The credit car hire industry has been slated by a judge for what he called the ‘staggering’ cost of courtesy vehicles following accidents.
This comes after one driver was charged more than £50,000 to hire a Tesla after her parked Volkswagen ID4 leased by NHS Fleet Assist was reversed into.
The Volkswagen remained roadworthy and could have been driven until repairs were carried out, but the NHS nurse was not informed of this.
Instead, a Tesla Model 3 was provided as a replacement vehicle at a cost of £524.70 a day, with the repair taking 96 days instead of the 21 days the judge said was reasonable.
Repair delays
In his ruling at Oxford County Court, District Judge Richard Lumb described the two-month delay between parts received and repair completed as ‘unexplained’, and said there appeared to be no appetite from insurers to ‘control the level of credit hire charges.’
The judge ruled: “What might come as a shock to the general public is how the credit hire industry operates. In particular, some may consider the sums of money that motor insurers of culpable policyholders become liable for to be staggering.
“In an age where motor insurance premiums are reported to have risen to unprecedented levels, some may find it surprising that there appears to be no real appetite in the insurance industry to campaign for reform, presumably by parliament, to control the level of credit hire charges compared to the ordinary market basic hire rate.”
