Misled by credit hire company after accident, told I may be taken to court for 35K!!

[kitkatnatnat]

I was in a bad car accident in December (definitely not at fault, I was hit while stationary and fault is not disputed). The scene was a mess, all emergency services there and I was told by police I need to let my insurers know then and there. I googled my insurer and called the claims number that came up straight away. In my shell shock I had no idea I had called a paid-for advert number for an accident management company.
They put me onto a credit hire company - I still thought this was my insurer and thought it odd they were so focused on arranging a courtesy car when I’m still standing in the middle of the crash scene but I had no idea what was going on so was led by them.
They gave me a car the next day and due to the unbelievably lengthy process of them getting my money for my written off car to me I ended up with the ‘courtesy car’ for 3 months.
Here’s the kicker…. They billed me for £35,000 for having the car that amount of time!! They sent me forms telling me to sign and it’s all ok they will get their money from the other drivers insurance. I questioned it so many times but was told this is what always happens don’t worry etc etc. but for them to claim the hire charges back I HAVE to sign.
They called last week to say the other insurers have not it paid yet, so they have instructed their solicitors on my behalf and this may now all go to court although they want to avoid that and will take an offer if the other insurers make one.
I’m now scared stiff that if the other insurers play hard ball due to the frankly ridiculous overinflated amount the credit hire company have charged then they will come after me for it as I have been pressured into signing for liability for those charges.
Also, they are pressuring me to make a personal injury claim with them as I still have injuries and am having physio through occupational health at work. I don’t want to do a PI claim yet and certainly not with these solicitors who work for the credit hire company as I don’t trust them. Yet they say I can’t make a PI claim if I don’t do it now as you can’t claim for the same accident twice? I thought a PI claim would be completely separate from their car hire claim?
If anyone has any advice please let me know. My main concerns are

1. Will I be pursued for the 35k and if so will I need to get my own solicitor to fight my case against the credit hire company?
2. Is it correct that if I don’t make a PI claim now along with the car hire charges then I will never be able to make one?

Thank you if you’ve made it this far!

What action has your actual insurer taken?

Have you got legal cove with your house insurance?

Complain to the Financial Conduct Authority, you need to have made a complaint to your insurance company first. A complaint to the FCA is a major black mark for insurance companies & it should give them the kick up the bum they need.

When did you find out you called the wrong company? Have you ever reported the accident and claim to your actual insurer?

My insurer will deny any claim if it's not reported to them within a set time. Sorry it does sound quite a mess.

Hi thanks for your replies....

It was only when I contacted my actual insurers a few days later (still believing it was them I had dealt with all along) that I was made to realise that I'd contacted an 'accident management company' instead.
Admiral said it's up to me I can continue with that company and some ppl choose to use these companies in no fault situations to avoid paying an excess. As I'd already been dealing with them and they had got us the courtesy (now I realise hire) car I thought I may as well continue with them and not go through my insurer. I think I will call them today though and see what they say about this situation.
I don't have legal cover with my car insurance but I will have a look at my home insurance, I hadn't thought of that!

This is bad advice, the FCA only investigates after you have followed your complaints process with your insurer, if you complain to them in the first instance they can't do anything but refer you back to your insurer (plus you will lose time whilst it gets looked at and referred back).

Assuming you haven't actually spoken to your insurer directly yet ring them first and ask their advice. It sounds like your complaint, if the claims management company is legit and they are FCA registered, should be with the claims management company anyway?

I wish I had just paid attention when I made the initial call at the crash site. My mind was all over the place and they were sending my online documents to sign and I was just signing them off. I really thought I had called my insurer.

Sorry I typed this badly. I meant the FCA isn't interested until you have exhausted your complaint with your insurer and they have had the opporunity to undertake and finish their investigation - no point contacting the FCA before then.

@Barleysugar86 I will definitely call my insurer today. I did inform them of the accident a few days after it happened, I was surprised when they didn't already know about it - that was my first clue that I'd messed up. Since then they have not had any part in this.

At the moment this credit hire company are supposedly on my side trying to claim the charges from the other insurer. My worry is if they don't get their money back from them then they will come after me for it and then I'll definitely have to go up against them in a dispute.

Call both. You were in a state of shock after the accident and didn't realise you were phoning the wrong company. They are now taking advantage. Be polite but firm, and insistent with both your insurers and this other company.

