credit car hire URGENT

[MySereneGreyBear]

Hi, so I had an accident on 7th May. Phoned my insurance, other party has admitted fault and this is confirmed by my insurance company, 1st central. I have an email that confirms it.It's been an absolute nightmare, I was passed onto a credit hire car company (enterprise). I was due to go to an appointment today but after reading horror stories I rang and cancelled as I didn't realize I could potentially end up in court or be liable for the cost if the 3rd party refuses to pay the fees. I am entitled to a courtesy car on my policy so I don't understand why this has been pushed on me and I'm now going to have to faff around on the phone again Monday to see if the garage that's apparently fixing my car on the 3rd of June (nearly a month after the accident) and even then it might be a write off, can give me a courtesy car (if it is fixable).I was told I wouldn't need to pay the excess but now I'm worried they will expect it off me as I dont want to use the credit mamagent company. I wouldnt mind, the enterprise guy over the phone lied and said this car they were giving me was a courtesy car until I said well, actually it's not it's a credit agreement and I don't want that potentially back firing on me and then the cheeky shit said it would go against you if we're lieing about the accident!Has anyone got experience with anything like this or advice? And has anyone dealt with 1st central as this is taking the piss the length of time it's taking just to get my car into a garage. Oh and I'm expected to drop the car off at the garage despite being told I wasn't allowed to drive it 😡.. surely if they give me a courtesy car they should take mine away.

I’m confused? Why didn’t you accept the enterprise car that the insurance company set up for you?

You did the right thing. I ended up in court due to the other party disputing the rental costs. You need to make sure that any car that’s hired is cheap as possible and covers your needs. Ideally the other parties insurance company will arrange it because then you know you’re covered.

Mine only found in my favour because the other party hadn’t written to me to offer a car via them in a timely manner (they had texted but that doesn’t officially count and sounded scammy to me) and that I couldn’t have done without a car due to having a child with a disability.

Because it isn’t part of your insurance it’s usually done by a claims management company and is a credit agreement. So the car hire company basically delay the payment and hope to recover it from the other party but that’s not guaranteed and if the other party don’t pay then you’re liable.

Call your insurance company and say you want to deal with them rather than the claim management company. See if they will provide you a car via your policy and claim the money back themselves. Not taking the car they offered won’t go against you.

Because I don't have a hire car provided in my policy. A courtesy car is different to a hire car and as the other poster says, it is a credit agreement. What put me off was, the fact I've read horror stories of people ending up in court, having to show months of bank statements, having to prove they needed the car etc. its abit much when it's not even your fault to begin with, id rather just have the small courtesy car but I bet they'll say there is none available. I'll have to phone up tomorrow and see what they've got to say but I'd rather just go through the insurance. No one has phoned me at all from the other insurance though.

Yeah I will do, I thought it was a clear cut process but it seems it's not. I think it's disgusting that they use it as a way of making money tbh. I just want it resolving asap with no extra charge to me, I wonder if I'll have to pay the excess now though as I was told I didn't have to originally!

I had no idea

So.....if there is a car accident and you are offered a HIRE car as part of your car insurance, don't accept it.

What sort of "courtesy" car should I accept? (Genuine question)

If you have courtesy car cover and not hire car cover, they will transfer you over to an external company like enterprise, Europa etc. they sell you the dream basically we will give you a bigger car to suit your needs, similar to yours but slightly bigger, however you need to help us recover the costs etc. because I was shaken up I hadn't really realized what it actually was until a week later when I googled, tbh it was when they said you need to bring a card for us to take a pound out I thought it was odd when in entitled to a free courtesy car! So basically you say you want the free car on your policy even if it's small, I'll cope for a few weeks!

I understand! Thank you @MySereneGreyBear that's so helpful

I hope they get your car sorted soon 🥰

I had no idea about this. The last two times I've claimed they've sent me to enterprise (that makes me sound like an appalling driver but they were both other people hitting me while I was parked). The only time I got a courtesy car was when I was at fault.

