Car repairs whilst fault under dispute and credit hire vehicles

dan_starstream

Hi,

I hope someone can help. My vehicle was hit whilst parked up. Although I was not there at the time of the incident, I have photographic evidence of the damage to both vehicles as he parked very close by (how arrogant can you get? :mad:) and have an eye witness report.

The at fault driver's insurance company has drawn this out for 6 months, so I am thinking of getting my vehicle repaired on my comprehensive policy and letting the insurance companies battle it out. Am I doing the right thing?

I am also concerned about the loss of the use of my vehicle whilst being repaired. I have been adviced that there are credit hire companies that shall lend you a vehicle and take on the risk of fault being determined. Has anyone had any dealings with such companies? Can anyone give any recomendations?

Regards,
Daniel

starrynight23

Personally I would avoid the credit hire companies like the plague if you can.

Someone ran into the back of me a few weeks ago. Car was written off and my insurers referred me to Albany Assistance who said they would provide me with a hire car and claim the money back off the third party's (TP's) insurance. If they refuse to pay out for it then they have a policy in place that means they won't take a penny from me for it. So far things have gone ok for me; the insurance companies settled quickly and I got the full market value of my car within 2 weeks of the accident. I had the hire car for a grand total of 16 days and by reading a few of the reports on here I got one of the cheaper ones at £50 a day for the first 7 days then £43 a day thereafter. A total of £737 or thereabouts. Some were given cars at over £100 a day. The TP's insurance can then refuse to pay the costs claiming they could have got you a car cheaper and then you are left to prove you couldn't have managed to afford the cost of the hire yourself (to the point of going to court to prove it). I stuck with it, I don't know if I have made a bad decision or not. I should also point out that this is what my insurance company do if they are certain "it's a clear open and shut case" as it was obvious I wasn't at fault. If it is not clear who is at fault then they probably wouldn't offer you this (or I would hope they wouldn't offer you this)

From what I have heard on here you'd be better going straight to TP's insurance and getting them to fork out for the hire but unfortunately I don't know what would happen in your situation if there is no admission of liability?

Perhaps someone with much more knowledge of the subject will be able to help.

Quentin

Who has been dealing with the third party insurer?

If you have been doing it yourself, maybe now is the time to consider a claim handler?

(If you get the third party to agree to deal with your claim, then they will also sort you with a replacement car whilst yours is in for repair, all at their expense)

dan_starstream

My case is being handled by both a claim handler at my insurance company and for a while by albany assistance. Albany have since given up and my handler has been unable to move forward as the other insurance company has been making us jump through hoops. Apparently in 6 months they have been unable to view the at fault drivers vehicle and all the pictures I have show a blue vehicle but it's green on the DVLA records.

Is there not an ombidsmen for this bull? :mad:

I intend to get the vehicle repaired using my comprehensive insurance, as my no-claims shall not be effected (not from this policy) and my excess is only £150. Plus my insurance has only gone up £20 from last year even with a previous own-fault claim and this new underdispute action. The repairs are likely to be in the region of £1000 and take one week.

Why should I avoid credit hire companies? Has anyone had experience with them?

Quentin

If you are now claiming off your own insurance, then won't the bodyshop be supplying you a courtesy car?

starrynight23

This is why you should avoid credit hire companies

starrynight23 wrote: »

Some were given cars at over £100 a day. The TP's insurance can then refuse to pay the costs claiming they could have got you a car cheaper and then you are left to prove you couldn't have managed to afford the cost of the hire yourself (to the point of going to court to prove it).

If albany were dealing with it and gave up and didn't offer you a hire car then I doubt you will get one, from what I hear albany love to give out credit hire cars.

Your best bet is a garage courtesy car while your car is getting fixed.
Or
Get your own hire car, pay for it yourself and add it to a list of expenses that you have incurred because of the accident and hope you can claim it back from the TP but don't get your hopes up too much about that one.
Or
If you have a hire car option on your insurance then speak to your insurers about using that option. I had that and asked my insurers if I could use that instead and they said no because I wasn't at fault but it might be applicable in this situation.