header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
03 June 2014 / Shirley Denyer
Categories: Features , Insurance surgery , Profession , Insurance / reinsurance
printer mail-detail

Insurance surgery: Credit hire

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.

In the first article in a series addressing insurance pain points, Shirley Denyer reflects on a tough year for credit hire

Credit hire is having a tough time. In December the Competition Commission (now the Competition and Markets Authority) was critical of the market for replacement vehicles, usually provided through credit hire, finding that the current arrangements within the market have an adverse effect on competition and add between £5 and £6 to the average premium. 

The authority is still to complete its work but it is not the only voice to have expressed concern at the impact of credit hire claims on motorists. In Singh v Yaqubi [2013] EWCA Civ 23, [2013] All ER (D) 225 (Jan), HH Judge Cowell considered that the use of the premiums of ordinary motorists to support replacement vehicle claims by the rich was a “moral question”. Decisions over recent months show that the judicial attitude to hire claims in general is hardening, including claims involving impecunious claimants. 

The effect of impecuniosity

In the case

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll