Drivers warned over car hire insurance rip off

Many drivers in the UK have a policy whereby if they are involved in an accidents that was not their fault they are entitled to hire a car the cost of which will be recovered from the insurance company of the driver who was at fault in the accident.

However, whilst many people hire a car fully believing that there will be no problem many are ending up in court with huge sums of money and legal costs to pay because of the way in which many of these scheme are now operated, which is through a third party accident management firm.

According to reports these firms rent the vehicles are highly inflated costs, and then request the money from the other driver’s insurance company. If the other insurer makes the payment then there is no problem. However, if the other insurer refuses to pay the inflated cost then the management firm comes back to the first driver to recover the money.

Drivers who have been involved in accidents that were not their fault and have hired a vehicle in this way have been horrified to be hit with a bill, and when they query it they find that they do not have a leg to stand on because they signed a credit agreement in order to get the hire car in the first place.

An official for the ombudsman in this field said that some insurance companies pressurise drivers into going to these companies.

The ombudsman stated: ‘We have seen cases where the insurer put s pressure on the customer to go with one of these firms. ‘They tell them this is the only way they can get an equivalent car for the time it takes their vehicle to be repaired.’