Insurance claim (silly driving)
Discussion
Hi guys,
This morning on my way to the train station I managed to understeer myself on a wet road into a 30cm tall kerb at a junction - I think I hit at about 20-25mph, with wheels at full lock to the right.
BMW Service had already identified some 'slight' play in my ball joint or control arm (don't remember which) about 4 months ago, so whatever that was is now definitely broken completely I think. Car is driving ok, but I do have quite a strong pull to the left and my steering wheel is now off-centre - need to hold at about 30 degrees angle to stay straight. I also got a strange grinding noise with wheels fully locked to the right in a fairly sharp turn, but it hasn't returned since and it may have been just road noise.
Car is also a bit more bouncy I think, so possibly new shocks needed too?
Either way, it is probably going to be expensive (BMW 650i) and I may need to claim on insurance. My questions are:
1)Do I need to tell insurance today that I had this incident?
2) Or can I wait until I get BMW's assessment of the damage (no free slot before 17th April!)?
3) In either case, can I continue to drive the car, at least to get home?
4) What else could I have broken?
Many thanks in advance!
This morning on my way to the train station I managed to understeer myself on a wet road into a 30cm tall kerb at a junction - I think I hit at about 20-25mph, with wheels at full lock to the right.
BMW Service had already identified some 'slight' play in my ball joint or control arm (don't remember which) about 4 months ago, so whatever that was is now definitely broken completely I think. Car is driving ok, but I do have quite a strong pull to the left and my steering wheel is now off-centre - need to hold at about 30 degrees angle to stay straight. I also got a strange grinding noise with wheels fully locked to the right in a fairly sharp turn, but it hasn't returned since and it may have been just road noise.
Car is also a bit more bouncy I think, so possibly new shocks needed too?
Either way, it is probably going to be expensive (BMW 650i) and I may need to claim on insurance. My questions are:
1)Do I need to tell insurance today that I had this incident?
2) Or can I wait until I get BMW's assessment of the damage (no free slot before 17th April!)?
3) In either case, can I continue to drive the car, at least to get home?
4) What else could I have broken?
Many thanks in advance!
Just did the maths, and if I had a claim against me I'd have to pay £150 more than if I didn't (this includes less NCB and declared claim on moneysupermarket).
In my simple world that means 5 years @ £150 difference = £750 I'd pay more if I claimed.
I need to trade this off against a claim that can be anything between £300 to £2000.
Is it likely that the insurance company might say they are not paying because the accident may have been caused by me not replacing the part BMW flagged up at the last service? Or at least skimp on paying out for the flagged part?
No choice on BMW/no-BMW, due to BMW Insured Warranty unfortunately
In my simple world that means 5 years @ £150 difference = £750 I'd pay more if I claimed.
I need to trade this off against a claim that can be anything between £300 to £2000.
Is it likely that the insurance company might say they are not paying because the accident may have been caused by me not replacing the part BMW flagged up at the last service? Or at least skimp on paying out for the flagged part?
No choice on BMW/no-BMW, due to BMW Insured Warranty unfortunately
I've been around a lot on Forums, but even for me it is a first to be accused of being a 900 year old alien from Zog with Alcohol as blood and misusing insurance on Earth 
Top job, love it 
Couple of facts:
a) I'm FC covered for SDPCB, which should be sufficient to cover me for driving from home to the train station to catch a train that will get me to the office!
b) There is no mechanical failure involved, as otherwise I wouldn't have been able to drive home. The only issue here is whether the insurance will pay for replacing the identified part or not (do Insurance repairers have access to manufacturer service files?)
c) In defence of my driving, it was a T-junction and I tried to make the turn on a wet road. I was a bit too fast for the conditions and that road (I have made this turn at higher speeds in the dry without issue) and hence understeered straight into the kerb.
I have notified the insurers, who will be picking up the car tomorrow on a flat bed. Insurance company swear that BMW can't invalidate my warranty. I read up on the appointed repair shop, who are BMW-approved and have had other companies come in and do Audits (Audi, Jag, etc.). The insurance and Repair guys both confirmed they would be using BMW parts, so hopefully that should pre-empt any problems.
