If someone else clearly caused the crash and you need a vehicle while yours is off the road, an accident management company is usually the better first call, because it claims the hire and repair costs from the at-fault driver’s insurer instead of using your own policy. If you caused it, fault is unclear, or it’s a minor scrape and you don’t need a replacement, your own insurer is usually the better call. A claim for a car accident that wasn’t your fault runs against the other driver’s insurer, which is a different thing from claiming on your own cover.
National Accident Support Line is an accident management company that handles the vehicle side of non-fault claims, so we have an interest in this question. This guide sets out where we’re the wrong call as plainly as where we’re the right one, including how firms like ours are paid and what can go wrong.
No excess to pay if the accident wasn’t your fault. Fill in our form and we’ll call you back within 2 minutes.
What an accident management company is, and who it works for
An accident management company (AMC) takes over the practical side of a non-fault accident: recovering your car, arranging a replacement vehicle, managing the repair or the write-off, and claiming the costs back from the at-fault driver’s insurer. Many also pass injury claims to solicitors. You are its customer. It isn’t part of your insurance policy and it doesn’t work for either insurer.
The honest part: an AMC is paid out of the claim it makes against the other side. That suits you when someone else clearly caused the accident and you genuinely need a vehicle. It suits you less when fault is shaky or you could manage without a hire car, because a hire that wasn’t needed is the first thing an insurer will challenge. A decent firm tells you when it isn’t the right route.
How accident management companies make money
On a straightforward non-fault claim you shouldn’t be paying the hire or repair bill yourself, so it’s fair to ask where the money comes from. There are three sources.
Hire and repair charges
The replacement vehicle is supplied through credit hire. You sign a credit hire agreement, and the hire charges are claimed from the at-fault insurer at the end of the claim, along with the repair, recovery and storage costs. The AMC is paid out of those recoveries, or by the hire companies and repairers it works with. Credit hire rates are higher than the price at a rental desk, partly because the hire company waits months to be paid and carries the risk of not being paid in full, and insurers often dispute them.
Injury claims
Since 1 April 2013, referral fees for personal injury claims have been banned in England and Wales under section 56 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). A solicitor can’t pay a firm simply for passing on an injured person’s details, however the payment is labelled. The law still allows payment for genuine services other than the referral itself, and some claims firms are linked to law firms through ownership. The ban covers England and Wales; Scotland has its own rules. Separately, a claims management firm that handles or refers injury claims must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, while solicitors are regulated by their own regulator.
Fees charged to you
Some firms charge the customer directly, through a membership fee or a share of any compensation, so ask before you agree to anything. We charge you no fee for managing the claim or for referring an injury claim to a specialist solicitor. The hire and repair costs are claimed from the at-fault insurer; what stays with you is what’s in your control, such as fuel, fines and returning the vehicle late, plus any excess on the hire vehicle if it’s damaged. Ask us what you would owe if liability were disputed.
What your own insurer does on a non-fault claim
You have to tell your insurer the accident happened whichever route you choose, and for many people that call turns into a claim without them deciding it should. If you claim on your policy, the insurer repairs the car through its approved repairer and then tries to recover its costs from the other side. You usually pay your excess first and get it back only if they recover in full, and your no-claims discount can be affected until they do. The replacement is whatever your policy includes, which may be nothing once the car is written off. Our guide to how credit hire compares with the courtesy car your policy offers covers that gap.
Some insurers don’t handle non-fault claims themselves. They ask whether you want to claim on your policy or be passed to a partner accident management or credit hire firm. Say yes and you’re dealing with a separate company outside your policy, which the Financial Ombudsman Service expects your insurer to explain. So “my insurer or an AMC” is sometimes a choice between two AMCs, one of them picked by your insurer.
Who to call first: a quick guide
| Your situation | Usually the better first call | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The other driver clearly caused it and your car is off the road | An accident management company | Hire and repair are claimed from their insurer, not your policy |
| Your car is written off and you weren’t at fault | An accident management company | A replacement can run until the write-off is settled, where most courtesy cars stop |
| You caused the accident | Your own insurer | There’s nobody to claim against, so your policy decides what you get |
| Fault is unclear, or you were both partly to blame | Your own insurer | Credit hire relies on the other side paying in full |
| A minor scrape, the car is drivable and you don’t need a hire car | Your own insurer, or the other driver’s insurer direct | A small repair rarely needs managing |
| You have another car you can use | Either, but you may not need a hire car at all | Hire is only recoverable when it’s needed |
| The other driver drove off or wasn’t insured | Your own insurer | Check your policy for uninsured driver cover |
No excess to pay if the accident wasn’t your fault. Fill in our form and we’ll call you back within 2 minutes.