Lots of variables here unfortunately so I can only give generic advice. Agree with the recommendation above to see if you have legal expense insurance on either your home/car insurance, or find a decent no win/no fee lawyer for initial advice. They can advise you re your PI claim and if you instruct them they can liaise with the hire car company so they don’t issue prematurely on your behalf. It just gets messy if things are done separately.

ultimately you are responsible for the credit hire charges as you signed the documents but the hire car company will do their best to recover from the other drivers insurance company or the MIB. Be prepared to answer lots of financial questions and provide bank statements/credit card statements etc as the paying insurer will want to pay as little as possible. a recent Court of Appeal case provided guidance as to what should be disclosed pre-issue. If your credit hire company do instruct solicitors, they should be in contact with you as they will issue proceedings in your name. Tell them about your own claim too and they should be able to delay matters at their end as they won’t be instructed to deal with your PI claim. They have 6 years to issue court proceedings. You only have 3 for your PI claim.

How can it cost £35,000 to hire a car for three months? You could buy a brand new one for less than that.

I had this happen and they billed the other insurer £13000 for the hire car, the damage was only £1500, I look back and think, no wonder they were happy to upgrade me to a bigger car. OP it all worked out ok in the end, but I did have a few sleepless nights thinking I'd have to pay the £13k myself. But the insurance company did pay out in the end and it was all settled. A lesson learnt that I'll never deal with these types of people again

£2000 a week for a nice car isn't beyond the realms of possibility, especially if mileage was exceeded etc

It happens much more often than you could imagine. The hire car companies have nothing to lose. Better have a car out on hire and make something, rather than it not being used. Daily rates are ridiculous, as are all the add on’s. It will be fully investigated but I doubt the full £35k will be paid.

I'm not doubting the OP, but that sounds like a royal rip off to me

It’s a well-known scam. Plenty on Martin Lewis’ site about it. The other party’s insurance company is going to argue that OP should have minimised their costs by renting normally not at the grossly inflated rates. And why three months was needed etc. Accident management company doesn’t mind where they get their payment from. It could take a couple of years to resolve (based on previous cases).

@Arginalia our work has a corporate discount and basically anything bigger/nicer than a Fiat 500L is £1500 for a week. It's mad.

DP got stung like this a couple of years ago.
It nearly broke him.
Lots of reading around it online on various money advice websites; you're definitely not alone.
In the end, the credit hire company just dropped it after we spoke to them really quite desperately and cited the depression and anxiety DP had suffered since inadvertently signing the credit hire agreement at the crash site while, like you, feeling really disoriented. We never heard from them again.
Best of luck, OP. This is a really terrible practice that ought to be outlawed.

I was horrified when I read this, Ii hope the calls are recorded, you could request transcripts as they're bound to show his you've been led to believe you wouldn't be liable. Did you know how much the weekly rental cost was? Was it on the paperwork? I remember calling my insurer after a non fault crash, they put me into one of these sharks but it sounded very dodgy. I ended up calling the other parties insurer directly who were delighted to sort the damage out themselves, with no middle man.

article is fairly recent and explains it well www.furleypage.co.uk/following-a-car-accident-do-you-use-a-courtesy-car-or-credit-hire-car-pitfalls-to-avoid/.

It's been going on for years. It's shocking.

Reading some of your responses and yes my jaw dropped at 35k I mean that is ridiculous. The hire car was a 2018 galaxy not exactly a Bentley!
They even admitted to me on the phone that they ask for a certain amount in the hope of being made an offer. With regard to the possible personal injury claim the solicitor (owned by the same company) said they take 40% of the awarded amount. When I queried it they said oh for you we'll do it for 25%.
I don't know if they are regulated by any financial body or how to find out....

Hope you manage to get it sorted OP, it's horrendous they're able to take advantage of people who at the time of an accident are no doubt vulnerable and they know this. I'm not surprised the other party's insurance isn't keen to pay it out though. Seems like a lot of good advice and links on this thread, good luck.

Going forward for anyone reading this thread, when you renew your car insurance put their contact number in your phone under "car insurance" as the company might change every time. Also add your policy number in there which I add to the notes section, that way you will always ring the right place. Same with Home Insurance if your house goes up in flames, saves you looking through your emails to find who the hell it was with again.

It is absolutely shocking that these credit hire companies gouge people when they are the most shaken up. I hope you get sorted.

Thank you everyone, yes tell everyone you know to be aware of this situation!! Good advice re saving your insurance companies number, I will never make this mistake again!!