In one of the cases, a claimant sought £252,000 for credit hire and other losses. This was dropped after an investigation carried out by Admiral and HF, with the claimant’s credit hire organisation agreeing to pay defence costs totalling £40,000.
The investigation revealed that the claimant’s credit hire was unnecessary as he had repaired his vehicle to roadworthy standards after the accident. Additionally, the vehicle had undergone two MOT tests during the hire period, both times showing increased mileage.
Another case involved KGM Underwriting Services, for which HF successfully defended against a credit hire claim surpassing £100,000. The credit hire company responsible for hiring the vehicle to a fraudster was found to have significant involvement in the litigation and was ordered to pay £15,000 in costs.
HF’s success also extends to Hastings Direct, having saved the insurer £56,000 in credit hire costs. In-depth investigations conclusively demonstrated that the vehicle was roadworthy and had undergone MOT inspections, with approximately 3,000 additional miles recorded during the hire period. The credit hire organisation behind the claim was ordered to pay £35,000 in legal fees.
Finally, HF collaborated with LV= General Insurance to recover £15,000 in wasted costs from a credit hire company. This came after they defended a claim believed to have been deliberately orchestrated between the claimant and a former LV= General Insurance customer to receive compensation.
Investigations for the case identified links between the storage provider used by the claimant and the former customer. An engineer’s report also indicated inconsistencies in the damage claimed. The claimant later discontinued his £130,000 claim, of which £104,000 was for credit hire.
“Regrettably, all too often we see large sums being claimed for credit hire and we do not expect this to change when fixed recoverable costs is extended in October,” said Graeme Mulvoy, Partner at HF.
“Our investigations proved that these claims were unfounded and two fraudulent, and we are very encouraged that the hire companies have been held liable for our client’s costs, the combined total being £100,000, by the judiciary. These cases demonstrate very clearly that those who organise, orchestrate, or enable hire claims cannot get away with it. And that organisations working with any fraudsters will be held to account.”
These successes follow HF’s recent victory for Aviva, after a senior finance professional who made a fraudulent claim was found to be fundamentally dishonest.
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