worth of hire, than liability. Well done.
You did read the part about it being his Wife's car, didn't you?

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,751 posts

281 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
Jujuuk68 said:
Your insurer? It's a credit hire car.

When it was delivered, you signed the legal CREDIT agreement that you take responsibility for the cost of the hire - the cost being afforded to you on CREDIT. It's NOT A FREE CAR.

Most insurer disputes tend to be about the cost of a hire car, rather than anything else. Your more likely to end up in Court giving evidence to justify £10k;s worth of hire, than liability. Well done.
Did you read my original post? I am aware that it is a credit hire issue. As I wrote in the other post (that you seem not to have read) I warned my wife of the risks and that if the other driver claims now that he wasn't at fault, my wife could be on risk.

No doubt this sort of st is why insurance premiums are so high.

t400ble

1,804 posts

152 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
Women!

LoonR1

26,988 posts

208 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
johnfm said:
So, against my advice wife leaves it in the hands of her insurer - a Mercedes CLS turns up at £206/day.

No doubt the other driver is insured via Hertz (via his rental agreement) - but all it takes s for him to produce some witnesses to say it was 100% his fault and I can see it all getting messy.

Still - I tried to warn her!
Well your first problem is that your 320d is a P4 and chargeable at a max £117+VAT a day. The CLS is a P8. Worse still if it's older than 5 years as your wife's entitlement drops to a P2 at a max £96 a day.

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,751 posts

281 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
LoonR1 said:
johnfm said:
So, against my advice wife leaves it in the hands of her insurer - a Mercedes CLS turns up at £206/day.

No doubt the other driver is insured via Hertz (via his rental agreement) - but all it takes s for him to produce some witnesses to say it was 100% his fault and I can see it all getting messy.

Still - I tried to warn her!
Well your first problem is that your 320d is a P4 and chargeable at a max £117+VAT a day. The CLS is a P8. Worse still if it's older than 5 years as your wife's entitlement drops to a P2 at a max £96 a day.
Thanks for the detail Loon. I shall be having a word to A-Plan tomorrow. We would have been more than happy with a golf or similar. I don't want Hertz's insurers stung for £200+ a day for the enrichment of enterprise and whoever is getting the kick back from them.

I understand in some circumstances a driver is entitled to be 'put in the same position' - but this does seem to be a massive piss take.

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,751 posts

281 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
LoonR1 said:
johnfm said:
So, against my advice wife leaves it in the hands of her insurer - a Mercedes CLS turns up at £206/day.

No doubt the other driver is insured via Hertz (via his rental agreement) - but all it takes s for him to produce some witnesses to say it was 100% his fault and I can see it all getting messy.

Still - I tried to warn her!
Well your first problem is that your 320d is a P4 and chargeable at a max £117+VAT a day. The CLS is a P8. Worse still if it's older than 5 years as your wife's entitlement drops to a P2 at a max £96 a day.
Thanks for the detail Loon. I shall be having a word to A-Plan tomorrow. We would have been more than happy with a golf or similar. I don't want Hertz's insurers stung for £200+ a day for the enrichment of enterprise and whoever is getting the kick back from them.

I understand in some circumstances a driver is entitled to be 'put in the same position' - but this does seem to be a massive piss take.

dacouch

1,172 posts

160 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
johnfm said:
Thanks for the detail Loon. I shall be having a word to A-Plan tomorrow. We would have been more than happy with a golf or similar. I don't want Hertz's insurers stung for £200+ a day for the enrichment of enterprise and whoever is getting the kick back from them.

I understand in some circumstances a driver is entitled to be 'put in the same position' - but this does seem to be a massive piss take.
The kickback amounting to about £450 goes to A Plan from the credit hire company hence why they were so keen for your wife to have the hire car

LoonR1

26,988 posts

208 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
johnfm said:
Thanks for the detail Loon. I shall be having a word to A-Plan tomorrow. We would have been more than happy with a golf or similar. I don't want Hertz's insurers stung for £200+ a day for the enrichment of enterprise and whoever is getting the kick back from them.

I understand in some circumstances a driver is entitled to be 'put in the same position' - but this does seem to be a massive piss take.
It might be all they have available and will still bill at P4 or P2 rates but worth checking.

Matt_N

9,044 posts

233 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
We're going through a claim with the wife's car at the moment after being rear ended whilst stationary at a roundabout.

We've gone through the other parties insurance (DL) for everything, using their supplied car to avoid any dispute of charges, all seems ok so far.

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,751 posts

281 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
LoonR1 said:
It might be all they have available and will still bill at P4 or P2 rates but worth checking.
Cheers - I will do. Her car is a 320 se convertible. I will check with A plan.

johnfm

Original Poster:

13,751 posts

281 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
Quite surprised this hasn't been regulated. Given that most car repairs take weeks, rather than days, the rental charges should be substantially reduced to reflect long term rental. Licence to print money isn't it.

LoonR1

26,988 posts

208 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
It's self-regulated and has its successes and failures. The CMA (aka Competition Commission) looked at this recently, came up with a load of ideas, promptly realised they had no power to enforce these ideas and then dumped the lot. It was definitely a licence to print money, but better relationships and stronger insurer response to those taking the loss has reined it in a little.

BMW 320SE conv is a group P5 at a max of £146.40 + VAT per day. The same two group drop applies if the car is over 5 years old.

Devil2575

13,400 posts

219 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
The last time I had to claim of someone elses insurance it was all handled by my insurer, no accident management companies, no dealing with the third party insurer myself. I've read plenty of these threads on this forum before, but when did it all change? I thought one of the points of having fully comp insurance was that they dealt with all this stuff for you.

pork911

7,365 posts

214 months

Wednesday 10th September 2014
quotequote all
Much of credit hire is predicated on a total sham. However it's totally impossible to regulate and control any costs associated with motor insurance and accidents...except Solicitors' costs wink which strangely can easily be controlled and also captured by non-Solicitors.