Admiral and Albany Assistance Complaints Nightmare

DonMac_2

My car was parked outside my house on 30/03/2013 when a drunk driver crashed into it just before midnight and drove off, luckily he was spotted & the police caught him 20 minutes later. He admitted full responsibility when question & breath tested 3 times over the limit. I contacted my insurance company (Admiral) the following day & gave them all the police details and the drink drivers insurance details. As my car needed repairing they said they would arrange a hire car whilst mine was in for repair. I declined the hire car as I would use my partners car but they insisted saying "it was part of my "Fully Comp" policy"... again I refused it and again they insisted saying "it wouldn't cost me a penny" and "it would be there just in case it was ever needed" so I agreed. Admiral then said that they will get someone to call me to arrange a delivery time for the hire car who will also take my car to the approved garage they chose. A few hours later I got a telephone call from a from someone who said that Admiral had contacted them regarding the hire car and I agreed a time for the delivery. When it arrived I signed for it & they took my car away. Two days later the "approved garage" rang to say I had to sign a form before the repairs could be carried out. We signed the form as we was informed by Admiral that the 3rd party's insurance company had agreed to pay all the repair/hire costs. Now 12 months later I am receiving solicitors letters from the hire company stating that the 3rd party's insurance are refusing to pay out as he was a "drink" driver and his insurance was made void and I am therefore liable for all the repair/hire charges if they cannot get the charges from the driver personally. So in short, Admiral has passed the book over to a hire company called "Albany Assistance" who is a credit company and included in the forms I signed was a clause to say that I would pay ALL repair/hire cost should the 3rd party Insurance refuse to pay. I contacted Admiral today 4/4/2013 and was told that as I excepted the hire car I was agreeing to let Albany act on my behalf & it is no longer anything to do with them. Having just googled Albany I can see that this has happened on numerous occasions and more alarmingly is that Admiral are well aware of Albany's policy yet did not inform me about the possibility of being liable for the repair/hire cost and unbelievably Admiral are still using Albany for car hire. I pay hundreds of pounds a year for my multi car insurance and cannot believe that I have to endure the stress that this situation is causing. There must be something that I can do due to the fact that at no time during my conversation with Admiral was it stated that I was excepting another company to act on my behalf, as far as I was aware Admiral was dealing with my case & that included arranging the hire car? The latest news according to Albany's solicitors is I now may now have to attend court in Ryhl, Wales which is over a 200 mile round trip from Blackpool where I live in and should I fail to appear I may be liable for all the court costs as well... disgusting.

InsideInsurance

Two initial things:

1) Use paragraphs, large blocks of text are hard to read

2) Always read what you sign before signing it. It may be boring and you may trust the company etc but its easier to deal with things before the inks on the paper



To be honest this should be resolved and is simply a matter of time. Whilst the insurers may have voided his policy retrospectively for drink driving they are still the RTA insurers of the vehicle at the time of the incident and ultimately will be forced to pay.

Some insurers deal with their RTA responsibilities immediately and without involving the courts as it avoids legal fees being added to the bill then try and get the money back from their client as they are entitled to. Some insurers dont deal with it until the court orders them to in the hope that (1) their policyholder can pay it and so it never comes to them or (2) the claimant cant be bothered going through the process so it disappears.

Speak to the solicitors appointed by Albany for you and ask about both getting the case reallocated to another court if possible and adding your costs for attending on to the claim.

parahandy

I also had a hire car from Albany Assistance / HelpHire a couple of years ago. I was made aware it was Credit Hire - although was not fully aware of what that actually meant.

Check the agreement. You may find that within the terms there is an included insurance policy (which is FOC) which will cover you in the case of the third party's insurer not paying.

dacouch

Oh the irony, Admiral refer the Donmac onto a credit hire company who pay Admiral a refers fee of circa £350. Then the other driver find's their Insurance void due to a drink driver clause similar to the one Admiral have in their policy which is a fairly unusual clause.

Especially bad as they talked the OP into a car when it sounds like they didn't need one.

(Inside Insurance has given good advice, my post is just an observation from someone in the industry)

OnanTheBarbarian

As has been pointed out by others, the call centre operative at Admiral when you first notified the claim has been eager to pass you onto Albany so that Admiral can get a juicy kick back from Albany for the credit hire referral. The call centre bods will have targets and will enjoy a bonus for doing this.

