Car accident in Enterprise hire vehicle who are not handling the claim from other drivers insurer

[JEDIKNIGHTS]

My son has received a county court claim lodged by a legal representative of the other driver.

The accident was in June last year and the details of the accident that have been submitted are not accurate. 

The road was a single lane country road with the national speed limit applied, my son was not speeding and he pulled over against the hedge to allow the other vehicle passed. The other driver scrapped his van against the vehicle my son was driving and pulled against the hedge on his side after the contact had happened.

There was no damage to the hire vehicle and the car was logged back in by the Enterprise branch in excellent condition.

My son subsequently reported the accident to the Enterprise branch and the accident report line, which took c. 18 phone calls on the day of the accident but Enterprise have refused to deal with the accident as they claim it was not reported. 

Subsequently a claims company linked to Enterprise have written to my son to represent him. 

This week my son has received a county court claim with no mention of Enterprise and it’s directed to my son with no evidence to support any of the claim. 

I’m not sure how to respond as he has not done anything wrong and the other driver acknowledged that at the time.

He has photos that show no bend near the accident and the position of his vehicle. 

can anyone provide guidance on how best to deal with this matter please? 

 

 

County Court Claim Form.pdf

[unclebulgaria67]

It is up to Enterprises claims company to handle the claim, so your Son should contact them to alert them to the Court claim. If he sends the Court claim onto the claims company, he should keep a photocopy. Recommended to send recorded delivery, so he has proof of posting and receupt

 

The Court claim would  be against the driver of the car and as it was Insured through Enterprise, their claims company will handle the Court claim.  But may ask your Son to provide any information that would assist them.

[JEDIKNIGHTS]

Even though my son reported it to Enterprise they have said they have no record, I’ve asked him to get the call records that will show all the calls made to the branch and accident report team. 

The problem is that Enterprise are saying they have withdrawn the insurance cover they provided on the basis he didn’t report the accident. 

[unclebulgaria67]

They cannot withdraw the insurance cover as it is a legal requirement.  Enterprise Insurance company under Road Traffic act will still have valid Insurance against third party claims, otherwise they would be breaking the law.

 

 

[Manxman in exile]

17 hours ago, JEDIKNIGHTS said:

can anyone provide guidance on how best to deal with this matter please? 

 

 

 

If your son has already had contact from Enterprise...

 

17 hours ago, JEDIKNIGHTS said:

Subsequently a claims company linked to Enterprise have written to my son to represent him. 

 

 

... all he needs to do is pass on to them any further documents he receives from the plaintiff, and ensure that he co-operates fully with the Enterprise representatives.

 

I think if I were him I would also emphasise that despite the claim that there was a collision between the two vehicles, the Enterprise vehicle your son was driving had suffered no identifiable damage when it was returned to Enterprise.  That seems very odd if the claimant's car suffered £3K of damage...

 

17 hours ago, JEDIKNIGHTS said:

The other driver scrapped his van against the vehicle my son was driving and pulled against the hedge on his side after the contact had happened.

There was no damage to the hire vehicle and the car was logged back in by the Enterprise branch in excellent condition.

 

 

 

[Manxman in exile]

Ah - just realised after posting the previous that Enterprise claim to be withdrawing the cover.  As unclebulgaria says, they can't do that*, so I think the advice above still stands to pass everything onto Enterprise's insurers for them to deal with.  The problem your son has is that if Enterprise's insurers end up paying out, they may try to pursue him for their costs on the grounds that he didn't inform them of the accident.  Does he have no evidence at all that he told them?  No email, no text etc?.  Do his 'phone bills show anything?

 

Did he report the accident to the police or was that not necessary because he and the other driver exchanged details?

 

If I were him I'd still be emphasising to Enterprise's insurers that it seems very odd that the claimant suffered £3K of damage and your son's car was completely unmarked(?!?) when returned to Enterprise.  (They're notorious for going over cars and finding microscopic damage to charge for - so it's amazing they missed the fact your son's car was in an accident.  I wonder why they did not notice... ?)

 

*AIUI they can't do it if there had been a policy in existence on the car.  They have to pay out even if your son didn't tell them of the accident - or at least that's my understanding - I'm sure unclebulgaria knows better.  Is your son certain the car was covered by Enterprise's insurance when he took it out?

 

I wrote my previous post before realising Enterprise were trying to pull out...