Hit by a hire truck (didn't stop). Whose insurance?

[hornet boy]

My wife's car (parked up with her nowhere near it) has just been hit by a self drive hire truck which didn't stop. He also hit at least one other car, and possibly a shop front!

There were witnesses who got the registration number, and hire company details.

She called the hire company, but they have claimed that it is down to the drivers insurance, not theirs (they have given us details of the company that is hiring it from them). This doesn't strike me as correct, but I'd be grateful if someone could advise where or not their insurance is responsible?

Also, would it make a difference if it was on a longer term agreement rather than just a few days?

One of the witnesses actually followed the truck and advised the police of it's whereabouts straight after the incident (leaving the scene of an accident being a criminal offence), but unfortunately they weren't interested and just said that my wife needs to take her documents to the police station and report it.

Thanks for any help.

[balls-out]

As I understand the law. the DRIVER is responsible for his actions. He should have insurance in place to provide him with cover.
you can sue him personally if you like

the hire company may have a duty to ensure that the driver has insurance in place - not sure about that

[Eclassy]

Never mind. Misread hire as tire (tyre)

[TooMany2cvs]

hornet boy said:

She called the hire company, but they have claimed that it is down to the drivers insurance, not theirs (they have given us details of the company that is hiring it from them). This doesn't strike me as correct, but I'd be grateful if someone could advise where or not their insurance is responsible?

Entirely possible that it's rented out uninsured by the hire company, yep.

[hornet boy]

Thanks for the answers.

To be honest the car isn't up to much, and from the pictures my wife has sent me the damage looks cosmetic, scratches and a bit of a dent in the rear wing. It does also need a new tyre as they just caught it and sliced the sidewall.

We'll talk about it later, but I suspect that my wife won't want to make a claim unless the other insurance company admits liability, as she won't want to lose any no claims. Clearly her insurance will go up a bit next year though as she will have to declare it either way.

I would love the driver to be prosecuted though, as he was apparently well aware of the fact he hit the cars.

[LoonR1]

hornet boy said:

Thanks for the answers.

To be honest the car isn't up to much, and from the pictures my wife has sent me the damage looks cosmetic, scratches and a bit of a dent in the rear wing. It does also need a new tyre as they just caught it and sliced the sidewall.

We'll talk about it later, but I suspect that my wife won't want to make a claim unless the other insurance company admits liability, as she won't want to lose any no claims. Clearly her insurance will go up a bit next year though as she will have to declare it either way.

I would love the driver to be prosecuted though, as he was apparently well aware of the fact he hit the cars.

Why will it go up anyway? Buying into the usual PH bks about all claims pushing up your premium?

[oldnbold]

Well make sure that your wife reports it to the Police, failing to report an accident may well drop him in it along with failing to stop.

[hornet boy]

LoonR1 said:

Why will it go up anyway? Buying into the usual PH bks about all claims pushing up your premium?

To be honest, yes.

I've seen it written so many times that I assumed it must be true, but if not, that would be nice.

Fortunately neither of us have made a claim or been in this situation before, so don't have first hand experience.

[balls-out]

LoonR1 said:

Why will it go up anyway? Buying into the usual PH bks about all claims pushing up your premium?

Mine did. I claimed on a 3 parties insurance when he backed into my stationary car. I had my hand on the horn at the time - so had several witnesses who watched it happen! Small claim less that £300 I think.

When I renewed my policy I got online quotes with and the without the claim. Some of the quotes were higher post claim, including the cheapest one, so I paid an extra £27.

So maybe its bks about all claims pushing up your premium, but its certainly bks that a 3rd P claim definitely wont put up your premium

[Sheepshanks]

hornet boy said:

To be honest the car isn't up to much, and from the pictures my wife has sent me the damage looks cosmetic, scratches and a bit of a dent in the rear wing. It does also need a new tyre as they just caught it and sliced the sidewall.

We'll talk about it later, but I suspect that my wife won't want to make a claim unless the other insurance company admits liability, as she won't want to lose any no claims. Clearly her insurance will go up a bit next year though as she will have to declare it either way.

I would love the driver to be prosecuted though, as he was apparently well aware of the fact he hit the cars.

That's all a bit odd, to be honest, especially as there appears to be a motivated witness. You can't make her report it to her insurance company and the Police though.

It does seem to be common for the Police to fob people off in such cases, and they'll only act if you persist.

