Auxillis Hire Car Charges - Non Fault

sjet926

Hi

I had a no fault accident last year where the other driver admitted full responsibility straight away. Upon informing my insurance company they told me I was entitled to a hire car for up to 21 days (as stated in my policy). As I had previously included a hire car benefit option with my insurance this was the reply I expected.

The told me a hire car company they use would be in touch to make arrangements. Whilst being treated in hospital I received a phone call from Auxillis who confirmed I was entitled to a vehicle. They read out their standard info and told me all I had to do was log in an accept standard t&c's. Being mediated at the time I must admit I didn't go through them with a fine tooth comb!

Fast forward 13 months and I have been contacted saying I may have to go to court as the 3rd party's insurer wont pay. I'm somewhat shocked as I asked for the cheapest std option but the bill is nearly £2K for 19 days!

Apparently there is an insurance option in place and I have compiled with all these instructions (plus there was a clear need for the vehicle as I live away from home). However, I have also just accepted a personal injury offer (without hire charge charges) which may prejudice the claim!

My concern is I may end up paying a large amount of the bill (or all) as a local hire company would of been cheaper. Incidentally just found out from my insurance company that this isn't the car hire option on my insurance policy as they felt this was a better option for my circumstances. Never told me this at the time as I would of been quite happy with a rental from Enterprise with no potential court case!

Apparently this did this as it was no fault and I was entitled to an extra 5 days with Auxillis after the write off cheque arrived!

Kind of feel i have been taken for a ride by both my insurance company and Auxillis and how have to face going to court over a hire car which I accepted in good faith. Anyone else been in this position!

System

Of course they're not going to pay £2000 for 19 days car hire when there are a plethora of hire companies like Enterprise etc where you'd probably pay a few hundred quid as you rightly said.

Unfortunately this kind of thing happens all the time - companies like Auxillis charge ridiculous rates for insurance claim jobs renting out cars knowing that if the third party doesn't pay out then they can go after you for the money.

If you can prove you were medicated whilst in hospital when they contacted you you may have a way out of it as you could argue that you weren't in a mentally fit state to make an informed and rational decision.

Cash-Strapped.T32

When people say "take your claim to the at-fault person's insurer", this is the sort of thing they mean.
Of course your insurer is going to send you to a ridiculously expensive credit-hire firm (or more precisely, the claims-management firm they direct you to will), because that way, everyone in the chain takes a referral fee that all comes out of the final costs of the claim, which (in theory) is being paid for by the at fault person't insurer...


In a clear case where it is not your fault, then literally the only people in the whole situation who have any interest in trying to keep the costs reasonable are the insurer of the at-fault party.
They're also the only ones who have any financial interest in getting it all resolved quickly.
It's just simple common sense. Them's who don't pay the bill don't care how it all pans out.
And if they can make a brucie-bonus on top at others' expense, then they'll take it.

DUTR

sjet926 wrote: »

Hi

I had a no fault accident last year where the other driver admitted full responsibility straight away. Upon informing my insurance company they told me I was entitled to a hire car for up to 21 days (as stated in my policy). As I had previously included a hire car benefit option with my insurance this was the reply I expected.

The told me a hire car company they use would be in touch to make arrangements. Whilst being treated in hospital I received a phone call from Auxillis who confirmed I was entitled to a vehicle. They read out their standard info and told me all I had to do was log in an accept standard t&c's. Being mediated at the time I must admit I didn't go through them with a fine tooth comb!

Fast forward 13 months and I have been contacted saying I may have to go to court as the 3rd party's insurer wont pay. I'm somewhat shocked as I asked for the cheapest std option but the bill is nearly £2K for 19 days!

Apparently there is an insurance option in place and I have compiled with all these instructions (plus there was a clear need for the vehicle as I live away from home). However, I have also just accepted a personal injury offer (without hire charge charges) which may prejudice the claim!

My concern is I may end up paying a large amount of the bill (or all) as a local hire company would of been cheaper. Incidentally just found out from my insurance company that this isn't the car hire option on my insurance policy as they felt this was a better option for my circumstances. Never told me this at the time as I would of been quite happy with a rental from Enterprise with no potential court case!

