HEAP-HAMMOND V TNT UK

Yeovil County Court, District Judge Smith, 15 June 2007

Insurance (motor) – Credit hire – Whether defendant liable for hire charges incurred by claimant – Whether defendant had action against repairers and insurers for delay in repairing claimant’s vehicle

The claimant’s car was negligently damaged by the defendant. The claimant sought to recover the cost of hiring a replacement vehicle pending repairs to his own vehicle, the credit cost being £247.75 per day for 35 days. The defendant sought to recover part of that cost from the third party repairers and part from the claimant’s motor insurers on the ground that they had failed to process the claim timeously and had delayed approving the repairs for two days. The court held that the defendant had no cause of action against the repairers or the insurers, in that (a) the allegations of delay were unfounded and (b) in any event the insurers were not under any duty towards the claimant to carry out the repairs within a reasonable time as their duty was merely to provide an indemnity. However, the court did reduce the amount of damages in that the claimant had paid greatly in excess of the spot rate for the hire of a replacement vehicle.