Another Albany Assistance car crash query...

Christopher7

Ask them for a copy of the legal expenses insurance policy wording that they provide, as this will cover you for any costs that are not recovered from the guilty party's insurer.
hope it helps.

adamc260

Credit hire companies offer non fault hires (Credit hire) on accidents where they feel a strong chance to recover the costs. If they feel they will be unable to recover the costs or feel a dispute in liability they will back out of providing a car.

Credit hire companies take the risk of losing the cost should it be disputed but it never falls back on yourself it will always go to the credit hire company/your insurer before you (dependant on whether you were offered a car above one that is similar to your own)

Credit hire excists to make money, that is all, all insurers do it.

Credit hire companies will also closely monitor the length of time you're in hire because they realise any un-necessary delay will result in a lesser chance for them to recover their costs back via the Third Party Insurer.

dacouch

Adam260 you might want to reconsider the wording of your post, as the fact of the matter is that some (Not all) Credit Hire Companies will pursue the hirer for the costs if they cannot recover from the third party. I suspect you are quoting using experience of your own company.

Have a look through the MSE forums (You can perform searches) or the moneysupermarket forums or even better honestjohns.co.uk forum You will find plenty of people who have credit hire companies pursuing them for large amounts of money. I have seen people pursued for amounts upwards of £8000.

I'm concerned that people will read your post and not realise the potential risks of a credit hire.

P.S There are plenty of rumours from employees of credit hire companies that cars are loaned out for longer periods than necessary especially when their targets are not being met. I assume you did not receive the infamous round robin email from the "Disgruntled" employee of a major Credit Hire Company.

adamc260

Albany Assistance policies offer protection on them anyway ensuring that costs do not fall back on yourself - that's a product that I know they offer.

I cannot speak for other CHO ie: Drive Assist, AI Claims.

soolin

adamc260 wrote: »

Albany Assistance policies offer protection on them anyway ensuring that costs do not fall back on yourself - that's a product that I know they offer.

I cannot speak for other CHO ie: Drive Assist, AI Claims.

Having spoken to Albany today about a hire car I can assure you that all is not so straightforward with them. Despite our policy guaranteeing a courtesy car free of charge if ours is off the road due to an accident we were told by Albany that this is not in fact the case and we would need to sign a number of forms and credit agreements in the event that they cannot recover their costs from the third party insuers. They also put a time limit on recovering those costs of 1 year after which they would cease to persue the claim and expect us to pay instead. All this for our 'free' courtesy car!

They also have some of the strangest hire arrangements procedures that I have ever come across requiring conference calls from a traced telephone number with them and the DVLA. We have declined to deal with them until we get more advice from our insurers.

Emm_Eff

Guys, just want to say thanks for the advice in this thread. Had a non fault accident last night, and got put on to Albany. The hire car I was supposed to get didn't arrive today, and I had a nightmare trying to get hold of them on the phone. I googled Albany and found this among other threads with horror stories about them!

I've cancelled the hire car and also cancelled Albany's repair to my car... I won't be signing any credit agreements with them. I've instructed Elephant to recover my car and have it repaired by their approved repairer, who will provide a courtsey car... all under my own policy. Obviously I'll have to pay my £350 excess, but it will be recovered from the 3rd party's insurer.

I've been informed by Elephant that I must use Albany for my personal injury and uninsured losses claim.

dacouch

Emm Eff you do not have to use Albany for your injury and uninsured losses, you are free to use whoever you want. Elephant are being underhand by telling you this, they are being influenced by the £300 + commission Albany will pay them if you make an injury claim through them.

As you have read Albany are worse than useless

adamc260

It's only recommended because they're the legal providers on the policy, something that's included in the policy you have taken out. If you want to use a different company then that's your choice, it's just a recommendation that's all.

Emm_Eff

The guy at Elephant told me that Albany only appoint the solicitors, which is why I decided just to leave it at that.

I'm actually confused by the whole setup. The accident is non-fault, I have fully comp cover + guaranteed no claims... why would I even want to use Albany??? Why do Elephant even recommend them in a situation like mine when they know they'll get their money recobered from the other insurer.

It seems daft that Elephant would have their customers confused with these 3rd party companies and the finance agreement etc... OK, so Elephant get commission, but they've probably lost a customer come my renewal date!

All I can say is I'm glad I got on to Elephant and asked them to deal with the claim under my policy!

Emm_Eff

Update on this:

3rd party insurance company phoned today accepting full liability and offering me a hire car and repair of my vehicle. As it will take the possibility of my insurance company getting into a debate with them over costs etc, I've decided to let the 3rd party company do the work and pick up the bill.

I'm gonna take some photos of the car before it gets uplifted, and would appreciate any advise anyone can provide if neccessary.

I'm a bit apprehensive about the 3rd party company getting the wotk done on the cheap, but as my car is under 3 years old I've been told that it will be genuine VW parts and the work will be guaranteed for 5 years. My own insurance company would want to have the car repaired with their approved repairer, so I suppose it's all much of a muchness really.

Car accidents are a nightmare... even when it's non-fault!