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

I am so sorry that you have to go through this. It is shit.

Churchill car insurance, pushed onto Auxilles.

Yanbu. Someone went into the side of my dh car and he was shocked that to discover this. We didnt get one and won't get it in the policy now.

You may find this webpage from the financial ombudsman useful.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/insurance/motor-insurance/credit-hire-credit-repair-services-following-no-fault-accident

I had no idea. Thank you for this information. I’ll take it off my insurance. I can manage without a car if I need to so it’s not really worth it.

Sounds very much like my story. We consumers just walk into a possible nightmare because these companies obfuscate. That is the vast majority of us, I should think.

I had similar a few years back. I backed into another car, totally my fault, and the owner wanted it to go into the main dealership as it was fairly new. They, for some reason, sent it out to a bodyshop, who offered the owner a courtesy car then stalled and stalled so a relatively small repair took 3 weeks.
I assumed that the insurers had sorted everything but some months down the line got court papers saying the owner was suing me. She rang me later that day in a panic (we had exchanged numbers at the time and I was still in her phone) as she had also got court papers and had known nothing about it so rang the solicitor named in the letter. We found that our small bump (minor damage to bumper and back of rear wing) was now costing over £20k, largely due to the courtesy car.

It was settled the day before the court date but was stressful and infuriating as I suspect most of it was manufactured for profit

You are welcome.

I will just take Ubers until my car is fixed. And yes, I will never put a courtesy car as an option again, unless I get absolute clarification from the insurance company, preferably written in their blood.

Meant to say that the lady whose car I hit told her insurers that she could have paid for a hire car herself but was offered this car as a "courtesy" so assumed it was included in her insurance.

Call both. Tell Churchill you want them to deal with it. After you have their response, call auxillis and say you were misled. You don't want them dealing with your claim. You will have signed something or given permission but say it wasn't explained to you properly and on that basis you do not give permission.

Your car (the one involved in the accident) will either have gone to a garage to be assessed or more likely, have been collected by Copart for them to complete the assessment as to whether it's a total loss/write off. Copart are a salvage agent who work with insurance companies and auction written off cars to traders (that's how the insurance get some money back) and they treat the cars exactly how you would expect a scrap yard to. They are not driven but moved by a forklift and once assessed they sit in a dusty space until resolved. This can be years. Some people buy the car back or discover it's not a total loss but the car comes back with much more damage than it left with.

I’ve just exactly this, it was fucking awful.

The barrister said to me on the date of the court case that everyone on the whole process except me is making money out of this process.

Someone needs to do something about this, it made me so stressed and ill.

Edited to add Auxillis here too.

I don't think it's just insurance companies involved in this scam. A few years ago DH had a minor prang with an acquaintance's car. It was very low speed, both cars were driveable afterwards and DH accepted fault. Acquaintance took his car to a 'repair centre' for assessment and quotes etc and they told him that they had 'an arrangement' with a company who would provide a car until the car was repaired or it was written off and they bought a replacement. They told him that all costs would be covered by insurance so not to worry and just enjoy a nice car for a while as a silver lining to having the inconvenience. We queried this as the damaged car had been an very basic, small, old car and the car they were given was an expensive sporty number, plus they were driving it for months despite the car having been written off almost immediately (due to low value). DH felt bad and even offered to pay for a basic hire car for him but acquaintance was convinced that it was all above board and standard practice that the insurance companies would pay for it all.

Our insurance company paid a small amount towards hire car costs but would not foot the full bill. Acquaintance's insurance company said it had not been approved by them and was not covered. He ended up with a bill for thousands of pounds and the company advised him to try to sue DH privately. Our insurance company dealt with this for us (on the basis that they had already agreed and paid for all our liability). Acquaintance did have to pay in the end and it put them in quite a difficult position.

