Car crash wasn’t my fault but I need a lawyer?

[EeyoreBore]

Name change because this is really identifying

Last year a school bus crashed into me. I was stationary with the handbrake on, she hit my rear drivers side. I have a dash cam which shows her driving at me, the shake of the bump and my (very unimpressed) reaction as she drove off. She only drove a few feet down the road and stopped so I got photos of the driver and license plate. She flatly denied hitting me and said she knew the person behind who would ‘back her up’. The damage to my car was over two panels and took several weeks to fix due to covid staff shortages.

my insurance were amazing, replaced car seats, arranged a curtesy car to be dropped at the house before the car was taken to be fixed, really great. About six months ago I got a letter from them saying the woman was still denying hitting me, but due to the damage (which they said was clearly done by someone hitting me, not the other way around) they would waive all fees and the claim was sorted. Not the outcome I wanted, but at least it was sorted.

then earlier this year I got a letter from the car hire asking for more details, diagrams, descriptions etc. I sent them all in and called to see what was happening but they said not to worry. Today I’ve received a letter from the car hire saying that her insurance is refusing to pay, and they need my lawyer details for the legal proceedings. I’m terrified. She hit me, I was stationary and couldn’t have avoided it. She’s lying, plain and simple. But I’m a single parent with no spare money at all, I can’t afford a lawyer never mind court fees? What the hell do I do? Has anyone been through this? Is it likely to cost me a fortune? I’m so angry about it all, she’s off driving kids around and I’m stuck scared shitless that this will bankrupt me. What can I do?

@EeyoreBore

they might well have not told you anything - because for them, it’s the signing that counts. Just make sure you engage with them, and all will probably be well.

Tell the car hire company their contract was with the insurer not with you

But that's not necessarily the case. As several pp have said its not uncommon to he offered a like for like car but you're entering an agreement with the hire company. Most times its fine because they recoup the money from the other parties insurance.

It's very unlikely that when the OPs insurers are paying that they'll have supplied a hire car from a company like Enterprise.

It's very unlikely that when the OPs insurers are paying that they'll have supplied a hire car from a company like Enterprise.

Mine did. 🤷‍♀️

Enterprise are a hire car company - they don't supply courtesy cars.

When I had an accident, my car went in for repairs (it ended up being written off) and my insurance couldn't supply with a courtesy car as there were none available. So I ended up with a hire car - with the agreement that if I was found at fault (or 50/50) I had to pay the car costs. If the other party was found at fault (which was the case) they could claim the costs back via their insurance.

I suspect the same happened with you - you hired a car, and as the other driver is refusing to admit liability, you're now responsible for the costs of the car.

You said the other party were at fault in your accident so their insurance not yours would pay for the hire car. That's why you got a car from a hire company

The OPs insurers are covering her claim so they WONT pay a hire company

Thats where there's the difference in the 2 scenarios

A credit hire car and a courtesy car are two different things.

my guess is that in this scenario, the other driver’s insurers probably aren’t challenging fault for the accident but are refusing to pay the credit hire charges. This is really common. It’s also common for people with a credit hire car be led to believe it is a courtesy car.

if that is what has happened, please don’t worry OP. I saw hundreds of such cases in my early years of practice, and never once knew the hire company to re-charge to the driver as long as the driver co-operated with giving evidence in the court proceedings (if that proves necessary, which it often doesn’t).

Another parent in the school car park drove straight into the back of our parked, empty car.
There were 2 separate witnesses who wrote out full statements. She still denied it and our insurance company had to instigate legal proceeding, so we had to sign a formal, legal agreement that we would take her to court. The insurance company said that as soon as legal proceedings were issued, her insurance company would pay up- especially as our claim was only around £2000.

They paid up.

You’re really not getting this are you @Redglitter? At the point where the car is supplied it’s one person’s word against the other as to fault. My insurer had no idea who’d be found at fault when they supplied the car via Enterprise. Which they did, had delivered to my door and for which the only signature required was to say I’d got it.

