I'm being sued because insurer won't pay car hire

KittyKenty

I had a minor prang with a BMW four months ago. Alas, my fault, but all very amicable I thought, no one hurt, just damage to the tail light.

Now I'm being sued because my insurer "didn't offer a suitable replacement vehicle". That's me personally being sued, not my insurer. They want £2600 for the cost of a hire car and I have 14 days to file a defense!

Can they do this?

I don't have legal expense insurance. And since my insurer refused to pay for a hire car they'll also refuse to pay for this.

Will my insurer just leave me hanging?

The legal document said they'd made reasonable attempts to resolve this before serving me with their claim, but this is the first I've heard of it! Do I have to go to court??? I can't possibly. I wouldn't have the first clue!

molerat

Pass it on to your insurer (after making a copy), phone them up first. They will deal with it. You are responsible for the costs in exactly the same way as you were for the car damage and your insurer will cover it if the court finds in their favour. Quite often it gets to court because the insurer is slack in sorting it out in the first place, once they see the papers they will probably pay up.

KittyKenty

molerat wrote: »

your insurer will cover it if the court finds in their favour.

Thanks. But if the court decides the other way then, will I have to pay?


And since I'm the named defendant, will I have to appear in court? The thought of it scares me witless. I don't even understand what half the words in the legal docs mean!

molerat

KittyKenty wrote: »

Thanks. But if the court decides the other way then, will I have to pay?


And since I'm the named defendant, will I have to appear in court? The thought of it scares me witless. I don't even understand what half the words in the legal docs mean!

If the court does not find in their favour then there is nothing to pay.

You may or may not have to go to court but it is not a judge and jury type case, it will more than likely be a room with you all sitting round a table. Most likely the insurer will sort it before then.

KittyKenty

molerat wrote: »

If the court does not find in their favour then there is nothing to pay.

Just understood this. Silly me.


Thank you so much. Fingers crossed it doesn't get as far as court, even if it's just sitting round a table!

angrycrow

Don't blame the insurers for challenging ridiculous hire claims, could be a number of reasons they have not paid. Other driver may own others cars so no need for a hire car but hired one anyway or more likely the rates claimed were unreasonable.

The abi gta protocol sets the recommended rates for credit hire. A BMW starts at around £81 and goes to around £475 depending on model. These rates are generous and higher than you would pay if you walked into Enterprise or other local provider.

Some credit hire companies such as Armstrongs will charge an insurer four times this figure and almost always take it to court if not paid in full.

Pass the summons to your insurers who will deal with it for you and pay any settlement ordered by the court. These things tend to resolve themselves before they get to a hearing anyway. Very unlikely you would need to attend for a hire dispute on a fault claim.

Aretnap

This is not at all unusual, and isn't something to lose sleep over.

The other driver has run up a big car hire bill while his car was being fixed, and your insured hasn't paid it, either because they're disputing whether the size of the bill is justified, or because they're just being slow.

So to force the issue the other driver (or the claims management company representing him) has to take choir action. The court claim is made in your name because you're the one who (allegedly) caused the accident so ultimately liability lies with you. They can't sue your insurer directly because nobody is claiming that your insurer damaged the other guy's car. In turn you ask your insurer to cover your liabilities in line with the terms of your policy. So if it does go to court and you are found liable it will still be your insurer who ends up putting their hand in their pocket, not you personally.

As above contact your insurer asap and pass the correspondence onto them. It's quite likely that this will be settled without an actual court hearing, but if it does go to court your insurer who appoint a solicitor and you may not have to attend yourself. Legal expenses cover is irrelevant in this situation - that's too cover your legal fees if you sure someone over a car accident for loses which aren't covered by your policy(eg personal injury). Legal fees which result from someone suing you are covered as standard and don't require a policy add on.

ColdIron

New poster rapidly building up post count with pointless random replies