Insurance help!!!

[roryb]

Long story short, I was in a car crash. 14th March 2014 I was stopped at lights in traffic the van behind didn't stop and went into the back of me, shunted me forward into the car in front.

My car was written off, but wouldn't do anything with it till liability was accepted as it was only ford KA it was a non viable claim. I was given the option to either wait for liability to be accepted or get my car repaired and claim back the costs (which i did) I had a hire car for just under a month, and was without a car for nearly another month as they took the hire car back off me, again as the claim was non viable.

This last week all the paper work has come back, after court procedures had been threatened the other insurance company has replied saying they do accept liability but are contesting the hire charges - Vehicle repair costs - and various expenses, phone calls etc.

My insurance company has asked to see my wage slip from 3 months before the accident and to see bank statements, so i could prove that i couldn't afford to pay out for a hire car by myself.
Hire car is part of my insurance, i didnt ask for anything stupid, i was given a ford fiesta.

I just feel its stupid and breech of personal space for them to ask for bank statements and my wage slips.

Any help would be great.

 

[Paprika123]

Was it a hire car or did you enter into a credit hire agreement?

Whats the problem with providing proof of earnings?

 

[Llewellyn]

Whether you could afford it or not, seems irrelevant tbh and I'd tell them to sod off!
Are they suggesting wealthier people pay for their own hire cars and less well off don't!
Seems very odd to me.

 

[Tim.]

Did your insurance include legal cover? I'm not sure but does that not entitle you to speak to a professional who can offer you guidance & counsel you?

 

[Knuckles]

Wtf, why do you pay insurance if they just try to f**k you over when you need them.

If the hire car is part of your policy, tell them to get stuffed and give you one.

 

[roryb]

i had been given one, they took it off me after just over 3 weeks as liability was being contested.

i was given a hire car to get to and from work as it is covered by my insurance.

my argument is, why should i provide them with those documents?

it does seem that if you have the money to get your own hire car you shpuld as it is cheaper for the insurance company to pay out for the use of the hire car.

elephant arranged my hire car, i got a call from the hire car company asking what car i would like and when would be a sutable time to deliver it to me. i asked for a like for like car and asap.

has anyone else been asked to provide information like this before?

my mums company have a legal advice helpline which i am going to call in the morning

 

[roryb]

i have also been told, if i do not cooperate i could have the hire car company coming after me to pay the £1800 worth of rental that they are owed.

 

[Diagro]

i have also been told, if i do not cooperate i could have the hire car company coming after me to pay the £1800 worth of rental that they are owed.

The Rental company cant come after you... Their contract of service was with the insurance company.

 

[McGherkin]

elephant

f**king knew it. Useless c***s.

They still owe me at the very least £540.

 

[CRS-Mike]

elephent, admiral, bell, diamond = pile of s**t insurance company. its all the same one, just under different names. unfortunately they seem to quote the best for clios, well at least they do for me. they did nothing to help me also, when i was rear ended.

 

[roryb]

@Diagro apparently somehwere in the small print there is something along the lines of if they are not paid by the insurance company they can claim the money off me.

they were by far the cheapest for me too, i wasnt sure if it was just my case or they are just a pile of s**t. the more this goes on the more i am thinking that they are a big pile of s**t.

i have already made a formal conplaint to them as they didnt update me on my case for over a month, to be fair to the manager i spoke to he seemed polite and sent me £50 conpensation. Now i am constantly chasing the law side for updates most the time i get an auto reply saying she is out of the office

 

[roryb]

Any recomendations of what insurance company to go with when this year is over?

also as my claim hasnt been settled yet do i have to say i have had an accident?

 

[Sash]

As your claim hasn't been settled it will be classed as a fault accident.

 

[roryb]

As your claim hasn't been settled it will be classed as a fault accident.

even though they have accepted liability?

 

[Sash]

You'd have to clarify it with the insurance company you're obtaining a quote from.

 

[roryb]

Alright, cheers

 

[roryb]

the nest post will have an email i have just received from my insurance company. Am i in the wrong?