My vehicle check is due in 3,000 miles too, so that would throw up any issues with the repair job I hope.
Since BMW told me (over the phone, not in person - I never went to BMW physically, due to stark warnings here and by other mechanically knowledgeable people) that the steering rack has to be replaced for these types of impcats, can I refuse accepting the car back unless that has been done?
Top job, love it Couple of facts:
a) I'm FC covered for SDPCB, which should be sufficient to cover me for driving from home to the train station to catch a train that will get me to the office!
b) There is no mechanical failure involved, as otherwise I wouldn't have been able to drive home. The only issue here is whether the insurance will pay for replacing the identified part or not (do Insurance repairers have access to manufacturer service files?)
c) In defence of my driving, it was a T-junction and I tried to make the turn on a wet road. I was a bit too fast for the conditions and that road (I have made this turn at higher speeds in the dry without issue) and hence understeered straight into the kerb.
I have notified the insurers, who will be picking up the car tomorrow on a flat bed. Insurance company swear that BMW can't invalidate my warranty. I read up on the appointed repair shop, who are BMW-approved and have had other companies come in and do Audits (Audi, Jag, etc.). The insurance and Repair guys both confirmed they would be using BMW parts, so hopefully that should pre-empt any problems.
My vehicle check is due in 3,000 miles too, so that would throw up any issues with the repair job I hope.
Since BMW told me (over the phone, not in person - I never went to BMW physically, due to stark warnings here and by other mechanically knowledgeable people) that the steering rack has to be replaced for these types of impcats, can I refuse accepting the car back unless that has been done?
Hi there,
Just spoken to the insurance company and they said the garage would call me tomorrow.
Apparently, the insurer's garage found that there was very little damage. They reckon a wheel refurbishment is needed, and the tracking needs to be re-aligned and that nothing else is wrong.
That sounds wrong to me - I know how the car felt and I refuse to believe that the steering wheel can be offset from the centre by 30 degrees through a simple alignment fault - also, it's not normal for a car to pull to the left naturally when it was absolutely fine before.
What comeback do I have with the insurance company and their garage? Can I insist on the car being taken to BMW for a second opinion? If BMW find it needs more work, can I insist on the company picking up the bill?
Their small print says I need to cover the difference between what their repairers would have charged versus what my own repairer charges but does that extend to a disagreement in what the required repair work needs to be?
Just spoken to the insurance company and they said the garage would call me tomorrow.
Apparently, the insurer's garage found that there was very little damage. They reckon a wheel refurbishment is needed, and the tracking needs to be re-aligned and that nothing else is wrong.
That sounds wrong to me - I know how the car felt and I refuse to believe that the steering wheel can be offset from the centre by 30 degrees through a simple alignment fault - also, it's not normal for a car to pull to the left naturally when it was absolutely fine before.
What comeback do I have with the insurance company and their garage? Can I insist on the car being taken to BMW for a second opinion? If BMW find it needs more work, can I insist on the company picking up the bill?
Their small print says I need to cover the difference between what their repairers would have charged versus what my own repairer charges but does that extend to a disagreement in what the required repair work needs to be?
TwigtheWonderkid said:
By small print, you mean normal sized print you haven't bothered to read until now.
What's with the attitude?I had to click several times to find the sole statement saying the following:
Policy Document said:
Should you still prefer to use a non-Recommended Repairer, we will only pay the cost that would have been charged by our Recommended Repairer, as per your policy/renewal notice which states “ if you choose not to use them (our Recommended Repairer) we will not pay more than our
Recommended Repairer would have charged”.
This sole statement which is definitely small print as it isn't part of the regular policy documentation as far as I can see does not explain to me whether:Recommended Repairer would have charged”.
1) They will only pay for damage identified by their assessors/repairers, or
2) They will pay for damage identified by BMW as a second opinion, but only at the rate of the repairers'
I can live with 2) but would not be happy with 1). Heck, I may even be persuaded to have the car returned to the insurance repariers' if they agree to do all the work that BMW have identified...
So coming back to my question - am I in situation 1) or 2) or is it not possible to tell from that snippet?
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