I desperately need your help. We are being chased for a £17,000 debt to pay for a hire car provided by our insurer after a no-fault car accident in May – and our car is still not fixed.
Back then, we suffered a minor collision after someone pulled out in front of our Toyota. We contacted our insurer, the Co-op’s insurance arm, and the car was taken away.
We were provided with a replacement by a firm we had never heard of called Vision.
We were then told by the Toyota garage that it had received our car, but that it had more damage on it than had been caused by the original accident.
Nearly five months on, it is not fixed, and we have been sent the £17,000 bill by Vision.
This is the supposed cost of supplying us with a replacement car for five months.
Vision has told us it has been unable to establish who caused the extra damage and, as a result, it wants its hire car back – leaving ours in Doncaster for us to collect.
We protested, of course, and have since been speaking to Co-op Insurance on a daily basis.
In the meantime, Vision has continued to tell us it is coming to reclaim the hire car, and it has sent us the invoices for its hire.
Co-op Insurance keeps telling us it is speaking to Vision, but nothing seems to be joining up, and Vision is starting to harass us with phone calls, emails and invoices.
We just want this absurd situation resolved, and to have our car back, fully repaired. Is that too much to ask?
VR, Sheffield
The more I deal with letters like this, the more I am baffled at the way car insurers deal with claims that – as far as I can see – are almost designed to add unnecessary complications and cost.
In any normal world, the other party’s insurer would have arranged for your car to be repaired and provided you with a replacement car while this was done. There would have been an incentive for them to do the work swiftly and without fuss.
But, instead, Co-op Insurance passed you on to its “sister” claims management company, Vision.
It has not only failed to repair your car in a timely manner, but appears to have benefited from not doing so by sending an inflated car hire bill to the other driver’s insurer.
You could have bought the replacement car you were provided with for £17,000.
This, in turn, is paid by all of us through increased premiums.
I asked Co-op Insurance about your case, and at least things then started moving rapidly.
It quickly apologised for the way your claim had been handled, and for the distress caused.
It says the £17,000 invoice was never down to you to pay and had just been shared with you for “record purposes only”.
It also claimed the amount paid by the other party’s insurer would be significantly less than that.
“Although further damage did not occur while the vehicle was in the care of Vision, we have agreed with Vision to get the vehicle repaired. We apologise for any upset or confusion that has been caused,” Co-op Insurance says. Eventually, a month or so after I intervened, your car was returned – but, incredibly, still with a broken indicator light.
You have accepted £700 compensation from Co-op Insurance and Vision, and it has also been agreed you will be paid for the damaged indicator.
What a complete shambles – one that reflects badly on both firms.
In 2020, Co-op Insurance’s underwriting business was bought by Markerstudy. The deal included a 13-year partnership to provide home and motor insurance under the Co-op brand. Vision is also part of the Markerstudy group.
Scam warning: beware online bank transfers
We are experiencing a big rise in purchase scams: people being duped into sending bank transfers to pay for goods or services that either don’t exist, or never arrive.
This week TSB warned that this is now by far the biggest driver of scam cases across the banking sector.
The online bank Monzo recently told Guardian Money the same thing.
If you see something on Facebook Marketplace, or a similar website, and the owner insists on a bank transfer, don’t even think about it unless you are picking up the goods at the same time – however plausible it all sounds. It’s not worth the risk.
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