The hire of replacement vehicles

There is now a good deal of authority on the recoverability by the victim of a motor vehicle accident of the costs of hiring a replacement vehicle pending repairs to his own damaged vehicle. The sums in any one case are relatively small, but in aggregate they are sufficiently large to have generated a mass of case law, including two relatively recent decisions of the House of Lords. Ultimately, however, the victim is under a duty to mitigate his loss, and the question in every case is the factual one of whether the replacement costs have been reasonably incurred. Two contrasting County Court cases, Brain v Yorkshire Rider Ltd (Leeds County Court, His Honour Judge Grenfell QC, 23 March 2007) and Evans v TNT Logistics Ltd (Pontypridd County Court, Judge Wyn Rees, 12 March 2007) illustrate the operation of the law.