Non-fault accident hire car

liamw91

Hi all,

On Friday afternoon I was involved in an accident where I was rear-ended and then bumped into the car in front. The culprit admitted his mistake straight away. The only noticeable damage was a cracked number plate at the front and some scuffs/scratches on the back. 

I fell into the trap of googling the name of my insurance company and clicking the number that came up, which turned out to be an accident management company who paid an ad to make it look like my insurance company. They said the other party have admitted liability and that enterprise will provide me with a hire car as I can’t drive around with a cracked number plate. 

I picked up the car yesterday and they’ve given me a Hyundai i20, I drive an i10 (I’m not really a car person just need to get from A to . The guy at enterprise said there will be no cost to me at all and they will invoice the third party for the hire when my car is repaired. He said they take on these situations on a risk basis and because the other party has admitted liability they feel it’s worth pursuing and their insurance will chase the TP insurance for the money, whilst a garage will contact me on Tuesday to arrange repair. 

It’s only after reviewing other people’s stories and doing some proper googling that I realised I’ve gone through an AMC. I didn’t realise this at the same as I was rushing around after the accident and just used my phone. Yes a rookie mistake but I see lots of people have been there!

My only worry now is Enterprise not being able to recover the costs from the third party and coming after me. In the rental agreement it states ‘ You understand that if you hire a car from Enterprise Rent A Car, you are ultimately responsible for the hire charges incurred under the rental agreement’, which makes me think that I will have to pay if the third party disputes the charges. I have emailed them to ask whether it will affect me if TP won’t pay, to get a written email response. I’ve heard other people have to provide bank statements etc if it goes to court to prove they couldn’t afford the rental car from their own means - I’m fine with this as I don’t have any considerable savings or anything, but it just doesn’t sit right with me.

as I’ve only had the car for a day, do I just return it and start again with the TP insurance directly, or just let it run it’s course as the TP has admitted liability and the car isn’t a really snazzy expensive rental and I don’t have the means to fund myself?

thanks all

chrisw

The bit about the accident management company passing themselves off as the insurers is a bit worrying.

However, I've just had a similar credit hire with Enterprise and it was fine. They satisfied themselves as far as they could that the third party was liable before lending it to me and I had to declare I would assist them in recovering the money if necessary but said I wouldn't be liable as long as I cooperated. 

They provided a similar class of vehicle to my own, no mention of whether I could pay myself - I don't see what difference that makes. I saw the bill and it was nowhere near as much as I would have expected. I never heard anything else so I presume it was settled ok.

Aretnap

Your responsibility for the hire car costs is largely a legal fiction. You have to be ultimately responsible for them - because the third party insurer only has to pay for expenses that you have actually incurred. If enterprise were generous enough to lend you a car for free then the insurer would not have to pay for it because... why would they?

There are a number of techniques that credit hire companies use to maintain your ultimate responsibility while avoiding you being landed with an actual bill should the hire costs prove unrecoverable. Such as providing a "free" insurance policy that covers unrecoverable charges, or by including a line in the contract that says your liability is limited to the third party's liability (ie the amount that you have to pay is capped at the amount that can be recovered).

In particular it's an urban myth that the third party insurer can just say "nah, not paying that" and leave you landed with the bill. In that case the credit hire company would begin legal action in your name against the third party insurer. You would have to cooperate with them in bringing legal action, which could mean providing bank statements and witness statements etc, and in theory could mean giving evidence in court (though it is rare for things to actually get that far). But you will not end up having to put your hand in your own pocket unless you refuse to cooperate, on unless you mislead them about the circumstances of the accident to make them think that the chances of recovery were higher then they actually were.

DullGreyGuy

The vast majority of credit hire cases are resolved without any issues. Those that are fought are the ones where the hire costs are totally disproportional (a £30,000 hire bill on a car worth less than £1k). 

That said, duration can be a factor... if the only thing making your car undrivable is a broken number plate I'd question the necessity for a £50/day hire for a £18 fix. When the car is in for the rest of the work it's a slightly different matter.

The one thing to be wary of is the fact you have to support the company in all their efforts for recovery and if you fail to or start getting silly saying you dont want to share your bank statements etc then you end up paying. If it comes to it that is one thing you will note, they'll ask for declarations about needing the vehicle, not being able to afford to hire one yourself etc which they wont have asked at all before giving you the car.

lisyloo

My number plate got bad (25 year old car) so I bought a new one that was under a tenner.
Your need for a hire care could be questioned.
the other thing you will have agreed to is to support the company in their recovery efforts. Doesn’t usually get this far but any court claim would be in your own name and you could have to take time off work to attend court - unlikely but worth being aware.