Car Insurance Dispute - Going to Court

kilnockers

I posted here last xmas regarding an accident I had been involved in where I was the driver & we have somebody drive into the back of us, as far as I am aware the other driver has accepted responsibility however their insurers will not pay out as they are disputing the cost of a replacement hire car that we had for around 8 weeks as the garage had so many cars in to be fixed it took so long.

I believe they think we had the hire car for too long.

At the time of the accident our insurers gave us the option of going through claimfast therefore we wouldn't have to pay any excess. We took this option as they made it sound so easy. In the small print though, they say you are liable for any costs if the other party refuse to pay out.

We have now been contacted by claimfast's legal team who want us to go to court, my concern is that if the claim fails at court I am going to be liable for all the costs.

Does anybody know how likley it is that my claim in court will be successful?

The cost of the repairs is now less than the cost of the hire car!

vaio

Joys of credit car hire, frankly you have nothing to lose, if you don't go to court they'll send you the bill

lisyloo

You're right to be concerned.
But you must go to court and co-operate with them trying to get the money from the insurer.
If they don't then they will try to get it from you.

Were there no other garages available?
No other forms of transport?
What did you do to mitigate costs i.e. to NOT run up an unnecessarily large bill?

Yes I think you are right to be concerned.
You have a duty to keep the costs reasonable (it's called mitigating losses). If someone sweetalked you into an expensive hire car and the other insurer isn't playing ball and you've signed to say you're liable, then you should be concerned.

UnknownSaver

I work for the company and this is not true. The only time that you would become liable for costs if you do not help claimfast with their enquires. ie refuse to assist in court, refuse to statement etc

vaio

UnknownSaver wrote: »

I work for the company and this is not true. The only time that you would become liable for costs if you do not help claimfast with their enquires. ie refuse to assist in court, refuse to statement etc

Is this official claimfast policy? and written into their T&C/contract?

Conveau_2

Strangely enough, I am currently involved in an almost identical situation: Insured through the AA, had a rear end collision, over a year ago, while stopped in stationary traffic, submitted a claim, was referred to Claimfast who processed the repair and arranged a hire vehicle. Although the other driver has claimed liability, their insurers have failed to pay for the vehicle repairs or car hire. Now, I have to attend court to pursue payment. How did you get on?

z1a

Almost identical problem with my claim via Claimfast / Acromas (Saga). Incident last March, other parties insurance have paid for damage to car, but disputing hire charges. Car repairs cost £2171, hire costs £3709. Strange thing is, my car is only valued at about £2000 ( 1999 Saab conv.) - My "Like for like" car was a Kia Sorento! - Couldn't be less like my car.

pvt

z1a,

£3,709 for hiring a Kia Sorento! And you wonder why the other party's insurer is refusing to pay?

Surely you can see their point - as a previous poster said, you are required to mitigate the loss. To me this looks rather like the opposite.

And then people wonder why premiums are going up....

PNPSUKNET

Credit hire is a joke, and yes I bet its one of the reasons along side whipcash claims

adamc260

Its so sad that insurers push you into these situations by making it sound like its the best option for you... when really its because they get a healthy referral fee. The last thing you want after a claim is stress because of a dispute between a credit hire company/insurance company when thats what you were advised is the 'best option' for you by your insurer. Credit hire/whiplash claims need to stop...

alistair.long

Hi,
I am a little confused.
are you a individual who had a crash and now the hire car company want their money from you (court action you are the defendant)
or are you the individual who hired a car and the company want to claim it from the other side?

this is my advice.

You need to help the car hire company to get their money by attending court for them.
They gave you the car so as long as they get most of their money from the other side they wont really come after you.
The other side have to prove that your didn't mittigate your losses and not for you.

In these credit hire car costs people attend and the other side dont want to pay the full amount, so have to goto court and the judge makes them pay.
I have also seen people who are left with the bill and have to take their own personal injury claim to court, and when they win, automatically the other side have to pay the hire costs.