Complimentary Car Hire provided without thrid party insurance - now I am being sued!!

PDAH

Hi Seanmac, the other thing is that I think Enterprise have a duty to ensure that the hire vehicle is insured and I would say not release the vehicle to you until they have evidence that there is insurance in place. To that extent they have failed. You have received 1 summons but are there any other potential claimants? In the present matter you have the complicated task of accepting liability in the defence but seeking an indemnity/contribution from Enterprise. I could really do with seeing what you signed. Can you PM me?

mildred1978

chanz4 wrote: »

Normaly when you get a hire car from the insurance, you drive under your own insurance policy on the hire car like for like.

No, if you get a courtesy car from your own insurer you are usually covered the same. A hire car from a company employed by a third party's insurance is completely different.

seanmac30

I think Crazie Jamie has a point in terms of the position of the insurer who provided the car in the first place a lack of communication between them and Enterprise is the route cause. I have ask them to mediate with Enterprise because they offered that the hire care would be provided at 'absolutely no cost to ourselves'. Enterprise's insurers have written to me recently stating that I should have bought extra insurance for my wife and I have written back stating that the third part insurer should have paid this given their assurance that the hire care would be provided at 'absolutely no cost to ourselves'. They now have accepted this argument.

In relation to the hire agreement which as some of you point will be key here, it states that 'I agree to insure the vehicle for all third party risk under any insurance available to me'. I think have complied with this stipulation but my argument is that third-party risk for my wife was not available to me through my own insurance and therefore Enterprise was responsible for providing this. If I had had the accident then my insurance would have kicked in but because my policy does not allow for named drivers to drive another car apart from our own, then the responsibility for third-party insurance lays with Enterprise!

PDAH

Hi, I think you need to have a look at the summons you received and check on a few dates. It should have a response pack which allows you to tick box respond and you should say you want to defend the claim. This will buy you some more time and then you can contact the other solicitor and seek an extension of time of say 4-6 weeks to file the defence. Its in his interest to get this matter on all fours because at the moment he thinks an insurer is paying but its not.....In the 4-6 weeks you need to get the insurer that provided the hire car involved. Keep handy any letters you received. I have every sympathy for you and would like to see a resolution in your favour. If an insurance company who is at fault arranges a hire car for you saying its free etc I think you have every expectation of it costing nothing and everything being sorted out.

Crazy_Jamie

PDAH wrote: »

Hi, I think you need to have a look at the summons you received and check on a few dates. It should have a response pack which allows you to tick box respond and you should say you want to defend the claim. This will buy you some more time and then you can contact the other solicitor and seek an extension of time of say 4-6 weeks to file the defence. Its in his interest to get this matter on all fours because at the moment he thinks an insurer is paying but its not.....In the 4-6 weeks you need to get the insurer that provided the hire car involved. Keep handy any letters you received. I have every sympathy for you and would like to see a resolution in your favour. If an insurance company who is at fault arranges a hire car for you saying its free etc I think you have every expectation of it costing nothing and everything being sorted out.

You're right that action is needed on the Claim Form, but the first port of call is that an Acknowledgement of Service needs to be filed within 14 days of the date of service. Assuming that was the date of the original post, the deadline for that is 29.11.11. It is important to file that Acknowledgement because if you don't the third party can be awarded Judgment in Default.

seanmac30

Hi,

The date of service was yesterday and we know we need to get back within 14 days. We see a Solicitor on Monday. Just as a side, we contacted Enterprise's insurer's yesterday and they have received the same claim as well. They told us that they were sorting it(?) and for us not to worry. Obviously, we are taking nothing for granted and so we are perusing a reply ourselves. Is that a common occurrence or are the claimants just trying to cover all bases given the confusion over liability so far? Is there any risk on our part in replying to the summons if Enterprise are doing it as well?

TIA,

Johnny

PDAH

Hi, you can file the acknowledgement saying you are disputing the case. Only you (your wife actually) can do that really. Enterprise cant reply to the summons unless they bring themselves into the action. The court rules are not a mystery check out Part 9 and Part 10 of the civil procedure rules.http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/courts-and-tribunals/courts/procedure-rules/civil/contents/parts/part09.htm Do cover yourself and buy some time. Enterprise may have reconsidered.
Also who is paying for your solicitor.....dont add insult to injury........is that a quote I have borrowed!??? How much will it be and do you really need it?

forward_thinking_2

OP you may wish to check that you were actually insured to drive the hire car as well.

Third party cover provided as part of a fully comprehensive policy is usually restricted so it does not cover hire cars even the policyholder. If that is the case (and assuming that is what you used to evidence your cover) then you never had any cover for any driver of that car. The exception to the hire car exclusion may be when your own insurer provides you with a hire car as part of a claim but as far as i can see the car was provided by the third party insurer.

So whilst some might say you have been negligent not to check the cover in place it seems to me that enterprise may have allowed you to take a car without you providing evidence that insurance was in place. Since the third party cover being exclusion of hire cars in fairly standard this is something they should know to check before releasing the car to you and if you can demonstrate that no cover was ever in place for the car when you took it then that demonstrates they did not adequately follow their own rental procedures (since they asked to see something then they have some responsibility to check it's appropriate otherwise you could turn up with anything!).

Apologies for the longest sentence ever at the end the but hopefully that makes some sense and may be an angle you wish to consider.

seanmac30

forward_thinking wrote: »

OP you may wish to check that you were actually insured to drive the hire car as well.

Third party cover provided as part of a fully comprehensive policy is usually restricted so it does not cover hire cars even the policyholder. If that is the case (and assuming that is what you used to evidence your cover) then you never had any cover for any driver of that car. The exception to the hire car exclusion may be when your own insurer provides you with a hire car as part of a claim but as far as i can see the car was provided by the third party insurer.

So whilst some might say you have been negligent not to check the cover in place it seems to me that enterprise may have allowed you to take a car without you providing evidence that insurance was in place. Since the third party cover being exclusion of hire cars in fairly standard this is something they should know to check before releasing the car to you and if you can demonstrate that no cover was ever in place for the car when you took it then that demonstrates they did not adequately follow their own rental procedures (since they asked to see something then they have some responsibility to check it's appropriate otherwise you could turn up with anything!).

Apologies for the longest sentence ever at the end the but hopefully that makes some sense and may be an angle you wish to consider.

You make a very good point and if this is the case, this provides me with more ammunition. The insurance cover note I provided to Enterprise explicitly states that my wife is not insurerd to drive other vehicles and I have always argued that they should have scrutinised this before releasing the car to me. Remember I was never informed that my insurance was being used to cover the car. My policy cover note does specifically state an exclusion to 'Use for Hiring' but the context suggests that it excludes me from allowing my own car to be hired. At least that is how it reads to me but it may mean that I cannot use it all for hire cars. What a farse! Thank you (& all) for taking the time to share your thoughts and give me your advice.

Johnny

keith1950

Hi, from past experience, when you receive a hire car the driver has to sign the hire agreement, in this case therefore did both you and your wife sign the agreement ?