Care hire firm confident of positive reception to new scheme

Enterprise Rent-A-Car is set to slash costs for a dozen insurers by undercutting credit hire operators (CHOs).

Enterprise says it will charge insurers around two weeks’ invoice for using replacement vehicles – half the average time billed by CHOs.

Between 12 and 15 insurers are currently in talks with Enterprise to join the scheme, which has been operating since April, and two are already signed up. The “one-stop-shop” scheme also deals with repairs and personal injury claims.

Enterprise insurance head Brendan Keane said the arrangement was known as “direct hire”. He said: “We are confident that the partners are pretty much the best in their class. We are able to fulfil the commitments that we have made.

“It’s an opportunity that’s attractive to insurers, and we think that the entire market is receptive to it.”

The arrangement works by Enterprise charging pre-contracted insurers on average between 12 and 13 days for using its vehicles in its captured claims.

Keane said direct hire was different to bilateral agreements, in which two insurers forfeit referral fees but can save money by taking control of third-party costs.