car accident recovery costs not informed

eadieb

I was recently in a car accident where a car went into the back of mine. I was shaken and so was the other driver and we didn't discuss fault but set to getting the cars pulled over and phoning for help. the other driver phoned a friend who contacted a local garage for her vehicle to be recovered ( and this happened really quickly).

I was in a bit of a state of shock, as my car was hit very hard (the other party didn't see me stop and I dont think braked at all). I did suffer whiplash and back pain at the time and for a few days but this went away by the end of the week. I was very shaky and on my own. I rang RAC breakdown which is a policy paid for by my employer. Initially they were very helpful during the first call and I explained I was in an accident and shaken and they asked if I wanted someone to check the car or recover it. At first I was going with checking it but they then explained that if it did need recovering that it would be a different vehicle and another wait, so I opted just to have the vehicle recovered to my garage. Then whilst on the phone the call handler transferred me to a 'different department' which turned out to be a company that chases accident personal injuries claims. I listened to the sales line for a while but politely refused.

I then waited from 10.30 am until 12.45pm, for the car to be collected - which I was really annoyed about the delay!

4 weeks later my employer has presented me with a £115 bill from RAC for accident recovery. Of course, on checking, this isnt covered in the RAC policy and my employer pointed out an email had been sent to us staff 12 months ago, telling us this.

Ok I should have remembered an email from 12 months ago but I was really shaken at the time of the accident and i think even if I'd had the email the day before i probably would not have remembered. My complaint is that the RAC did not point out during the conversations about the accident when I called for help, that because it was an accident the recovery was an extra charge. I do have a vague memory of actually asking during the call whether this was all covered and being told it was (but this might be a trick of the mind). BUT I was definitely not told that accident recovery was extra, at the time of making contact. When i phoned RAC to complain about the bill they told me that they dont have to tell me of extra charges because the original membership policy booklet tells people that accident recovery is not included. I think this is unfair on people who may be in shock or not thinking straight. Also it is my car that is covered, not me, so it could have been my partner driving the car and he wouldn't have seen the policy docs or got the company email.

Do forum people think I should expect to be have been told of the charge by the RAC at the point of phoning for help? I might have made alternative arrangements if I'd known.

pendulum

You realise that you should have no problem at all reclaiming the RAC cost from the party that hit you from behind?

Were you driving your own car that had cover from an employer's breakdown cover or something? If so I can imagine why they'd want you to pay, but you simply reclaim that from the party that hit you. If it was a company car, I'm not sure why they've given you the bill as they should just add it to the claim against the driver that hit you.

Contessa

Until a recent accident I had wrongly assumed that the RAC did recover after an accident. When I phoned them they told me a charge would be incurred and to check with my insurance company first. The insurance company used Britannia rescue to recover the vehicle.
I could have done without a long train journey, involving three changes, home.

vikingaero

It would be difficult for any breakdown organisation to give you a charge for vehicle recovery over the phone if they cannot see the state of the vehicle after the accident. They could quote £115 and find that in fact it needs specialist recovery or that you want to the vehicle recovered to a dealer, but the dealer has its bodyshop x miles away.

As pendulum has said, pass the invoice to your insurers, who will add it to their claim from the third party.

eadieb

thank you for the help. I rang my insurers, who told me to ring the other party's insurers, who then at first told me to go back to my insurers but eventually said that I can send a copy of the invoice direct to them. so hopefully i will get a payment from the other persons insurers. It is a bit annoying though, because my employer is going to deduct this money from my december wages. I will be pleasantly surprised if I get the insurance cheque by then.

I do think that RAC should have told me that I could contact my insurers for accident recovery or that there would be a charge of some sort. They only had to say that accident recovery is an extra cost and that would have prompted me to ask more questions or see if there was an alternative. My usual garage might have done it for a small amount or charged nothing.

scheming_gypsy

eadieb wrote: »

I do think that RAC should have told me that I could contact my insurers for accident recovery or that there would be a charge of some sort. They only had to say that accident recovery is an extra cost and that would have prompted me to ask more questions or see if there was an alternative. My usual garage might have done it for a small amount or charged nothing.

They probably expected that you'd know or would have asked if you didn't know. It's not up to a profit making business to assist people in not making them any money. You wouldn't go into Asda and see a sticker that says "this is actually cheaper in Tesco" so why would you expect a breakdown company, not to charge for a recovery? especially when you can claim the costs back.

vaio

It’s still not clear who the car belongs to but in any event, an employer can only lawfully deduct something like this from your wages by prior (as in prior to the accident) written agreement. Agreements like this are normally included in your contract of employment.

It might be worth pointing this out to them although how forcibly you do so needs to be tempered by your level of job security.