Albany assist

BertTheRaccoon

Derfal wrote: »

Having a few issues, so wish I’d checked out the forum before signing up however!!!

Firstly i was hit a few weeks back, other driver admitted liability. My insurance company (admiral) put me in touch with Albany who said they'd take care of everything and organised a hire car. Admiral at this time were telling me they were going to write my car off (against my wishes). I do need one every other week I work away (public transport isn't an option). A couple of days after the third party's insurers offer an alternative idea they will pay out for my repairs and not write it off) They want me to return the hire car as soon as possible, I’m happy to do that because my car is useable and now legal again (Just the odd dent). I contact Albany who arrange for the car to be picked up. All sorted thinks me, oh no says Albany!! They believe they will struggle to reclaim the money for the hire car from the third party because I don’t need a car, the only reason I don’t need a car now is because my car is now being repaired and not written off.
I know I've probably made some fundamental gaffs however any ideas on a way forward???

Essentially, if the collision rendered your car not roadworthy, you were justified in utilising the replacement credit hire car provided by Albany.

Your liaising directly with the third party insurers has also helped to mitigate the period of time you would have needed to hire, so credit to you for doing that. I assume that "temporary repairs" have been done as you mention remaining dents etc?

Ultimately for Albany to recover their charges from the third party insurers they and you need to demonstrate that you acted reasonably and had a "need" to hire a replacement car i.e there wasn't a load of spare cars lying about at home that you could have used instead of hiring.

A car is essential for your travel to work, which would justify the need to hire a replacement if you had no alternatives.

The only area I think you may have difficulty is that it sounds like you work away for periods of time as you describe as needing a car once every couple of weeks. So I assume you have to travel to a certain destination and the car then is parked there whilst you work away (like offshore etc). This is the only sticky element I think because there could be criticisms that in reality you only needed to hire a car at certain intervals, rather than continuously. Having said that, there are not really a lot of practical alternatives.

I've had clients who get the credit hire car and then go on holiday for 2 weeks and the car is parked in the airport car park whilst daily hire charges of £70+ accrue.

All in all, I would say that there isn't anything you have done here which should prevent Albany/Helphire making a recovery of their charges from the third party insurer.

I would just be a little steady as to having further direct communication with the third party insurers as they may attempt to elicit more information from you now about your vehicle needs etc and whilst you are probably happy to assist them generally with their enquiries, the purpose of them asking you about this will just be to try and stiff Albany.

Bottom line is that you have entered into an agreement with Albany to hire a replacement car from them on the premise that you needed a replacement car and that you are liable for the charges. If the other side manage to obtain information that suggests you have failed to justify the need to hire at all, it does not prevent Albany from attempting to recover the charges from you if they deem there has been "misconduct" on your behalf.