Car insurance claim and car hire

Jeezz

I was in a car accident in Dec 2022. No fault claim through my insurer went through straight forward. Car was written off, I got paid out for the car, and personal injury costs.

I had throught that it had been all resolved. 

Today the car hire firm contacted me to ask me to fill out a questionnaire, questions include:

Was there a personal injury claim, what did I use the car for, could I have afforded to hire the car if it hadn't been through insurance... 3 pages worth of questions.

On calling my insurer it appears that the third party have not settled. 

I was rear-ended while stationery at a roundabout and third party were in a hire car themselves.

My insurers have said I just need to fill out the questionnaire and there is nothing to worry about.

Has anyone gone through the same and am I liable for anything? 

DullGreyGuy

It doesn't make sense you've been paid your injury case?

It sound more like you had credit hire and its the credit hire company that is struggling to get their monies back. If that is the case then yes its fairly common, insurers often contest the very high fees but at the same time most dont end up in court.

Jeezz

Yes, injury and physio costs have all been paid out - there was a drawn out negotiation period but it was paid about 3 months later. 

Even my insurance company have confirmed that they've not been able to recover costs.

Enterprise cars are the ones now asking the question (I also added car hire on my insurance policy).

Does it normally take this long, it is now 16 months and I really can't remember much or tried to block out so much! 

DullGreyGuy

Jeezz said:

Yes, injury and physio costs have all been paid out - there was a drawn out negotiation period but it was paid about 3 months later. 

Even my insurance company have confirmed that they've not been able to recover costs.

Enterprise cars are the ones now asking the question (I also added car hire on my insurance policy).

Does it normally take this long, it is now 16 months and I really can't remember much or tried to block out so much! 

It doesn't sound like the hire car was provided under your insurance policy else it would just be your insurers trying to recover costs and there wouldn't be questions about your ability to afford to hire a car yourself, those are classic credit hire questions. 

16 months isn't particularly long. As there are no injuries left to claim the statute of limitations is 6 years. Most claims are dealt with within these times but companies often had backlogs and they realise the other side does too and so things compound. 

Ultimately as long as both your insurer and Enterprise know the other are trying to recover costs there are no issues as long as you cooperate with them. Your insurers will be more straight forward as their rights to recover are enshrined in law and decades of legal precedent. If Enterprise is credit hire as I suspect the wording will be more scary because they have to create a liability on you to be able to recover their money but if you think about what it says with a cold towel and dark room it ultimately amounts to the same, you are only liable for what the TP is liable for and as their insurer pays for what they are liable for your liability is discharged (note I mentioned the cold towel)

Jeezz

DullGreyGuy said:

Jeezz said:

Yes, injury and physio costs have all been paid out - there was a drawn out negotiation period but it was paid about 3 months later. 

Even my insurance company have confirmed that they've not been able to recover costs.

Enterprise cars are the ones now asking the question (I also added car hire on my insurance policy).

Does it normally take this long, it is now 16 months and I really can't remember much or tried to block out so much! 

It doesn't sound like the hire car was provided under your insurance policy else it would just be your insurers trying to recover costs and there wouldn't be questions about your ability to afford to hire a car yourself, those are classic credit hire questions. 

16 months isn't particularly long. As there are no injuries left to claim the statute of limitations is 6 years. Most claims are dealt with within these times but companies often had backlogs and they realise the other side does too and so things compound. 

Ultimately as long as both your insurer and Enterprise know the other are trying to recover costs there are no issues as long as you cooperate with them. Your insurers will be more straight forward as their rights to recover are enshrined in law and decades of legal precedent. If Enterprise is credit hire as I suspect the wording will be more scary because they have to create a liability on you to be able to recover their money but if you think about what it says with a cold towel and dark room it ultimately amounts to the same, you are only liable for what the TP is liable for and as their insurer pays for what they are liable for your liability is discharged (note I mentioned the cold towel)

Thanks, Dull guy that is very helpful!