What area of law would cover this.

[wuzzy]

Hi all i am looking to find a solicitor but so far every one says its not an area they cover.
Basically our works van was hit whilst parked up by a rental van, our van has been off the road since the 10th of July and we haven't been able to fully trade since then.
i have had to do lots of digging but Enterprise isn't interested as their agreement with the commercial renter is that they must have their own cover in place, the twist is that the company renting the van had removed that van from their fleet policy about 2 weeks before the crash and they are not interested in engaging with me. we have an enormous amount of lost work and i have personally had to borrow every penny i can get to keep my business going but i need to find a resolution. thanks in advance for any pointers

[paulajayne]

Surly your insurance company should be dealing with this.

[wuzzy]

Surly your insurance company should be dealing with this.

Sadly not they have been more than useless, they have left me without a vehicle for 6 weeks and no end in sight, I've got a complaint going in to the ombudsman as they have admitted they should have done better.

[des8]

So who were the insurers of the rental van?
The driver should be supplying you with those details, and you should be claiming against them.
If the driver was uninsured and you did not have full comprehensive cover you claim against the Motor Insurers Bureau.

What level of insurance do you carry on your van?

[wuzzy]

So who were the insurers of the rental van?
The driver should be supplying you with those details, and you should be claiming against them.
If the driver was uninsured and you did not have full comprehensive cover you claim against the Motor Insurers Bureau.

What level of insurance do you carry on your van?

So we have fully comp, the driver fled the scene and was traced by police to a recruitment company who hired the van on flexi rent from enterprise (their terms state that the renting company must have their own insurance) the recruitment company won't engage with me despite multiple efforts.
Driver was traced (mib wont help) by west yorks police but was sacked that day by the company, they still had the van and it was on their fleet policy until the 31st of may but they hit me on the 10th of july.

[des8]

MIB won't accept your claim because you were fully insured.

I would not have bothered with the ombudsman, but would have pressed my claim against my own insurers, firstly raising a formal complaint.
If this was not accepted I would then have initiated a court claim seeking performance of contract and damages arising from their failure.
Those damages would have been for the hire of a replacement vehicle.

Does your insurance policy mention courtesy vehicles at all?
Who are your insurers ... just being nosey

[wuzzy]

MIB won't accept your claim because you were fully insured.

I would not have bothered with the ombudsman, but would have pressed my claim against my own insurers, firstly raising a formal complaint.
If this was not accepted I would then have initiated a court claim seeking performance of contract and damages arising from their failure.
Those damages would have been for the hire of a replacement vehicle.

Does your insurance policy mention courtesy vehicles at all?
Who are your insurers ... just being nosey

Thanks i will explore that option, my cover is with admiral and they did eventually provide a vehicle 6 weeks later, they claimed they could finally provide it as they had received the other parties insurance information from west yorks police but they had that in week one and i could have been back to trading with minimal losses. They did take all my details of my losses and personal borrowing (total sum to date £37,000) and offered me £470 for the inconvenience caused by them.

[des8]

IMO Admiral are being evasive.
You have full comp insurance and their providing indemnity should not depend on them obtaining information about any insurance held by a third party.

[wuzzy]

So based on the above my insurance is summarily dismissive and won’t accept any claims for loss of earnings or damages. What area of law will a solicitor need to specialise in to take this on as every solicitor I speak to only does personal injury or medical negligence.

[des8]

Your insurance will not cover loss of earnings or damages
You need to claim those from the driver of the vehicle which caused the damage.

The supply of a courtesy/hire vehicle should have been without delay, so you might have a claim against Admiral for a breach of their duty of care.
All insurers have a duty of care to act in a manner which pays due regard to the best interests of their client.
As an insured who made a claim on a commercial vehicle policy they should have taken into account the damage it would cause your business to be without that vehicle.
Regardless of whether or not they could trace the third party insurers IMO they had a duty to supply you with a vehicle in accordance with your policy wording.
As they have breached that duty they become liable for damages caused by that breach.

Obviously that is my opinion based on the details you have posted.
Sight of your policy, complete details of the accident etc might change my view

[wuzzy]

Your insurance will not cover loss of earnings or damages
You need to claim those from the driver of the vehicle which caused the damage.

The supply of a courtesy/hire vehicle should have been without delay, so you might have a claim against Admiral for a breach of their duty of care.
All insurers have a duty of care to act in a manner which pays due regard to the best interests of their client.
As an insured who made a claim on a commercial vehicle policy they should have taken into account the damage it would cause your business to be without that vehicle.
Regardless of whether or not they could trace the third party insurers IMO they had a duty to supply you with a vehicle in accordance with your policy wording.
As they have breached that duty they become liable for damages caused by that breach.

Obviously that is my opinion based on the details you have posted.
Sight of your policy, complete details of the accident etc might change my view

Thank you, my insurance have admitted in response to my complaint that they have not provided the service i should have received and they would consider a claim for lost earnings as a result of their failure but i think their offer of a cheque for £470 is more than useless after leaving me 6 weeks without a vehicle.
Now they want proof we didn't have another vehicle! not sure how i prove that as they have my business account statements showing that we made 5k in july not our usual scheduled 35k.
My issue is finding a solicitor who can deal with this as most say its contract law and some say commercial litigation others say its insurance law so im confused as to where to turn for help as the law society cant seem to help point me in the right direction either and no surprise that not of my legal expense covers actually covers this.

[wuzzy]

Your insurance will not cover loss of earnings or damages
You need to claim those from the driver of the vehicle which caused the damage.

The supply of a courtesy/hire vehicle should have been without delay, so you might have a claim against Admiral for a breach of their duty of care.
All insurers have a duty of care to act in a manner which pays due regard to the best interests of their client.
As an insured who made a claim on a commercial vehicle policy they should have taken into account the damage it would cause your business to be without that vehicle.
Regardless of whether or not they could trace the third party insurers IMO they had a duty to supply you with a vehicle in accordance with your policy wording.
As they have breached that duty they become liable for damages caused by that breach.

Obviously that is my opinion based on the details you have posted.
Sight of your policy, complete details of the accident etc might change my view

In regards the other party it gets more complicated, the van was on flexi rent from enterprise, enterprise insist that all commercial hirers have their own policy to operate the vehicle for business use.

At the time of the accident the company had no effective cover on that vehicle and they are not engaging with me on this at all. West yorkshire police won't pursue it as the vehicle is technically insured by enterprise as the ultimate owners of the vehicle but their insurer won't entertain a claim from me either.

[des8]

IMO your insurers were dilatory in providing you with a replacement vehicle.
To this extent they were in breach of the insurance contract and failed in their duty of care as previously explained

Your loss of profit seems to have been in the £30,000 range, which would put any claim onto the fast track (with costs implications), but also it could possibly find its way into the Commercial court.
If you initiate a claim against Admiral they will almost certainly refer it to their professional Indemnity Insurers

Have you tried Google for "solicitors who deal with insurance law"

How did you phrase your complaint to the ombudsman? You often need to lead them by the hand as the primary adjudicator is very often unqualified, and your claim isn't the most straightforward.