Joneseys blog

If your car is damaged in an accident – can you hire car at someone else’s expense?

The short answer is yes – but only if the accident is not your fault and the car is not legally drivable on the road – either as it is, or after temporary speedy repairs.

So as an example if you can make it drivable by replacing a broken indicator lens then you can’t hire a car. If you’ve got a wheel missing then you can hire a car (but only as long as it wasn’t your fault)

It’s this whole question of ‘fault’ that causes a lot of the problems – most people don’t want to admit an accident is their fault or maybe they can’t because they are in hospital or their Insurance company want to investigate something first.

This means that although you’re pretty sure that it was the other person’s fault (so you should be able to hire) if there is a risk that they might be disputing ‘fault’ then there is also a risk that you might end up paying for the hire charges yourself.

In fact a whole hire industry has grown up on the back of this type of car hire – it’s known as the Credit Hire industry. Basically it’s people who will hire you a car but not expect immediate payment for it. They would supply a car on the basis that you didn’t pay for it as the hire went along, and they would then chase the other side for payment of the hire costs.

The cost of credit hire is much larger than hiring a car and paying for it yourself as you go. This is for various reasons which I won’t go into here, but you need to know this, as ultimately you are responsible for the cost of the hire, if it isn’t recovered from the other side.

Alternatively you can hire a car yourself and pay for it yourself – then add the cost of this to your claim against the other party. If there is a problem over liability and you end up paying for the hire yourself, then doing it this way could save you money. Set against that is the convenience of not having to pay it yourself and then claim it back – credit hire makes it nice and easy for you.

So what do you do?
Well first off contact your own Insurance company and solicitor dealing with your claim.

Your own policy may cover you for a hire car whilst things are being sorted with the repair of your car, or it’s replacement if it is damaged beyond economical repair.

If they don’t then don’t despair, as most solicitors now sort this side of things for you. We have arrangements with a number of companies who can assist with hire cars and vans in various circumstances.

For our part, we would assess whether there is any danger to you or paying for the hire costs at all – that’s important for us (and you!) as we don’t want you to have any nasty surprises if things go wrong.

This means checking that the other party has insurance in place which is valid and will cover your claim.

Also that they have either admitted fault, or if they won’t/can’t then we check for witnesses and make an assessment of your claim and then advise you on that assessment.

So we got you your hire car, is there anything else to be aware of?
The answer is yes,

Just a few practical things like having a good look round the car when you pick it up – nearly all companies will ask for your credit card details and if they believe you have damaged their car whilst on hire to you they will charge your credit card direct (sometimes without advising you before doing this).

So when you pick up the car, make sure you walk around the car with the person dealing with the hire and complete an inspection form to your satisfaction, and when its delivered back, make sure you go through this process again to ensure that you have a record of what damage was and wasn’t caused by you.

Take your time doing this. It’s too easy to just accept the car when it’s delivered to your drive, and not spot damage – then when the car’s collected you end up paying for that damage to be repaired. A few minutes at this stage can save a lot of hassle later.

Should you have a hire car if yours is damaged in the accident?
Well you don’t have to, but if you need one and everything above is satisfied then why not? The law says the other driver (when at fault) has to put you back to the situation you were in before the accident.

What if my favourite pink VW Beetle with chrome bars, wheel spinners and fluffy dice is off the road – can I have an exact replacement?
Well the law says yes, to a point, you can have a like for like replacement and there is no worry with this, but just make sure you realise this might cost you in the end.

Remember you are the person taking the risk that a full repayment for hiring a duplicate of your pride and joy will be made – there will always be some fine print in the agreement that says any shortfall can be recovered from you. So whilst it’s fine at the time to have a complete like for like replacement, this can sometimes come back to affect you.

Make sure if you are using credit hire and they are saying that there will be no charge to you if they fail to make a full recovery against the other party, that you have it in writing that a shortfall will not be recovered from you – those fluffy dice might just come back to haunt you.

The same applies with commercial vehicles and whilst these are more difficult to find for hire, we have found with a common sense approach we have companies willing to hire our clients like for like replacements for commercial vehicles with no problems.

Loss of use instead of hire
An alternative to hire could be a claim for loss of use.

If you don’t need your car because it is sat on the drive all year until the annual fluffy dice car display convention, then you could claim for loss of use instead.

This would be a sum of money on a daily or weekly basis which represents you loss of use of the car, and/or to cover part of the cost of any alternative method of transport ( maybe not all as remember those fluffy dice need petrol to move whether it’s your car or a hire car

This might suit your lifestyle better.

How long can I keep it?
Generally until your car is repaired and no longer – why would you want 2 cars anyway?

The difficult one comes if your car is a total write off, but most insurers are sensible about this and give you about 3 to 7 days (it depends on their generosity and good will at the time) from receiving the cheque for the market value of the damaged car, and refusing to pay for further hire. They recognise that you usually cannot go and buy a car instantly with the money they have supplied, but there has to be a cut off somewhere.

Is that everything I need to know about hiring cars?
No – but it’s a good start

What if I’ve been injured in the accident?
If you’ve had a personal injury we can help you get compensation. Click here to let us assess whether or not you have a claim.