Cancelling agreement with Auxillus via Admiral

Ella_fella

I recently reported an accident to my insurers Admiral whereby a lorry cab ran into the side of my car and smashed my wing mirror then drove off, I managed to follow the driver until they did stop and exchanged details, all of this I captured on dashcam.
Reported this to Admiral who advised I use their 3rd party accident management company Auxillus. At this point I was not aware that Admiral could have handled the claim myself but was advised that they would pass me through to Auxillus.
So Auxillus sent my details through to a local garage who examined my car and signed the credit agreement to say they would provide me with a hire car which they dropped off yesterday at massive £200 a day for an Audi A3. I am now very uneasy about the whole situation, the garage is obviously now trying to get as much repair work authorised as possible and Auxillus are obviously in league with them for their kick back and reading some reviews with the liability not even been settled yet by the 3rd party insurers I am now desperately concerned that I have done the right thing by letting Admiral put me onto Auxillus in the first place when they did not divulge that they could have handled the case themselves.
My car hasn't been booked into the garage yet and I have had the car for less than 24 hours, am I able to cancel this agreement and go through Admiral instead? Or claim from the third party insurers?
I am very uncomfortable now about using Auxillus reading reviews and then having to appear in court or them chase me for the money if the third party denies responsibility.

williamgriffin

What does your contract say about cancellation? By the sound of it you'll be at least £400 into it by the morning. 

Ella_fella

williamgriffin said:

What does your contract say about cancellation? By the sound of it you'll be at least £400 into it by the morning. 

It says I will be liable for a proportion of that which has been performed until cancellation is received.
So I guess the next option would be could I just return the car and say I do not need it anymore? Or ask for a smaller cheaper car instead?

AdrianC

Ella_fella said:

So I guess the next option would be could I just return the car and say I do not need it anymore? Or ask for a smaller cheaper car instead?

DO you NEED a car? DO you NEED a car like that?

If not, then absolutely. Because you can bet the other insurer will query it when they get the bill.

Sandtree

As someone who's worked in defending claims I naturally hate credit hire and repairs plus what they do to everyone's premiums. The reality however is that the vast majority of claims go through fairly smoothly despite the horror stories you will read.

Given you're already in hire to cancel the agreement now would make you liable for the costs incurred to date and to the point they collect the vehicle. It would be a costly decision to make.

If you read the credit agreement the language will be a little bit convoluted because its trying to fudge a personal liability to you which then gives them the right to claim on your behalf. However, if you read it with a cold towel, probably a few times, it is likely to say that as long as you continue to support their efforts to recover their monies and havent committed fraud etc then you will have no personal liability for any shortfall in what they manage to get back from the other party. 

GiantCranes

Hello,
I’m in a similar-ish situation. 

The garage told me they’d be picking the car up Wednesday, so I arranged a hire car Thursday.

The garage never showed up to collect my damaged car 

Then I’ve had numerous calls from Auxillus wanting the car hire  back, the first call within 24 hours of it getting dropped off!

The person on the phone said “obviously been a mistake and we won’t be taking it I’ll email head office and tell them you are going to complain”

I spoke to them today and they stated that the hire car agreement was cancelled the same day it was delivered! 

They asked if I’d used it since and I said yes as no one now told me I couldn’t! In fact almost the opposite. She then said “oh I can see it’s been extended the insurance to drive it”

I’m wanting to know If I’m liable for 5 day of use now - I’m worried the other parties insurance won’t pay as my damaged car is “drivable”

i darent cancel the agreement (well over the 14 days cooling off) in case they charge me. 

They haven’t carried out any works on my damage car and the only “service” I’ve had is a hire car that I booked because the garage told
me they were coming for my damaged car 🙄.

ps I’m a fully functioning adult but the process and communication with Auxillus is just infuriating 😢

Grey_Critic

Question - Do you have to use a third party *Auxillus in this case* What does your policy say. You insure your vehicle with XXX - they are the people you have a contract with.

If XXX ask that you use *Auxillus* then they cannot apply any unfair terms and conditions on you for their services. They are only a sub contractor for XXX.

DullGreyGuy

Grey_Critic said:

Question - Do you have to use a third party *Auxillus in this case* What does your policy say. You insure your vehicle with XXX - they are the people you have a contract with.

If XXX ask that you use *Auxillus* then they cannot apply any unfair terms and conditions on you for their services. They are only a sub contractor for XXX.

They're not a sub-contractor as its all being operated outside the scope of the policy... they have simply sold your details to a third party with whom you sign an independent new contract for credit hire

Grey_Critic

DullGreyGuy said:

They're not a sub-contractor as its all being operated outside the scope of the policy... they have simply sold your details to a third party with whom you sign an independent new contract for credit hire

I would adrgue that as The Insurance company directs you to a third party to handle the claim then they are a sub-contractor, additionally they are responsible for ensuring that any company the direct you to in such a case acts in a responsible manner.

What if you refuse and insist on dealing with the insurance company will they accept and process the claim..

DullGreyGuy

Grey_Critic said:

DullGreyGuy said:

They're not a sub-contractor as its all being operated outside the scope of the policy... they have simply sold your details to a third party with whom you sign an independent new contract for credit hire

I would adrgue that as The Insurance company directs you to a third party to handle the claim then they are a sub-contractor, additionally they are responsible for ensuring that any company the direct you to in such a case acts in a responsible manner.

What if you refuse and insist on dealing with the insurance company will they accept and process the claim..

That isnt what a sub contractor is... they excplictly work for the contractor to fullfill the contractor's legal obligations. 

Its like you contacting a chippy and ask about getting some bespoke furniture made but the chippy saying you'd be better off going to Ikea. Ikea are not a subcontractor of the chippy. 

You are perfectly entitled to claim off your insurance if you prefer... they will point out that means you have to pay your excess, you'll only get a courtesy car if the garage has one spare and then only if the car is repairable/when it goes in and it will count as a fault claim until such time as its fully settled. 

Different insurers and brokers take different approaches to these things... some push most of their non-fault customers into the hands of accident management companies, some will deal with the repairs as standard but routinely pass hire to a credit hire and others dont routinely pass anyone but may by exception pass to credit hire if the customer makes noises about their car being undrivable but the network repairer having no courtesy car for weeks.