Auxillis/Principia Law and Car Hire Dispute

fluffy123

Hi all,

Firstly I'm aware of the benefit of hindsight now but this situation has occurred due to the situation I was in at the time some 30 minutes after the accident occurred and trusting that my insurer knew what was right and was looking out for me....

My partner was driving our car and parked in a queue oat a set of traffic lights just over a year ago. I was in the passenger seat and my then 4 week old daughter seat. We were stationery with handbrake on. We were rear ended by a car which in itself was rear ended by a car.

Details all exchanged, the driver at the end of this chain admitted liability and I went home to call my insurance company still shaken up by it. I was concerned that the TP insurance company may still dispute this but speaking to my insurer they assured that this would be fine and it would be best to arrange a hire car through them as otherwise I'd have to pay the excess and lose my NCB until this was resolved which could take some time. I was then passed onto Auxillis to arrange hire car. This was at a rate of £55 per day which I noticed when being handed the paperwork. My car was quite badly damaged, could be driven but the boot door was heavily dented, boot would not lock and the central locking system had broken as a result. Plus any similar impact on this could have been more disasterous. This was our only car.

Financially, I had a CC and my partner had 2k in savings which he was to pay me throughout the next 3/4 months to supplement my salary as I was on maternity pay. There was no mention of sorting the hire car myself.

The repairs took 65 days and the hire car arrived quickly and taken back in exchange for the return of my car. Through Admiral Law, I had to claim for damage to car seat plus I had pain to my neck, shoulder and back and had to go to physio so a PI claim was made. That all went smoothly.

Fast forward and on Thursday I had an email from Auxillis saying that they had not been paid by the TP for the hire car and Principia Law would contact me the following day to allow me to complete a questionnaire to challenge this.

I have a credit agreement for indemnity as long as I comply but should I be worried about this process? As I was on maternity at the time, I didn't really have the financial barrier to pay out for what in the end was 65 days or car hire and in terms of CC, I would have been racking up interest as due to my reduction in income, it would have been difficult to pay off in full within the days stated.

fluffy123

Just to also note that I was informed by my insurer not to contact the TP insurance as it would complicate the process and the TP insurer eventually wrote to me 2-3 weeks later admitting liability and offering a hire car but obviously by that point, the process was well under way and I;d already had the hire car which I needed for doctors appointments, baby appointments, classes for my 4-week old son etc.

Scrapit

Is this a statement?

fluffy123

No it's not - thanks for your 'help'

debtdebt

Don't worry too much. The third party insurer are probably just querying the hire charges as they almost always do. Auxilis feel as though they've reached the end of their involvement and are just merely passing the matter onto their own solicitors to deal with.

The matter will in all likelihood settle without you having to attend Court.

You clearly couldn't afford to hire a car yourself and needed a car whilst yours was off the road?

Just do as the solicitors ask and provide all the information you can.

fluffy123

debtdebt wrote: »

Don't worry too much. The third party insurer are probably just querying the hire charges as they almost always do. Auxilis feel as though they've reached the end of their involvement and are just merely passing the matter onto their own solicitors to deal with.

The matter will in all likelihood settle without you having to attend Court.

You clearly couldn't afford to hire a car yourself and needed a car whilst yours was off the road?

Just do as the solicitors ask and provide all the information you can.

Thanks - that's it really. As I was just starting maternity leave, my pay had already been cut and was facing being decreased further over the 3-5 months that followed. As it was the only car we had, it obviously needed to be replaced with something quickly.

gzoom

fluffy123 wrote: »

Fast forward and on Thursday I had an email from Auxillis saying that they had not been paid by the TP for the hire car and Principia Law would contact me the following day to allow me to complete a questionnaire to challenge this.

Its standard procedure, TP insurer will do everything not to pay, you need to essentially confirm you had a need for a replacemnt car and that a hire car was needed, and the rest just forget about.

I had non fault claim earlier last year, accident was in June, my car ended been arittent off and given it was only 4 months old a new car was needed, I eventually got the replacemnt car in end of September. So I had a hire car for a substantial time.

The TP insurer sent me all kind of rubbish and threats if I didnt give up the hire car or didn't take their settlement offer they would refuse to pay for my hire car costs. I even recorded a phone call from them where they tried to trick me into saying I didn't need a hire car, and that I was trying to make the claim more expensive/dragged on longer on purpose.

Frankly the behaviour of the TP insurer was disgraceful, they refused to admit liability for 2 weeks despite me sending in dash cam footage within 24hrs of the crash. I read up on my legal rights as the non fault party and in the end had no issue resolving the claim, the TP insurer even paid me extra for a difference in 5 years of VED rates between my replacment car and the one that was written off.

Don't get scared/intimated by insurance companies, the whole thing is a scam that legally we all have pay into. As long as you've been honest with facts and not at fault you have nothing to worry about.

BethanyD

All the advice and information given by previous posters is perfectly valid.


It is as common for credit hire companies to overcharge for car hire as it is for liability insurers to refuse to pay the full fee.


It is not for you to justify the fees, but the hire company and the instructing solicitor.


However, they will need your assistance to help them do this, hence the correspondence.

MrSwadge

@fluffy123 How did this play out? We are going through this too 

ontheroad1970

MrSwadge said:

@fluffy123 How did this play out? We are going through this too 

Best to start your own thread and give your details as succinctly and as clearly as possible trying not to leave out too many details.  Not every case is the same