# Strange one after an accident.



## bradleymarky

My father in law was in a non blameworthy accident today, the other driver admitted fault and he has a witness.
Within half an hour of sorting the insurance and arranging for a local car repair company to collect the car on Monday he received a call from a nationwide car hire company.
The car hire had already been sorted through the body shop . The car hire company asked him for his insurance policy number which he gave them amongst other details.
How do they get to know so fast, they also said he could have a hire car today which he refused.
My father in law is in his 70’s and does get a bit confused so they really shouldn’t be ringing him. 
We are going to do a bit of ringing around tomorrow to see what’s going on.


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## GleemSpray

His insurance company will have an agreement with the hire car company and will have passed on his details and those of the repair shop he's using.

Make sure the paperwork says the hire car cost is covered by his insurance, regardless of blame. Also confirm this with his insurance company.

Otherwise, he has simply agreed to hire a car and may end up liable for the cost of hiring it if the claim goes against him for any reason. 

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## MDC250

Body shop will almost certainly get a commission/kick back from the hire company. 

I’d guess from what you’ve described likely to be credit hire which means your FiL would ultimately be personally liable for the charges if not recovered from the at fault insurer.


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## bluechimp

Half an hour is seriously quick. That would be really handy if you were in a pickle but not great if your mind is all over the place from the accident.

I hope your Father in Law is okay by the way from it all.


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## Darlofan

Warn him there'll be lots of calls over the next few weeks. My last very small rear end shunt and I had loads of calls. Several checking my back/neck etc were ok! 1pushing me to claim for new booster seats for the kids. Despite telling them the speed was that low 2 polystyrene seats would not be damaged in any way, shape or form he was still adamant I should claim for them!
I was ok but dread to think if it was my elderly mother taking those calls.


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## fatdazza

Remember there would normally be 2 insurance companies knowing about the accident, your dad's and the other party's.

When I had a car written off from a rear end shunt (car was parked and I was not in it), the other party's insurance were falling over themselves to sort me an equivalent luxury car. The thinking is that it was clearly their customer's fault, so by getting in quick, they avoided me going through a claims agent (which is perfectly acceptable) who then sorts everything for me and bumps up the cost for them.

Still had months of calls reminding me to claim about the injury I suffered!


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## c87reed

I had a rear end shunt and had no issue with nonsense calls. My insurer was leading me towards a management company which I declined due to the likelihood of bumping the cost up. The third party insurer got in touch pretty quick and agreed to sort it all and did so to our satisfaction. We received a cash option for not taking a courtesy car also as we didn't need one.


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## Kerr

Since it was an non fault accident, I think his insurance company has passed his details on to an accident management company for commission. 

I really don't like how insurance companies are allowed to do things like this.


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## bradleymarky

As it turns out both are insured by the same company. I’m yet to find out the outcome of the calls this morning


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## spyk3d

I know from my time working at Europcar that the insurance companies had a link into our system (via XML) and would send down a reservation asap. In this case it could well have been as soon as 30 mins once all the details etc were provided. We would then contact the individuals to arrange delivery etc. Back then it was all covered by the insurance companies.


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## kingswood

MDC250 said:


> Body shop will almost certainly get a commission/kick back from the hire company.
> 
> I'd guess from what you've described likely to be credit hire which means your FiL would ultimately be personally liable for the charges if not recovered from the at fault insurer.


this. google it. people have being stung in the past.

you'll prob find the daily hire for the car will be in excess of £100 a day.

its a legal scam where the hire company charge the guilty party a fortune to provide a hire care. a 3 day job in the body shop drags on to 30 days as they wait for 'parts' - blame covid, Brexit, etc so the bill goes up.

and we pay for it in higher insurance policies. altho lose the case, or they find you've not told the truth etc and you're liable for the £100 a day bill


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## lofty

When a lady crashed into the back of my C63 I initially contacted my insurance company, they put me in contact with a claims company (she had admitted fault) and I was offered a Mercedes E Class at a cost of £350 PER DAY. I declined even though it wasn't going to cost me a penny, although technically I was liable for it should the third party insurer not pay out. I ended up being contacted by the party insurer who supplied me with a courtesy car and organised the repair of mine, its a far better solution.


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## Sicskate

It'll be arranged by the insurance company, not the bodyshop. 

I'm an estimater at a busy bodyshop... we're not allowed to outsource hire cars. 

If it's a Fault claim then we supply you with one of ours. 

If it's a Non-Fault then you get a hire car from somewhere like Auxillis or Enterprise. 

Why shouldn't anyone be contacting him?? If he's able to drive a car then surly he's OK to answer a phone?? 

What annoys me is the fact that the insurance companies are hot on my tail to get arrangements made, if we don't get a booking within minutes of receiving an instruction then we get bombarded with emails and phone calls from them... 
If a customer doesn't get booked in straight away then they start to divert other customers to other garages... just because the customer was at work and couldn't answer the phone!! 

Oh, parts delays are a pain! I've got a Range Rover that's been waiting 3 weeks for a fog, not even any insurance approved patterns available.
And a Kia stinger that the parts are manufactured to order!! 

I'd have to car back with the owner the day it was finished if it could be arranged. 

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