Insurers and the Credit Hire Organisation have negotiated changes to the GTA – general terms of agreement – that they claim will reduce costs to motorists. The changes include an annual independent vehicle hire rate review, compulsory arbitration where cases are not agreed and settled quickly, a new set of late payment penalties, and clearer rules on the areas of argument/dispute in the arbitration process.

Anthony Hughes, chair and CEO of the CHO, said: “For the past 18 months we have been working with both Insurers and the ABI to conclude significant revisions and improvements to the GTA. Our strategic objective has been clear from Day 1; reduce or ideally remove frictional costs and put consumers at the heart of the accident management process.”

He added: “We estimate that as many as 100,000 credit hire cases could be removed from the County Court if the reforms work as planned, which would greatly benefit our hard pressed civil justice system.”