Who do I sue?

[pogo4ever]

I would be very obliged to anyone who can give me some definitive advice here.

Back in March I was involved in an RTA. There was no issue about who was responsible but my insurer advised that because my no claims bonus wasn't protected it might be better if I went with a claims management firm and they suggested Drive Assist.

Drive Assist supplied me with a replacement hire vehicle an arranged for my Volkswagen Transporter to be repaired by an approved repairer. The repairer kept my vehicle for two weeks and did an awful job so I rejected the vehicle and they took it back. Three weeks later they delivered it back to me and their were numerous issues with the vehicle. I immediately informed Drive Assist that there were issues and they arranged to have the vehicle inspected. The report came back and confirmed all the issues I raised about the condition of the vehicle.

I told Drive Assist that there was no way my vehicle was going back to this body shop and they advised that I obtain a quote to see what it might cost to put the vehicle right. I did as they said and took my vehicle to another body shop authorized to do insurance work, and one, as it turns out, that Drive Assist also use to get vehicles repaired. The manager there gave me a quote for several thousand pounds in excess of the pre-accident value. He said it was impossible without getting seriously involved in the job to assess exactly how much the repair might cost and so said his quote had to cover all eventualities, included a partial re-shell.

Fair enough, so I gave this quote to Drive Assist who passed it on the assessor who said he thought it was excessive. They asked to me get another quote. I refused and said it was time to discuss just compensating me for the devalution to my vehicle, which the second body shop said was around £2,000

After some delay they called me to say that the body shop who did the repair was prepared to offer me about £1770 but minus the VAT until I show them the evidence that the repair has been effected at which point they will pay the VAT component. So the offer on the table is just under £1500 which is not acceptable to me.

What I want to know is this. Who is ultimately responsible for the damage to my vehicle if I want to pursue the matter through small claims court?

The way I see it is that I am Drive Assists customer, not the body shops. I have a de facto contract with Drive Assist, not with the body shop and all my dealings have been with Drive Assist. The body shop was sub-contracted to do the work on behalf of Drive Assist.

That's my reasoning and much as I have no hard feelings toward Drive Assist who dealt with me reasonable well and much as I resent the incompetents who run the body shop I feel the liability rests with Drive Assist.

When I mentioned the possibility of legal action the girl who deals with my file at Drive Assist was firmly of the opinion that I would have to sue the body shop.

Can anyone tell me who is correct?

Many thanks.

[Caspar]

Re: Who do I sue?

I'll send a private message to the CMC guru of this site and ask them to take a look at your post.

[pogo4ever]

Re: Who do I sue?

I'll send a private message to the CMC guru of this site and ask them to take a look at your post.

Much appreciated. Many thanks.

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Who do I sue?

Potentially, you might sue both, as First and Second Defendants respectively, and leave them to slug it out between themselves or for the court to decide the relevant division of liability.

It might be helpful if you post a scan of your agreement with the CMC, taking out sensitive personal information.

It could be argued that the CMC are acting as your agent and arranging a contract with the repairers on your behalf. However, they have not carried out these duties as your agent properly if they arrange things on your behalf which are not satisfactory.

If they require you to use one particular repairer who is unsatisfactory, you can probably go after the CMC as well as the repairer.

However it would be useful to see the Ts and Cs of your agreement to advise more.

[Caspar]

Re: Who do I sue?

No problem. Pm has been sent, so they'll pick it up next time they're on! Unsure whether it's a CMC issue or a legal issue though.

[pogo4ever]

Re: Who do I sue?

It could be argued that the CMC are acting as your agent and arranging a contract with the repairers on your behalf.

You've expressed it better than me but that's how I feel about it. It's good to know that I have the option to sue the both of them.

Thanks for your thoughts on the matter. I have already requested t+c from Drive Assist but I don't recall actually signing anything except as regards the replacement car hire. There is a contract but a verbal one because they have agreed to repair my vehicle to a certain objective standard and this they have failed to do.

Thanks again.

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Who do I sue?

It would be useful to see if there waas any wording about 'with and for the benefit of' yourself re any agreement made on your behalf by them.

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Who do I sue?

As to suing them both, you use the same Claim Form and the same Particulars Of Claim (POC), naming them as First Defendant and Second Defendant.

Personally I would find it easier to prepare the with CMC as the First Defendant and the garage as the Second Defendant.

If you did sue just the CMC, they could seek contribution and/or indemnity under Rule 20 CPR from the garage, and if they did so you would be well advised to join the garage as Second Defendant.

You could send a pre-action letter to both and see what happens.

[pogo4ever]

Re: Who do I sue?

As to suing them both, you use the same Claim Form and the same Particulars Of Claim (POC), naming them as First Defendant and Second Defendant.