Apparently this did this as it was no fault and I was entitled to an extra 5 days with Auxillis after the write off cheque arrived!

Kind of feel i have been taken for a ride by both my insurance company and Auxillis and how have to face going to court over a hire car which I accepted in good faith. Anyone else been in this position!

Don't panic, you won't have to pay anything (you prolyl won't even have to go to court), the hire charge is not that mad, as you would have like for like, and that includes trim level. £105 / day doesn't seem mad for some models of car.

System

DUTR wrote: »

Don't panic, you won't have to pay anything (you prolyl won't even have to go to court), the hire charge is not that mad, as you would have like for like, and that includes trim level. £105 / day doesn't seem mad for some models of car.

What utter rubbish. £105/day is ridiculous. A Mercedes E Class would only cost £425 a week to hire from Enterprise.

DUTR

Tarambor wrote: »

What utter rubbish. £105/day is ridiculous. A Mercedes E Class would only cost £425 a week to hire from Enterprise.

It's not utter rubbish, a day rate for a merc c class or similar at enterprise is £88, there will be admin fees ,insurance and excess waivers etc to add on, so the £425 rate for you pre booked is possibly less than the on demand day rate that the OP is being quoted.
Even so the E class you mention would be £1275 and that is the from price.
If say the OP had a large SUV and some third party had run into his car, then a Aygo is possibly not a suitable replacement on a temporary basis and shouldn't be overly detrimented whilst the claim is being resolved.

Mercdriver

Also, when you prebook a hire car, the quote is based on a known fixed period of time. In the case of a credit hire from accident company, the amount of time is usually not known, so more slack in the system is required, meaning more cars need to be available in order to meet demand, and this extra cost has to be accounted for.

Comparing retail hire to a commercial operation like the OP has used is not a level playing field.

debtdebt

Tarambor wrote: »

What utter rubbish. £105/day is ridiculous. A Mercedes E Class would only cost £425 a week to hire from Enterprise.

This is a case of don't blame the payer, blame the game.

You can't compare spot hire rates with credit hire rates. Have a search for the ABI GTA rates. These are hire rates agreed between the CHO and the insurers. £105 a day seems to be pretty reasonable.

gzoom

Tarambor wrote: »

Of course they're not going to pay £2000 for 19 days car hire when there are a plethora of hire companies like Enterprise etc where you'd probably pay a few hundred quid as you rightly said.

Unfortunately this kind of thing happens all the time - companies like Auxillis charge ridiculous rates for insurance claim jobs renting out cars knowing that if the third party doesn't pay out then they can go after you for the money.

What the OP is been asked to do is confirm they have not tried to 'play' the system and if needed make a statement in court as part of any evidence provided by the two insurance companies in settling the claim.

The OP is NOT been told to pay the £2K charges. Infact if you look at case law the times when the courts have 'cancelled' hire care policies is mainly for cases when individuals who have gone to a company like Enterprise and hired what ever they wanted.

I had to provide a written statement stating I had received a hire car with equivalent spec/model to my own car before the third party insurance company finally caved and agreed to pay out in my own no-fault accident. I had a hire car for a total of just under 6 months in my case so you can imagine the cost, add to that the cost of a brand new car, the third party insurance company used every trick in the book to try and stop my claim!!

But the OP is right, all insurance companies DON'T have us - the consumers interests in heart. All they are after is the £££ in our wallets, and to give out as little of those ££ when their services are called upon.

The whole setup is corrupt, but what can you do apart from play their games .

DoaM

gzoom wrote: »

I had to provide a written statement stating I had received a hire car with equivalent spec/model to my own car before the third party insurance company finally caved and agreed to pay out in my own no-fault accident. I had a hire car for a total of just under 6 months in my case so you can imagine the cost, add to that the cost of a brand new car, the third party insurance company used every trick in the book to try and stop my claim!!

That makes me feel better ... I've had a hire car via Auxillis since 8th May and don't expect to get my car back until 1st week in July.

At least if anything similar happens to me I can confirm that the hire car is the equivalent spec/model ... in fact it could almost be my own car if it wasn't for it being a different colour!

loskie

we use Enterprise at work and pay a flat rate of £22 day. Minimum of Focus sized car, delivered/collected to home or office