# Insurance Question



## stuartr

LLoyd,

Saw you posting on another thread so thought I'd pose the following to you and see what you think...

Back in November I was working from home and the wife decided to take my car, when pulling off the drive she was reversed into by a van that had pulled over and not looked when reversing, he admitted full responsibility and said the work van insurance would cover.
Anyway to cut a long story short, the car was eventually repaired during which time we had a replacement hire car (about 8 days).
Then in march out the blue the insurance company said the van drivers insurance would not pay and a recovery agency became involved and we had to sent photo copies of various docs with proof of residency and agree that if it came to court we'd be willing to attend.
Now last week we were told it was all settled and fixed.

Now a friend of a friend said it's usually because, the insurance company we have used their own approved repairer and provided hire car and this has elevated costs, the other insurance thinks this is too high, refuse and then negotiations between the two parties then take place for an agreed lower figure.
Just wondering if you had heard this and if it's true ?


----------



## Shiny

It all depends on whether you had a courtesy car from the approved repairer or a credit hire car provided by an accident management company.

Courtesy cars are usually given out as part of the agreement with the Insurers and the bodyshop and don't involve a cost, but you will be restricted to whatever they have on offer.

Credit Hire is normally like for like and it has been known for accident management companies to make some quite high charges, which are often contested by the third party insurer. This usually goes to the threat of court action and then the TP insurer negotiates an out of court settlement, as the cost of taking it to court (when liability isn't an issue) is not a cost effective option. There are other reasons why costs may be in dispute though, it may the dates of hire, the length of hire, justifying the hire, the repair costs themselves etc.

I did read somewhere that new legislation has been passed which puts a cap on the rate charged for credit hire by accident management company, all part of the new reforms, but i can't find where i read it.


----------



## stuartr

Thanks for that lloyd... hire car was just a golf so not excessive and was provided by the repairer, as you say perhaps the other insurer just disagreed with the hire fees.

I think insurance in the old days was simpler and less trouble, at least I didn't get bombarded with phone calls about making a claim..


----------