They don't make it clear, even when I phoned to cancel the appointment he said what do you mean? It is a courtesy car, I said no it's not it's a credit hire car and I think he was abit shocked when I questioned it. Then the cheeky sod said it would only back fire on me if I was lieing about the accident!! I'm sure there's cases that are fine but the length of time it's taking to just get the car in the garage speaks volumes on the length of time I might have the car for, which will cost thousands! My gut is saying don't do it 😳

The whole car insurance system is a farce really. My last no fault claim took two years to settle. I'd paid everything as they told me it was disputed and therefore a fault claim. I moved insurance companies and then randomly got a cheque in the post and money back on my card saying the other insurance company had settled. Most recent one is a year and a half and unsettled. How on earth it takes that long I have no idea.

I get what you are worrying about, my DS had a van hit him. He didn’t need a hire car, but was just told he would have to have one and one would turn up. It came around midnight, so we couldn’t really check it over for scratches, dents etc. so signed the form saying this, fortunately it was ok. The car was repaired within 2 weeks, but despite this the hired car was still here a week later, DS sent messages to get this recorded. It’s all a con to make money for the insurance companies.

Bevause the responsibility for the car hire is being shoved onto the OP - they want her to sign a credit agreement in case the other party refuses to pay.

Isn't it just. It pisses me off that they are profiting at our inconvenience!! I'm dreading this call tbh because I know they'll be awkward about this courtesy car. I am going to question why I'm allowed to drive my car to a garage but no at my convenience though, they declared it unroadworthy! I said I drove home fine!

Yeah, Id be scared of putting marks on it as well! That's another thing, I just can't be bothered with extra pressure and stress tbh. I bet this goes on for ages though!

We currently have an enterprise car sat on the drive after a non fault claim (that they haven’t yet admitted liability for). Feeling quite worried now.

Sorry I don't want to worry anyone! Im just a bit cynical and because I've been a lot of debt before and cleared it all I never want to be in that position again for stuff that's preventable. I'm sure they aren't all terrible and they are fine. This is just for my peace of mind, I can't justify having a car which they were happy to give me last weekend despite being away in center parcs sat outside and then possibly being taken to court and justifying why I needed the car for X length of time!

You've dodged a bullet there, well done. These companies need to be more transparent. It is shameful that insurance companies deliver us to them.

It's terrible isnt it, I'm just thinking now I bet they'll make me pay my excess even though I've got a letter to say if I had paid it they'd refund it within 7 days, I haven't paid it though. It's not my issue is it if they've tried to palm me off to another company, I pay them not enterprise to sort my claim! Its really wrong

I had someone crash in to me and all my insurance cared about was getting me in to a hire car. The pressure was ridiculous. I didn’t have any knowledge of this being potentially dodgy but I still pulled out, much to my husband’s fury as ‘we are paying for it’ as they just kept on and on at me and were trying to get me in to some massive expensive car. It did not help that the purpose of my journey was taking my dd to hospital so they kept banging on about that. How I had a sick child….it was a routine appointment and she’s eighteen.

I did ensure I didn’t get the car until they actually took mine as it was drivable. They haven’t given me a car similar size to mine and I can definitely justify needing it for getting to work etc, still don’t want any hassle coming back from it.

I experienced similar. The accident management company arranged for the designated repairer to collect the vehicle and promised me a like for like vehicle (large SUV for work) until my vehicle was repaired. It was still safe to drive but significant rear end damage. I looked into it, cancelled that after reading the horror stories.

The at fault driver admitted it on scene, was witnessed, police report etc. so I went directly through their insurance & closed the claim with mine. Good thing too as it took over a year for all the parts to arrive to repair the vehicle. Imagine the situation I would have found myself in had I gone with the AMC.
It’s so misleading and needs to be flagged more. I had no idea, nor did friends and family.

This is exactly what it feels like for me, I'll update when I get some info tomorrow. It's done my head in being sat on this all weekend with no help, no car taken away yet. 10 days later nothing has been arranged for my car. My partner was the one that actually said no your not getting into that and the more I looked into the hire stuff, it totally put me off. I'm glad I have rejected it after the response I had over the phone off enterprise!

This is something else I was thinking about doing tbh, is it worth using the other person's insurance? I have got the reference for it, it was a company lorry that went Into the side of me and he admitted liability straight away, I wish I'd have gone through their insurer now, Allianz. It's good to know I can cancel my claim though depending on what mine says tomorrow!