AIBU to worry about costs after a no-fault car accident?

[Daisiesandgrass]

Im scared I might end up with a huge bill after being involved in a car accident which the other party accepted liability for at the scene and on the phone to my insurers.
This is my first accident and I asked my insurance company to handle it as I thought they would have my best interests at heart but in hindsight I should have allowed the other parties insurance to handle it, and think ive been passed over to a third party company.
My front end is scuffed, bumper is cracked, mud flap damaged etc. But its driveable.
Im supposed to take my car to be repaired on Tuesday and should get a car to drive whilst it's being repaired. The people dealing with it said I can't have the hire car until the repairers have confirmed all of the parts are there but its now Sunday, I've heard nothing back despite calling twice last week, and wondering how im going to commute whilst I dont have my car.
I started Google searching and scared myself after find posts of people who ended up with huge bills, after going to court for hire cars after being in a no fault accident.
I feel a little reassured that they won't send a car until mine is being repaired and all parts are there but I definitely feel out of my depth.
I've signed the document so feel my hands are tied and backing out now will incur costs.
Is there anything I need to be aware of or look out for?
I feel so stupid!

If you have the other party's insurance details, ring them tomorrow am.
Your insurers can still deal with repairs to your car, but the TP insurers can arrange a hire car.
If liability is not disputed, they'll be happy to do so and avoid an inflated credit hire claim.
Just check though whether the car supplied via the repairers is a courtesy car, or credit hire.
Only credit hire would leave you with the potential obligation to pay.
Check what you have signed...

hi op. I had a no fault accident once. Years ago. I gave the car in and next day they gave a hire car. It was £65 a day. I had it for about a month. It was paid for by the fault drivers insurance company. Had no problems

Your insurers can get you a courtesy car, and it is better from them as they will know it is not your fault so they claim from the other insurer. You will then get to keep it til yours is fixed, and should have already pick it up if yours isn’t able to be driven. Get onto your insurers now.

Your insurance should be dealing with everything - never speak to the TP insurers.

If it’s no fault and that’s been established you should bear no costs or unreasonable effort to resolve this.

I was smashed in to two weeks ago. They admitted liability. My insurance were pretty efficient in sorting repairs via a local company. Car was collected and returned by them. There was bit of faff dealing with the car hire company who supplied the hire car for the 5 days my car was being repaired. But they dropped off hire car and collected.

I did get a message from TP insurance company suggesting I let them handle it but ignored and let my insurance handle it. Was a bit of a pain but has cost me nothing but admin and the annoyance of having to drive the MASSIVE car the hire company sent to replace my hatchback.

Anyway. Not your fault not your problem. Let insurance company sort everything. I use Direct Line and have been impressed.

The only cost I would worry about is a slight increase in your premium. Premiums are likely to be increased even if not at fault and didn't need the insurer to pay out.

Seems unfair, but statistically if you are in one no fault accident then you are a higher risk of being in subsequent accidents.

I am a barrister and deal with claims for hire car costs all the time. Sounds like you’ve been passed over to a third party hire company (auxillis by any chance?) which is quite normal. Yes they’re very expensive and yes if the at-fault party’s insurer doesn’t agree to pay the cost of the hire car then you’ll need to go to court to claim the cost back. But 9/10 the hire agreement will be signed alongside an insurance policy basically stating that, as long as you do all you can to claim the cost back from the at-fault party, then anything they don’t recover from them is written off. Although you’re legally liable for the cost (because you sign the hire agreement and take the hire car) in reality you never pay a penny - the at-fault party’s insurer does.
FYI if you’re regretting signing the hire agreement, it is not too late to cancel it. You could always cancel and choose to source your own hire car. Alternatively you can approach the at-fault party’s insurer and see if they’ll give you one - often they will and prefer this as it’s cheaper for them.

my mum was crashed into. not her fault.

our insurers got us onto auxillis for a hire car and would then apparently claim the hire car costs back from the guy who caused the accident’s insurance.

meanwhile that guys insurance was telling us theyd only pay £40 a day for a hire car. Offered us a hire car from them as they said it would be cheaper.

I was too scared to take it. Right out of my depth. Trusted our insurer. shouldn’t have. Meanwhile we have no idea how much auxlis are charging….

six months later it was a court case. turns out they we’re charging way more than £40 a day. his insurers refused to pay. ours said itd be a court case.

my mum had legal cover so our insurers handled it. but they told us it’s not endless legal cover so we may still have to pay. she was terrified of going to court. mum was havimg nightmares. in pain too. just awful.

a disgusting way to handle an 80 year old woman’s no fault claim. disgusting. he rammed into her and the police attended so it was all sorted. except the hire car.

honestly i’d not take one from them. it’s yet another way for people to rip off other people.

if it happened again i think i might just get taxis or buses. and claim it back. id honestly be too afraid to take a car.

anyone who says otherwise hasn’t dealt with hire cars recently as it’s not straightforward anymore. it’s not how it used to be.

Thank you for all your responses.

I believe its a third company handling everything, not my insurance as I didn't pay the excess, nor claim on my insurance as I wasn't at fault.

@wanderingwillows it's BD elite - i can't find much online about them either. I'm scared I might incur costs if I cancel as the third party has been in contact with the credit hire car company and the repairers, they've also ordered all of the parts.

I have no idea what car they'll send to me or how much it'll cost as nobody has been in touch. I called twice last week to let them know I had to take my car in on Tuesday but they said they couldn't move forward until the repairers had confirmed the parts were there which I guess is one positive as they haven't tried to send me the car straight away

I’ve never heard of BD Elite so can’t help there I’m afraid, but what I will say is that repairs and hire can be dealt with separately (and frequently are). So you can carry on with the repairs as planned (insurance companies don’t usually dispute the cost of repair because it’s pretty straight forward and can be broken down etc). If you’re unhappy about the hire arrangement though and the potential of having to go to court to claim the hire cost back, then you absolutely can cancel the hire agreement. When did you sign it? There will be at least a 14 day cooling off period. If you cancelled the hire agreement then you could either manage without a car, approach a high street hire company eg Enterprise and hire a car privately yourself, or approach the at-fault insurer and ask them to provide you one

i googled be elite bit didnt find much info either. it said:

“ BDElite (BD Elite Ltd) is primarily a claims management and accident management company.
Rather than doing the hands-on repairs or owning a rental fleet themselves, they act as an intermediary to arrange and manage these services on your behalf through their approved network of third-party repairers and credit hire companies. “

It said some general info, NOT ABOUT THAT PARTICULAR COMPANY that sounds like what happened to my mum “Consumers typically experience frustration in the following areas:

• Credit Agreements: Policyholders often leave negative feedback after realizing their no-fault claim was passed to a third-party claims management company, which requires them to sign a credit agreement to access a "like-for-like" hire car.
• Liability for Costs: Customers are often told they could be liable for the exorbitant hire car costs (which can total thousands of pounds) if the at-fault driver's insurance company disputes the bill. While credit hire companies will usually pursue the at-fault insurer, the ultimate responsibility rests on the customer who signed the paperwork.

It confirms for me that if im ever in an accident where someone crashes into me and is found by the police to be at fault and fesses up, i will not be taking a hire car from them or the other insurer, just public transport or taxis and claiming it back. it’s not worth the stress.

PS it took them months to tell us there was a problem.