who pays for the hire car?

temperance

Hi can some one give me their take on this?
I was recently in an accident were the side panel of a bus peeled off in the wind hitting a car infront of me and my car. So the damage to the car was to be paid for by the bus company and the replacement of my car whilst the damage was repaired. So our insurance company was informed of the accident and they organised a garage to pick up the car for repair and for us to pick up a hire car from enterprise car hire.
Two weeks later my car was returned by the garage with the work incomplete, the car was refused and returned and the hire car kept with permission or enterprise who said it had been sorted out with the insurance company for a further two weeks. The car was returned and yet again not all the damage was repaired so it was returned again and the hire car again, with enterprise informed of the situation , kept for another day until the car was returned the following day. When returned my car glimed but they had missed a scratch on the wing mirror and had emptied my car of petrol. The garage was informed of the fact they had missed the damage again and we were to arrange to take the car in and they to repair the damage while we wait. Enterprise are trying to find out who owes them the extra two weeks fee as the 3rd party insurance has said its not them. To my mind they are right. The garage should be libel for the hire when they returned the car with the incomplete repair and since the insurance company arrange the garage to repair the damage and for the hire of the car, the insurance company are reponsible for the fact the garage have done a shoddy repair as the car has picked up road dust more of the scratches they didn't repair have become apparent. Our insurance policy states they will provide a courtesy car not hire car but they sorted us out a hire car instead, why i'm not sure, but now they are saying they aren't responsible as it's a hire car. Any ideas who I should sort this out as its all falling on deaf ears?

gregd_3

I used to work in motor claims a while back. The third party insurers are only liable to pay reasonable hire charges. When your Insurers present their claim to the third party insurers for recovery of their outlays the third party insurer will likely just pay what they feel is a reasonable number of days to have the repair done.

Your Insurer may try and pursue the shortfall back from the garage because the end result will be that they will not have recovered all of their money because the hire costs will not have been completely paid.

Your Insurers may discuss with the garage and look to them to pay the shortfall but I doubt it. Just make sure that any No Claims Bonus is reinstated even if they do not make a full recovery.

Sorry, i've just re-read your post and see that your Insurers are now not paying for the hire car, you will need to find out who booked the hire car, if your insurers booked they are liable, simple as that.

dacouch

gregd wrote: »

I used to work in motor claims a while back. The third party insurers are only liable to pay reasonable hire charges. When your Insurers present their claim to the third party insurers for recovery of their outlays the third party insurer will likely just pay what they feel is a reasonable number of days to have the repair done.

Your Insurer may try and pursue the shortfall back from the garage because the end result will be that they will not have recovered all of their money because the hire costs will not have been completely paid.

Your Insurers may discuss with the garage and look to them to pay the shortfall but I doubt it. Just make sure that any No Claims Bonus is reinstated even if they do not make a full recovery.

Sorry, i've just re-read your post and see that your Insurers are now not paying for the hire car, you will need to find out who booked the hire car, if your insurers booked they are liable, simple as that.

It's a credit hire car and possibly even a credit repair.

OP Did you pay an excess to the garage ?

gregd_3

Don't think it is a credit repair as original post says their insurance picked it up. Also, not sure that enterprise are involved in the credit hire market but its been a while since i did motor claims.

dacouch

gregd wrote: »

Don't think it is a credit repair as original post says their insurance picked it up. Also, not sure that enterprise are involved in the credit hire market but its been a while since i did motor claims.

Their Insurer passed it to Enterprise (Who have a credit hire side) in return for a commission from Enterprise or a Claims Management Company or upwards of £300.

adamc260

gregd wrote: »

Don't think it is a credit repair as original post says their insurance picked it up. Also, not sure that enterprise are involved in the credit hire market but its been a while since i did motor claims.

Any hire company that can make more money will sign up to Credit Hire and yes Enterprise do have a credit hire section, seems to be used a lot for Aviva and the RBS insurers (they're moving away from Drive Assist a bit more I think)

gregd_3

If it is credit hire should the hire co then not terminated the hire when they realised they might run into difficulty getting the money back. My understanding is that they have claims handlers just like insurance companies have therefore, they should have known that trying to recover say 4 weeks hire for a 1 week repair would be difficult.

dacouch

Difficult is an understatement, the OP was hit by a bus, they hate paying out.

Temperance, when you signed the forms with Enterprise (They are credit agreements) did they mention waiver insurance or that they would b e liable for all the hire costs even if the other party don't pay? Did they explain to you that it's a credit hire car

keith1950

Hi, the main problem when people have an accident is that they always seem to want a replacement car straight away. If they get one within 24 hours then it is usually a hire car. Generally if you get a courtesy car it is provided by the bodyshop doing the repairs and will not be provided until the repairs actually start. If people had a better understanding of the difference between a 'hire car' and a 'courtesy' car then they would probably not be so insistant on being supplied with a 'replacement' immediately.

adamc260

keith1950 wrote: »

Hi, the main problem when people have an accident is that they always seem to want a replacement car straight away. If they get one within 24 hours then it is usually a hire car. Generally if you get a courtesy car it is provided by the bodyshop doing the repairs and will not be provided until the repairs actually start. If people had a better understanding of the difference between a 'hire car' and a 'courtesy' car then they would probably not be so insistant on being supplied with a 'replacement' immediately.

Yes but many people don't have an understanding on such things and trust that their insurer is pointing them in the right direction... when infact they're just doing it to make more money

vaio

yep, and s most people don't have a car as hobby they need a replacement to go to work next day and (rightly or wrongly) expect to be provided with one in return for the not insignificant insurance premiums they pay