Enterprise Courtesy Car - Advice Needed

gbartlett1980

I was involved in a crash with a taxi driver on New Years Eve and was supplied with a courtesy car by my insurers LV. I recently received a phone call and letter from Enterprise telling me they have been unable to retrieve their costs from the third party insurers. The letter stated that even though I was not at fault I was ultimately responsible for the cost of the courtesy car? The letter went on to say that it may have to go to court.

Isn't this my insurers (LV) problem?

Some advice would be greatly appreciated!

Quentin

Check any paperwork you signed with enterprise to see the contract you agreed.

This sounds like a credit hire car rzther than a courtesy car provided by your insurer as part of your cover.

This may be a standard letter, as enterprise will need your cooperation to pursue the matter through court (which you will probably find you agreed to when taking the car).

Assuming you told the truth regarding the incident and your circumstances necessitating using a credit hire car you should have no problems, but check all this with your insurer.

gbartlett1980

I think I may of chucked out (oops) all the paperwork from Enterprise.

Enterprise want me to sign an 'Authority to issue proceedings'.

The wording goes as follows....I understand that these hire charges are held in my name and that I am ultimately liable for the cost of hiring this vehicle. It has been explained to me that as the accident was not my fault these charges will be recovered from Tradex the insurer for the driver responsible.

Should I sign? Am I responsible for charges? Surely this is the point of a courtesy car?

Thanks guys

Quentin

Yes, you need to sign otherwise they will come after you!

As previously posted, this doesn't look to be a courtesy car but a credit hire car.

InsideInsurance

Go back to your insurers and check what they did.

A courtesy car comes from the garage that did the repairs.

Some insurers offer an enhanced courtesy car or guaranteed courtesy car etc and these are hire cars paid for by your policy.

For people involved in non-fault accidents there is credit hire where you get a car on credit and the credit provider attempts to get the money back from the third party insurer. If they cannot you may be liable for the shortfall depending on which company it is.

Insurers, garages, accident management companies etc all sell the details of non-fault parties to credit hire companies as it makes fairly good money for them.

If you say your insurers passed your details to Enterprise you need to check what their instructions were, ie was it under a section of your policy in which case the bill should be settled by your insurers or was it a simple referral in which case you will have signed a credit agreement when you got the car and yes, enterprise is one of the ones that hold the hirer liable if they cannot recover the credit from the TPI (or at least they were a few years ago)

gbartlett1980

Thanks for replying guys!

Yeah I managed to find out it was referred by LV as a credit hire vehicle.

Enterprise now want to go to court to retrieve costs, should I be worried about this?

Quentin

Nothing to worry about as previously posted as long as you told the truth previously regarding the incident and your circumstances.

gbartlett1980

Spoke to The hire car company this morning....They said that the vehicle charges have increased dramatically because I was hit by a taxi with a commercial insurance policy. I asked them what happens in worst case scenario and she replied they would not pursue me for the charges incurred. I guess some rental companies would not share this attitude?

The taxi driver and his insurer have behaved appallingly since the accident in December last year, with this in mind I have told the car hire company I would be happy to assist in any legal proceedings.

InsideInsurance

gbartlett1980 wrote: »

I guess some rental companies would not share this attitude?

Most do, a couple charge you a very small daily fee to guarantee they wont.

Credit hire is typically 2-3 times the normal rate of hire, there is plenty of fat built into the price for them to absorb the occasional case that goes wrong or a dispute over a day or two of the hire etc.

weejonnie

Actually the Enterprise scheme costs a lot less than other credit hire schemes to the insurers - which is why more and more of them are linking up to Enterprise (I am NOT an employee of Enterprise) through the http://www.interresolve.co.uk/ Interresolve scheme (I am not an employee of Interresolve)

gbartlett1980

The hire company have now added their costs to the legal proceedings against the third party. What I would like to know is how does it get to this when the third party have admitted full liability? It seems a waste of everyone's time to take this to court especially when the costs are just going up and up!