You’ve got me worried now!
My car and my neighbour’s were both hit last week Wednesday too, a passer by took a photo before the guy drove off. It seems to be being dealt with by a claims management company and I have been given a hire car. They anticipate that the agreed write off cost will be paid tomorrow although nobody has yet admitted liability.
The caveat about this potentially being my cost I had ignored because I can’t see how it could possibly be claimed I was at fault when my car was parked and I was at work. Really don’t need a big bill…

We have literally this month come to the end of a 2 year case when my husband’s car got hit by a flat bed lorry side bar that hadn’t been locked properly, it smashed his windscreen and he could have been killed. We had what we thought was a courtesy car but was in-fact a credit hire car. Their insurance wouldn’t pay for it and said we needed to! We had to disclose all our finances, explain transactions and personal information to the solicitors it was awful, we basically had to prove we couldn’t afford to pay for the hire car ourselves. Just before our day in court they settled. Very stressful indeed! I will never ever accept a hire/courtesy car ever again!!!!!

Yabu. This is why insurance is so expensive. People fleecing the system. Give them the car back and arrange your own transport, it sounds like your car is driveable. Or you may end up with a huge bill, it's hardly fair to expect others to pay for it through increased premiums.

I am with Admiral and the UK call handlers actively pushed and tried to’ make me go for Auxillus. Fortunately I know about the credit hire aka claims management company racket, I was shocked because it used to be that they just sold your details on and some dodgy credit hire companies bombarded you with calls and lied a lot. But this was Admiral - I was disgusted

Thank you very much for this. Very useful info.

They did indeed take my car with a tow truck, it was a local company. I said to the bloke, "my car is drivable, why are you towing it, I've never heard such a thing happening before." Bloody hell.

@AnyFucker your poor son. Not sure how I would have coped at such a young age.

People are not fleecing the system here. Insurance companies, claims management companies and garages are fleecing the system. It's clear from the other posters that they are the ones being fleeced by the companies.

My insurance Admiral, explaining so sweetly on the phone that Auxillus was fine and not a dodgy company, tried to pressurise me and that it was best for me.

This needs outlawing. My contract is with my insurer, but Admiral has gone downhill, they used to be good, sunk very low by trying this on with me, actively misleading. But I didn’t fall for it.

Glad to have read this thread and am now aware of this absolute scam, thanks OP

Correct it’s not the customer doing anything, most of us want it done quick and cheap for all sides involved.

But….there are scammers turning over the insurance companies with fake claims….this is being recouped resourcefully by insurers from honest customers IMO it is easier than taking scammers to court or charging them criminally.

This horrendous. A family member was told they would not have to pay for the courtesy car (they arranged a top of the range 4WD as a replacement for their own car). The accident was completely no fault (rear ended at traffic lights) so the insurance company said don't worry - other party would be paying for the car. Only the other insurance company refused to pay. Meanwhile my relative's insurance company delayed and delayed getting the damaged car assessed as written off or not and it just sat in their garage for months. Now the bill has ended up at over £30k and they are getting the court on to him to recover it. This is a household name insurance company with excellent reviews on Trust Pilot.
If I ever need a courtesy car I will never take one from the insurance company - I'll buy a cheap runaround instead and sell it afterwards.

It is possible the courts would view this practice in a similar way they viewed the car sales commission practice. If insured individuals are unaware they are being given costly hire cars instead of courtesy cars, the small print is too small or it is not being explained clearly. That could be the reason why many of the cases mentioned in this post are settled just before the court case is heard. It will be a brave individual who refuses to settle and goes to court but the chances of them winning must surely be boosted by the car sales commission verdict.

If not your fault, claim directly from third party insurers, not your own. Then they pay everything directly, including the courtesy car which then won’t be a credit hire car. It’s what we’ve done twice for both accidents we’ve been involved with neither being our fault. We only notified our own insurance company and told them we’d be dealing direct.

NB the insurance company ended up not being involved even though they were taking the premium every month. It was all handled by a claims management company and credit hire company. None of the three of the three companies answered emails or the phone without an extraordinary amount of time (days at least) trying to get them to communicate then eventually when they did they would pass it on to one of the others. This is clearly all part of their desire to keep the car hire running for as long as possible.