Car hire after car accident. Anyone know what this letter means?

[AlmightyCitrus]

Ok, short version. We were stationary, car in front reversed into us causing a bit of damage. Other driver admitted liability and we called our insurance company. Car was repaired and we were given a hire car for the duration.
Letters at the time confirmed that we were covered and everything would be sorted out.
All this happened last October/November.

Letter rec'd this morning from the car hire company says:

We write to advise that we have been unsuccessful in effecting a full recovery of the credit hire charges from the Third Party Insurers.
As a result we have no option than to pass our file to one of our panel solicitors to attempt recovery on your behalf, through the Courts if necessary.

The solicitor instructed is (name/address)

The solicitors should contact you shortly with a claim form.

So, is the other drivers insurance company now refusing to pay? And what do we do? The car was arranged for us, and we have no idea how much the hire was, or the repairs. We just dropped our car off, and collected it fixed. There was a sheet with a breakdown of the repairs but no £cost.
The're not going to ask us pay for anything are they?

It means that the other insurance company is refusing to pay, so your insurance company is taking them to court.

You don't need to do anything except speak to the solicitor if they ring.
They won't make you pay, that is the risk the insurance company take.
Your premiums might go up next year though.

If the other party has admitted liability though, and your car was stationary, then the insurers will probably settle out of court. This might go on for years. DH still gets letters regarding an accident he witnessed 5 years ago!

I am not a solicitor, just not a very good driver.

I had one of those letters too - about an accident I had in November.

I rang the solicitor who is acting for me and they said send them the letter and they'd add that claim into the total claim for the accident. It's apparently quite normal.

Do you have a solicitor acting for you? If you have, they'll need to know about it to tie all elements together.

I'm not expecting to pay for the car hire; like you, I wasn't at fault so the other driver's insurance company will be taken to court to recover all associated losses.

Thanks. Was a little concerned.

We still keep getting the "ambulance chasers" phoning up. Obviously no-one was hurt but they keep ringing.

Although, DH was a little shaken and I may have been slightly over-consolatory, as I got pregnant around that time....maybe I should try and claim for that!

It was a very nice hire car though.

You won't have to pay anything - this is just your insurance company making threatening noises at the other driver and his insurance company. All you have to do is "cooperate" with the solicitor that your insurers have chosen, by giving them any information they ask for, and possibly signing a document agreeing to them going to court on your behalf.

Your insurers will probably get the money back from the other driver. If they don't then the insurers end up haveing to pay the costs. It never comes back to you unless you've lied about stuff in the claim.

It's a bit of a scam really.

They charge the earth for the cost of hiring you the car, as they don't expect to be paid until your case settles (hence 'credit' hire).
LEt's assume you drive the top of the range BMW and need to park it outside your office as you're the Chairman and have to keep up appearances. You need it for 5 weeks. they may charge £1000 or more a week. Afther the 5 weeks you'll have to 'pay' (but won't really) £5-10k. A large chunk of the value of the car.

As I say, it's a bit of a scam. You don't want it to afect your no claims, so check with your insurance company. I think though you'll have to cooperate with their claim against the other side's insurance company.

We didn't lie about anything. Luckily there was CCTV so the incident was recorded. We had a new bumper, light and side panel, and a few little bits and bobs in that area.

Daft thing is, we got our own quote and if the other driver had paid £100 to get the panel and light fixed, that would of been that. He was getting sniffy and said he could get it done cheaper, so we went through the insurance and they replaced everything.

"...top of the range BMW...

Although, we did ask for a car similar to ours and they said they didn't have one.

Given the range of cars this particular company offers a BMW seemed to be slumming it somewhat.

Sorry I didn't mean to suggest that you would have lied, I just meant "the only time this situation would end up with the driver having to pay would be if they had lied", so you don't have to worry that it could go that way, even though it is getting complicated and legal.