Accidentally called No-Fault Claims Management Co instead of Insurer

akira181

That's the value of hindsight and not much I can do to change it now.  I wanted to get it sorted soon as possible as I was incredibly busy at the time.  I'm usually quite vigilant over sneaky tricks like that but I guess I wasn't exactly thinking clearly after the accident either.

I should be getting a new car sorted this week sometime so the courtesy car will be going back.  1st Central may baulk at the cost of the hire car but 3 weeks is not an unreasonable amount of time and the ball has been in their court for 2 weeks now.  Things couldn't have moved any faster from my side and I'm getting a new car before receiving payment so I don't understand how they can legally dispute any charges as a direct result of them dragging their feet.

bob_a_builder

akira181 said:

 1st Central may baulk at the cost of the hire car but 3 weeks is not an unreasonable amount of time and the ball has been in their court for 2 weeks now.  

The may balk at the overall price of the hire car due to the high cost of the rental, these 3rd party companies rent out 'courtesy' cars at a significant premium per day far in excess of what you could generally walk into Hertz and co and hire a car, but that price should be visible somewhere on the paperwork they have provided

Mercdriver

akira181 said:

That's the value of hindsight and not much I can do to change it now.  I wanted to get it sorted soon as possible as I was incredibly busy at the time.  I'm usually quite vigilant over sneaky tricks like that but I guess I wasn't exactly thinking clearly after the accident either.

I should be getting a new car sorted this week sometime so the courtesy car will be going back.  1st Central may baulk at the cost of the hire car but 3 weeks is not an unreasonable amount of time and the ball has been in their court for 2 weeks now.  Things couldn't have moved any faster from my side and I'm getting a new car before receiving payment so I don't understand how they can legally dispute any charges as a direct result of them dragging their feet.

It's not what 1st Central thinks that counts but the third party.  They could say they will pay half of the hire, and you have agreed to pay 1st Central what they don't recover.  I bet it's in the Ts and Cs.  They would have you over the proverbial barrel.  I can't see why it was so urgent that it couldn't wait until you were sat where you could check the details properly.  As you say that ship has sailed, but be prepared for the other side to refuse to pay the overpriced rental.  It will likely be at least twice what Avis etc would charge - this is how claims companies make their money and why they pay Google to sponsor ads at the top of a search.  You won't have the use of the ombudsman as he will only cover you when it is your own insurance company messes up.

dacouch

akira181 said:

That's the value of hindsight and not much I can do to change it now.  I wanted to get it sorted soon as possible as I was incredibly busy at the time.  I'm usually quite vigilant over sneaky tricks like that but I guess I wasn't exactly thinking clearly after the accident either.

I should be getting a new car sorted this week sometime so the courtesy car will be going back.  1st Central may baulk at the cost of the hire car but 3 weeks is not an unreasonable amount of time and the ball has been in their court for 2 weeks now.  Things couldn't have moved any faster from my side and I'm getting a new car before receiving payment so I don't understand how they can legally dispute any charges as a direct result of them dragging their feet.

If you're in the financial position to have financed a normal hire car at the massively lower costs than the Credit Hire then if First Central discover this then they can reduce their payment to the what you would have paid the normal hire car company. As you're in the position to buy a replacement before receiving the write off payment I suspect this is your financial position.
However unless it's a high end Executive Car then I suspect First Central may not look into whether or not you could have afforded it and request bank statements etc