Am I being scammed by a credit-hire company?

Epertetes

I was in an accident in December 2009 for which liability is still in dispute and has never been admitted by me or the other party. recently I got a letter from a solicitor asking to pay 15,000 in repair and credit-hire charges. The damage to the other car was a scratch to the left rear wheel arch. The other driver drove off after the accident and I had no reason to believe his car was not roadworthy.

In the solicitor's letter there are a set of invoices for:

- Car Recovery charge (completed on the date of the accident, invoiced about 6 months after)
- Credit Hire agreement (starting on the date of the accident for 3 months)
- Repairs (invoice dated a few weeks after the car was repaired)
- Damage assessor report (invoice dated 3 weeks after the accident)

The Recovery charge gives an Odometer reading that is higher than the Odometer reading of the Repairs invoice. And the job number and invoice number are higher. How can a car's mileage decrease over a 3-month period? Why would the first activity, the recovery, be a later job number than the final activity, the repair completion? Why would the recovery be invoiced after the repair work?

I also have photos of the other driver's car outside their address 10 days after the accident.

I'd really appreciate some advice here, Specifically I have a few questions:

1 - Does 'recovery' of a damaged car by a repair garage / bodyshop mean recovery to the body-shop, or could it also mean recovery to their home? I saw him drive away after the accident, and he lives less than a mile away from the accident location.

2 - Is it possible for a repair company to invoice for recovery after the repairs are completed, quoting a higher odometer reading? is this a legitimate document? Is this by itself proof of fraud?

3 - Is it reasonable for the other driver's car to be parked outside his house collecting dust while he racks up a 90 pound a day credit hire bill? Shouldn't it be in the bodyshop undergoing estimate and repair work? What is considered 'reasonable' on the part of the claimant for getting work done in a timely manner?

5 - Is it reasonable for someone to enter a credit-hire agreement if his car is roadworthy, the damage assessment work has not been completed, and no-one has admitted liability for the accident?

6 - What proof does the other driver have to provide that their car was undriveable? I am 100% convinced it was driveable. The damage was a small scratch and the repairs quoted were all cosmetic.

7 - Should I just let my insurance company go through the motions with this or do I have enough proof to start my own legal action against the credit-hire, repairs, accident management and solicitors companies involved. All of which are formally associated with one another by name, address or publically available agreements and therefore complicit.

Sorry for all the questions but this is getting on my nerves now. My insurance company does not seem to want to speed this up at all and I am considering sending a report to the BBC watchdog, starting legal proceedings for fraud and making a complaint with the financial ombusdman. Every month this is delayed is costing me more in insurance premiums with my new insurer.

Any help is much appreciated!

jd82

I don't understand this, surely its up to the insurance company to pay or refuse to pay any demands? After all that is why we have third party insurance by law.

I don't think many people could afford to pay £15k after an accident.

DaveF327

Do not reply to the solicitor's letter.

By all means copy it for your records, but pass it all unanswered to your insurance company and let them fight your corner for you. £15k is a lot of money to them too, so it'll be in their interest to defend the claim.

sarahg1969

Pass everything to your insurers, and be sure to send them the photos that you have of the other vehicle, and mention that he drove away from the scene. They'll look into it and decide whether or not it's relevant.

Epertetes

Thanks for the responses. I'm only actively involved in this because my insurance company clearly does not seem to be taking an active role in it. Since I've had to report the accident to my new insurer, I am paying a punitively high premium while waiting for the case to be resolved.

I'm also actively involved in this because now that I've seen what the 'Accident Management' companies actually do and how they are in cahoots with the solicitors, car hire companies and repair shops, I want to do whatever I can to set an example of this industry and stop people who might be intimidated by these threatening letters from being defrauded, and causing everyone else's insurance premium's to go up as well.

All responses are much appreciated, I'd like to hear if anyone has any first hand experience of this type of thing as well. I've now passed all correspondence to my insurance company as recommended.

Rolandtheroadie

My father in law came to my house once in a panic.
A letter had arrived for a personal injury claim due to a fault accident he had a year previously. It was from a solicitor and mentioned damages.
We passed it to his previous insurer and heard no more.
My motorbike was written off last June whilst parked. I had no legal cover, but no problem. My insurer passed my information onto everyone and their dog.
I got calls from personal injurys companies and credit hire firms AND the company that eventually got me my payout and loss of use payout.
As I had a car and had done some research, I refused the credit hire as if it was found I wasnt inconvenienced, I would be held liable for the costs of the hire.
Personal injurys was a no-go too as I wasnt on the bike (although perhaps a twinge picking it up would have been an idea).

I would be the exact same as you, furious when I know the people are at it, but your insurers picking up the tab, let them do what they do.
You say liability's not been admitted, until someones held accountable, your premium will be up. If your found to be at fault, it wont get any cheaper. If your not even partly to blame, dont worry about anything, the 15k will be irrelevent anyway.

Epertetes

Thanks Scotsman,

This accident was at an unmarked junction in a 20mph zone, which is often considered 50/50 split liability, but in this case I have evidence that if it was not for the actions of the other driver, the accident would not have happened. I'm confident that if it came to a court case, I could prove the other driver was entirely at fault. I've given all the supporting evidence to the insurance company.

Just as a general question, if anyone has and experience of this type of thing - I've seen the repair estimate from the bodyshop for the other car (the bodyshop happens to work exclusively with the Accident Management company for accident repairs), which I think is about 3 times what it should be but even on face value, totals 10 hours of labour. It took just under 3 months (over 2000 hours) from the accident for the repairs to be completed and the credit-hire car was out for that entire time (by the way credit-hire agreements are only valid and enforceable for, you guessed it, 3 months).

Would any insurance company or judge see any situation where this kind of delay is justified? By the way the credit-hire part of the claim is over 11,000 pounds. From what I can see the only parts required in the repair are two door mouldings. That's the little strips of plastic running horizontally along the door!

If the solicitor argues that they required the door mouldings for the car to be road-worthy at had to wait 3 months for them to arrive, well I've got something up my sleeve for that but just in case they're reading I'll leave that for now, you never know!

Thanks again, I really appreciate all responses. There are so many details in this claim that it's difficult to explain everything in one go.