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!

I'm feeling a bit more reassured about the court case. Spoke to the legal executive. They will supply a barrister. I have it in writing that all costs are covered by the indemnity protection policy that I signed at the very beginning. Still feel anxious and will be relieved when this is all sorted.

@Oaktree1233 thank you for your reply, it sounds like you know about this sort of thing.
Definitely no question of liability I was stationary at lights when I was hit from the side, the driver admitted to police he fell asleep and lost control of his car.
My injuries are soft tissue around my right hip/pelvic area. I have been told that if the injury is classed as whiplash I may be compensated £500. I'm considering not doing a personal injury claim if that's the case, in the hope that it might speed things along for the hire company recovering the hire charges and the whole sorry mess will be over.

Glad you're feeling a bit more reassured about the costs etc.

Good luck & keep us posted, I'll do likewise

The personal injury claim will be a quick in and out medical report and dealt with swiftly as part of the credit hire. So it’s up to you. I didn’t do low value claims but more high end PI. Never once heard of a credit hire company chasing their own client for rental costs - that would be original but would kill the business, I suspect.

That's reassuring @Oaktree1233 thank you. Just getting ready to go to the hearing now. Feeling shaky.

Good luck @ThePoshUns

Hoping all goes well for you today. Good luck and hope this is the end of it all for you now. Let us know how you get on

I’m very confused by a lot on this thread.

I was in an RTC that was not my fault and used Auxillis through Admiral for a hire car and then the costs were claimed back from the third party insurer as it was their fault and I obviously needed a replacement car. The company were really good and were legit not a scam as some have said.

Surely there is no way you’ll be liable for the hire car costs if the third party has accepted liability. Their insurance will pay the bill.

Also please speak to a local solicitor re a personal injury claim. I see you were told you could get £500 but I’ve never heard of anyone getting less than £4K and that is for very minor incidents. With the amount of injury and stress it sounds like this has caused you you will entitled to a lot more.

Hope everything gets sorted for you soon it’s sounds like an incredibly stressful situation.

The case had to be adjourned. ' my' barrister couldn't make it. So sick of the whole charade.

@ThePoshUns so sorry to hear that, how absolutely gutting! Do you know how long you'll have to wait for another date?

No not yet.

I had the same happen ten years ago, except I was referred to them by Admiral. I had no idea when they transferred the call, I thought I was still talking to Admiral's claims dept. I worked in motor insurance at the time and was still fooled because it was so seamless, the call handler told me that because of the nature of the accident (it was just a big standard one, someone drove straight out of a side road, into my side as I passed, no other cars involved,fault admitted at the scene, witnesses etc) that they'd have to pass the call through to another department. That department was actually a separate accident management company. I didn't realise until the papers for what I thought was the courtesy car turned up with this other company's name on instead of Admiral. It took ages to sort out and I'll never ever insure with Admiral again.

As a side note, I did go through the injury claims procedure for whiplash, which stopped me from working for a week, and got £5.5k. £500 seems very low!

The FCA are currently very hot on vulnerable customers and transparent. At the accident site, you would have been classed as vulnerable temporarily. The company haven't been clear and transparent. They will be regulated heavily.

First step is to complain to the credit hire company. Be very clear in what your complaint is and the outcome you're looking for. The FCA handbook is online, look under DISPS and ICOBS, plus vulnerable customers and you'll be able to quote the regulations.

They should acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days, and have up to 8 weeks to issue a final response. If no final response at this point or you're unhappy with the outcome, then you can approach the financial ombudsman service (FOS).

They will do an investigation and will request evidence from the credit hire company.

If you're still not happy, then it can be escalated to an ombudsman rather than FOS adviser.

The company has to accept the outcome from FOS, but you don't and can look at legal action.

Hope this is helpful!

Oh, and you can't be pursued for money whilst you're disputing it.

