Rich man, Porsche man

I read the emails about Credit Hire and would broadly agree with you and the insurance expert: better deal with insurers yourself and the good ones sort it out quicker and more easily than ‘Accident Management’ outfits. In an number of accidents over the last 4 years (none my fault) I only used these people the first time and was not happy as they were obviously only interested in hiring me a very expensive car for a long time which of course pushes up all our premiums, and they messed me around on repairs, delivery and of course the onerous terms if the other party doesn't accept liability. So learning from this I dealt with insurers myself for subsequent incidents and they were fine except the last occasion. In this case I was stationery at a Zebra crossing waiting for the car in front to move when the car behind (Touareg) lurched into me. This damaged my rear bumper past repair. The Touareg was Italian reg and insured with RSA Italy. I had 2 witnesses and after swapping details etc. contacted the driver who gave me insurance details. I gave these to my insurers and they tried to get RSA via its UK office to respond but after 2 months of being messed around I decided to get in repaired on my insurance let them pursue it later. I contacted Porsche to get a quote (I have a 911). The next day was contacted by a hire company associated with Porsche to offer assistance. I was dubious for same reasons as you but to be honest not impressed by RSA and did not want a hit on my insurance for nothing so gave them a shot telling them I would take a car for the duration of the repair (as mine was driveable in the meantime) as long as they got a written acceptance from RSA. They did this, I got a RR Sport for the 2 weeks it took to repair (which I thought was ridiculously long for a new bumper and mountings plus a small dent in the engine cover) and no effect on my insurance. They did a very good job, were very clear on explaining the risks and the terms and said they would not give me a car until they got acceptance of liability. I believe that in some instances the Insurance companies mess around so much and try to fob people that they create a market for ‘Accident Management’.

Asked on 4 September 2010 by JT, via email

Answered by Honest John
In the case of the Porsche damage everything was made clear at the outset, with no fallback liability, so that was good 'accident management' from your point of view. Yet it still cost you and the rest of us an increase in our next premiums for the hire of that Range Rover Sport for at least £250 a day, or £3,500 for the two weeks you had it. And could have been £500 a day.
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