Claiming for hire car - non fault claim - any experience?

mark_ashley

Hi all, 

Someone crashed into our car this weekend (Mercedes V-class 8 Seater), so I am perusing a non-fault claim.

My insurance does not have Hire Car cover - we have 4 kids, three of them are in child seats and in addition we need a double buggy, so a small 3/5dr hatchback wouldn't be useful.

My intention is to hire a suitable car from Enterprise (they are the only hire company in town) and reclaim the cost from the third party once they formally accept liability. Until then I shall pay for it myself as I do not want to go through a Claim Management company.

Does anyone have experience of "loopholes" whereby the third party insurers may refuse to cover the cost of the car once liability has been accepted? 

Thanks in advance,

Mark.

chrisw

If liability is clear cut, Enterprse themselves will do a credit hire and reclaim it from the third party. They sorted me with a C class and it all went through painlessly.

DullGreyGuy

Has liability been established? Do you have the third party insurer details or get them from your insurer?

In the first instance I'd check that the TPI aren't willing to arrange a hire car directly for you, just if you are googling telephone numbers make sure its the right company you select as CMCs are known to advertise on insurer brand names. Similarly if they gave you the details of their broker rather than their insurer its the insurer you want to speak to, a broker is equally likely to pass you onto a CMC for the commission than the insurer. 

There are no "loopholes", you are talking about your common law right for damages under the tort of negligence and so no contractual terms for holes to exist in. You're obliged to mitigate your losses so ideally go for the cheapest vehicle that will practically work for you rather than automatically looking for another Mercedes. Also make sure the duration is reasonable, obvs if the vehicle is drivable and parts are on backorder then keep using it until the parts are ready and then hire.

The main risk is that the third party is uninsured and doesn't have the means to repay it personally. 

mark_ashley

Good morning Gents, thanks for the input. To clarify a couple of points:

I understand about mitigating costs, looks like for that size car Enterprise only do a Volvo SUV or a Ford S-Max, either of these will be fine - not looking for a like for like make/model, but appreciate the advice anyway.

Police attended the scene and checked the TP insurance details. He was insured, car was in good condition. He was just an old boy that didn't look when he approached the junction. He was very apologetic, which was nice. I know his insurance company may still try to argue but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Either way, we need transport as we are going on a family holiday this week. 

Our car went to a local garage under escort by police as it was just round the corner. It has no bumper or lights and has mechanical damage under the skin. Seatbelts etc have stuck on so I see no way its can be seen as drivable.

I didn't think to call his insurers directly. I just assumed they would speak to us directly.  I will try that.

DullGreyGuy

mark_ashley said:

I didn't think to call his insurers directly. I just assumed they would speak to us directly.  I will try that.

As long as their insured has reported it, no dispute on liability and no indemnity queries they'll bend over backwards to deal with the claim for you... some even offer a cash bonus if you allow them to. 

The biggest risk then is just phoning the wrong company who passes you onto a credit hire place (aka CMC) 

mark_ashley

DullGreyGuy said:

mark_ashley said:

I didn't think to call his insurers directly. I just assumed they would speak to us directly.  I will try that.

As long as their insured has reported it, no dispute on liability and no indemnity queries they'll bend over backwards to deal with the claim for you... some even offer a cash bonus if you allow them to. 

The biggest risk then is just phoning the wrong company who passes you onto a credit hire place (aka CMC) 

Thanks, (un)luckily for me, I am with Aviva Zero so they can only be contacted online through their own website so managed to avoid the management companies so far.

I just called his insurance company and they don't dispute that an accident has happened but it looks like he hasn't given them much information as of yet so they were not willing to book me a hire car at this time. Maybe I am rushing the process a bit - I just assumed it would all happen much quicker.

Hoenir

mark_ashley said:

I just called his insurance company and they don't dispute that an accident has happened but it looks like he hasn't given them much information as of yet so they were not willing to book me a hire car at this time. Maybe I am rushing the process a bit - I just assumed it would all happen much quicker.

No doubt the insurance company will be awaiting contact from yours. At the moment they aren't in possession of the full facts. No one is going to make instanteous decisions on the basis of a phone call. 

DullGreyGuy

mark_ashley said:

DullGreyGuy said:

mark_ashley said:

I didn't think to call his insurers directly. I just assumed they would speak to us directly.  I will try that.

As long as their insured has reported it, no dispute on liability and no indemnity queries they'll bend over backwards to deal with the claim for you... some even offer a cash bonus if you allow them to. 

The biggest risk then is just phoning the wrong company who passes you onto a credit hire place (aka CMC) 

Thanks, (un)luckily for me, I am with Aviva Zero so they can only be contacted online through their own website so managed to avoid the management companies so far.

I just called his insurance company and they don't dispute that an accident has happened but it looks like he hasn't given them much information as of yet so they were not willing to book me a hire car at this time. Maybe I am rushing the process a bit - I just assumed it would all happen much quicker.

Thankfully you know that... others may not realise or just google 'Aviva' without the zero. A google of 'Aviva Car Claims' for me right now brings up two claims management companies before Aviva itself.

Speed of claims very much depends on the supply chain and the other party... if everyone is on the ball and dealing directly with their insurers then claims can happen very fast. In one case our insured reported the accident to us within an hour, we called the third party who were still at the side of the road waiting to get hold of their insurer to get their car recovered. They had an old banger so was a total loss without question, we arranged a taxi for them to get home, a hire car to be delivered later that day and our recovery truck to take it to a depot. Offer was made and accepted 2 days later and cheque sent on day 3. Technically the claim was open for another 6 weeks or so after but that was just awaiting invoices and the money from the salvage agent. 

On the flip side letter from third party arrived to us 3 months after the accident, took us a month to get a response from our insured, a further 3 months of negotiations on liability and after we accepted fault we started looking at garages etc to do repairs now 7 months on. 

We were a direct insurer so always communicating directly to our insured, add to that brokers and wholesale brokers etc and they all add extra time and some are really old school and still insist on paper claims forms etc.

mark_ashley

To close this out, and as a summary for anyone that might care/be searching for something similar:

My plan was to have the car repaired locally and hire a suitable courtesy car and claim direct from the TP insurer.
Aviva reminded me of the following by not using them:

• Additional excess for the repair outside their network
• No guarantee from them
• NCD effected until claim fully settled
• No hire car from them

If it turned out to be non-fault then a lot of these points would be mute.

However, when the car was inspected, the amount of damage and lead time on parts and labour worried me about the costs I would rack up in the interim. So I agreed to do it all with Aviva. 

I am happy I did. 

They collected the car straight away and dropped it at an OEM Approved repairer.

They day I agreed to go through Aviva, Enterprise called and the day afterwards they dropped me off a car. Not only did they react quickly, but they dropped me off a GLS which had enough space to for all the family needs.

The repair went ahead with all approved parts and although it was undertaken as soon as possible it still took best part of 6 weeks so again, I am glad that we had gone through the "approved" repairer network.

I'm cynical in my old age, especially when insurers make it harder to use the non-approved network, so it was a nice surprise to get good service. 

Query closed. Mark.

BEBELUCA2017

So it sounds like you ended up using Enterprise in their capacity as a credit hire provider then?

DullGreyGuy

BEBELUCA2017 said:

So it sounds like you ended up using Enterprise in their capacity as a credit hire provider then?

Not necessarily... Aviva offer an enhanced courtesy car option that is fulfilled by a hire car company so could be provided under that with it at Aviva's corporate rates or could be a credit hire referral and done outside of the policy. Only way to tell is either check the agreement or ask Aviva