Hi all, since posting my thread about these cowboys - i've come across quite a few of my friends and family's tales of woe.

My advice has been to not accept using this company,at all.

If you do, MAKE sure you either photograph or video it's condition - and if possible video the handover like I did.

Then, when they make these absurd claims, you will have all the evidence you need.

If the vehicle is too dirty to appraise, make quite clear to the delivery driver, you are not signing for it - because you do not agree to those terms.

And many thanks to Roly, THE shining knight of assisting us, the general public.

May well be....but they wont worry....

Trini,

I recently had an accident where liability was quickly established against the third party. I was asked repeatedly if I wanted a replacement vehicle and after verifying that I would not be paying for it as the charges would be incurred by the other party I accepted. I have now been asked to sign a statement of truth where I have to sign to the effect that I knew I was liable for the costs. Apparently this will assist Drive Assist in recovering the costs from the third party. Have they written back to you yet and if so, did they recover the costs from the third party or are you in the same position?

At present I am refusing to sign as I was assured that the costs would be recovered from the other party who had admitted liability.

Matt

Roly

Are insurance companies refusing to pay DA out because most of their customers were unaware of the charges when they were - no cost to them - duped from the outset?

I too fell for the 'no cost to you whatsoever' lines. You knida trust it as you've just been transfered to them by your insurance compnay. As soon as I realised what their game was I got them to collect.

Trying to get people to sign a truth statement that they were aware of being liable charges is pretty rich seeing as their whole pitch is to the contrary.

It'll also be interesing to see if they've ever been able to enforce one of their e-mailed transposed signature contracts in court.

Hi,

If you work for the company then perhaps you can tell me why it is when liability has been established with the other party I am now being asked to sign a statement of truth effectively admitting liability for the charges when I only took up the car after being told Drive Assist would recover the costs from the other party and that this would not be a problem since liability had already been established.

What are your views on this?

Matt

Drive assist is a fraud!

They delivered a damaged vehicle to me (damage on both driver and passenger door) for a accident that was not my fault. The delivery driver assured me that he made a note of on his Electronic PDA and I would not be held responsible for this. This made me want to check the car myself and we both found additional damage to the front bumper and other more minor scuffs.

After about 2 weeks i dropped the car off at bmw and picked up my car. The guy at bmw checked the car and i went on my way.

After about 3 - 4 weeks, out of the blue, DRIVE ASSIST took £500 from my account. They never told me or contacted me and have never sent me any form of paperwork or invoice or receipt. When i called them on the phone they accussed me of damaging their car!! I was outraged because i never damaged it.. in fact i cleaned it twice and hovered the inside once, i also filled up to half a tank of diesel.

I can't understand why they have taken money from my account without asking me..

In any dispute there is a procedure an Drive Assist has completey ignored this! if they feel that i owe them the money for any damage they could have contacted me to resolve the matter. Its my human right to have a say in the matter and not be made to feel as if they are dictating to me.

If anyone reads this and has had a similar experience please contact watchdog now.

Thank you

p.s DRIVE ASSIST NEED'S TO BE STOPPED, THEY ARE A FRAUD AND FALSE COMPANY!!

Hi Matt, I have read your post which has convinced me to share my tale of woe (which I will post in due course), in the interim I have taken legal advice and the only advie I can give you is not to sign anything which you believe to be untrue.

even if advised to by your own broker/insurer if you are satisfied what they are trying to get you to sign is incorrect, do not sign it!

It seems Drive Assist are a law unto themselves!

I have had similar problems with an added twist I either have to lie or be held responsible for over £1000 worth of hire charges.

