Helphire help please!

roxy86_2

Quentin wrote: »

You need to consult the ts + cs of any agreement you have with them to conduct your claim, fix your car etc. to see if there are any conditions regarding sacking them off.

Regarding them not wanting taking your car back, have you spoken to a manager and pointed out the problem you are having returning the car (in accordance with their written advice now you no longer require it!)?

no i have not spoken to a manager but i have spoken to 2 differnet lads about this and both say i have to keep the car. i even said to the last one i spoke to that couldnt they just say i only needed the car for the 2 days as i had things i needed to do but i no longer need it now as i can get around by other means and he said no!!! he said that i have said that i need the car to transport my 2 children to nursery and for domestic use and so i will have to keep it for the entire time. But it clearly says in the info provided that i should return it if no longer needed. i.e) I go on holiday. I break my arm and am unable to drive or I find alternative transport?

Isnt that contridiction. I dont want the car but I also dont want to cancel and end up having to fork out the fees so far.

I am so confused. Wish swiftcover had never put me through to helphire.

roxy86_2

i also said to them well what if i keep the car and leave it sat outside doing nothing until my car is repaired then you come and collect it, but lets say that the third parties insurance want to see the mileage from drop off to pick up and realise i havent driven it? what happens then? they bloke went off to ask someone and came back and said that i would need to drive the car about 5 miles a day to cover me for this as the third parties insurance could request to see it. He said just drive around the block or something to make up the miles? Can you believe that I am being advised to drive the car for the sake of driving it.

fivetide

I'd speak to your own insurance company. Do you have any legal cover as part of that? If so, that will kick in and allow you to make the claim from the other party no issue.

I find it strange your insurer doesn't want to fight the battle. The duty is surely to provide a service and get the other lot moving!

If you don't get anywhere there, have a chat with the ombudsman, that seems to get insurers moving.

5t.

roxy86_2

ok called for the third time and again said i do not need the car and it is my legal obligition to mitigate losses.

The girl said ok no problem we will collect the car. I couldnt believe it. I told her i had phones twice before and was told i couldnt use them unless i keep the car and was advised to drive the car around the block 5 miles a day and she said no thats not right. If you dont need it thats fine ill get it collected by everything else stays the same. The reapir work will still be done and all costs recovered from third parties insurance.

WOW! Three phone calls but i got there in the end.

roxy86_2

NEED HELP AGAIN PLEASE! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF HELPHIRE!!!!!

Ok, so have not heard anything from helphire since the 24th. blokes from the bodyshop who will be repairing my car came to look at it on the 25th may to assess the damage and to send a quotation to helphire. and hire vehicle was collected on the 26th. called today to ask when my car was going to get repaired as not heard anything, girl looked into and it seems that the engineers had not received the quotation and so its got to be sent again by the bodyshop. Ok no problem so far, car will be fixed sometime next week.

Well I was on the phone I checked for a 2nd time, now that i no longer have the hire vehicle who is going to be liable for the repairs to my car? Girl goes to check with manager and comes back and says that neither she or her manager are sure and they think that as I no longer have the hire vehicle its not possible for them to go ahead and repair my car as there is no money in it for them.

So here we go again!!!! I told her I was told that it wasnt a problem and the hire vehicle would be collected, my car would still be fixed, all costs would still come form the other insurance company but she is saying she has never heard of this and is going to double check tomorrow with another manager.

She is 90% sure the manager will advise that they will not be able to carry out the repair work now that i dont have the hire vehicle. She said my option would be to wither get the hire vehicle again when my car goes in for repair (therefore costing the other insurance company unnecessary money as i do not need the hire car). Or I could go and claim from the insurance compnay myself.

I asked if I go down the route of going to the insurance company myself what will happen to the bill that i have tallyed up so far. (Cost of the hire vehicle for 2 days/ costs of the repairers coming and assesing the damage to my car etc). She says that it may come back on me, the client!!!

I need advice! can they do this. they tell me im legally obliged to mitigate my losses so i tell them i do not need the hire vehicle any longer, they then tell me unless i keep the vehicle i cannot have the repairs so they are advising me to have a hire vehicle even though i have told them 4/5 times I DO NOT NEED IT!!!!

Would i be able to contact legal advice about this do you think?

DaveF327

I've had to deal with Helphire after I suffered a rear-end collision because of someone else's negligence.

They were useless. Ok, they hired me a nice car (which I was competent and happy to drive) but even then, they couldn't repair my car as it was too expensive when compared to its value.

In the end, I followed up the offer from the third party's insurer to repair my vehicle - which they did. Not only that, but the car they hired to me was exactly the same as used by helphire; turns out they use the same pool of vehicles, but they simply switch contracts "in-house".

I suggest that you contact the third party's insurers (assuming they admitted liability) and demand they arrange for repairs to your vehicle immediately.

As for your question, as you are not insured fully comp and you are requesting a private company to provide a free service to you without providing them with a means to recoup their costs, then yes, they can do this. It stinks, but that's business. If you want to get the law on your side, you must contact the third party's insurers directly as it's already clear that your insurer doesn't want to know.

Oh, and change your insurer at your next renewal. I did after the whole Helphire debacle.

roxy86_2

the thing is i am more than happy for them to recoup the hire vehicle costs so far and carry out the repair work but she says they cant so that. WHY?! The hire vehicle costs were something like £200 for the itme i had it so theres £200 in their pocket. Basically Im in a situation where i have to go ahead with the work and get another hire vehicle sent out to me otherwise its possible they could come to me for the £200 bill so far and i still am no better off with having my car sorted. Is that right?

I just dont understand how they can advise you to mitigate your losses but then when you do they basically try and bribe you to keep it quiet and pretend you need the vehicle otherwise you are going to be lumbered with the bill!

roxy86_2

can i speak to legal services as to where i stand if they try to come back at me for the bill?

I get free 24 hour legal services as part of my bank account and so could give them a call but i dont want too if it will invalidate my contract or something.

Ive read my agreement between the myself and helphire and it doesnt say anywhere that i am not aloud to ask for legal advice.

Is all legal advice confidential? My legal advice is offered to me by RAC legal services and being that they are a motor company i dont want to talk to them about helphire if they then go to helphire and question them about it. As obviously im sure the RAC have probably come across helphire themselves and if they realise that helphire are trying to persuade customers to up their losses rather than mitigate them they may not be too pleased about it.

Thanks in advance

albo2002

I've just dealt with Helphire and I've never experienced anything like it.

My girlfriend was involved in an accident a few months ago, that was totally the other person's fault, which was accepted, and she had a Helphire care for a few days.

Back in June, Helphire then sent her a letter asking her to draw a map of the accident and outline the details of what happened. (She had gone through all this with her insurance company, which had all the details, but her insurance company were saying they didnt want anything to do with it anymore).

So she sent a 4-page letter to helphire detailing everything.

Three weeks later she received a new letter from Helphire stating they have not received anything.

So she emailed them the letter and various other maps. She received no reply.

So she sent another email, and another letter to them, detailing everything again, and again received no reply.

Until today, when she received a letter from Helphire telling her to send the details about the accident over.

So I called Helphire and said, very nicely, 'please check your email, all the details are there'.

I was met with the response: "We cannot do that. She needs to write to us."

I said: "She's written to you four times! What else can she do?"

Reply: "If she doesn't write to us we will take legal action against her."