How do you think the hire charges for Enterprise are being paid? Enterprise do credit hire, most garages have a connection with a credit hire company as they earn money from referring customers.

There is a chance the other Insurer have agreed with Enterprise to pay the cost but they normally only do this if they know thet are definately at fault and their client has reported it to them.

It would be worth you checking whether you are on a credit hire or not, its not uncommon for these cars being given without them making it clear its a credit hire and the possible problems

I very much doubt the garage are paying the hire fees and will recover them from the third party. What they have almost certainly done is get a Credit Hire Company to loan you a hire car at a very inflated cost. The Credit Hire company will have paid the garage or Oxygen a commission of around £150 for passing them the business. The credit hire company will claim the costs back from the other company.

You will have signed a credit agreement for the car for a period of 51 weeks, technically there is a chance that if the credit hire company do not recover the charges for the hire costs in the 51 days that they could come back to you for the money.

If they have given you a credit hire vehicle they should have explained the ins and outs to you

Do a google search on "Credit Hire Problems or complaints" or do a search on Honest Johns website about credit hire.

You have to wonder what sort of risks these mechanics take on the test drives, don't you?

Another thought that occurs to me, (and I am happy to be corrected if anyone else knows different) is regarding the cost of your hire car. I seem to recall reading somewhere that if the car is written off, you don't get any cash for the hire car.

A brief look hasn't revealed a lot of used cars at that dealership for the Swift Sport.

They have been very helpful so far but I haven't yet discussed discounts/extras etc with them as I want to get a verified statement that says the car is been written off. I was contacted by their insurance brokers who have stated the car is been collected and inspected but I'd love to see the engineer who can pull off a repair like that.

They will then contact me regarding an offer, but once I know its been written off I can approach the dealership and start moaning about a decent discount. I've been very patient and understanding so far so I'm not in their bad books! :P But yeah you're right, I'm completely innocent so I won't settle for anything less than exactly the same position I was in before, but ideally yes I deserve more for the hassle I've encountered. Apparently this would be the third write off they have had in the past due to fault of third party drivers so it's not like they haven't had to please others before.

Both the third party insurers and Suzukis insurers are involved. I have been told that Academy Fasttrack represent the third party (a young girl) and Allianz represent the dealership. Oxygen Insurance Brokers act as the middle man for the dealership.

Could you go to the dealership, and look at the used cars for a similar age/mileage as yours, and see what deals they can offer you? I would have thought they would be willing to give you a good discount, particularly as they were (indirectly) responsible for your loss. Are you sure that the garage's/mechanic's insurers are not having to pay anything?

In cases like these, insurance companies are notorious for offering derisory settlements, so if you are not happy with their offer, you can always refuse it. Enclose a quote for a replacement you would be satisfied with. They will then probably up their offer a little. Then take the offer back to the garage, and ask for a further discount to put you in the same position you were in before.

Good luck.

To summarise the story.

I gave my car in to a Suzuki dealership for it's first 9000 miles service. 2 hours later I got a call saying on it's test drive back somebody had collided with the front side of it.

The third party accepted full liability for the accident and I've logged the accident with my insurers (Bell) who have verified that my no claims will not be affected.

I now use a hire car from Enterprise which the dealership are claiming the hire costs from the third party insurers.

I've inspected the car at the local recovery place and can vouch that to repair such damage (big chunk of front right part missing with electrical parts and bodywork peeling off as well as both front airbags deployed) would cost too much and the advise from the recovery bloke was to write it off. I'm in agreement that I wouldn't want to drive a car that had been through that and repaired (if it's even possible). Sad as it is I was very attached to that car.

However, I'm not an insurance/warranty expert so what do I do now? I read online about total loss payments and reimbursements but they sound like petty theft as the typical payments people receive seem completely inadequate compared to how much it would cost to replace the vehicle. How can I ensure that if the car is written off I can make sure I'm owed an equal (or better if I moan to the dealership enough) replacement of the same car?

Car details are as follows:

Model: - Suzuki Swift Sport 1.6
Plate: - 07 (2007)
Purchase date: - 1 October 2008
Mileage at purchase - 6500 (was a fleet car for dealership)
Price paid: - £9,500 (included a respray and basic service - the car looked like showroom condition)

Time of Accident: - 28th April 2009
Mileage at Accident - approx 9500

Insurance / Warranty : - Fully comprehensive insurance and still under extended warranty from Suzuki I believe.

As you can see I'm covered by just about every single policy and backup known to man, I wasn't driving the vehicle at the time of the accident and the fault was a third party who's accepted full liability. If I can't get a decent deal from circumstances like this, whats the point of been insured?!