Why a company has contacted you after your accident
You reported your accident to your insurer, and now a company you haven't heard of is contacting you about a hire car and repairs. This page explains what that company is, what you are being asked to agree to, and how this relates to any injury you may have suffered.
Why a separate company is involved
Your insurer has referred you to what is commonly called an accident management company. These companies specialise in arranging replacement vehicles and managing repairs after non-fault road traffic accidents. Your insurer refers you to them rather than handling this directly because of how the cost recovery works — the accident management company provides the hire car and repair now, and then recovers its costs from the at-fault driver's insurer afterwards. This arrangement is called credit hire.
The referral is a commercial arrangement between your insurer and the accident management company. It is a recommendation, not a legal requirement.
Companies operating in this space include Auxillis, Kindertons, Enterprise Flex-E-Rent, and others. The company that has contacted you may have a different name, but the arrangement works the same way regardless of which company is involved.
What you are being asked to agree to
Credit hire means you receive the replacement vehicle and repair now, on credit. The contract is in your name. The structure exists because costs can only be recovered from the at-fault side if they are first incurred in your name — the accident management company needs to show that you incurred those costs before it can recover them from the other driver's insurer.
Your liability under the agreement mirrors the liability established against the at-fault driver. If recovery succeeds in full, your liability is extinguished in full. If the third party is found not liable, so are you. The accident management company carries its own insurance to cover recovery failures, provided you have been honest about the circumstances and cooperated with any proceedings the company needs to bring.
The agreement will require you to cooperate if the matter goes to recovery proceedings. This can mean providing a witness statement and, in some cases, attending a court hearing. This is not the norm, but it is a real possibility, and the contract requires it. If you do not cooperate, the cost protection falls away.
The arrangement works without complication when liability is clear and undisputed. Where the third party's insurer disputes liability, or challenges the hire charges as excessive, the process can extend and become more involved. This is worth understanding before you sign.
For a full explanation of how credit hire works as a system — including why the rates are what they are and what recovery proceedings involve — see Credit Hire Explained.
The agreement and the statement of truth
The paperwork the company sends will include a credit hire agreement and a statement of truth. The statement of truth is a standard template, drafted to cover a wide range of claimant situations — businesses, people with mobility needs, people with no alternative transport available. It is common for the wording to cover situations that may not fully apply to you. If something does not reflect your circumstances, it is reasonable to raise that before signing and ask the company to note the exclusion in writing.
You are not required to use the company your insurer referred you to
There are a few ways this can be handled. You can proceed with the accident management company as referred — the hire car and repair are arranged, costs are recovered from the third party's insurer, and you cooperate with any recovery proceedings if required. Alternatively, you can contact the at-fault driver's insurer directly and ask them to arrange a replacement vehicle — many will do this willingly, as the credit hire charges billed by accident management companies are typically higher than what they would pay to arrange a vehicle themselves. A third option is to claim through your own insurer if your policy includes a courtesy car provision.
If you have already accepted a replacement vehicle from the accident management company, switching to a different arrangement is not usually possible at that point. Under the ABI General Terms of Agreement, whoever first provides an agreed replacement vehicle proceeds with the arrangement.
The hire car and any injury you suffered are two different claims
The accident management company handles vehicle hire and repair. It does not handle personal injury. If you were injured in the accident — whiplash, soft tissue injury, psychological injury, or anything else — that is a separate claim running through a separate process with its own timeline and its own rules.
The two claims arise from the same accident but are legally and procedurally distinct. Dealing with the hire car through an accident management company does not start your injury claim, does not protect or affect your position in an injury claim, and does not affect the time limit on bringing one.
For road traffic accidents in England and Wales where the injury value is under £5,000, the personal injury claim runs through the OIC portal — a separate government-backed system that is independent of anything the accident management company is doing. You can use it yourself or with a solicitor. The vehicle arrangement has no bearing on that process.
You have three years from the date of the accident to bring a personal injury claim. That clock runs independently of the vehicle claim and does not pause while those arrangements are ongoing. It is not connected to whether the hire car issue has resolved.
Last reviewed: 29 March 2026
ClaimTalk provides general guidance only. Not legal advice. Not affiliated with the Official Injury Claim portal, the Motor Insurers' Bureau or any government body.
ClaimTalk cannot respond to questions about individual claims. If you need advice specific to your situation, a regulated solicitor is the appropriate route.