[hornet boy]

oldnbold said:

Well make sure that your wife reports it to the Police, failing to report an accident may well drop him in it along with failing to stop.

Already done. She had to go to the station with her documents to report it. Ironically, it was the police that informed her that her car had been hit (presumably the witness gave the details of her car to them).

[hornet boy]

Sheepshanks said:

That's all a bit odd, to be honest, especially as there appears to be a motivated witness. You can't make her report it her insurance company and the Police though.

It does seem to be common for the Police to fob people off in such cases, and they'll only act if you persist.

It has been reported to the police, and will be reported to the insurance company tonight.

For the value of the car, it's just not worth getting it repaired if it will cost her some of her no claims i.e. if for some reason the 3rd party's insurance company won't admit liabilty, and it gets put as joint fault. I can't see that it would as her car was parked, fully legally, at the time, but I know insurance companies will try to get out of anything they can.

It'll be a learning experience for us, as we haven't been involved in a claim before.

We have got the witnesses details, so hopefully no problems will arise.

[Sheepshanks]

hornet boy said:

For the value of the car, it's just not worth getting it repaired if it will cost her some of her no claims i.e. if for some reason the 3rd party's insurance company won't admit liabilty, and it gets put as joint fault. I can't see that it would as her car was parked, fully legally, at the time, but I know insurance companies will try to get out of anything they can.

Still odd reasoning.

However if the car isn't worth much, I would have said the biggest risk is that it might be written off.

[LoonR1]

balls-out said:

Mine did. I claimed on a 3 parties insurance when he backed into my stationary car. I had my hand on the horn at the time - so had several witnesses who watched it happen! Small claim less that £300 I think.

When I renewed my policy I got online quotes with and the without the claim. Some of the quotes were higher post claim, including the cheapest one, so I paid an extra £27.

So maybe its bks about all claims pushing up your premium, but its certainly bks that a 3rd P claim definitely wont put up your premium

Nice jump in logic there. At no point have I said it won't put your premium up. What I have said is that it doesn't automaticaly increase. You've proved that too as not all of your quotes were higher with a claim against you.

[hornet boy]

Sheepshanks said:

Still odd reasoning.

However if the car isn't worth much, I would have said the biggest risk is that it might be written off.

I'm confused as to why you think it is odd? I could be mis-understanding, but as far as I'm aware, if for some reason the 3rd party insurers don't play ball, my wife, if she were to claim on her insurance would need to pay her excess (£250 I think), plus potentially suffer an increase in her premiums for 5 years, which even if it was only £20 per year would add up to her being £350 out of pocket in total.

Her plan is to keep the car and run it until something fails beyond economic repair, as she likes the car, so the reduction in resale value due to the damage is largely irrelevant unless her plans change.

Have I missed something? Genuine question, as I'm confused why you think it is odd?

[Super Slo Mo]

TooMany2cvs said:

hornet boy said:

She called the hire company, but they have claimed that it is down to the drivers insurance, not theirs (they have given us details of the company that is hiring it from them). This doesn't strike me as correct, but I'd be grateful if someone could advise where or not their insurance is responsible?

Entirely possible that it's rented out uninsured by the hire company, yep.

In fact, it's very likely that this is the case, as it's probably rented to a business who'll have their own policy in place, and adding hire vehicles is normal, or they'll self-insure. Either way, you'll need to be chasing the company who's using the vehicle.

[Mopar440]

Eclassy said:

Never mind. Misread hire as tire (tyre)

Hey, great post fella!

[Nickyboy]

Commercial vehicles that are hired out are normally insured by the company they are hired to under their policy, they have basic liability for themselves but once delivered to the renter it's their responsibility. Any vehicles we rent go under our self insure policy

[Chrisgr31]

Nickyboy said:

Commercial vehicles that are hired out are normally insured by the company they are hired to under their policy, they have basic liability for themselves but once delivered to the renter it's their responsibility. Any vehicles we rent go under our self insure policy

Any car I hire through my employer for work is insured by my employer rather than by the hire company even though I am only hiring it for the day. We are also advised by our employer that the car is only insured for work purposes and therefore no private mileage is allowed. Not sure what would happen in the event of an accident on private mileage. Guess employer would have to pay and claim it back of employee (probably ex-employee!)

[LucreLout]

LoonR1 said:

Why will it go up anyway? Buying into the usual PH bks about all claims pushing up your premium?

I just renewed after a non-fault last year. £0 difference to my policy.