Boy racer hit me....oh, but it's my fault?!

[Mark_Bennett]

I was completely screwed by NU.
The Insurance Ombudsman agreed, and fined them.

Most obnoxious people I've ever had to deal with. Who's the customer? Oh, yeah... right...[]

 

[Jamie Summers]

ORIGINAL: millisland

Europa Consultants looks very interesting and worth keeping their name in mind, but what and how do they charge for their services. This does not appear to be mentioned on their website.

Harriet

They do not charge the client, it is effectively their risk to take you on. ie. they will only do so if they think that they are likely to win, hence they only act in non-fault accidents. Basically they make their money by charging for car hire when your car is being repaired and billing it to the 3rd party's insurers. The model is fairly simple, but quite high risk for them. Put simply they get your car repaired and provide you with a replacement in the meantime, then send the bill to the 3rd party insurer. If the 3rd party refuses to pay then Europa take them to court for non-payment. In 9 out of 10 cases the 3rd party insurer would rather pay out than be dragged through the courts. In practice it seems to work well, and Europa have a very clear incentive to pursue your claim aggressively, unlike most "high street" insurers, who mostly couldn't care less.
The upside is that you should never need to pay your excess and in theory it is not a declarable insurance claim, although you should inform your insurers about the non-fault accident. In theory it should not have a negative impact on no claims bonus etc.

Jamie

 

[westy7777]

We had someone drive into the back of our boxster while waiting to join a roundabout. We informed the insurance company and then used helphire to process the claim. They provided us with a Merc' SL350 while it was being repaired by a Porsche approved repairer (apparently its their 911 replacement hire car) and we had a letter around 4 weeks later saying the other parties insurer had paid up in full.

Based on that experience without question I would use them again. No excess to pay, brillant service, stressfree from our point and for £10 you can take out insurance incase Helphire can not get the money back from the third party. http://www.helphire.co.uk/

Good luck which ever route you take

 

[Rodney Naghar]

They do not charge the client, it is effectively their risk to take you on. ie. they will only do so if they think that they are likely to win, hence they only act in non-fault accidents. Basically they make their money by charging for car hire when your car is being repaired and billing it to the 3rd party's insurers. The model is fairly simple, but quite high risk for them. Put simply they get your car repaired and provide you with a replacement in the meantime, then send the bill to the 3rd party insurer. If the 3rd party refuses to pay then Europa take them to court for non-payment. In 9 out of 10 cases the 3rd party insurer would rather pay out than be dragged through the courts. In practice it seems to work well, and Europa have a very clear incentive to pursue your claim aggressively, unlike most "high street" insurers, who mostly couldn't care less.
The upside is that you should never need to pay your excess and in theory it is not a declarable insurance claim, although you should inform your insurers about the non-fault accident. In theory it should not have a negative impact on no claims bonus etc.

We had someone drive into the back of our boxster while waiting to join a roundabout. We informed the insurance company and then used helphire to process the claim. They provided us with a Merc' SL350 while it was being repaired by a Porsche approved repairer (apparently its their 911 replacement hire car) and we had a letter around 4 weeks later saying the other parties insurer had paid up in full.

Based on that experience without question I would use them again. No excess to pay, brillant service, stressfree from our point and for £10 you can take out insurance incase Helphire can not get the money back from the third party. http://www.helphire.co.uk/

Very very useful info there....never knew these companys existed......thanks![][]