 

[roryb]

Dear Rory


Thank you for the invoice showing the sum paid for the repairs done to your car.


In relation to why you must provide personal financial documentation, I provide the following explanation:


1.You entered into an Agreement with a Credit Vehicle Hire Company who provided Credit Hire Services to you. I am aware of how you were referred to the Credit Hire Company. Still, the main point is that if you don’t provide financial documentation, the dispute cannot be resolved and the Credit Hire Company is entitled to recover their outlay from you, under the Terms of the Hire Agreement. Under that Agreement you have a duty to cooperate and provide the documentation requested. I appreciate that from your point of view it might not make much sense but this is the legal position. My job is to apply the law to resolve your case. The sooner you provide the financial documentation to me, the sooner I can take steps to resolve the Credit Hire Dispute.


2.The Defendant’s insurer refuses to accept that (1) you were entitled to have a hire car; and (2) that you should have gone through a Credit Hire Company. As a Claimant you must prove the need for a Hire Car (this is why I have asked you to provide information relating to vehicles in your household etc. –see my previous letter dated 20/11/2014). Once we prove you needed the hire car, the next argument is whether you could have paid for Hire Services upfront or whether you had to go through a Credit Hire Company. Your personal financial documents will show whether you had funds to pay for the Hire Car upfront. I cannot comment further until you disclose your financial documents to me. If the documents show you had funds, then it means the Credit Hire Company will have to claim a lower figure for their outlay. If the documents show you did not have funds or that you had funds but they were for other purposes, then the Credit Hire Company will claim their full outlay from the Defendant’s insurer.


Credit Hire Disputes can be complex and I understand your position and state of mind. This is why I am here as your legal representative to resolve your case.


Yours sincerely

 

[Beef-Mc]

I can't get my head around sending bank details, it's of the main ways scammers nick your identity !

 

[roryb]

I can't get my head around sending bank details, it's of the main ways scammers nick your identity !

to me, it has nothing to do with how much money i have in my bank account. I am tempted to take a print screen of my online bank statement and blank out pretty much everything. At first she asked me to send it then she could go through it and blank out the things that are not needed.

I have asked who actually want these documents.

Atm i have had enough of this, its been going on for nearly 7/8 months now.

 

[Beef-Mc]

If you do that, apart from showing my name and total at the end of the month I would blank everything as you suggest.

 

[roryb]

Thats what i think i'm gonna do, unless they drop it about asking for it.

 

[pu11y]

They won't drop it. You entered into an agreement to hire a car on credit, on the basis that you could not afford to rent a car yourself, or had no other acceptable means of transport. If you don't want to show them your statement, you need to convince them that you entered into the agreement without understanding the terms of the contract.

 

[Jaff.]

So when the insurers say free legal advice and free hire car, what they really mean is free legal advice to tell you the free hire car isn't free...?

 

[roryb]

cheers guys, i am speaking with her in around 10 mins. After speaking to the legal team at my mums company, its best for me just to give in and show them what they want. All its going to do is slow the process down.

 

[pu11y]

So when the insurers say free legal advice and free hire car, what they really mean is free legal advice to tell you the free hire car isn't free...?

In this case the vehicle was hired from a third party. They take the costs from the at fault insurers, but the small print will usually say that you couldn't afford to hire one yourself and that if the insurer didn't pay, they can pursue you for the money.

If you have a free hire car on your policy, your insurer should provide the car and then charge the at fault insurer. In most cases, however, you will get a call from a third party credit hire company offering you a vehicle. The insurer gets paid a referral fee for this and doesn't take any of the risk.

Good luck to the op. If the other insurer has accepted liability, you shouldn't have to much of a problem. They will settle the fee for the car, they just need to prove you are not rich and have ten others cars you could have used, unfairly increasing the size of the claim.

 

[roryb]

well that was a fun hour and 15 mins on the phone, i'm sending my bank statements in, but blanking everything out other than the cash flow out. It is a joke about having to prove whether or not i could have afforded the hire car. Its got nothing to do with them