Credit Hire

rr755507

Over six years ago I had a car accident (read ended), and my insurance company placed me onto their 'legal team' (which I later realised was credit hire) company. I received a hire car for a few weeks via the CH company.

The 3rd party insurance company paid out by cheque for the damage to my car, and I assumed the 3rd party also settled with the CH company, never hearing anything about it. (I still use the same insurance company so assume the CH company would have my address - all documents from them originally came on paper headed by the insurance company)

A couple of days ago a debt collectors letter landed on my door representing the CH company asking for the full payment of the credit hire amount. What should I do - would this 'debt' be statute barred? (Nothing appears on my credit record)

Thanks.

alistair.long

Hi, I would assume the case is now statute barred, as property damage cases are 5 years (not looking at docs, so not sure), Im pritty sure money owed is not more then 2 years.

Ask the company when was the dept due and how much is owing only when you get info from a expert (I am not a expert, in that field)

Crazy_Jamie

alistair.long wrote: »

Hi, I would assume the case is now statute barred, as property damage cases are 5 years (not looking at docs, so not sure), Im pritty sure money owed is not more then 2 years.

Ask the company when was the dept due and how much is owing only when you get info from a expert (I am not a expert, in that field)

You are wrong on both counts, I'm afraid. The limitation period both for general tort and simple contract/debt claims is six years (sections 2 and 5 of the Limitation Act 1980 respectively).

If it is over six years since the debt became due (i.e. when the period of hire ended) then any claim against you for the credit hire charges will be statute barred. Be careful about contacting the company at this stage, though. If it has not been six years since the debt became due and you acknowledge the debt, limitation stops running and you will potentially become liable for the whole amount again. I would double check that your dates are right, and either way the best course of action may well be just to ignore these letters, at least for now.

Quentin

insurance50 wrote: »

.....And truthfully, in many situations I would rather err on the side of protecting our right ...............

How many more of these irrelevant posts of yours do we have to read before you have enough posts to start spamming us with your link?

dacouch

Quentin wrote: »

How many more of these irrelevant posts of yours do we have to read before you have enough posts to start spamming us with your link?

Do you not like the posts about american auto insurance