Huge courtesy car bill after car insurance fails

julesjjdl

Hi there

I'm desperate to get some advice to help my Mum out with a problem that has recently arisen.

Two years ago a white van reversed into her car while she was stationery in a line of traffic. Her car went to be fixed and she was given a courtesy car through her insurer, Saga (Acromas) for a couple of weeks. A few weeks later she received a letter saying they had now received written confirmation of the other driver accepting liability for the accident.

After that she assumed all was fine until she started receiving aggressive letters from the courtesy car company about two weeks ago. They obviously haven't been paid and have told her she is potentially liable for over £4,000 which includes the legal costs for trying to recoup this payment. She has also been told to give evidence of her financial situation at the time to prove why she couldn't pay for a hire car herself. They've set up a lawyer for her and told her that if she agrees to go with that lawyer within 14 days and accept their demands then the bill won't change. If she decides to do otherwise then she has been told her bill could increase significantly.

Apparently the form my Mum signed when the car was delivered to her had a note in the three pages of small print saying she would be liable for costs if the car hire company couldn't recover them. Unfortunately she missed this when checking through and didn't expect this to be the kind of thing hidden in fine print from a reputable company.

My Mum is desperately worried about this. She's an OAP who has been very ill over the last two years due to stress and I'm worried about the effect this will have on her health, not to mention her bank balance. It's the only road incident she's been involved in over 40 years of driving. She was fully insured and the other party admitted liability.

Please can anyone help with advice as to what she should do. Also I'd be keen to understand whether or not they have a right to force her to submit evidence of her financial situation, which to me should be irrelevant as her insurance covered her for the car she got.

She has tried contacting Saga but not been able to get through and she's really worried about time running out in this fourteen day period.

Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated right now.

Thanks

Jules

mike_the_rate_tart

Hi,

Could you confirm that your mum's car went to one of Saga's approved repairers rather than a garage of your own choice?

I've just been looking through Saga's insurance policy to help my parents out and happened to have a copy of it on my computer. On page 11 it talks about your replacement car and it says it does not cover:
The cost of a replacement car:
• after you have had the replacement car for 14 days, or any extended date
we have agreed to;

So, it sounds like the initial courtesy car agreement is for 14 days and unless you get specific confirmation from Saga that they are extending this for you, that is all you are entitled to...

molerat

Did she have legal expenses cover for uninsured losses. If so that should be used to sue the other insurers for the costs. Quite often these letters are just to get things rolling. She needs to speak to Saga.

lisyloo

Probably her insurer is dragging their feet and hasn't paid the bill.
The other party have no choice but to go after your mum (they can't go after the insurer directly - that's not how it works).
This is almost certainly to get things moving.

She really needs to get through to saga, even if it means sitting on the phone for a while.
I would get on the phone and put it on speaker phone whilst doing something else e.g. ironing.

shortchanged_2

As one of the other posters stated check to see if your mum had motor legal protection, if yes get her insurance company on the case ASAP as these are unisured losses and you are basically suing the other party for your losses as a result of the accident.

If she doesn't have motor legal protection she will probably need to get a solicitor of her own.

DO NOT go with the solicitor they are offering as they are only acting in their interests.

I don't know why the costs are so high so your need to request a breakdown of the costs involved.

As the other party was liable for the accident you should really be able to claim any uninsured losses from the other party.


The only other issue possibility here is that the Other driver was not actually insured therefore you may have a problem.
However there is the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) that can possibly assist in this scenario.

I suppose if all else fails you could try these no win no fee claims firms and I'm also sure there are various companies around that specialise in these cases.

Anyway good luck.

oscarward

I am involved in something similar, after an accident the other party admitted liability and write off values was paid by their insurers, but the other party insurers is refusing to pay the hire charge of the accident management company as they feel it was excessive. A solicitor hired by the AM co (in my name) has issued a county court claim under the small claim track procedure (i.e. < £5k) to recover this. I am told the solicitor charges are only £100 + disbursments under this procedure.

The thing about her financial situation is , in my case, a defence from the other insurers trying to argue that I should have used public transport or borrowed a car from somebody or used spot hire car if I could afford it. If I couldn't then a credit hire can only be allowed if there was no other recourse, i.e. need a car , impecunious and the proof thereof by showing bank statements. If I had resources to do spot hire rates then that is all they want to pay which is presumably cheaper.

Has the hire company already attempted court action on the other party? Has she spoken to her own insurers?

can she go and talk to a solicitor under one of those schemes where you pay a nominal sum for advice for 15mins?

dunstonh

It also highlights the false economy (cost and/or hassle) that can occur if you dont include a courtesy car on your policy. (working on the basis of comments that it wasnt a proper courtesy car but a hired car).

julesjjdl

mike_the_rate_tart wrote: »

Hi,

Could you confirm that your mum's car went to one of Saga's approved repairers rather than a garage of your own choice?

Yes, I seem to remember the garage was about two hours drive away and it was a real hassle for her to get to and from so she wouldn't have done that by choice.

Thanks for all the advice above everyone. I'll suggest that she looks into whether she had legal protection cover. In terms of duration, she had the car for less than two weeks and her cover was 'until resolution' of issues with her car.

She lives in the middle of the countryside where there is a single bus three times a day and it wouldn't be realistic for her to get public transport. Her policy covered the provision of the courtesy car (nothing flash, something like a Micra I think) so it seems odd that she has to prove a financial need for it as that's surely what that level of insurance cover is for.

She's now spoken to Saga and Acromas and they've advised her to go along with all the requests provided from the hire car company. They have said that this is a usual procedure and she needs to cooperate for this to have a chance of being removed. She does have to provide evidence of her financial situation and use the provided lawyers. Basically if she doesn't cooperate she stands a much larger chance of having to pay the fines so she should put everything in the post that has been asked for and allow it to be settled by the lawyers.

It seems incredible to me that she now has to sit back and wait for weeks to find out whether or not she has a £4,000 bill.

shortchanged_2

I would seriously like to know where this figure of £4000 has come from.

Most car hire companies will charge around £40 - 60 a day for the car depending on it's size, therefore even if they charged you £60 a day for 14 days it would be £840.

As far as I can see if your mum justified her need for the car then the other party are liable for the costs on their insurance to cover this as they have admitted liablity.

Quentin

The "threatened" £4k is not just for the outstanding hire charges, but all costs involved in recovering them (including the court costs of the "threatened" hearing)

dunstonh

She's now spoken to Saga and Acromas and they've advised her to go along with all the requests provided from the hire car company. They have said that this is a usual procedure and she needs to cooperate for this to have a chance of being removed. She does have to provide evidence of her financial situation and use the provided lawyers. Basically if she doesn't cooperate she stands a much larger chance of having to pay the fines so she should put everything in the post that has been asked for and allow it to be settled by the lawyers.

I would disagree with that. This is where the legal side comes in. If she has got legal protection she should pass the information to them. If she doesnt have legal protection then she can appoint one now. The idea of legal protection is that when the companies come after payment, you let the legal team sort that sort of thing out as well as getting your excess back, out of pocket expenses and other costs incurred in your claim.

Of course, if DIY, then you wont know the things you should or shouldnt do and playing it safe may actually cost you more in the long run. in her position, she needs the legal team doing the work and telling her what to do.