Insurance Claim

Jono987

Hello everyone, im after some urgent help if possible! I was in an accident on the motorway yesterday. I was the front car in a 3 car accident. The middle car went into the back of me and the third car into the back of the middle car.

I contacted my insurance as soon as i got home and was going to claim through them, however i then got a call from a garage saying they were representing one of the other cars in the accident (the end car) and that they would take care of my car and give me a hire car. All great i thought so i arranged for them to pick my car up yesterday and they dropped me off a hire car. First point; they gave me a 1 year old mercedes whereas my car was 9 years old!

Today i used the askMID to find the insurance details of the third car ( i believe she is getting the blame as middle car is saying third car pushed them into me). I contacted the insurer who said that a claim hadnt even been registered yet by the driver of the third car and they didnt know who this garage were who had took my car.

Phoned the garage who said they were actually working on behalf of an insurance broker who the driver of the third card was insured with. They had yet to lodge the claim so thats why the drivers insurance didnt have any idea. This set off alarm bells as i assumed the insurer had already accepted liability.

This was my first accident so when i got a call from the garage saying they were working for the drivers insurance and they would pay i just assumed this was the best option. Now my car is 100 miles away and im scared im going to get stung with costs for this mercedes hire car. Im worried the insurance wont pay as its too excessive (not like for like) and im liable to pay i believe if the costs cant be recovered. I know i am not at fault as i was the front car. I left plenty of room so when i was shunted i wasnt even close to the car infront of me.

Does any of this sound like the norm!

Thankyou for any help and sorry for the mass of text!

Jono987

Just to add: When i queried garage RE the hire car they said they had given me a merc as a goodwill gesture.

RS2000.

First off you'd struggle to get a nine year old hire car. So is it the same class of car?

Looks like you've been tricked into using an accident management company, should how be ok if the third party admits liability or is proven to be liable. What dis you sign?

Jono987

I signed a hire agreement which states they are offering me the car on a credit basis for 11 months while they seek to recover the money from the third party. The car was dropped off at half 9 last night, when i queried this he just said dont worry you wont pay anything.

Didnt sleep a wink last night and been worrying myself all day. I range the womens insurance broker who said they had instructed the garage and that they were 'kosher'. Im tempted to ring them tomorrow and say bring my car back and pick the merc up but then i know ill get charged. My car was a 1.6 petrol toyota corolla. This is a mercedes A class.

Jono987

I was going to go with my own insurance untill i realised they were passing me on to a company called albany recovery. Read bad reviews about them so when i got the call from this garage i just went with it.

Jono987

Another thing to add: The first call i got from this garage, they said ' we are working on behalf of LV who is the drivers insurer'. Now as it turns out theyre working on behalf of a broker, not LV, i feel like i have been lied to.

dacouch

They paid the Insurance Broker about £350 commission for being passed your details.

RS2000.

Jono987 wrote: »

I signed a hire agreement which states they are offering me the car on a credit basis for 11 months while they seek to recover the money from the third party. The car was dropped off at half 9 last night, when i queried this he just said dont worry you wont pay anything.

Didnt sleep a wink last night and been worrying myself all day. I range the womens insurance broker who said they had instructed the garage and that they were 'kosher'. Im tempted to ring them tomorrow and say bring my car back and pick the merc up but then i know ill get charged. My car was a 1.6 petrol toyota corolla. This is a mercedes A class.

You've signed something saying you've got the car for 11 months?

Why bother to ring them without checking your cancelation rights first, there'll be a reason why the can't bring your car back.

It's also doesn't sound right them working for a broker, aka a salesman as they won't be paying out.

Aretnap

Jono987 wrote: »

Now my car is 100 miles away and im scared im going to get stung with costs for this mercedes hire car. Im worried the insurance wont pay as its too excessive (not like for like) and im liable to pay i believe if the costs cant be recovered.

It's unlikely that you'll end up liable if the costs can't be recovered. It depends on the exact terms of the hire agreement of coirse (you did read it thoroughly before you signed it, didn't you?) but in the vast majority of cases the credit hire company takes on the risk that they won't recover the money from the third party insurer - it's part of the justification for their exorbitant fees. If they think the risk of not recovering the costs is too high, they just won't offer you a hire car. The only way you become personally liable is if you mislead the credit hire company about your own circumstances or the circumstances of the accident, making them think that their chances of recovery are higher thn they actually are, or if you refuse to assist them in pursuing the insurer for their costs.

One medium sized hatchback for another medium sized hatchback doesn't sound outrageous as far as a like for like replacement goes. As above the age of the car isn't really relevant because there are few or no nine year old hire cars out there - so you couldn't get one even if you wanted it. I suppose the insurer might try to argue that a Merc A Class is a bit excessive and only offer the rate for a Corrola, the credit hire company will doubtless counter that there were no Corrolas available and you had an urgent need for a medium sized hatchback... who wins that argument isn't really your concern. And the credit hire company will probably make money even at the Corrola rate.

Jono987

Thanks all for the replys. The agreement does state that I am liable to pay after 11 months if they still haven't recovered the costs from the insurer. When I questioned the guy on this he said it was a standard form and not to worry I won't have to pay. I'm going to call them tomorrow for an update and ask to be sent something in writing which clearly says I will not be liable for any unrecoveree costs. Would this work to offset what I have signed?

If they are unwilling to send something like that I will ask for my car back. I spoke to my insurances legal team as I have free legal cover and they said I can come to them for help if I get stung with costs.

It seems stupid now but I was so shook up and worried yesterday I just went with what I thought was the easiest option. I don't even know how good this garage are; they might fix my car and make a right mess of It. I will live and learn I guess.

OnanTheBarbarian

What has happened here is the broker of the 3rd vehicle has been told about the claim, they have realised it is a fault claim on behalf of their insured. So they have passed your details as an innocent party onto Albany, who have provided you with a credit hire car and who will also be arranging repairs.

There will have been a deliberate delay of 24 hours by the broker of passing the details of the claim onto the actual third party insurer, so that they can get you tucked up in the hire car before the third party insurers try to contact you directly and try to offer hire etc.

Bottom line, so long as you co-operate with Albany you should not have any liability to pay any charges at the end as they will just send their invoice for the hire to the third party insurers once you have had your car repaired or written off. Also, providing you haven't got a spare car at home doing nothing that you could use instead of incurring daily hire charges etc (mitigating your losses).

Just inform your own insurers of the incident "for information purposes only" so they are aware of the incident, but that you do not wish to actually claim against your own policy for your damage etc.