About six months ago I was involved in a non-fault accident the so called “Third Party” admitted full liability for the incident and both insurers notified. The following day I received a call from Drive Assist who said they have been told by my insurers to give me a replacement vehicle. The vehicle came quite promptly i was asked to sign an electronic pad which everyone seems to be referring to. A few weeks later all seem to be done and dusted however to my horror over 6 months later in my morning post I received a very threatening letter from Drive Assist telling me to sign a document stating that I knew that the vehicle I had cost £70 per day?!! And that I have the full terms and conditions of this hire explained to me. I can state with my hand on my heart this never happened I called Drive Assist to explained this to them and the lady I spoke to said if I didn’t sign it they would get the money off of me and if I didn’t pay they would take me to court. I am not willing to be bullied by them and for them to take advantage of me like this if anyone has any similar situations PLEASE let me know.

You have no worries whatsoever.

It would seem that a false representation has been made using an unauthorised copy of your signature.

To misrepresent a document in order to make a financial gain is regarded as an offence under the Theft Act.

I would seek you contact your local Trading Standards Office....do not bother with Consumer Direct....find the local officers.....if you tel of who both insurers are I will forward your experiences to the Insurance Fraud Bureau along with the FSA and the insurers concerned...

This site appears to object to contact emails being given in order to assist. It may be because of their association with so many insurers.

If either insurer has offered a solicitior who is acting after being appointed by the company for and on your behalf...tell them....they will ost certainly be in breach of oh so many Solicitor Regulation Authority regulations.....but then again.....it would seem so many insurer solicitors are unconcerned with the reality of the conduct of 'insurer appointed companies'

The reason your signature may well have been used was to place it upon documents used by the Association Of British Insurers General Terms of Agreement.....insurers/appointed hire companies use the documents under this agreemnet to ensure limited claims values and prompt payments for those willing to conduct themselves in the manner that led to the threats to you.

But there we have it...modern business practices that seem somewhat devoid of correctness or fairness....

R

Hello All.

I have managed to get them to withdraw their charges for a stain to rear seat (£46!!) originally they wanted to claim for damage to a bumper, car dirty, inside and out and no fuel. Below is the email I sent to them, directline, Watchdog, and the insurance ombudsman. This prompted drive assist to call me, but I was out, after not hearing anything for a week I made an official complaint to my insurance company, then I received a letter from Drive assist thanking me for the feedback and on this occasion would be dropping the charges. They are making people out as liars, and I won’t let this drop until I get a personal apology. I urge everyone to stick to their guns and refuse to pay these cowboys.I have a car insurance policy with Directline, recently damage was caused to my car while parked at a local supermarket, Directline organised the repair workshop and car hire for me, this is where the problems began.

The repairs were completed by a local company called xxxxxxxxxxx, they were very professional and courteous, unlike the car hire company Drive Assist.

Alarm bells starting ringing immediately when they first contacted me, "this call is being recorded", I thought I was getting a hire car not applying for life insurance! Then every call after this had the same warning, this I found quite off putting.

I arranged to meet Drive assist at the garage, when I dropped my car off, they were there on time and showed me the hire car. They asked me to check it over, ok I thought, everything was is order apart from a slight scruff to the front bumper, this was made a note of by the Drive Assist representative, I asked how much petrol to leave in the car when it was returned and on checking the fuel gauge it had a quarter of a tank, he said return it with the same. I signed a handheld terminal that I could hardly see, due to the light and the fact that I was wearing my distance glasses, this he said was an agreement that the car was in good order.

When my car was repaired I called Drive Assist to collect the hire car, I explained to them that I would be at work but my son would be at home to give them the keys, that’s ok they said, as long as he’s over 16, eh? Anyway they turned up later than expected but still within their 4 hour time slot. My son gave them the keys and the Drive Assist inspected the car, at this point no comment was made on the condition of the car or the amount of fuel in it, my son signed the handheld terminal (not sure what he was signing) and they drove off.

Later I checked my email and to my surprise received a condition report from Drive assist, which was a pack of lies, they claim there was no petrol in the car, it was dirty inside and out, stains to the rear seats and damage to the front bumper.

I immediately called Drive Assist and was told there was no one to talk to be about my complaint, they said someone would call back, it’s now 48 hours on and no return call.

Two days before they had the car back it was cleaned inside and out, also I have a receipt that shows I put petrol in the car the evening before on my way back from work (my car is diesel) it hadn’t been used after that. As for the damage this was pointed out when I received the car.

