In October 2016, I rented a small Ford vehicle from Enterprise-rent-a-Car, on Aqueduct Street in Preston, Lancashire. The car rental company was recommended to me by AGEAS insurance Ltd following a car accident at which the 3rd party was deemed to be at fault. I signed the contract and paid £1 from my bank card and it was stipulated on the contract that I was ultimately responsible for the contract even though my insurers had informed that they were prepared to pay the hire daily hire charges of £39.99.
As it turned out, no one was paying the hire charges and the rental company and the AGEAS simply were simply involved in a racket to derive money from the entire scheme. The plan was to guarantee the hire charges but only in the sense that my accident claim was not opposed by my opponents but if as it turned out, the 3rd party driver denied liability, then AGEAS and the car rental company would pull the deal and literally sweep the rug from under my feet and leave me on my own in breach of the contract.
The vehicle was hired out for an initial 3months until 10 Jan 2017 on a credit hire basis to me with AGEAS as the guarantor.
As it then happened, my opponent who slammed into the back of my vehicle then suddenly chose to dispute liability, on the basis as he claimed that I applied my brakes suddenly and without good reason to induce the collission. I obviously requested a court date but AGEAS refused my request and pulled from my car hire deal.
After AGEAS pulled the rug as guarantors, Enterprise-rent-a-car requested that I return the vehicle instantly but I refused as the contract still had a month to run.
Enterprise then attempted to my home in the dead of the night with a crane to try and hijack the vehicle with the spare key, but I had already hidden the car in my friend’s garage. This cat-&-mouse game went on for quite a while then Enterprise realising that they were on a loosing streak decided to call in the Police and alleged theft of their asset.
I was arrested and interviewed and I provded a “no-comment” interview.
Charges of theft were brought and the matter proceeded to a pre-trial hearing where a Magistrates berated the Police and struck out the case before trial.
I then turned around Enterprise-Rent-a-Car for a Malicious Prosecution, and they dragged the matter for another year and then made an offer of £26,000 just 3days before the trial, which I accepted and the case was withdrawn as settled.
In this case, the private Hire company was liable for Malicious Prosecution and not the Police because the Police claimed a lack of knowledge of the intricacies of a car hire contract.
