Being chased for courtesy car costs

csdodd80

Hi All,

We urgently need some advice, because we are unsure what to do.

In 2009 I was hit by an uninsured driver. Our car was a Kia Rio and we contacted the insurer at the time who was Debenhams. They gave is the contact details for us to get a courtesy car through Help Hire.
We paid a small fee to Help Hire to cover us in case of accident damage to the courtesy car, then we went and collected and signed for the car, which was a Passat. We had the courtesy car for 2 weeks.
After a lengthy (2 years!!) process, we finally were able to prove the other driver was at fault and had lied about ownership of the vehicle and the solicitors paid us for my injuries and loss of earnings, and the repairs to the car.

We moved house 3 years after the claim was settled in 2012 and we heard no more until last week.
My husband was contacted by someone claiming to be an investigator, working on behalf of Help Hire and Albany Assistance, who are allegedly chasing us for 1700 for the cost of the hire car.
They claim they sent numerous letters to us at our previous address, not true, and that they have been unable to locate us since (again not true, we are on the Electoral Role).
My husband explained to the investigator that the MIB and Solictors had dealt with everything, they we only had the car for two weeks and that we have not received a letter, call or visit regarding this money. The investigator stated that he thought Help Hire were trying it on and he was going to close the case.

Today we have received a letter at our address, asking us to refer to previous correspondence (not sure what blooming correspondence!!) and advising us that the third party was uninsured and that the claim was submitted to the MIB under the uninsured drivers agreement. It is then referring us to the 'MIB mandate request attached which is signed by us the claimant'...the mandate is blank and has not been signed at all.

We are totally confused as to what is going on, this is the first in 2 years we have heard anything about the claim and we have no copies of documents, as we discarded them when we moved house, assuming after 3 years since the accident (now 5 years)all was done and dusted!


Can anyone advise what we can do?

Many Thanks,

Colleen

InsideInsurance

First of all this is not a courtesy car, HelpHire provide hire cars on credit (aka Credit Hire) which they then attempt to recover from the third party/ their representatives.

When you took the hire car you will have signed an agreement and in that will have been an explanation of what happens if they are unable to recover their outlay from the other party. Back in my day, which was longer ago than this incident, HelpHire used to charge an optional insurance to cover the outlay should they be unable to make a recovery and if you didnt take this then they would pursue you. Even if you did take it, if your actions blocked them from making a recovery (eg you refuse to go to court) then the debt reverted to you.

Credit hire always has exceptionally high costs involved, often 50% or more above what you could get with minimal effort of private hire.

The monies you were paid clearly didnt come out of the solicitors pocket. Do you know if the MIB settled the claim or the third party themselves or did it transpire that the third party had insurance?

motorguy

InsideInsurance wrote: »

First of all this is not a courtesy car, HelpHire provide hire cars on credit (aka Credit Hire) which they then attempt to recover from the third party/ their representatives.

When you took the hire car you will have signed an agreement and in that will have been an explanation of what happens if they are unable to recover their outlay from the other party. Back in my day, which was longer ago than this incident, HelpHire used to charge an optional insurance to cover the outlay should they be unable to make a recovery and if you didnt take this then they would pursue you. Even if you did take it, if your actions blocked them from making a recovery (eg you refuse to go to court) then the debt reverted to you.

Credit hire always has exceptionally high costs involved, often 50% or more above what you could get with minimal effort of private hire.

The monies you were paid clearly didnt come out of the solicitors pocket. Do you know if the MIB settled the claim or the third party themselves or did it transpire that the third party had insurance?

O/P, did you not check the paperwork you signed?

csdodd80

InsideInsurance wrote: »

First of all this is not a courtesy car, HelpHire provide hire cars on credit (aka Credit Hire) which they then attempt to recover from the third party/ their representatives.

When you took the hire car you will have signed an agreement and in that will have been an explanation of what happens if they are unable to recover their outlay from the other party. Back in my day, which was longer ago than this incident, HelpHire used to charge an optional insurance to cover the outlay should they be unable to make a recovery and if you didnt take this then they would pursue you. Even if you did take it, if your actions blocked them from making a recovery (eg you refuse to go to court) then the debt reverted to you.

Credit hire always has exceptionally high costs involved, often 50% or more above what you could get with minimal effort of private hire.

The monies you were paid clearly didnt come out of the solicitors pocket. Do you know if the MIB settled the claim or the third party themselves or did it transpire that the third party had insurance?

As far as we are aware the MIB settled the claim. The solicitors dealt with my PI claim.

csdodd80

motorguy wrote: »

O/P, did you not check the paperwork you signed?

I will have read through, but given that it was 5 years ago, I can't remember and I was definitely not aware that the company was a hire place - our insurer gave us their details so I assumed they were working with my insurer.

csdodd80

Thanks for the replies,

The problem is this all happened so long ago, we have no paperwork anymore and we can't even remember the name of the Solicitors so how can we defend ourselves?

csdodd80

Ok, hubby thinks the solicitors dealing with the claim were Angel Assistance , who are now Albany Assistance??

motorguy

csdodd80 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies,

The problem is this all happened so long ago, we have no paperwork anymore and we can't even remember the name of the Solicitors so how can we defend ourselves?

If its as per InsideInsurance says, then you might not be able to defend it - it could be something very "legitimate" that you signed up to.

csdodd80

motorguy wrote: »

If its as per InsideInsurance says, then you might not be able to defend it - it could be something very "legitimate" that you signed up to.

Is there any way we can ascertain this without admitting liability to the debt?

motorguy

csdodd80 wrote: »

Is there any way we can ascertain this without admitting liability to the debt?

You could ask them for a copy of the contract you signed with them?

I would have thought that was quite a reasonable request without admitting liability.

You might be best to check with a solicitor first though

csdodd80

motorguy wrote: »

You could ask them for a copy of the contract you signed with them?

I would have thought that was quite a reasonable request without admitting liability.

You might be best to check with a solicitor first though

That's what is concerning me, it is 5 years since we signed for the car, so I am damned if we are going to just lay down and admit we owe money. Considering it has taken them so long to contact us, when we have made no attempt to hide from anyone, I don't see how they can seriously think we will just pay up.