Dreaded "credit hire car" non fault accident & court

jimjames

L11Marc said:

Now at the time I had approx £1000 but my son's (4 year old) savings account via my bank had over £10k in it, part of it is my money part his.

You need to get this sorted as well as the car hire. Money in your son's account is his, it's not an account for you to dip in and out of if you set up a savings account in his name. The bank could refuse to let you draw the money out if they realise it's being used in that way for your own money.

MyRealNameToo

Grey_Critic said:

With respect to all perhaps there needs to be a Cheat Sheet covering all the points people have raised that when someone is in a similar position can use. 

example why would I want to deal with a claims management company? 

I insure my car with XXX - I have **Courtesy Car** as part of my cover. The premium I pay the insurers it is up to them to Negotiate not you or I - That is why we paid the extra for in our premium. 

I do not have a courtesy car -I can organise my own if needed. The OP could have bought a nsecond hand car for 2 to 3 thousand whilostb theires was off the road and sol it when their own car was fixed. I know  few who have done so and actually made a profit on the deal

A traditional courtesy car is provided by the garage and is subject to 1) the car being repairable and 2) the garage having a spare car. 

So if the car is a write off, your kid is disabled and their wheelchair won't fit in a Corsa, its a really busy time of the year and the garage is out of courtesy cars etc can all leave you with no transport. This may be partially mitigated if you are prepared to wait and your car is drivable.

Your insurer won't "negotiate" for you, its meeting the terms of the policy you bought.

Some insurers do offer an enhanced option, normally a hire car and often something closer in size to your car the main limiting factor in this is that it has a maximum duration, haven't looked recently but most insurers used to max out at 28 days which for most losses is ok but not for the likes of this case where the repairs go on for months. Again once the time is up the car goes back, the insurer won't pay for more than you are entitled to unless it's messed up somehow. 

In this case the OP could potentially have bought a second car but they have funds, not everyone does. Plus it's not just the car but the new insurance, having somewhere to park it etc and the big issue is the unknown duration. If its a few days you may think you can live without it, and the problem is most the updates will be that its hopefully be done in a few more days. 

In reality most people dont read what they are buying and dont listen very well when registering a claim. All they hear is they can get a hire car delivered later today which they can keep at no cost until theirs is repaired irrespective of if thats in 3 days or 3 months. 

Grey_Critic

£75 per day for a Nissan Juke is a Rip-Off no matter what anyone says, No doubt the Claims Management Company have a nice big mark-up in there. There is then the little matter of collusion between the insurer and the CLM - It is owned by the insurer. IF your policy says a courtesy car then they are keeping you mobile and have fulfilled the contract - If you want a bigger car then you can ask if they will contribute and how much. We can do nothing about people not doing due diligence before signing up but when hiring a vehicle you surely ask HOW MUCH? 

Point of interest - We never insured the courtesy car/hire car - The customers insurers did that doing a temporary transfer whilst the custmers car was off the road. They telephoned the insurer when they collected their car and changed it back.

MyRealNameToo

Grey_Critic said:

£75 per day for a Nissan Juke is a Rip-Off no matter what anyone says, No doubt the Claims Management Company have a nice big mark-up in there. There is then the little matter of collusion between the insurer and the CLM - It is owned by the insurer. IF your policy says a courtesy car then they are keeping you mobile and have fulfilled the contract - If you want a bigger car then you can ask if they will contribute and how much. We can do nothing about people not doing due diligence before signing up but when hiring a vehicle you surely ask HOW MUCH? 

Point of interest - We never insured the courtesy car/hire car - The customers insurers did that doing a temporary transfer whilst the custmers car was off the road. They telephoned the insurer when they collected their car and changed it back.

There are intermediaries that own accident management companies but dont know of any owned by an insurer

They wouldnt contribute to a hire car if you have a standard courtesy car as they dont discretely pay for the courtesy car. The theory was the labour rate would be slightly higher for those who are contracted to provide a car hence why the garage isnt obligated to give you a courtesy car if the vehicle is deemed beyond economical repair. The garage gets paid the same if they have a car or not but they may not remain an approved repairer or may have to cut their rates if provision is too low. 

It varies between insurers if the garage or the insurer covers the courtesy car plus it can vary if it's a network garage or a customers own choice. Hire cars are more commonly insured by the hire firm but in principle nothing to stop the insurer asking for a discount in exchange for them covering them but we gave hire cars more often to third parties not insured by us which would make arranging insurance for them more complex. 

BEBELUCA2017

Most credit hire companies are part of the Association of British Insurers GTA which govern agreed hire rates between credit hire companies and the insurers that ultimately pay them.

Regarding the money in your bank account, you may have to provide a witness statement to say who it belongs to. If the matter proceeds to Court, the other side will seek disclosure of your bank statements to see if you could have afforded to hire a car yourself and recover it at a later date rather than use the services of a credit hire company.