Liability for hired vehicle?

WannabeOz

I hired a trailer a month or so ago, and on my way home it suddenly overturned and was damaged. It was returned to the supplier as soon as they opened the next morning. They promised to investigate and contact me.

The first time they did contact me was to send me the bill for the repairs to the trailer. They are relying on two clauses in the hire agreement - one which says that the hirer will inspect the trailer before collection (I did, as much as I could) and one which says that the hirer is responsible for all damage, whether caused by accident or malice. The bill isn't for a huge amount, but it is roughly twice what I paid for a week's hire. I didn't get a replacement trailer from them, and they have refused to consider a refund of the hire fee.

As far as I am concerned, since I was travelling within the speed limit for both the road and the trailer at the time of the incident and there was no collision or pothole etc. which may have caused an accident, I believe I was using the trailer in exactly the manner designed. I don't believe I was negligent. Consequently, I believe that the trailer can't have been fit for the purpose for which it was supplied.

My question is about legal protection and/or liability for hired, as opposed to bought, goods. I've been researching and I'm wondering if the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 applies here. I've spoken to my employer's free legal advice line and they were a bit wishy washy, but advised that a clause automatically assigning me liability for damage was unfair and that, should this come to court, the trailer hire company would be responsible for demonstrating my negligence, not the other way round.

I'm not happy to pay the repair bill, but given that there is little chance of them refunding my hire fee, I'd settle for a wash on the two, to be honest. I haven't told them that, just said (in writing) that I don't accept liability and will not pay the repair bill. Today they have written back reiterating that they believe I am contractually responsible, and using the specific term 'negligence'.

Does anyone have any thoughts or my recommendations for next steps? I'm trying not to bombard you with text, but I can give more details if they're needed.

ETA: sorry that my very first post is a request for help, I'll try to contribute in return when I can!

paddyrg

Driving with a trailer is different from driving without. You do not always have to rely on the maximum speed limit to be a guide for how fast to drive.

Loading will also be a critical factor and affect handling.

Have you ever tried wheeling one of those wheely suitcases? Sometimes at speed or cornering they go critically unstable and dance from wheel to wheel. The same thing applies to trailers, I suspect this is what you discovered sadly

arcon5

My initial thoughts would be unless you can demonstrate based on the balance of probabilities that the trailer was faulty then you are responsible for returning goods in the same condition they provided.

I would disagree a term making you liable is unfair. Whether it is fault or faultless, you are responsible for ensuring the safety whilst in your possession so should be liable for any damage which is not consequential to the goods being faulty

Guardsman

Are you insured to tow a trailer ? there are regulations on what you can and cant tow.
Would it be worth giving your insurance company a call just to see if their legal team can be of any help.

Nilrem

As has been said there is a lot of difference between driving with a trailer and without.

I've been behind someone on a motorway who was doing a trailer, doing about 50 and if I'd had a mobile with me at the time I would have rang 999, the trailer was bouncing around like it was loaded with Kangeroos on Springs who'd been eating sugar all week (I passed him ASAP and half expected to hear of a crash on the radio).

I was "lucky" in that I passed my test before the new rules on who is entitled to tow what came in, but had a parent who had been towing stuff for years, and got a lot of experience with trailers early, and it's frightening how easily you can screw up with a trailer if you don't load it right, or go too fast (even fairly minor changes in conditions can greatly affect the safe speed).
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And an empty trailer can be worse than a loaded one, as it will, almost inevitably bounce, with the bounce getting far worse the faster you go (as they rarely have any suspension, or when empty the weight to settle down) - it's one of the reasons you need to keep an eye on the trailer, so you notice any bouncing and can slow down before it gets bad.
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Basically Legal limit does not mean safe with any trailer - you have to keep an eye on how the trailer is behaving, it's rare for them to just flip over without the driver either not noticing something was wrong before, or doing something he shouldn't.

WannabeOz

Thanks all. To clarify a little, the incident happened as I came home from collecting the trailer. It was empty at the time, and was as I had collected it. I have towed trailers many times and I am insured to do so.

As far as I could tell at the time the lock on the roof of the trailer (it had a high ABS roof) popped, the roof lifted, this destabilised the trailer and it flipped. There was no swerving beforehand, it had been very stable up until then. I was travelling on a straight piece of road, doing about 45 miles an hour (limit was 60). It's not directly relevant, I guess but I've never made an insurance claim, nor been stopped for any reason by the police whilst driving - I have a perfectly clean driving record.

I think arcon5 comes close to what i'm trying to get at. Do you think that the burden of proof is on me to demonstrate that it was faulty, rather than on them to demonstrate that I was negligent? That's my concern. I'm fully aware that this essentially is a she said/he said situation in many respects, but as I understand it this isn't the case with bought goods. Is it different for hired goods?

Thanks to all who have taken the trouble to reply so far, it's good to get perspectives on this from someone who isn't my family!

paddyrg

Legally - hmmm - unless you can prove it was the fault of the ABS clip failing, they are going to attempt to nail this to you. Are there many reports online for simiar models maybe?

Do they have to prove negligence? Probablay not AAUI

InsideInsurance

The contract, from what you state, would make you automatically liable for the damages to the trailer unless you can prove there was a fault with the trailer and it was unreasonable for you to spot such a fault during your inspection/ use

From the basis of what you are saying you seem to be guessing at what happened and dont "know" therefore you are going to be on very ropy grounds to prove that they supplied sub standard equipment

Guardsman

The chances of something going wrong are pretty high and for that reason I would not have hired a trailer that did not include accidental cover.