Tricked by Credit Hire firm 2 months hire @ £30K!

What they have done isn't illegal and is unlikely to become so. At best, laws may come in to force to limit the amount that can be charged, or precedent will be set in the civil courts.

The reason this company get away with charging such disproportionate costs is because people like yourself do not read what they are signing and do not do any research.

Questions you are likely to be asked include did you believe the costs to be reasonable? Had you been aware that you may be liable for the costs, would you have acted differently? Just because you can an insurance claim, it does not mean you get handed a blank check.

Should liability be agreed by insurers, it is likely your policy will stipulate that costs will be settled based at what it would have cost your insurers for the fair and reasonable works and hire car.

A court is likely to make insurers pay the costs they would be liable to pay had they instructed a hire car company I.e. £40.00 a day. You will be left to fund the remaining £300.00 per day.

You would then need a second court case for the costs charged by the hire firm. You're on sticky ground here - you signed a contract with the costs and terms on it. You had 87 days to request the paperwork... But didn't. You haven't got a valid defence for this. Ignorance to the terms isn't valid either.

You will not be able to prove misrepresentation without the paperwork. Or evidence that what you were told was different to what the paperwork said.

It is pretty standard that in the even a claim fails to meet certain aspects, the insured is responsible for the costs not covered. The biggest issue here isn't that you are now responsible for the costs, it is the costs you agreed to.

Your post reads as though you signed up without knowing the cost, and when you did see it saw it was high and only asked if you had to pay anything in the event that the claim wasn't no fault. When you were told no, you porcced to agree to the costs. Did you assume insurers would give you a blank cheque?

Why did you not ask insurers to agree to the costs in principle? What did you think would happen to the bill if insurers didn't cover the costs? You cannot of thought the company would swallow the costs because your insurers wouldn't pay?

What did you do to progress your claim? Do you have evidence that you chased the repairs? 87 days is excessive. Should insurers settle the car hire costs, it would also likely factor in the reasonable repair time frame. I.E. if it would have taken 30 days to complete the works, you may get £1,200 from insurers. You'll still be £28,800 short.

I understand that you're unhappy with the lies you were told, but you must accept responsibility for what happened. You failed to act reasonably and did not consider what you were doing. As said above, you had 87 days to obtain a copy of the paperwork and didn't. And, given that the terms have come as a surprise to you, you didn't read it when you had the chance.

Please seek help from a good solicitor as soon as possible.

Loss Assessors do the same on claims. Put in high costs and justify it by saying that the insurance company will always try and knock it down. This isn't the case. I work as an adjuster and I will always settle the claim for a fair figure - the cost of repairs that are covered. No more no less.

Claims management companies and loss assessors drag out the life of a claim by submitting over inflated costs. It's always refreshing when an assessor does submit fair costs and it makes the claim so much easier and smoother for the policyholder.

Thought the above might be useful if you ever have a non mother claim!

Out of interest, could you have financed the cost of hiring a Passat from a normal high street hire company at a cost of circa £300 a week from your savings?