You have entered into a consumer hire agreement which has a period of credit. You are liable for the costs, but these are pursued against the negligent party/ their insurers.

There can be no liability dispute on this claim due to the collision circumstances and although he was pickled and may have a clause in his insurance contract that excludes cover when pished, this does not give the insurer of the third party a get out of jail card and they have a legal obligation to meet any third party claim when a judgment is obtained against their policyholder.

The court case is in Rhyl for some reason, perhaps this is the local county court for the Defendant, but as the Defendant will not need to attend in person, because the purpose of the hearing will purely be to determine quantum (the amount of losses that can be recovered) there should be no good reason why the case cannot be transferred to your local county court, although it may be late in the day to facilitate this if a hearing date has been arranged already.

You need to be careful concerning your evidence on this because you are essentially saying that you were given various assurances of how you would have nothing to pay and that you had a spare car and did not need to hire. If you give evidence like that at the hearing, there is a good chance the court could rule you have failed to mitigate your loss and award no hire charges. This gives the third party insurer a gift and they do not have to reimburse any charges. BUT unless a court rules that the agreement is not enforceable against you, it would still allow Albany to come after you for recovery of their charges.

What have you discussed with your solicitors about all of the assurances Admiral etc gave to you? This is a potential situation where there is a conflict of interest between you and the solicitors dealing as essentially they have been retained by Albany to pursue their charges, yet your understanding was there would be no charges, so how can they act for you and also represent the interests of Albany when your own evidence potentially undermines the viability of the credit hire claim.

I would contact Admiral and ask them for copies of the telephone call recordings from when you notified the claim.

Janto40

They cant always get it wrong surely?? I had a no fault accident last week, was then contacted by Albany, accepted the hire car, signed the credit agreement etc etc. Having read these threads this morning, I got a little nervous and called Albany. The lady assured me there would not be any cost to me for the hire car and stated that all calls were recorded.

dacouch

Janto40 wrote: »

They cant always get it wrong surely?? I had a no fault accident last week, was then contacted by Albany, accepted the hire car, signed the credit agreement etc etc. Having read these threads this morning, I got a little nervous and called Albany. The lady assured me there would not be any cost to me for the hire car and stated that all calls were recorded.

Have you read any of the numerous complaints re Albany when you google their name.

They have a reputation for being inept which can cause your claim a long long time to be settled

Parking_Trouble

Typical ineptitude from Admiral & Albany.

3rd Party insurer cannot void the policy due to D&D. They have to pay up in accordance with the Road Traffic Act and then they can exercise their right to pursue the driver or policyholder for the money.

Admiral should get their lawyers onto it and look after their customer.

To be fair to Admiral, if they were the TP insurer they would pay up without questions and hound the Drink Driver for the money. Plenty of cases on t'internet where Admiral do this.

Does the OP know who the the third party insurer is? Most insurers pay the TP costs and don't pursue driver/policyholder for a refund.

[Deleted User]

Take it up with the Ombudsman. You may need to sue the at-fault driver. Does your insurance have legal cover?

dmc44

Janto40 wrote: »

They cant always get it wrong surely?? I had a no fault accident last week, was then contacted by Albany, accepted the hire car, signed the credit agreement etc etc. Having read these threads this morning, I got a little nervous and called Albany. The lady assured me there would not be any cost to me for the hire car and stated that all calls were recorded.

That's what they told me a year ago when we had a small bump, and this month they have passed the file to their solicitors who are now trying to recover their car hire costs from the third party by taking them to court, and guess who will have to stand up in court? My daughter as she was driving.... so much for the easy solution.

if yours goes the same way your 'cooperation' may involve your having to go to court to give evidence (they don't tell you that bit!) so they can get their car hire money (profits) off the other party. Its a nightmare... Or get Albany to confirm to you in writing now that your cooperation won't go as far as your driver having to go to court to give evidence.

Good luck! I wish i had just paid the excess........

Quentin

dmc44 wrote: »

Good luck! I wish i had just paid the excess........

Whether or not you had paid your excess doesn't mean you wouldn't have to attend court in the event your insurer needs to sue the third party!

You agree to assist your insurer recover their outlay from a liable third party over any claim they pay out on when taking out the policy.