Albany Assistance and court proceedings - please help

hammertime123

Hi all.

I will try explain my story in as few words as possible.

I had an accident last year which myself and the 3rd party are both disputing liability.
I believe the fault to lie with the 3rd party.

My insurers, Admiral, agreed to offer a hire car for the duration that I was without my vehicle, whilst it was being assessed etc. I was fully comp and even had the guaranteed hire car option.
It turns out Admiral wanted me to use Albany Assistance, who would then provide the hire car.

I signed all documents with Albany, not fully knowing what I was getting myself in to. I even signed up for the credit protection, which I believe is 'supposed' to protect you if the 3rd party refuse to pay for the charges.

Turns out my car was a write off, but it takes a few weeks until a settlement cheque anywhere near the value of my car, is offered.

The total duration of the hire was about 25 days. (totalled to over £3800)

After months of nothing from Albany, I receive a letter from themselves and their solicitors, claiming that the 3rd party refuse to pay for the hire charges. They indicate that they would like to issue court proceedings against them.

After even more months of substandard service from Albany and the solicitors which they have appointed, I have finally provided a statement and the court proceedings have been issued, to determine liability and the payout for damages etc.

The 3rd party's solicitors have responded to the claim and state that I, the claimant, must prove I acted impecunious. They claim that I must provide details of all bank accounts + credit card statements at the time of the accident. They are trying to argue that I should have had enough money to pay for the hire myself and from a company cheaper than Albany! The solicitors acting on my behalf and Albany have now requested the bank account statements.

Now this has put me in a huge amount of stress and I am loosing sleep over the worry that Albany are ultimately going to chase me for the thousands of pounds, if the 3rd party refuse to pay.

If they find that there was small amounts of money in my bank accounts or spare capacity on my non interest free credit card, or even savings in ISA accounts, what are they going to try and do to me?

Unfortunately, I naively thought that because I was fully comp with my insurance, along with the additional hire car cover, that I would be covered as long as I had the credit protection. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Having read some horror stories I am now begging to panic.

Can anyone offer some advice as to what I should do?

I'm assuming I need to comply with my solicitors and supply my bank account statements, otherwise they could argue that I am not complying with their proceedings.

I thank anyone in advance for any offer of support and advice.

TRADESIZE

You need to register a complaint with your insurer. You have a contract with them, so they'll need to deal with it and not refer you to albany (albany is helphire), but if you speak to the FOS (financial ombudsman service) they will contact the insurer on your behalf. Your insuere will take your complaint a lot more seriously if they FOS contact them on your behalf. Please make sure you state that you feel you were allocated to albany without being made aware of the full facts, plus all the other things you're not happy with.
I have 10 years in the motor insuranace industry, so this advice is sound.
see link to FOS
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

note what they say:'We can help by contacting the business for you, and telling them about your complaint'

Call them tomorrow

post here with how you get on
good luck!

hammertime123

Hi,

many thanks for your reply.

I will be ringing the FOS tomorrow to gain some advice.

However, I am halfway through court proceedings with Albany's solicitors. Failure to comply with their requests will automatically result in me being liable for all hire chargers apparently.

They are asking for all the bank statements from around the time of the accident and I don't know what to do. Are they entitled to do so?

Thanks

Quentin

They are entitled to ask for your details, and you will have agreed to assist them getting their money. If you default on your agreement with them you allow them grounds to train their sights on you.

vaio

I don't really see what the problem is, you signed up for a credit hire car with the protection that covers you if the TP doesn't pay and as part of the agreement you have to give all reasonable assistance to the credit company so they can recover their costs either by agreement or through legal action.

as you have had the benefit of the hire car it seems reasonable that you comply with the rest of the agreement and give the assistance/information requested.

InsideInsurance

They are entitled to ask for whatever they want (as it is the other side that is asking, Albany are simply relaying a message) and you are entitled to decide if you want to comply with their request or not.

If it does get to court and the otherside raise the fact you were obstructive to settling the matter without involving the judge then even if you win the case the judge MAY decide to award costs to the other side for your failure to try and settle matters outside of the court room if the judge deems the request reasonable. It is uncommon but does happen.

Send the documents, Albany will come across these types of arguments all the time and should be used to dealing with them

Kizza123

Hey there, how did you get on with the court case? I also have recieved documents from Scott Rees as the third party has refused to pay the hire car charges. I rang Albany and Scott Rees and both confirm i will not be liable for any fees or charges aslong as i cooperate.

Did you go to court ? Thanks

chanz4

this is a reason not to use this type of company. if it went via enterprise car hire max would of been £1000 for a executive car

sarahg1969

Kizza123 wrote: »

Hey there, how did you get on with the court case? I also have recieved documents from Scott Rees as the third party has refused to pay the hire car charges. I rang Albany and Scott Rees and both confirm i will not be liable for any fees or charges aslong as i cooperate.

Did you go to court ? Thanks

When you say cooperate, have they asked you to sign any hire agreements that are dated from the time of hire? ie ones that you have never signed previously?

AndrewSmith

The ABI GTA clearly states that a third party at fault insurer may have a valid claim to dispute all credit hire charges if they can prove that the non fault party could have reasonably provided either a replacement vehicle, effected temporary repairs to make the vehicle roadworthy, or could have reasonably afforded to fund hire at 'spot' rates for himself.

Even if you are not at fault the GTA states that you have an obligation to mitigate costs wherever possible. For example if your car could have had temporary repairs to make it legally roadworthy then this shoul have been done before credit hire. Credit hire is only to be provided when the damaged vehicle is deemed unroadworthy regardless of whether it is a total loss. If the vehicle is a total loss and unroadworthy, if it is proven that you could have afforded to purchase a like for like replacement without affecting your standard of living then again they may have valid reason to challenge and dispute the need for hire on grounds of impecuniosity. This should have all been explained to you by Albany but I guess it wasn't.

They are requesting this information to check impecuniosity, ie to see if you could have adopted other avenues before entering into credit hire.

It is credit hire costs and personal injury that have pushed the cost of motor insurance through the roof year on year. With insurers under increasing pressure to reduce the increases on premiums they are now, quite rightly, beginning to look very closely at the validity of credit hire and personal injury claims.

Under the terms of your credit hire agreement (hopefully your read it before signing it) you have an obligation to provide this information. Failing to do so or arguing with them about it may be seen as a breach of the agreement and potentially render you liable for the charges.

hcb42

it is no wonder car insurance is through the roof. £4K for less than a month's car hire...