To sum up, I am upset by this experience, for a company that are used by Directline I feel they should be trustworthy and honest, it seems they just want to con people that use their service.

I was not surprised to find plenty of comments about them on the internet, and also the fact that they had been investigated by the BBC Watchdog programme, see links below.

From this email I would like,1. Confirmation from the financial ombudsman that they are willing to take action against Drive Assist.

2. An explanation from directline, why they use a company like this, with such a track record.

3. An apology from Drive assist and an explanation of why they continue to defraud people on a regular basis.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/drive-assist-need-to-be-stopped-21411.aspx

For information my policy number xxxxxxxxxxx

Address is xxxxxxxxxxxx

Phone xxxxxxxxFor information my policy number xxxxxxxxxxx

Address is xxxxxxxxxxxx

Phone xxxxxxxx

For information my policy number xxxxxxxxxxx

Address is xxxxxxxxxxxx

Phone xxxxxxxx

Note: This post has been moderated. Please ensure you read the moneysupermarket.com Community Standards and Terms of Service before posting. Thanks

If it is of any assistance in this matter I would seek copies of the 'recorded calls' under the Dat Protection

Act...from the Data Controller at Drive Assist....I regularly do this and the personal comments of the satff

and evidence of Non-Compliance of the Insurers and their chosen agents (of misinformation?) makes good and embarrasing reading....the statutory costs to the data applicant are restricted to £10.00 ....small fee for so much information......also ask them if the copy of the signature from the pad was used upon any other documents in your claim?

Also, was any document titled Letter of Compliance sent to you...if not another breach of FSA Regs along with i suspect the non-diclosure of the conflicts of interests you should have agreed to before continuing with the proposed course of action...

Also, if your vehicle was more than 3 uears old it is known that DL direct their agent repairer to use non-genuine parts...some insurers seek to direct second hand parts are used?

Just a thought or two....Wonderful Compliance to the minimum standards that must be complied with....of course doggy MOT’s never worried those that never knew thay had an unsafe car?

R

Pammy, I have had exactly the same experience and am still reviewing my options. I was involved in an accident earlier in the year and the other party admitted full liability. I was then contacted by Drive Assist who had been given my details by Direct Line and they asked me if I wanted a replacement vehicle. I initially said no but they contacted me again and assured me that the costs would be recovered from the other party. I also called Direct Line to verify that this was the case before gong ahead. The vehicle took longer to repair than I was told it would take. I was never told how much the vehicle cost per day and anyway had been told that the other party would be paying the costs as full liability had been established. I have in the last month or two received a letter asking me to sign a statement of truth admitting that I knew this was a car hire agreement, that by signing the hand held device I knew I was entering into a car hire agreement and that I was liable for the costs. The accompanying letter states that I need to sign this so called statement of truth so that DA can recover the costs from the other party. I do not intend to sign as I was categorically told both by DA and DL that the costs would be recovered from the other party. I am currently in the process of obtaining legal advice. I also found something on the internet which relates to a recent case which DA lost where they attempted to prove that the hand held device was legally binding. I am currently looking into this and will get back to you when I know more. I am also still awaiting a repy to my complaint from DL. I will certainly be writing the FOS and watchdog indue course. In the meantime if anyone else out there is in a similar position and has reached an outcome please let us know.

Just so you know....any monies recovered by DA are yours and they need to prove you had informed consent.....any court hearing your case will not allow any monies to go to DA in respect of Hire given the many breaches of law and FSA Regulations.....so ...all moey recovered by Drive Assit can be recovered from them to you?

Legal Advisore should tell you this as the monies were recovered using duress upon yourselves?

R

Good news! My bank has credited the money that Drive Assist took from my credit card after claiming phantom 'damage'. The bank investigated and agreed with me that they were not authorised to charge my card.

Good result, seems contacting credit card and reporting phantom charges, by-passes long winded complaints processes which appear to be always declined by insurers and their agents in order to retain profits.

R