What are roadside recovery charges?

The existing charges for Road Traffic Accident (RTA) recovery and storage have been in force since 1993, and they no longer accurately reflect the cost involved in recovering either large trucks from the scene of accidents, or some of the complex situations & hazards encountered where vehicles leave the road as a result of accidents.

The new Home Office charges that took effect on 1st October 2008 more accurately represent the charges incurred by Vehicle Recovery Operations involved in attending such scenes. However, these new charges will present self-insured fleet operators and motor insurers with increases in the costs of recovery and storage after an accident.

The charges are now calculated on a new structure which, in simple terms, takes into account the size and weight of the vehicle, the extent of damage and whether the vehicle is on or off road.

The Highways Agency

The Highways Agency, who are taking over control of managing the strategic road network from the Police, will in many cases attend the scene of road accidents.

Therefore the Highways Agency will be instrumental in organising which recovery operators are to be used at the scene of an accident although the motorist does have the choice of which company they use. The exception is when the Police impose a statutory recovery, which is normally because of serious injury or possible criminality.

The shock, upset or confusion experienced by drivers at an accident scene will often mean that one of their last concerns is who recovers their vehicle. The result is that the attending Police or the Highways Agency will instruct one of their preferred agents to attend, and statutory charges will apply.

Exaggerated Costs

It is sad fact that historically, there have been a minority of recovery agents who have, over a considerable period of time, used exaggerated and unjustified costs against insurers that, have been paid without challenge.

Nevertheless, a number of responsible motor insurers have looked closely at this problem in recent years, with several of them making their own arrangements for recovery of their policyholders vehicles from the scene of accidents.

The challenge insurers face

It has always been difficult for the Police or Highways Agency to identify who the recovery agents are for the insurers of a vehicle while at the scene of an accident. Today this is made possible by use of the Motor Insurers Database which records the relevant insurer for all road registered vehicles.
There also needs to be a willingness by the Police and Highways Agency to both use and abide by the information on who the vehicle’s insurer’s preferred recovery agents are.

In addition to this, there are strict criteria regarding service level agreements and attendance times that need to be met by all recovery operators who are nominated by motor insurers, or self insured fleets.

Progress is currently being made in this regard with all interested parties to satisfying the criteria of both the authorities and the insurers.

The benefits for insurers and fleet managers are a control of the cost of recovery and hence the total value of claims. With greater control of who is used for the recovery it may also be possible to avoid the inconvenience of writing vehicles off that may have been repairable prior to their actual recovery, but have incurred further damage due to irresponsible actions during their actual recovery.

The Current Situation

One word of warning to drivers is that on no account should drivers sign a roadside agreement with a police appointed recovery agent.

The reason that some recovery agents do this is to charge additional costs for recovery by removing the legal limits on the cost of recovery. This means that they can then charge whatever they like, and the driver, their company and/ or their insurer then becomes responsible for the costs levied!

The police have a legal obligation to clear a highway, and there is therefore never any obligation on any driver to sign a roadside agreement with an attending recovery operator.

Future Developments

It is envisaged that once agreement has been reached on how insurers recovery operations details will be made available to the authorities the Police and Highways Agency will instruct the nominated recovery agent of the vehicle’s motor insurer.

This will stop the driver needing to be able to remember who the recovery agent of their motor insurer is and so enable them to focus on the more personal concerns that occur at such a stressful time as an accident.