Accident Exchange....help please

takman

pugger wrote: »

That's the stage we are at right now, statement of truth, bank statements etc. The total is £927, AE said that the other insurer paid £500 a few months ago but there is still £427 odd outstanding which is what the court claim is for.

£927 for two weeks car hire! No wonder they are disputing it!.

pugger

Exactly, it's a rip off!

neilmcl

Aretnap wrote: »

In the absence of a company like Accident Exchange, if you were left without a car for two weeks by an accident you would have to go down to Hertz (or equivalent) yourself, pay with your own money to hire a car while yours was being repaired, and then claim the cost back from the at fault party's insurance company. If they didn't pay up, you would then have to take the insurer to court yourself to recover your costs.

Bearing in mind your obligation to mitigate your losses. So if you did this yourself and you decided to get an expensive car hire then the TP rightly could argue in court that you didn't mitigate your losses and refuse to pay the full amount.

Sounds like this is exactly what is happening with AE and the TP insurer, they are well within their rights to dispute the car hire costs and so the OP may still be liable for extra credit hire charges, as per the agreement they would have signed.

neilmcl

pugger wrote: »

Exactly, it's a rip off!

A rip off that your partner may be liable to pay for.

straighttalker

OnanTheBarbarian wrote: »

The claim is against the other party, your posts are not helping as you don't understand how this works.

The OP has liability for the charges, if they had no liability for the losses, they would have no claim that could be pursued on their behalf by accident exchange.

As I said earlier, so long as the OP assists the appointed solicitors and provides information and documentation when requested, there will be no problems

This is the concept which truly makes an !!! of the law and !!!!es off Defendant RTA lawyers no end. Ultimately, the OP or his wife has to have a liability for the charges otherwise they wouldn't be able to reclaim them from the third party insurer. However this is cancelled out by the insurance policy which runs alongside the hire policy which will cover any shortfall. In reality it's a farce as the insurance company is probably just a shell company owned by AX and will never kick in as they'll swallow any shortfall anyway.

It would be amusing of the OP's partner went to Court and stated that AX said she didn't have any liability as advised in a phone call she had with them!

arcon5

Has nobody bothered reading what op posted

For your protection and also for your added peace of mind, we have arranged a complimentary insurance policy
on your behalf. This policy is underwritten by AMTrust Europe Limited and, subject to the terms and conditions
of the policy, it protects you from having to pay the hire charges incurred under the hire agreement in the event
that they are not recovered from the negligent driver(s) or their insurer(s).

They are insured in the event they don't get paid


Thus, op won't be landed with a bill

No?

dacouch

arcon5 wrote: »

Has nobody bothered reading what op posted



They are insured in the event they don't get paid


Thus, op won't be landed with a bill

No?

Providing the OP cooperates with AX in relation to the potential court case. If they don't cooperate, then AX will seek the balance from the OP

arcon5

dacouch wrote: »

Providing the OP cooperates with AX in relation to the potential court case. If they don't cooperate, then AX will seek the balance from the OP

But that's not what the terms above state?

shaun_from_Africa

arcon5 wrote: »

But that's not what the terms above state?

It's probably in the small print and covered by the highlighted section.

Limited and, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy, it protects you from having to pay the hire charges incurred under the hire agreement in the eventthat they are not recovered from the negligent driver(s) or their insurer(s).

One of the terms and conditions probably states that anyone receiving a vehicle from them agrees to fully co-operate with any legal action to recover costs from the negligent party or their insurers.

khcomp

'Accident Exchange were the ones who called her out of the blue and told her that she was entitled to a hire car. This is from their terms and conditions- "The charges for the hire vehicle are covered by the hire agreement entered into by you with Accident Exchange
Limited and although these charges are your responsibility, we will recover these charges on your behalf from
the negligent driver(s) or their insurer(s).
For your protection and also for your added peace of mind, we have arranged a complimentary insurance policy
on your behalf. This policy is underwritten by AMTrust Europe Limited and, subject to the terms and conditions
of the policy, it protects you from having to pay the hire charges incurred under the hire agreement in the event
that they are not recovered from the negligent driver(s) or their insurer(s). It also provides cover for legal costs
and expenses which may be incurred in the event that formal legal proceedings need to be taken on your behalf
to pursue your claim should the other driver not accept liability or seek to dispute your claim at a later stage".'

I haven't misunderstood anything:
AE didn't contact 'out of the blue' - when you start a claim, your insurer, with your verbal agreement, will have contacted them, who in turn contact the claimant.

The contract seems very clear;
'Limited and although these charges are your responsibility, we will recover these charges on your behalf from
the negligent driver(s) or their insurer(s).'
So although you're incurring charges for the hire, AE will get the money from the other party or their insurance company.
'For your protection and also for your added peace of mind, we have arranged a complimentary insurance policy
on your behalf. This policy is underwritten by AMTrust Europe Limited and, subject to the terms and conditions
of the policy, it protects you from having to pay the hire charges incurred under the hire agreement in the event
that they are not recovered from the negligent driver(s) or their insurer(s). It also provides cover for legal costs'
So if the other driver, or their insurer can't, or won't pay, there is an insurance policy in force covering the hire costs and any subsequent legal expenses thereby incurred.

In this case, the OP should write to the solicitors who are chasing the money, enclosing a copy of their contract and the promised letter confirming no liability, and saying that they should refer themselves back to AE, who are clearly not chasing this money from the OP. Forward a copy of the solicitor's letter to AE too.

All seems a bit daft, as the solicitor is alledgedly collecting on behalf of a company that has already told them that they owe nothing!