To think that a courtesy car should not be a hidden credit hire car

[whydoieven]

I was involved in a road traffic accident just over week ago (Wednesday 13th) where I was at no fault.

The garage (through the insurance) couldn't pick up till Tuesday (19th). I have cover where I get a courtesy car. When I phoned to update the insurance on Thursday (14th) to say I will need a courtesy car on the Tuesday(19th) they practically threw the car at me to take it the next day (15th). I said my car was still drivable (hardly any damage) and I didn't need it, but in the end I relented.

Because it was such an odd conversation, I started investigating. It turns out that I didn't get a courtesy car, I got a credit hire car, which the "courtesy car" company confirmed yesterday.

I had no idea that my contract is with the hire company. This means that if the other party's insurance objects to the money they have to pay out because of my costs, I am liable for the hire costs if they decide to pursue it. The credit hire means that the hire car can cost £££ per day and it all mounts up. Especially, as I didn't get given a compact car like I expected and my own car is expected to take 3 weeks. I feel like my insurance company, the car hire company and the garage are making money from this, but ultimately I am liable.

AIBU - you should know that courtesy cars can be credit hire cars.
YANBU - it's a racket

Auxillis was the claims management company for me too. It will be fine if the other side's insurer have an agreement with them where they're paying a much reduced rate. Problems come when they don't. Or when the other side does not admit fault. I did a LOT of googling a couple of years ago.

I literally told you to watch out for this on your other thread, so I’m surprised that it’s a surprise. I guess people just don’t believe it?

I believe there is a kickback arrangement between Auxilis and the insurer.

They gave me a brand new Corsa. I thought it was all odd. Directline gave a tiny compact a few years ago, which is what I expected tbh.

Eh? What other thread?

Thank you. I don't know how to get other side's insurance detail. I just have the number plate of the other car.

Yanbu

I had this happen a few years ago. They were so sneaky and covert about it i didn’t initially realise. My insurance company offered me a courtesy car which I’m pretty sure I was entitled to. Can’t remember if I realised after it arrived or just before, i certainly never drove it. I was furious as I realised either just before or after delivery and rang them up and told them I was refusing to have anything to do with it. Oddly enough they found me an actual courtesy car at that point! 🤷‍♀️

I thought you had another thread about the courtesy car. Apologies my mistake. It was just another poster who had an accident in a similar timeframe.

No worries, it was not me!

Oh this happened to me when someone crashed into me and wrote my car off! It was described as a ‘courtesy car’ on my insurance documents but it was actually a hire car. My insurer passed me on to a solicitor who wanted six months’ worth of payslips and bank statements to prove I couldn’t afford the hire car fees myself (at £50/day for the bloody Fiat 500 they decided to give me!) and eventually covered the costs but it took two years for them to close the case. It was a shitshow and I’ll never use that insurer again. The whole thing was so intrusive.

It's infuriating. I will contact my insurers tomorrow.

This sounds like a nightmare. I'm currently waiting on a curtesy car due to an accident that was no fault of my own. The company that was dealing with the hire and repair said to me yesterday that unfortunately I can't have a hire car and they've passed me on to another repair company who will provide me with a curtesy car, now I'm wondering why and if there will be any hidden costs. I shall be asking before I sign anything. Thank you for your post. I really hope you get it sorted, It's not a easy thing to go through. I imagine it's less hassle for the at fault driver then it is for the people who aren't at fault

This shocked me. Luckily I didn't get charged but it was horribly stressful and I really felt like I had no choice and it felt like a nasty trick

This is normal. I'm not saying it's right, just normal.

It's also just a safety net so if for some reason the insurance knocks it back, there's no financial loss to them. It would have to be a serious reason for them not to cover such as false claim or lying, crash for cash etc. It's not like people suggest where any small thing can stop them from paying out. They're heavily regulated. The issue is when you go through a claim management company. Avoid them as they're only out for themselves.

How awful for you. It's a racket.

Same thing happened to us last year, and guess what, it was Auxilis! Total cowboys!

we ended up in court as the other side queried it and it was so stressful. Of course when it got to that stage Auxilis disappeared and we were in a case which was a big insurance co vs us! Fucking scary. Worked out ok in the end after months of stress.