Personally I would find it easier to prepare the with CMC as the First Defendant and the garage as the Second Defendant.

If you did sue just the CMC, they could seek contribution and/or indemnity under Rule 20 CPR from the garage, and if they did so you would be well advised to join the garage as Second Defendant.

You could send a pre-action letter to both and see what happens.

That sounds pretty straightforward up until the part where you say I would be well advised to join the garage as second defendant. I'm not sure what you mean by that, could you go to the trouble of explaining what that means?

Also you refer to rule 20 CPR, is this a clause in law as it governs the making of contracts?

This is all good stuff, thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge with me.

[pogo4ever]

Re: Who do I sue?

Ok, I googled a bit so I know it's civil procedure rules. I have to go to bed but if you could answer my questions when you get a moment I would really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks.

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Who do I sue?

CPR = Civil Procedure Rules, these are the rules for conducting civil litigation in England and Wales. It is divided into Parts, each containing a Rule and a Practice Direction

Part 20 is about claims against more than one part eg the CMC AND the garage. It allows i) counterclaim (often discussed on this site): contribution (eg you sue the CMC but they sue the garage in turn saying its due to the garage's poor work that you have the case against them); and indemnity (eg they say its totally the garage's fault and the garage should indemnify them against your claim).

In your case, if you sue the CMC and they blame the garage, you would be allowed to amend your claim to be against both of them as joint defendants. What I am suggesting is that to shortcircuit this you might, unless there is a clear reason to do otherwise, sue them both from the beginning.

Some pre-action correspondencce may help to shed further light on who to sue.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Who do I sue?

Out of interest who is the Claims Management Company?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Who do I sue?

Out of interest who is the Claims Management Company?

Out of interest, why has nobody suggested suing the other driver (or owner of the peripatetic lamp-post) who caused the damage to the OP's motor-car?

[pogo4ever]

Re: Who do I sue?

CPR = Civil Procedure Rules, these are the rules for conducting civil litigation in England and Wales. It is divided into Parts, each containing a Rule and a Practice Direction

Part 20 is about claims against more than one part eg the CMC AND the garage. It allows i) counterclaim (often discussed on this site): contribution (eg you sue the CMC but they sue the garage in turn saying its due to the garage's poor work that you have the case against them); and indemnity (eg they say its totally the garage's fault and the garage should indemnify them against your claim).

In your case, if you sue the CMC and they blame the garage, you would be allowed to amend your claim to be against both of them as joint defendants. What I am suggesting is that to shortcircuit this you might, unless there is a clear reason to do otherwise, sue them both from the beginning.

Some pre-action correspondencce may help to shed further light on who to sue.

Ok thanks for the clarification. You've been a great help and saved me a lot screen time by explaining all this to me so well. I really can't thank you enough.
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Out of interest who is the Claims Management Company?

The CMC is Drive Assist and to be honest their outfit is pretty good. They have been reasonably straight with me so far and tried to sort things out. The only thing they did wrong was send my car to this particular body shop.

The body shop in question is Banbury Car Clinic, which is part of the Just Car Clinic group. I don't think it's a franchise. My advice to anyone who might be thinking of using this body shop is don't. Really, just don't.
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Out of interest, why has nobody suggested suing the other driver (or owner of the peripatetic lamp-post) who caused the damage to the OP's motor-car?

That's what he bought insurance for, surely? So that his problems became his insurers problems? His liability is limited to his increased premium which is going to increase considerably on account of the way he fled the scene of the RTA when police were called. He abandoned his vehicle because I confiscated his keys after I smelt his breath and he wasn't big enough to try to get them back off me, lol.

He just calculated that getting a summons for fleeing the scene was less grief than a conviction for DD. Sensible guy.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Who do I sue?

Out of interest, why has nobody suggested suing the other driver who caused the damage to the OP's motor-car?

That's what he bought insurance for, surely?

Not necessarily. He may have bought insurance - assuming that he had bought insurance - because it was the less expensive way to comply with the law.

So that his problems became his insurers problems?

No - his insurers (if any) might refuse to honour their policy.

He would then be liable to pay your claim in full.

His liability is limited to his increased premium which is going to increase considerably on account of the way he fled the scene of the RTA when police were called. He abandoned his vehicle because I confiscated his keys after I smelt his breath and he wasn't big enough to try to get them back off me, lol.

Why didn't you trip up the sot and sit on him until the plods arrived?

He just calculated that getting a summons for fleeing the scene was less grief than a conviction for DD. Sensible guy.

He might also have been uninsured.

The body shop in question is Banbury Car Clinic, which is part of the Just Car Clinic group. I don't think it's a franchise. My advice to anyone who might be thinking of using this body shop is don't. Really, just don't.

I'd not dream of it.

This body shop - link - sells much nicer soap.