When the other driver’s insurer calls you
Sometimes the first call comes from the insurer of the driver who hit you. The industry calls it third party capture, or third party assistance: they offer to repair your car through their own repairer and give you a hire car, because that costs them less than a credit hire bill later. Some add a cash payment to get you to agree.
For a simple rear-end shunt where their driver has admitted fault, that can work out fine. The drawbacks: you’re not their customer, their job is to keep their policyholder’s claim cheap, and your options if the repair or the car is poor are narrower. You don’t have to accept. But if they offer a suitable car and you turn it down without good reason, the courts have held that what you can recover for hire may be limited to what their offer would have cost. Get the offer in writing, note which car and for how long, and tell whoever handles your claim. If you were hurt, don’t agree anything about the injury without independent advice.
What can go wrong with an accident management company
Fault goes the other way
Credit hire works when the other side pays. If fault is disputed and the claim fails, or the hire ran longer or the car was bigger than needed, the agreement may leave you responsible for some of the charges. The Financial Ombudsman Service says this in its own guidance, and warns that the hire agreement is usually an unregulated credit agreement, so a dispute about the hire itself is normally one to take up with the hire company directly. Before you sign, ask what you would owe if liability were disputed.
You may be asked for a statement later
If the at-fault insurer contests the hire, you may be asked for a witness statement about why you needed the vehicle, sometimes months after you’ve handed it back. Keep a note of how you used it.
Nuisance calls, and agreements signed in a hurry
Since September 2018, claims firms have needed your prior consent before cold calling you about a claim. A call about an accident you never reported, or a caller who already knows details you didn’t give, is a reason to hang up, and you can report it to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Whoever you deal with, read the agreement before you sign it, even when it arrives on your phone, and turn down a bigger car than you need.
How to check a firm on the FCA register
Search the firm’s name or registration number on the Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk. Check that the status says authorised, that the permissions include claims management, and that the phone number and website on the register match the ones you were given, because clone firms copy real firms’ details. A firm that deals only with vehicles and hire may not hold claims management permission at all, so ask what it is authorised to do. National Accident Support Line’s registration number is 829991.
Situations people describe to us
“I thought I was ringing my insurer”
After a crash, people search for their insurer’s claims line and ring the first number on the page. If the person on the phone talks about a hire car before asking how the accident happened, ask who they are and check their registration. We’re glad to be asked.
“Someone hit me in a car park and there were no witnesses”
Car park collisions are often disputed, and without footage or a witness they can end up split. If yours is heading that way, your own insurer may be the safer route, and we’ll say so on the first call rather than put you in a hire car on a claim that may not pay.
Where National Accident Support Line fits
We’re an FCA-regulated claims management company, not a law firm, working across England, Wales and Scotland. We handle the vehicle side ourselves: recovery, a like-for-like replacement, the repair or the write-off value pursued from the at-fault insurer, and an in-house recovery team if the other side disputes fault. There’s more on how our replacement vehicles are arranged on credit. If you were injured, we refer the claim to a specialist solicitor.
We confirm the accident wasn’t your fault before a vehicle is delivered, because that check is what protects you from a hire bill. When we’re not the right call, because you caused it, it’s heading for a split, or you don’t need a vehicle, we’ll say so on the first call and send you back to your insurer.
Frequently asked questions
What is an accident management company?
A company that handles the practical side of a non-fault accident for you: recovery, a replacement vehicle, the repair or write-off, and the claim for those costs against the at-fault driver’s insurer.
Should I use an accident management company or my insurer?
An accident management company, when someone else clearly caused the accident and you need a vehicle. Your own insurer, when you caused it, fault is unclear, or the damage is minor and you can manage without a hire car.
How do accident management companies make money?
Mainly from the hire, repair, recovery and storage charges claimed from the at-fault insurer, or from the hire companies and repairers they work with. Injury referral fees are banned in England and Wales, so any payment from a solicitor has to be for genuine services, not the referral.
Is an accident management company the same as a claims management company?
Not always. Claims management company is the regulatory term for firms the FCA authorises to handle certain claims, including personal injury. Some accident management companies hold that authorisation, as we do; others deal only with vehicles.
Can I still use one after reporting the accident to my insurer?
Usually, yes. Telling your insurer isn’t claiming on your policy. If your insurer has already started a repair or provided a car, tell us, because it affects what can be claimed from the other side.
What happens if the other driver changes their story?
Send us everything you have: photos, dashcam footage, witness details. Our in-house recovery team argues liability with their insurer on the evidence. If the evidence doesn’t back you, we’ll tell you so and suggest you take it to your own insurer.
No excess to pay if the accident wasn’t your fault. Fill in our form and we’ll call you back within 2 minutes.
National Accident Support Line Ltd is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in respect of regulated claims management activities, registration number 829991.