Struck by likening
My stationery Audi A8 was hit by a bus while waiting to pull out at a roundabout. The police said because there was cctv fitted to the bus there should be no case to answer, and the bus company should admit liability.
However, the bus company’s solicitors said that the cctv footage showed me driving into the bus. Despite repeated requests by my solicitor to show the footage, they would not do so. I was contacted by a credit hire company and was given a Mercedes S320CDI while my car was off the road. My car was off the road for 4 months.
I was flabbergasted when my solicitor told me that the car hire charges came to over £36,000 and that the bus company was still refusing to admit liability and would not produce the cctv footage.
This led to the credit hire company threatening to sue me for the £36,000. After nearly 3 years of unbelievable stubbornness by the bus company (they made me produce bank statements for 3 years to prove that I could have paid for a lesser car myself) the bus company still would not admit liability and would not produce the cctv footage, but decided to settle my economic loss in full, and agreed a settlement figure of £11,000 for the hire charges with the credit hire company, and the case was closed.
However, my insurance went up by £400 the next year and I have not received the money for that back, even though the case was settled as a no fault claim. I was told at the time by the insurance company that I would receive all the increased premium back. Two things come out of this. Firstly, this is an extreme case of how credit hire companies can seriously affect premiums, and also, the insurance companies cannot be trusted since many were taken over by private equity companies.
However, the bus company’s solicitors said that the cctv footage showed me driving into the bus. Despite repeated requests by my solicitor to show the footage, they would not do so. I was contacted by a credit hire company and was given a Mercedes S320CDI while my car was off the road. My car was off the road for 4 months.
I was flabbergasted when my solicitor told me that the car hire charges came to over £36,000 and that the bus company was still refusing to admit liability and would not produce the cctv footage.
This led to the credit hire company threatening to sue me for the £36,000. After nearly 3 years of unbelievable stubbornness by the bus company (they made me produce bank statements for 3 years to prove that I could have paid for a lesser car myself) the bus company still would not admit liability and would not produce the cctv footage, but decided to settle my economic loss in full, and agreed a settlement figure of £11,000 for the hire charges with the credit hire company, and the case was closed.
However, my insurance went up by £400 the next year and I have not received the money for that back, even though the case was settled as a no fault claim. I was told at the time by the insurance company that I would receive all the increased premium back. Two things come out of this. Firstly, this is an extreme case of how credit hire companies can seriously affect premiums, and also, the insurance companies cannot be trusted since many were taken over by private equity companies.
Asked on 19 September 2011 by GC, Manchester
Answered by
Honest John
There is an even more extreme case of a Bentley driver who had a credit hire bill of £70,000 for a replacement Bentley while his was being fixed. Very foolish of any driver to accept an 'equivalent' credit hire car. There are moves afoot to ban 'accident management'. But all I can do in the meantime is continually remind readers not to fall into this trap.
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