For those questioning the £500, things have changed A LOT in recent years. You now get precisely fuck all for soft tissue RTA injuries.

https://www.truthlegal.com/legal-guide/a-guide-to-the-2021-whiplash-reforms/

I used to do credit hire claims and never once came across a credit hire company going after the hirer. Try not to worry too much.

Thanks @Oysterbabe .

Hi everyone I'm in a very similar situation to this and wondered whether anyone had any updates since the last post?
I honestly cannot understand how this practice is even legal. We had someone reverse into my car, while it was parked on my driveway. A neighbour was having work done and one of their builders witnessed it. I called my insurance company (or maybe I didn't?) And they either put my in touch with the claim management or there was another number on Google that came up in place of my insurance company and they pretended to be them. Either way I ended up with a CMC somehow, without actually realising. I thought I was getting a courtesy car because I have that on my policy and it was implied that is what I was getting. I did sign the forms. Obviously I wish I'd read the small print! Once they had my car, the CMC basically did everything in their power to maximize costs. I was chasing every week to get my car back and was told there were no garages with availability anywhere. They ended up having my car for 4 months, didn't even fix it, as they said they were getting nowhere with 3rd party so returned it to me still broken. I managed to get it fixed myself within 5 days so the 4 months was absolutely just a con. Also when my car came back it was absolutely riddled with mould internally, despite them billing over £4k for "secure climate controlled storage" anyway after hearing nothing since I returned the hire car 4 months ago, I just had a call today to say they are referring me to a solicitor to take on "my" case against the 3rd party to try and reclaim the over £18,000 worth of costs. It's insane. The actual cost of repair was about £280 in all and took me 5 days to sort once I got my car back. I absolutely would NOT have agreed to any of this if I'd understood what I was getting into. But once they have your car they start using intimidation techniques, like saying if I demand my car back (which I tried to do after about a month), then it could be stated in court that I hadn't actually NEEDED a hire car in the first place, so would have to pay the costs myself. Also I shouldn't speak to 3rd party if they try and contact me as that is being uncooperative. With hindsight this is obviously because HAD I spoken to 3rd party they'd have leant me a car for a few days and saved thousands. What do I do? Will I have to pay it all? I do have emails from the CMC saying as long as I haven't committed fraud (obviously I haven't) and I cooperate I won't be personally liable but honestly I don't even want ANYONE even 3rd party to have to pay these scam costs. It's practice like this that means everyone's policy is way more expensive than it should be.

Hi, no further updates on mine, the solicitor dealing with "my" case has forwarded the official claim to court on "my" behalf, should hear something in the next month or so I understand. Really hoping I don't have to go to court!

Ah @Worriedwendywon I've also posted on your other thread. I'm in court next week. I was nervous but now I just want it done and dusted. I would never recommend this service to anyone.

These cases are awful! It's disgusting that companies we behave like this and that so called 'reputable' insurance companies will work with them.

@SomePeopleAreNice the insurance companies get referral fees. That's why they do it :(

Have you thought about contacting Solicitors Regulation Authority?

I'm not sure what type of a vehicle the CMC in question is, but if they are allegedly conducting litigation, this is a reserved activity which requires authorisation most likely from the SRA. If that's the case, you should have multiple grounds to complain to them in relation to the CMC's actions.

@Worriedwendywon your story sounds so familiar to mine. Lots of excuses why everything took so long.
Every single person I have spoken to / read about including a solicitor with years of credit hire experience has said I won't be made to pay, and neither will you.

It's just a MASSIVE stress in the meantime though having to 'prove' that you needed a car. I find the credit hire company's wording very intimidating. There has been lots of 'if you don't comply with us' basically do as your told cos we have you over a barrel. Probably the same company!

All the best op

@Oysterbabe I got really flustered in court and the other sides solicitors tied me up in knots- thanks menopause brain. So the judge ruled I didn't need a hire car. Will the credit hire company now say I am liable? I literally can't sleep am so anxious

Ah that's awful, is there no way your solicitor can challenge the decision based on your menopause issues?