Auxillis and Churchill each refusing to accept liability

JezebelDecibel

In summer 2023 a third party hit my stationary car and it was written off.  I was referred to Auxillis by my car insurer Churchill and I accepted a courtesy car from them.    Unfortunately, while driving the courtesy car I scraped the paint on another car and they claimed on their insurance to have it fixed.   Many months passed and I heard nothing about this until another insurance company got in touch (Acromas) to explain that they were acting on behalf of the owner of the car I hit.  They were struggling to recover the cost of the paint work and could I clarify who had insured my courtesy car.  I checked the paperwork from Auxillis and its very unclear.  Their contract with me is quite vague.  On Page 1 there is space for me to fill in some insurance details which prompts: "Complete only if You are insuring the Hire Vehicle. See clause 10"

I have left it blank because I wasn't insuring the vehicle.   

Clause 10 of the Auxillis hire agreement states "10. Unless We are insuring the Hire Vehicle (which We will unless You expressly agree otherwise with Us) You must ensure that the Policy provides comprehensive cover for the period of hire and until the Hire Vehicle is back in Our possession and in the event of damage to, or the theft of, the Hire Vehicle You must promptly and diligently pursue a claim with Your insurers for the full amount of damage to, or loss of, the Hire Vehicle and You will hold the proceeds of such claim on trust for Us but will pay them to Us as soon as possible"

So it feels clear to me that Auxillis should have been insuring the vehicle based on the above.  But they are not accepting liability and neither is Churchill.  Acromas have phoned my to say that they will be sending me the bill if I cannot get one of these companies to accept liability.

I feel very confused about what to do in this situation.   Can anyone advise if there is some legal expertise I can seek  or how I can move forward?

cw8825

If the car was provided by auxilis. It is a hire car
its almost certain Churchill will not have covered the car on your policy
did you sign any collision damage waiver or anything along those lines?

DullGreyGuy

JezebelDecibel said:

In summer 2023 a third party hit my stationary car and it was written off.  I was referred to Auxillis by my car insurer Churchill and I accepted a courtesy car from them.    Unfortunately, while driving the courtesy car I scraped the paint on another car and they claimed on their insurance to have it fixed.   Many months passed and I heard nothing about this until another insurance company got in touch (Acromas) to explain that they were acting on behalf of the owner of the car I hit.  They were struggling to recover the cost of the paint work and could I clarify who had insured my courtesy car.  I checked the paperwork from Auxillis and its very unclear.  Their contract with me is quite vague.  On Page 1 there is space for me to fill in some insurance details which prompts: "Complete only if You are insuring the Hire Vehicle. See clause 10"

I have left it blank because I wasn't insuring the vehicle.   

Clause 10 of the Auxillis hire agreement states "10. Unless We are insuring the Hire Vehicle (which We will unless You expressly agree otherwise with Us) You must ensure that the Policy provides comprehensive cover for the period of hire and until the Hire Vehicle is back in Our possession and in the event of damage to, or the theft of, the Hire Vehicle You must promptly and diligently pursue a claim with Your insurers for the full amount of damage to, or loss of, the Hire Vehicle and You will hold the proceeds of such claim on trust for Us but will pay them to Us as soon as possible"

So it feels clear to me that Auxillis should have been insuring the vehicle based on the above.  But they are not accepting liability and neither is Churchill.  Acromas have phoned my to say that they will be sending me the bill if I cannot get one of these companies to accept liability.

I feel very confused about what to do in this situation.   Can anyone advise if there is some legal expertise I can seek  or how I can move forward?

Do you mean liability? 

The question here isnt about liability, it's a question of who the insurer of the vehicle was. From what you state, and what would be the norm for credit hire is that the credit hire company are insuring the vehicle. So speak to Auxillis and ask them to provide you the details of the insurance on the vehicle. Dont use the word liability as thats a later step. Assuming they confirm who the insurer is then the next question to them is if they deal with their own claims or does their insurer. 

Once you've confirmed who the insurer is and who deals with claims then you can speak to them and ask what the dispute is over, presumably confirming to them that the accident was your fault. When doing recovery work, as the third party insurer is, its a useful tactic to try and scare the driver at times but to do so they often over simplify the matter rather than using more technical terms, like saying quantum is in dispute as mitigations were unreasonable and settlement was beyond indemnity. It may not be a matter of them saying they won't indemnify you nor that they are disputing the incident was your fault but they are just arguing over the size of the bill or such.

JezebelDecibel

Thanks @DullGreyGuy,  this is very helpful.  do you know if a hire car company have a duty to hold information about the insurance on one of their vehicles?   Currently they (Auxillis) are saying they don’t know who the insurer was.    Thanks Claire 

DullGreyGuy

https://www.askmid.com/askmidenquiry.aspx

The above costs £10 but tells you who the RTA insurer of a vehicle was on the date of an accident. Who insures what is public record when it comes to Motor and Employers Liability

JezebelDecibel

thank you DullGreyGuy,  I will use www.askmid.com to establish who the RTA insurer was