Imagine it happening to you: being involved in a traffic accident that leaves you without a usable car. Does this mean you have to pay for a rental car out of your own pocket just to get to work? No; if the other party’s liability has been accepted, the costs of a rental car will also be reimbursed by their insurer. This means you can continue with your life without worry, while we claim these costs from the opposing party on your behalf.
Once liability has been accepted, the other party must cover the full cost of the hire. The other party’s insurer often puts up a fight over this. Insurers generally try to limit cover to 75% of the costs. This is because they believe that your own car is no longer in use and that you are therefore saving on costs. The insurer estimates these savings at 25% of the hire costs. However, this reflects an incorrect interpretation of the law. For instance, the complaints body Kifid, in its ruling (No. 2017-396) that 100% of the hire costs of a replacement car are eligible for reimbursement. This means that insurers are wrongly applying a guideline from which they deduce that a 75% reimbursement would be justified. You can therefore, if a replacement car is necessary, proceed to hire a car without a second thought. After all, the costs of this will have to be covered in full by the other party’s insurer.
We have helped many of our clients secure a replacement car free of charge. Has the other party’s insurer told you that you must pay for a replacement car, either in full or in part, out of your own pocket? Or has your current claims handler made a similar statement? If so, please contact us free of charge so that we can investigate whether you are being treated unfairly.