I know it’s my own fault for accepting the car but the Auxilis staff really trick you into the “courtesy” car and don’t make it clear at all.

I wish I had heard of this scam before. I wonder if Martin Lewis and MSE are onto it?

You can call them and say you were misled and no longer want them handling your claim. If they're handling it your car will be at Copart. Don't get it back, take the loss and pay off.

I agree this is a total racket.

We had a situation a couple of years ago where someone reversed into our parked car. The damage was pretty minor bodywork stuff, with a repair cost of about £600 (got quotes).

Went through the insurance to get it sorted ... They said it would take multiple weeks and that we would need a courtesy car. Tried to say we didn't want it, but they insisted it was part of the process.

Two days later, we get an email that our car is a write off (category C) because the cost of the claim is higher than the value of the car. Never saw any courtesy car; our insurance was now void because the car was a write off, so couldn't drive it.

Like heck it was. And guess which company handled the process from then on? Auxilis.

So it's basically win-win for them. Either they rake in the money from the "courtesy" car or they get your totally functional car for cost price and get to mine it for parts and profit that way.

The whole thing is so dodgy.

This exact same thing happened to my son. He was threatened with court and bailiffs.
The legal dept of his own insurance company took it up on his behalf but it was a nightmare that lasted 2 years before it got eventually thrown out. Not before he was repeatedly threatened with a 10k bill 😡 He was only 23 at the time and absolutely traumatised.

I had a similar story and the company was auxilis. I genuinely didn't understand the difference between being given a courtesy car from my insurance company (which is what I thought I had) & a credit hire car.

Turns out the other company refused to pay for my credit hire car as they said it was excessively expensive compared to a 'normal car that I could have hired myself'. It went nearly all the way to court before they finally agreed to pay it (mainly as I gave detailed statements about how it was my insurance company & the garage that caused me to have it for 10 days when the repair only took 2 rather than me wanting it that long).

It was awful. I was so stressed out, had to provide my bank statements to prove I couldn't have afforded to pay for a hire car myself in advance, book leave for the court date etc.

Auxillis are nothing short of a ponzi scheme & I would never accept them being involved again if I am unfortunate enough to be in an accident.

It was never made clear to me that my insurance company were passing me over to another company & I would be liable for any costs of they other side wouldn't pay them.

There needs to be some sort of investigation into the actions of companies like these as they are massively pushing up the costs of claims & we all pay for that in higher premiums.

Ah yes - we've had this dispute ongoing now for 2 years as we had the 'courtesy' car for 5 weeks as they sent our car away to be sorted and it was charged out at something nuts- the other insurers ( and they were ones at fault) are disputing this charge ( it's around £5k !!!! And was a big standard average Vauxhall as opposed to our Volvo xc60 - my H now has to go to court about it - are you with yolo by any chance?

Happy to help.

To be fair, nothing has happened. It's just that I was not aware of this practice and it just came as a nasty shock.

At some point during your call to your insurers you have agreed not to make a claim on your insurance policy but to instead allow a claims management company to deal with the claim.

You could call them up and tell them you no longer want to do this and instead you want to make a claim against your insurance policy. The problem will be that even if they agree to this you will now be liable for any costs incurred to date which will include the cost of the hire car.

On the other hand if the claims management company fails to recover their costs from the other driver you will be liable for even more money, which will include the hire car and the cost of any repairs to your car. Repairs which will be charged at massively inflated rate.

Sorry Exceeded call who? Churchill or Auxilles? What does Copart mean? Finally, I shouldn't take which car back?

Thank you.

No, Churchill absolutely did not say this. I will make them find the recording if needs be. I will not accept any costs or liability for this or I will die trying. It's only been a week, they pushed the car on me and I actually didn't need it till Wednesday either.

Thanks for the thread @whydoieven i was hit by a car in a hit and run earlier in the year (literally hit me and pinned me to my car but there was also damage to my car) my curtesy car it turns out is also one of these agreements, which came to just under £500 for 12 days.

Im really annoyed especially as this was via Motability insurance and I'm fairly sure this was never explained to me, the driver of the car who hit me wasn't insured so it'll be an interesting chat with my solicitor tomorrow