What will happen if I don’t attend?

[Happy988]

I was in a car accident almost 2 years ago. My insurance put it down as no fault and then I was paid out the value of my car. As my car was written off my insurance put me in touch with legal company who offered a private hire vehicle till I was paid out

Third party are disputing the hire car costs. For months now I have been sending the solicitors evidence, forms, etc.

They want me to attend court and give evidence. I have anxiety and don’t do well with crowds, new people and speaking to a group. I’m a single parent and have no childcare to get there . Really panicking about this. The solicitors asked the court if the hearing could be made online but they have only just made the decision this morning that I need to attend in person. They said my medical evidence of anxiety isn’t enough to warrant it being made online.

The court they want me to attend is a 60 mile round trip from where I live. I have a no vehicle currently as it’s in for repair, I have no funds for taxis for a journey that long, no childcare available. I just don’t know what to do. what happens if I don’t attend? Will I be liable for the costs? I feel as though im going to have some kind of panic attack about this

@Confusednoodle1 perhaps you can provide some insight into this based on your experience. You say:

your insurers have probably received some sort of kick back as well for essentially selling your details to this hire company in the first place.

But you also say:

Insurers have been trying to battle against car hire companies for years for this very reason often seeing invoices for thousands and thousands of pounds but they are on a back foot because how could they possibly prove you didn’t need that car when only you and the hire company were party to that conversation. The hire company are only there to make money out of your claim and ultimately we’re all paying for it in our premiums

How does that work? Motor insurers can find themselves on either side of a claim, depending on whether or not their insured was at fault. Why are motor insurers surprised or annoyed to find the credit hire companies coming against them when their insured is at fault, when they enable those companies in the opposite scenario, when their insured is not at fault?

What goes around comes around, surely?

I used to work for Helphire who had different contracts with insurers. They are built into your policies as for example Allianz don’t have depots full of cars hanging round.

Some policies were simple fully comp - send a replacement car within 4 hours which matched or was less than the spec they have. Typically non fault accidents such as hit in rear.

Others were credit hires where the accidents had to be assessed for fault. If the TP was at fault and it could be proven with witness then a car could/would be sent and the tp insurers charged. Even then in the day there were very stringent rules on what was charged, the length of time you could have a vehicle and the type.

I imagine in your case it was deemed non fault but the Tp insurers solicitor was disputing costs (of the car you had) and you had to go on behalf of your insurance co to confirm why those choices were made eg: larger car for children/waiting for repairs on your vehicle/waiting for pay out.

In essence you were a witness for why those costs were what they were. If you’ve got the person saying “I had a new baby and needed a large boot for a pram” it justifies why they gave you an SUV style car and the costs as opposed to a little runaround which maybe what you had before it was written off.

Guessing your insurance co won.

Glad it all got sorted.

You are getting really confusing advice here! This is a dispute between insurance companies. You are not liable for the hire as your insurance agreed to it. I had a similar thing: Someone reversed into my car (my dad!!! 😆) and his insurance and mine were at loggerheads. In the end I told my insurance company I would charge the other side for my time if they continued asking for my time to defend. They eventually settled. You must be more firm with your insurance company as it is their job to justify the car hire they agreed to. As for attending you can get a sick note and tell the GP that this is making you unwell which is the truth. Don’t be bullied by insurance companies. That’s what they do. Also tell your insurance company you would like to use their legal people. The worst case scenario is your insurance company loses and it might affect your no claims and future quote.

Take your child and demand that the insurance company covers your travel expenses!

My god why do people reply to the original post 9 pages into a thread? Do they not think things might have moved on since then?

@TulipinUK you're talking utter rubbish and it's clear you didn’t understand the process when you were goinv through it. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the OPs own insurance company as explained at least 10 times in this thread. They settled in court which the OP attended YESTERDAY and it's all over.

In the end I told my insurance company I would charge the other side for my time if they continued asking for my time to defend

The chuckle they got from that probably brightened up a dull morning in the office.

This is nonsense from start to finish.