Car hire after non fault accident ......HELP !!!!!

biscuit1_2

Hi has anyone been through this, i had an non fault accident last year, contacted insurance company who were pretty snappy to be fair, same day had garages on the phone car hire company pretty impressed, i ask questions relating to ensuring this was all through the insurance was assured it was, all good, car took a while to repair was over the christmas period. Anyway 6 months later, i have the car hire company on the phone saying the other insurance company were not paying up and i had to cooperate with them or i would be held responsible for the hire cost £5500,, they stated contingency litigation stating we cover the cost if we lose... "subject to your co-operation and compliance with the terms of the rental agreement !! write off any unrecovered hire charge at the end of the litigation period this is known as Contingent liability and means you are only liable for the hire charge to the extent that they are recovered from the fault partys insurer" i queried this at the time via the insurance company who put me in touch with a very proffesional sounding lady probably from the hire company who explained the hire would be written off by the company if it went against them, ok fine, anyway i get a message yesterday asking me to sign some paper work electronically which is stating, i knew i would have to pay and am responsible to pay them which was made clear ( not ) prior to signing the agreement, that it was explained to me that the cost was not free but would be presented to the insurers defendant's insurance as part of my claim, been in touch with Citizens advice requesting clarity on Contingent Liability, they can't help, not sure where to go obviously i'm not signing it until i have some clarity, anyone been in this situation. 

Grumpy_chap

That is a very hard post to read.  Perhaps you could edit the OP to include grammar and paragraphs.  That way, you are more likely to solicit more support.

In the mean-time:

1. Was the courtesy car provided by your insurer?
2. Was there any paperwork at the time of taking the courtesy / hire car?  Did this make any reference to charges for the hire car?
3. What type of car did you have for how long to rack up £5.5k of hire charges?
4. Is your car now repaired?  When did you get the car back?
5. Have you asked your insurer why they are not covering the courtesy car costs?
6. I would not sign anything retrospectively to accept costs for the hire car (either physical or electronic signature).

Sandtree

Have you gone back and read what you original signed (presumably without reading it at the time)?

Sounds like your insurers or brokers passed you on to a credit hire company who gave you the hire car on credit with the intent of attempting recovering from the third party insurers once the hire had ended. The exact terms of these do vary between providers but generally speaking as long as a) you havent acted fraudulently and b) cooperate with their reasonable requests then you aren't liable for anything if they cannot recover the charges... the charges are understandably inflated to cover off this risk that they are carrying. Some companies terms however are less favourable and there are more circumstances in which they can pursue you for any unrecovered amounts.

Have you spoken to the credit hire company about your concerns with the declaration? There is certainly an argument that if you were given terms to read and sign that it was "clear" (assuming thats what the terms said) even if you chose to sign them unread.

biscuit1_2

Tbh at the time of the accident bearing in mind everything was set up within a few days, things were a tad hectic everything seemed fine, cant find the original forms. I have done nothing wrong, l am a tad annoyed as i was under the impression up till yesterday this was through the insurance, it was only when i read the statement THEY have drawn up for me that alarm bells started to ring, IF this contingent liability is as it seems, i get it, the bit that worries me is i am putting myself in a situation where i am saying i knew i had to pay, i agreed to the hire, when infact it was presented to me as part of the claim, and in theory i could shoot myself in the foot 

elsien

It would still be helpful if you answer grumpy chaps questions.

biscuit1_2

Grumpy_chap said:

That is a very hard post to read.  Perhaps you could edit the OP to include grammar and paragraphs.  That way, you are more likely to solicit more support.

In the mean-time:

1. Was the courtesy car provided by your insurer? i believed so 
2. Was there any paperwork at the time of taking the courtesy / hire car?  Did this make any reference to charges for the hire car?  can'y find any yet, i asked the question how it was being paid for was told through the insurance
3. What type of car did you have for how long to rack up £5.5k of hire charges? Twas over christmas 
4. Is your car now repaired?  When did you get the car back? yes 
5. Have you asked your insurer why they are not covering the courtesy car costs?
6. I would not sign anything retrospectively to accept costs for the hire car (either physical or electronic signature). i'm not 

Grumpy_chap said:

That is a very hard post to read.  Perhaps you could edit the OP to include grammar and paragraphs.  That way, you are more likely to solicit more support.

In the mean-time:

1. Was the courtesy car provided by your insurer?
2. Was there any paperwork at the time of taking the courtesy / hire car?  Did this make any reference to charges for the hire car?
3. What type of car did you have for how long to rack up £5.5k of hire charges?
4. Is your car now repaired?  When did you get the car back?
5. Have you asked your insurer why they are not covering the courtesy car costs?
6. I would not sign anything retrospectively to accept costs for the hire car (either physical or electronic signature).

[Deleted User]

That's an even harder post to read...

Grumpy_chap

It is very difficult for people to provide meaningful help if obtaining information is as hard as drawing blood from a stone.

Sandtree

Grumpy_chap said:

1. Was the courtesy car provided by your insurer?
2. Was there any paperwork at the time of taking the courtesy / hire car?  Did this make any reference to charges for the hire car?
3. What type of car did you have for how long to rack up £5.5k of hire charges?
4. Is your car now repaired?  When did you get the car back?
5. Have you asked your insurer why they are not covering the courtesy car costs?
6. I would not sign anything retrospectively to accept costs for the hire car (either physical or electronic signature).

biscuit1_2 said:

1. i believed so 
2.  can'y find any yet, i asked the question how it was being paid for was told through the insurance
3. Twas over christmas 
4.  yes 
5. unanswered
6. i'm not 

Clearly its a credit hire, the garage took the car in before Xmas, closed down for the holiday season, gave the car back in the new year (more or less) and the OP was in a credit hire thinking it was just a courtesy car racking up charges for the whole period.

They signed a credit hire agreement that they didn't read (no one does) and didn't keep a copy of it.

Grumpy_chap

I still do not understand how the car hire racked up to £5.5k.
Using a major car rental firm, a large car like a Passat for one month is quoted online at £700.  £5.5k means either a very good car or a very long time.

TELLIT01

Grumpy_chap said:

I still do not understand how the car hire racked up to £5.5k.
Using a major car rental firm, a large car like a Passat for one month is quoted online at £700.  £5.5k means either a very good car or a very long time.

Or the car returned with a lot of damage?