Ok, they've come back and said that the cause of action is based on the date the terms of the contract were breached. They then say they found out in March 2008 court proceedings had been previously issued, and later advised in May 2008 this was issued without the hire charges in it. They've suggesting that this is what they regard as the breach of contract and so it runs from when they found out ? Seems wrong to me, as anything I've ever dealt with before it runs from when something occurs, not when you kinda find out about it. Think I'll just take it to our lawyers. We're using them to sue some lawyers for something else right now, so should be alright with this kind of thing ?

No, they said on the phone that there had been a court case in 2008 (which I didn't know about) and therefore the breach in contract occurred then.

To be honest if I'd known any of this before we had the car I'd never have touched it. The other driver was completely at fault, admitted liability and my wife was injured. We both needed good cars at the time for our work and it seemed like a good option. Sheesh, what a right pain and I'm probably someone how would have been entitled to use such a service.

I just remembered, when I spoke to them they said that it would not be statute barred as the default occurred in 2008 at the court case (which I know nothing about).

It is strange, as this is quite clearly an accident where we were not at fault. My wife was hit from behind by a truck on the motorway in heavy traffic. She had neck pains that were real and needed to see a chiropractor and had pain medication from our doctor for this. The car needed its chasis straightened which is why the repairers had it for such a time. We did everything to help all solicitors and ae as was asked of us. I agree that in providing unlimited access to the files all it does is to provide ae with the possible option to come after us, which is ridiculous. Again I keep coming back to the way they have behaved so far and think I should send the statute barred letter. If they would be agree to not peruse us, I'd be more than willing to assist them, but their behaviour so far implies this would not be the case.

Thanks. I think I'll go with the statue barred letter as suggested in the first instance. I'd really be far more inclined to help them if it weren't for the fact that every letter I get from them has a veiled threat that they want the money from me somehow. If they'd write and say that they want assistance in getting money from the other solicitors and not me at all, then I'd help them. But all they have ever done is threaten me that if i don't help then they'll come after me. Not really a great way to convince me they are friendly and I should help them really is it.

They are suggesting it's £7000 ish.

Hi there, I've no idea about a court case. My wife was hit from behind on the motorway by a truck and the car was off the road for a number of weeks. We had a hire car from AE and our insurers got us money back from whiplash for my wife. She did in fact have whiplash and needed to see a chiropractor on a number of occasions as she had quite a lot of pain in her neck after being hit by the truck. The latter I got with details from AE says: "As discussed, we still have outstanding hire charges resulting from this accident whcih we are no longer able to recover from the third party insurers and leaving you liable for the outstanding amount. We are aware that court proceedings were issued on this claim by solicitors acting on your behalf, and that the hire charges were not included within those proceedings. We are still trying to find out why this was. We were unable to make a full recovery of the hire charges and so passed our file to panel solicitors to issue court proceedings. They found out that another firm were already acting on your behalf. Although we passed the hire charges onto this second firm, they were still not included. I have previously asked that you sign a release form in order to obtain a copy of the solicitors file. If they were aware of the hire charges but took no action to include them, then they will have prejudiced recovery of the hire charges. Should this be the case, then we will be seeking to recover the balance of hire from the solicitors rather than you directly. This may require further assistance from you in the future." and then they've included a copy of a release form for us to sign to give them access to solicitors files. Any ideas ? As I said, I don't have any problems with helping them be paid for a car that was hired, I'd just really like them to go away and sort this out and stop bothering me with threats that they want the money from me ?? Roy.

Thanks. Letter printed out just now. No intention of speaking to them again. Only spoke to them to get a feel for what they were up to.

I'm sure I've seen some stock letter for this kind of thing somewhere. Would you happen to have seen them ?

I mentioned this on the phone to them yesterday and they suggested it wasn't time limited as the Default occured in 2008 at a court case ?? I have no knowledge of any court case and reading the original hire, it does seem like it would be from 2004 and not 2008 ? They want access to the solicitors files that the insurance company used at the time.

Hi there, 9 years ago, we hired a car from Accident Exchange after a no fault accident, the other driver went right into the back on us on a motorway with other cars all around. We filled in all the paperwork at the time and helped AE with everything they needed and thought that it was then all settled. Now, I've had a phone call from them asking me 4 times if I was the driver in the car (I wasn't), then calling back on our home phone line and refusing to speak to me as they only wanted to speak to my wife. We then received a number of blank letters to sign to authorise any solicitor to give them a case file with no details of what it is we are sigining or why. then I get a letter with copies of all our original casework suggesting they are still owed thousands of pounds intimating that they'd like me to pay that. Surely after 9 years and all the help we've given them that they've had enough of an opportunity to sort this out. Any advice ? We did hire the car, so I'm sympathetic to them getting their money back, but on the other hand they've had plenty of time and I'd like them to just go away and sort this all out themselves. Roy.