Third Party Insurance Issues
Discussion
Hi all,
Not sure where to put this so if its in the wrong place could a mod do the honours?
Anyway, July last year, my daughter was queuing at a roundabout and was driven into from behind which pushed her into the vehicle in front.
Suzuki accident management dealt with the process and she was given a hire car, which Suzuki would claim from the third party insurers, whilst her car was repaired.
Today, she has received this letter asking for her to submit any other losses she may have incurred as a result of the accident, plus they are having problems recovering the hire costs from the TP insurers. Also, the repair company had the vehicle for nearly 8 weeks to replace a front bonnet, bumper, rear bumper and associated parts! When i was chasing Suzuki, i kept being told that the bonnet catch was out of stock at the factory and they would keep chasing it.
After three weeks of this, i called Suzuki cars direct and asked them what the issue was with regards to obtaining the part. The very nice lady had no idea as they had hundreds of them in stock!
The letter that was sent, was on plain paper, and looks almost as it is done on a typewriter.
The contact info is genuine, but should we really be getting involved in all of this?
Surely the management company should be dealing with this themselves?
Any help appreciated.
Not sure where to put this so if its in the wrong place could a mod do the honours?
Anyway, July last year, my daughter was queuing at a roundabout and was driven into from behind which pushed her into the vehicle in front.
Suzuki accident management dealt with the process and she was given a hire car, which Suzuki would claim from the third party insurers, whilst her car was repaired.
Today, she has received this letter asking for her to submit any other losses she may have incurred as a result of the accident, plus they are having problems recovering the hire costs from the TP insurers. Also, the repair company had the vehicle for nearly 8 weeks to replace a front bonnet, bumper, rear bumper and associated parts! When i was chasing Suzuki, i kept being told that the bonnet catch was out of stock at the factory and they would keep chasing it.
After three weeks of this, i called Suzuki cars direct and asked them what the issue was with regards to obtaining the part. The very nice lady had no idea as they had hundreds of them in stock!
The letter that was sent, was on plain paper, and looks almost as it is done on a typewriter.
The contact info is genuine, but should we really be getting involved in all of this?
Surely the management company should be dealing with this themselves?
Any help appreciated.
Insurers often need the threat of proceedings to get closer to a payment being made, this is normal.
The 8 weeks sounds like it was massively dragged out to ramp up the credit hire. Probably why they are not keen to settle.
Everyone has a duty to mitigate the loss. So as you chased it up this may help, but if it goes to court most likely the small print says she needs to be there!
Good chance it gets sorted as they will probably accept a few weeks hire not the 8 anyway as it's easy money for them anyway.
The 8 weeks sounds like it was massively dragged out to ramp up the credit hire. Probably why they are not keen to settle.
Everyone has a duty to mitigate the loss. So as you chased it up this may help, but if it goes to court most likely the small print says she needs to be there!
Good chance it gets sorted as they will probably accept a few weeks hire not the 8 anyway as it's easy money for them anyway.
Your daughter was not given a hire car. She hired a car on credit. She will be the Claimant at Court since it is her loss.
Most likely the accident management company will reiterate to her she is not on the hook for the charges (verbally, by letter or by reference to a separate policy covering her) as long as she co-operates in seeking recovery of as much of those charges as the Court awards. That co-operation will involve her evidence not including reference to that but will include how she fully understood what she was doing and that she knew she was and still is on the hook. Such credit hires (which I am assuming this is one) are predicated on a fraud. It happens a lot. If it is as it appears, your daughter has unfortunately found herself at the heart of it. Her options would be to play along or not, neither is attractive.
Dig out all the paperwork and by all means post more information here. If you want I could then give you some questions to ask. Those questions might make the accident management company decide not to pursue it, but may make them pile on the pressure threatening her with the bill.
Most likely the accident management company will reiterate to her she is not on the hook for the charges (verbally, by letter or by reference to a separate policy covering her) as long as she co-operates in seeking recovery of as much of those charges as the Court awards. That co-operation will involve her evidence not including reference to that but will include how she fully understood what she was doing and that she knew she was and still is on the hook. Such credit hires (which I am assuming this is one) are predicated on a fraud. It happens a lot. If it is as it appears, your daughter has unfortunately found herself at the heart of it. Her options would be to play along or not, neither is attractive.
Dig out all the paperwork and by all means post more information here. If you want I could then give you some questions to ask. Those questions might make the accident management company decide not to pursue it, but may make them pile on the pressure threatening her with the bill.
Funny how whenever a solicitor or AMC doesn't get paid it's huge, exorbitant, and barely legal rip off charges, based of a largely legal "loophole" or "dodge", it's always the "Unreasonable Insurer's Fault" that payment isn't immediately forthcoming.
Tell your daughter to provide the evidence of their incompetence re the out of stock catch which wasn't, and I'm sure a reasonable settlement offer will suddenly be forthcoming from the insurer.
It's probably, given the time to repair and 8w delay and assuming only a modest vehicle was supplied, albeit like for like, £500 a week on "credit" charges with all the "extras", and so £4k hire that was never needed, + the £1500 hire that was. So £5.5k hire, on probably a £2k repair that should last a few days. How "unreasonable" the insurers won't pay!
Just think, if you'd gone to the insurer directly, there'd be no argument over the hire charges, and this would all have gone away due to the "unreasonable" insurer probably spending a fraction of the cost, to provide the same service.
Tell your daughter to provide the evidence of their incompetence re the out of stock catch which wasn't, and I'm sure a reasonable settlement offer will suddenly be forthcoming from the insurer.
