Courtesy car

dacouch

The OP has either insisted that as the accident is not their fault that they don't want to pay the excess so the Insurers / Hastings have passed it to Helphire for a credit repair or the Hasting / Insurer have passed it over for the commission or to save admin.

(Their is not much money to be made in credit repairs as the claims management company typically deduct 5% from the repairers invoice as their commission so in most claims it's fairly low. Some unscrupulous CMCs like credit repairs as they can get their chosen garages to drag the claim out to generate more credit hire charges though)

evilgoose

Hi, its he btw thanks for your comments

You can justify it on the basis that the other car (the 'warm hatch' - what car is it btw? :P)

My other car is a Fiesta ST. OK it drinks like a fish and isnt exactly a ferrari, but its my precious! I use on track days, sunny days and a great trip to Germany.
I have to 'pull' my mother out of the car as it to low for her, and the seat means she can't swing her legs round. + stiff suspension and v bad back - not good.

All I did was - what I was under the impression you are suppossed to do in the case of an accident - rang my insurance company to inform them of incident. I was rang to get details on the monday and they arranged the car - and the collection of my mazda. Until documents arrived I was under the impression it was from hastings Direct - I didn't know until later the it was Helphire and not Hastings direct. Hastings gave me no options - I didnt choose Helphire. I thought it was Hastings.

My car was parked overnight at the side of the road - unoccupied. The third party reversed out of their drive into the side of the car. Their fault, and they have addmitted this.

I didn't hear from the third parties insurance company until 3 days after the accident, by then the wheels were in motion.

I've been given a golf to 'cover' my mazda 323f. No muddy dogs, sandy maybe. Ones 4yrs the other is a puppy who's a bit boisterous in the car, so they're both in cages at the moment till she gets car trained, which we're doing in her car (my friends, not the dogs! ) - the cages dont fit in the fiesta.

Thankfully this is only the 2nd incident i've been involved in. The first time I was sat in traffic lights, when a car went into the bacl of the queue - domino effect. That was sorted so much more easily than this.

mikey72

Helphire pay a large comission to Hastings, hence your claim has been offloaded. The costs will all be charged to the third party insurer, or you will be pursued via the credit agreement. Most insurers will do this now.
You would have liked to think your own insurer would have done something other than take a percentage wouldn't you?

vaio

Wouldn’t be so bad if the extra cost actually resulted in a better service for the policy holder but it patently doesn’t.

It’s a ridiculous situation where punters get a better service for the opposing company than they do from the company that takes their money.

evilgoose

I agree with you both - considering that Hastings have charged several hundred pounds premium, I'd have expected a better service and certainly not to have to spend ages reading pages of small print regarding credit agreements relating to the repairs.

Having been googling - I've seen that these 'accident management companies' cause roughly £80 extra on our premiums by the way the elongate the process and charge more.

vaio

evilgoose wrote: »

I agree with you both - considering that Hastings have charged several hundred pounds premium, I'd have expected a better service and certainly not to have to spend ages reading pages of small print regarding credit agreements relating to the repairs.

Having been googling - I've seen that these 'accident management companies' cause roughly £80 extra on our premiums by the way the elongate the process and charge more.

So more than twice the oft quoted £30 that uninsured drivers cost and for which we have to suffer ever more intrusive & annoying rules and regs.

I suppose the difference is the there is no profit in the spotty youth driving uninsured because he can’t afford the £2/3/4k premium whereas everybody gets a cut from the claims handlers as it goes round & round.

Have you thought about kicking your insurers & associates into touch and dealing direct with the TP insurance? Depending on what you have already signed (and cancellation charges attached/cooling off), you might be liable for some costs but it would make sense for the TP to pick those up now as they are only going to get bigger

mikey72

vaio wrote: »

So more than twice the oft quoted £30 that uninsured drivers cost and for which we have to suffer ever more intrusive & annoying rules and regs.

I suppose the difference is the there is no profit in the spotty youth driving uninsured because he can’t afford the £2/3/4k premium whereas everybody gets a cut from the claims handlers as it goes round & round.

Have you thought about kicking your insurers & associates into touch and dealing direct with the TP insurance? Depending on what you have already signed (and cancellation charges attached/cooling off), you might be liable for some costs but it would make sense for the TP to pick those up now as they are only going to get bigger

Of that £80 extra on premiums, it's a double payment, as some of the money charged by the claim management company goes straight to the insurer as commission.
So we're charged by the insurer....to pay the claim management company....to pay the commission to the insurer!

dacouch

There was a really funny email sent to loads of people in the industry a few years ago by a "Disgruntled Helphire employee" that detailed their business practices (Allegedly).

It was very very interesting, Helphire took serious legal action and you cannot detail the contents as they take action against any websites etc that publish it

evilgoose

Insurance companies and the independent Financial Ombudsman Service report that these disputes are a growing concern. One insurer estimated they added £80 a year to a typical policy.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/insurance/car/article.html?in_article_id=502421&in_page_id=35#ixzz1E9Dzssyc

....to add further insult to injury, I've just had a bill (well, they've already taken the money from my account) for £40 , £30 damage waiver (it seemed to make sense) and a £10 fuel surcharge, despite me returning the car at the same level of fuel it was delivered with. I;ve emailed them to query this.

Still, I've had my mazda back repaired and on the road again :-)