Credit Hire and Spot Hire Vehicles

If you are involved in an accident it is highly likely that you will be offered a credit hire vehicle or spot hire vehicle while the damage to your own vehicle is being dealt with. It is very important that you know the risks involved before proceeding with this.

There are 2 types of hire, namely credit hire or spot hire.  As the names suggest, you either get the vehicle on credit or you have to pay for it on the spot.

Credit hire is more expensive and has led to numerous contested cases as insurers try to avoid paying for this.  Some credit hire companies will self-insure the hire.  This means they seek to recover their charges from the other side and write off any shortfall. Other credit hire companies do not do this, so if there is a shortfall then you are liable for it.

The basic rules for hiring a vehicle are as follows:

• If your own vehicle is still roadworthy you should use it.
• If your policy of insurance includes a courtesy vehicle then you should take it unless there is a very good reason not to.
• You should only hire a vehicle if you really need one.  It is not an opportunity to have a toy to play with and where you have use of an alternative vehicle you should use this unless it is unreasonable to do so.
• Should you need to hire a vehicle it should be of a similar type to the one you had before.
• If you can afford to pay for it as you go along then you should not be taking it on credit hire.  Check out the local market and seek a competitive rate.
• Any hire should be kept as short as possible, so as soon as you are in a position to deal with repairs or replace your car you should do so.

If you are thinking of hiring a replacement vehicle our advice is to speak to your solicitor first. If you do not already have a solicitor then you need one and should call us on 01296 662770 for help.

If you need our help,  either e-mail us anytime, or call 01404 861868.