It's probably, given the time to repair and 8w delay and assuming only a modest vehicle was supplied, albeit like for like, £500 a week on "credit" charges with all the "extras", and so £4k hire that was never needed, + the £1500 hire that was. So £5.5k hire, on probably a £2k repair that should last a few days. How "unreasonable" the insurers won't pay!
Just think, if you'd gone to the insurer directly, there'd be no argument over the hire charges, and this would all have gone away due to the "unreasonable" insurer probably spending a fraction of the cost, to provide the same service.
It's not so easy going 'direct' to insurers. I have tried to do this twice and both times a waste of time.
Case 1. Vehicle hit my fathers car from the behind/side. Other guy ended up going on the pavement, scraping a telegraph pole, hitting the edge of my dads car and all in front of a witness. We contacted his insurer who told us to call back after a couple of days and then told us after a couple of days that their insured was disputing liability. So went to an AMC who gave us nearly 3 months of car hire while the protracted repair negotiations went on. Could have been easily resolved in less than a month with an ins company on the ball. They disputed car hire costs but had to pay them all anyway and didn't even contest liability when presented with the accident report and the witness statement. Literally two hours of their time would have given the same info and statement at the start of the claim. They could have halved the claim. Dicks.
Case 2. My friends car written off whilst parked by a drunk driver. Drunk driver arrested at scene. His ins company a total waste of time and refused to contact their insured to see if this incident had happened. AMC hire car again for a month before car was declared a write off. Yet again drivers ins company could have processed the entire claim and saved costs.
More recently someone hit my mums car in Tesco car park. Witness wrote down all the details and gave me an address etc. I found her ins details from askmid, contacted her insurance company who wouldn't do anything. Not even a reference for the phone call. Mums car is 3rd party so can't claim for her damage. This was last week and I literally don't know what my next step is...
Case 1. Vehicle hit my fathers car from the behind/side. Other guy ended up going on the pavement, scraping a telegraph pole, hitting the edge of my dads car and all in front of a witness. We contacted his insurer who told us to call back after a couple of days and then told us after a couple of days that their insured was disputing liability. So went to an AMC who gave us nearly 3 months of car hire while the protracted repair negotiations went on. Could have been easily resolved in less than a month with an ins company on the ball. They disputed car hire costs but had to pay them all anyway and didn't even contest liability when presented with the accident report and the witness statement. Literally two hours of their time would have given the same info and statement at the start of the claim. They could have halved the claim. Dicks.
Case 2. My friends car written off whilst parked by a drunk driver. Drunk driver arrested at scene. His ins company a total waste of time and refused to contact their insured to see if this incident had happened. AMC hire car again for a month before car was declared a write off. Yet again drivers ins company could have processed the entire claim and saved costs.
More recently someone hit my mums car in Tesco car park. Witness wrote down all the details and gave me an address etc. I found her ins details from askmid, contacted her insurance company who wouldn't do anything. Not even a reference for the phone call. Mums car is 3rd party so can't claim for her damage. This was last week and I literally don't know what my next step is...
zedstar said:
It's not so easy going 'direct' to insurers. I have tried to do this twice and both times a waste of time.
Case 1. Vehicle hit my fathers car from the behind/side. Other guy ended up going on the pavement, scraping a telegraph pole, hitting the edge of my dads car and all in front of a witness. We contacted his insurer who told us to call back after a couple of days and then told us after a couple of days that their insured was disputing liability. So went to an AMC who gave us nearly 3 months of car hire while the protracted repair negotiations went on. Could have been easily resolved in less than a month with an ins company on the ball. They disputed car hire costs but had to pay them all anyway and didn't even contest liability when presented with the accident report and the witness statement. Literally two hours of their time would have given the same info and statement at the start of the claim. They could have halved the claim. Dicks.
Case 2. My friends car written off whilst parked by a drunk driver. Drunk driver arrested at scene. His ins company a total waste of time and refused to contact their insured to see if this incident had happened. AMC hire car again for a month before car was declared a write off. Yet again drivers ins company could have processed the entire claim and saved costs.
More recently someone hit my mums car in Tesco car park. Witness wrote down all the details and gave me an address etc. I found her ins details from askmid, contacted her insurance company who wouldn't do anything. Not even a reference for the phone call. Mums car is 3rd party so can't claim for her damage. This was last week and I literally don't know what my next step is...
They failed to stop so I'd try the police.Case 1. Vehicle hit my fathers car from the behind/side. Other guy ended up going on the pavement, scraping a telegraph pole, hitting the edge of my dads car and all in front of a witness. We contacted his insurer who told us to call back after a couple of days and then told us after a couple of days that their insured was disputing liability. So went to an AMC who gave us nearly 3 months of car hire while the protracted repair negotiations went on. Could have been easily resolved in less than a month with an ins company on the ball. They disputed car hire costs but had to pay them all anyway and didn't even contest liability when presented with the accident report and the witness statement. Literally two hours of their time would have given the same info and statement at the start of the claim. They could have halved the claim. Dicks.
Case 2. My friends car written off whilst parked by a drunk driver. Drunk driver arrested at scene. His ins company a total waste of time and refused to contact their insured to see if this incident had happened. AMC hire car again for a month before car was declared a write off. Yet again drivers ins company could have processed the entire claim and saved costs.
More recently someone hit my mums car in Tesco car park. Witness wrote down all the details and gave me an address etc. I found her ins details from askmid, contacted her insurance company who wouldn't do anything. Not even a reference for the phone call. Mums car is 3rd party so can't claim for her damage. This was last week and I literally don't know what my next step is...
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff