Urgent Advice Req'd : Liable for costs following no-fault claim

longblue

Hi,

There's a huge story here but I'll attempt to keep it short but include all the detail. My car was hit from behind by a driver whilst I was sat in a traffic queue at a red light. Transpired the other driver cancelled their insurance 2 weeks prior to hitting me although fortunately for me, it was a hire car (or similar) so the car had a certain level of insurance provided by Insurance Company A (I assume they were supposed to be driving under their own insurance). My car went to the garage for repairs but my own insurance (Insurance Company had to obtain a Judgement for the repair costs. Whilst the car was being repaired, a car was provided to me as it was a no-fault claim and I later discovered this was arranged by the garage through a third party supplier. What's happened now is the hire car company didn't inform my insurance company before they went to court so unfortunately their Judgement only included repair costs. I was asked to sign an Assignment and Agreement which I was told for all intent and purpose would allow Insurance Company A to recover the costs however, I was uncomfortable with the document since it referred only to property damage and personal injury so didn't want to cause issues for my own insurance company if I signed it. I referred it to my insurance company and was told by a member of the Litigation Team that they would review the A&A document and sign it on my behalf (I believe, if it was necessary).

I was also told by the company who provided my hire car they were going to approach Insurance Company A to see if they could get the A&A document changed to refer only to the hire costs and they were going to try an other approach and obtain a Memorandum of Understanding. At a similar time, my own insurance company said they were going to change the A&A document to include the car hire company's costs.

Suffice to say, none of this appears to have happened and I've now been given 14 days to pay in excess of £1100 for the hire charge. If I don't pay I've been told they will instruct a Solicitor. The hire car company tell me my insurance company were too eager to get to court and my insurance company said it's the hire car company's fault for not telling them they provided a car to me (I wasn't even aware they never knew).

Where do I go from here? I was told not to sign it by my own insurance company's Litigation Team and there seemed to be a lot of options available although I've now been accused of being very silly (their words) for not signing it in the first place by the car hire company. Insurance Company A are refusing to accept the charge as I've been told I refused to sign the A&A.

I'm stuffed. I really don't want to have to pay the money myself (I signed the hire agreement when the car arrived but I had not even considered this would happen!) and I certainly don't want a CCJ.

I would be most grateful of any advice.
Steve

dacouch

Which Credit Hire Company is it ?

Which Insurer are you with ?

longblue

Hi dacouch,

I'm insured with Swiftcover and the hire company are ACH (I've never heard of them before). To be fair, Swiftcover have been extremely good so far and I would whole heartedly recommend them although they're trying to step back a bit now and have also said I am liable since they have now received a Judgement in Default for the repair work.

In all honesty, I didn't appreciate the fact ACH were involved - they started off calling me saying they were the repair garage's Customer Services which I knew not to be true since I'd been to the garage and understood their setup .. they did fess up after I interrogated them!

My latest letter from the hire company say they do not propose going over old ground any more and I have 14days to pay before they instruct a solicitor.

An important fact I should have mentioned in all this is that the accident took place over a year ago.

What do you think?

dacouch

Who passed you onto ACH?

longblue

The hire car from ACH must have been arranged by the repair garage. I don't have courtesy car cover as I don't really need it (work is easily accessible by train and my partner has a car I could potentially have occasional use of for short periods) but as it was a no-fault claim, the car was arranged for me and I accepted it - quite possibly the worst decision I made in recent years going on current events! In all honesty, I originally believed the car was supplied by the garage and I just signed the paperwork accepting it along with agreeing for my usage of it to be covered under my own insurance (with regard to accident insurance cover). It wasn't until much after my own car was returned that I learnt the car was from ACH.