If you pay for a policy that guarantees a replacement car and no courtesy car is available from the repairer, the insurer can’t just void the contract it has with you. It’s contracted to supply a replacement car so it hires one. If your car’s stolen there’s no other insurance to claim against but you still get a replacement car - which might be hired - if that’s what your policy stipulates.

OP, I have a hire car from Enterprise on the exact same basis at the moment, part of my contract states:

'You agree to cooperate and give your permission for Enterprise to instruct legal
representatives to act for you and to issue proceedings in your name to recover the hire/repair charges.'

So hopefully this is them just checking if you've already got anything in place before they go ahead and do this. Fingers crossed!!

They will have asked for bank statements as your DSis will have signed a document stating that she couldn't afford to hire a car from elsewhere and had to get credit hire. The hire company then need to prove to the court that she was impecunious, which they needed bank statements to do.

Please, people, stop signing legally binding documents without reading and understanding them.

IM not getting it 😂😂😂

You're cracking me up. One of us isn't getting it but it's not me 😂😂

Lifes too short to explain it AGAIN

@Blossomtoes I know it’s really galling to be told by strangers on the internet that you’re wrong about something which happened in your life, but there is a whole industry which is predicated on individuals thinking they’re getting their courtesy car, or a hire care provider by their insurer, when what they’re actually getting is a credit hire vehicle. They’re told to go to Enterprise to sign a few docs and pay a arbitrary deposit - often only £1 - and what they’ve actually signed is an agreement which makes them liable for all the hire charges and obliges them to help the hire company sue the other driver to recover the charges. Enterprise are one of the known culprits in these cases.

Now you may not have had that situation, but given the OP has now been chased by the hire company, odds are, she has.

OP don’t call Enterprise, call your insurers and tell them to call Enterprise. They’ll explain how it all works.

@Mufflette is right - they’re probably just checking you don’t already have a solicitor pursuing a personal injury claim for you @EeyoreBore

I had an accident which was my fault years ago and didn't have to pay for the hire car supplied while it was being repaired.

OP, don't speak to enterprise, speak to the insurance you were using at the time.
It's quite common for insurers to delay payments. I had similar and about 18 months after my car was hit, I was asked to sign forms for small claims court by my insurers. As soon as the paperwork hit the other party's insurance company, they coughed up.

They’re told to go to Enterprise to sign a few docs and pay a arbitrary deposit - often only £1

It wasn’t what happened here. What part of the car was delivered are you failing to understand?

And the car was from Enterprise.

whether it’s delivered or collected makes no earthly difference.

It does when you say They’re told to go to Enterprise to sign a few docs and pay a arbitrary deposit - often only £1.

@Redglitter and @SagaNorenLansrimMalmo I have to explain this shit probably a million times a week.

You're not getting it though
I had an accident where I was at fault but my insurance policy included a courtesy car in the event of an accident. There was no courtesy car available at the repair garage so the insurers hired me a car for the duration of my car being repaired. My fault but my insurance paid as it was part of my policy.
So there are various scenarios that could have occurred, which is why the OP needs to go back to her original insurer to get it dealt with.

Aah, I shall just smile and leave the thread. Suffice it to say, I am considerably qualified to provide an opinion on this topic, but we are all ransoms on the internet on MN…

You have my total sympathy 😂😂

Least I can walk away from the thread

They’re told to go to Enterprise to sign a few docs and pay a arbitrary deposit - often only £1 - and what they’ve actually signed is an agreement which makes them liable for all the hire charges and obliges them to help the hire company sue the other driver to recover the charges. Enterprise are one of the known culprits in these cases

If a customer has been completely duped about what they are signing, the agreement would not be legally binding. For a business to consumer contract you cannot tell someone, or lead someone to believe they are signing one thing, when it's in fact something totally different. Any terms which are onerous to the customer's interests have to be pointed out and clearly drawn to their attention in order to be effective. Businesses cannot just hide all the shit in small print in consumer contracts.