Insurance issue? Is this normal?

[C. Grimsley]

Well to cut a long story short I will give the basics, in September last year I was involved in an accident, a car pulled out of a side road and I hit him and it then it put me in a ditch, I had witnesses etc so got the car recovered and processed a claim.

Up until today and numerous phone calls it seems we are not even any closer to it being settled, the other parties ins accepted liability and the car was valued at an amount I was happy with, I accepted it and still nothing, the hire car charges up to now are three times the original claim. They won't settle the claim but give no reason.

I come home from work today and have been asked to provide a years worth of bank statements, any credit card statements and savings accounts etc and three months worth of wage slips.

Is this normal?

I feel like I am being investigated for something here and as you can imagine I am getting a little upset.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

will_ said:

I believe that they are trying to discover whether you could have afforded the hire car without needing to take it on "credit" (which is much more expensive) i.e. did you reasonably act to mitigate your losses.

The "credit hire" brigade will hopefully be the next aspect of insurance over-claiming to be clamped down on, now that referral fees have been banned. It just balloons the costs of claims, often for no justifiable reason.

Thanks for the reply.

To start with I never had a courtesy car as I assumed it would be sorted relatively quickly and the weather was nice at the time, once the weather got cold I got in touch with the insurance and then asked for the courtesy car, it's only a corsa but it's warm and wheels to get to work and take my daughter school etc.

How this has been going on for so long I have no idea, seems insurance companies are idiots to themselves?

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

Has no one else heard of this? Even though I really have nothing to hide, some one going through all my financial side is not a thing I feel I should have to do.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

jamieduff1981 said:

I assume you've got legal representation through your own insurance that was in place at the time of the crash? If so, ask them to deal with this. They should still be representing you even though the policy would have been cancelled when the car was presumably written off as the claim is still open.

My initial reaction would be to decline to give them anything and ask your insurer to begin court proceedings.

Yes the claim is being handled by my solicitors now and yes I am taking the other parties insurers to court, (i have been left with no choice)I have been told after 16 days from the court action they will have to pay. I took the other parties telephone number at the time of the accident and he told me they took a long time to sort his car too, he had to go the legal route also.

After all I am just a normal guy who pays for insurance and it seems this has just gone and gotten all strange, I assumed after they admit liability the car gets paid for (it was written off) and you just move on?

bencollins4 said:

Have you got an injury claim / loss of earnings claim going through as well? If not and only a claim for vehicle damage then there is no way they need that information.

It certainly sounds like you have mitigated your losses and you can do no more.

I went for an injury claim as I had bruised ribs, a broken toe and a big bruise to the top of my head, basically the family took me to a&e and it kind of went from there, nothing regards that has been mentioned or at least to me, I did it just to cover for any broken bits I may had, which i did.

Carl

Edited by C. Grimsley on Tuesday 8th April 21:49

Edited by C. Grimsley on Tuesday 8th April 21:49

[C. Grimsley]

Thanks for all the replies, I see what you mean now regards the car, well I feel I am fine, I don't have the money in my account to go out and directly replace the car that I had so I am fine there, I also never had a car for the first two months as I felt I could get by without one, it was only after this time and the weather got cold I thought well I had a car, a no fault accident why should I walk my daughter to school in the cold etc.

The cars that are supplied I didn't realise was a credit hire I just assumed it was a normal hire car so to speak, well my other argument is, should they not have faffed around and just paid the claim there would have been no need for any further charges, like a courtesy car at all?

Claim was my car was written off, insurance co admitted liability so I should have been paid out? After two months of lying, and basically just delay tactics I am supplied a car, now they after 5 months feel they are the ones who are hard done by? It beggars belief, I don't take out an insurance policy and not pay for 5 months, same principle??

Carl

Edited by C. Grimsley on Thursday 10th April 21:21

[C. Grimsley]

I sent all my accounts to them yesterday so they should have had them this morning, like I say I have nothing to hide.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

Must be the issue then as I have just received a letter in the post stating that this is going to court, sad really as I see it the insurance company are the only losers so to speak.

What's the judge going to ask? If that's how it happens, I don't know?


Carl

[C. Grimsley]

eltax91 said:

For what it's worth I think you will be fine. They will realise you didn't have the means to pay, and you are only in a corsa after trying to manage without a car for 2 months and finding you couldn't.

The only questions I would ask are:

• does your profession change things? As a garage owner perhaps you will find they might suggest you'd have access to other garage vehicles or something?

• isn't their a thread on these very public Internet pages about some car wash guys damaging your car? You got a trusted paint chap to sort it out and they picked up the bill. If that was during this period you talk about, then is this a car you could have been using in lieu of the hire car?

Sorry if this is a case do mistaken identity, but I remember posting on the thread and sure it was you!

Paul

Hi yes that was our car or should I say the family runabout, we both have a car, I had the car which is having the issues now and the other family car so to speak is the golf, which is used by the other half and my youngest son, who she takes nursery and uses that car for work, I also have a daughter which I run to school and used the car that got damaged, obviously when it was warm it wasn't much of an issue to walk her to school, as the weather got colder it wasn't that nice and I asked for a car, I wasn't under the impression it was anything other than a courtesy car, the fact it costs more etc I feel is not really my issue, should they have just paid me out I would have moved on and just replaced the car, instead I am made to be looked into like a crook?

As my job as a garage owner I still use my own car to get to and from work but once at work I work in the garage with tools etc on other peoples cars, should I have to pick one up I have a recovery truck, I cant really run the kids around it that and bring it home, can you imagine the look on the neighbours face? Basically yes I use and work on cars but I have no other vehicles I could use.

There's still no change, got to ring the solicitors tomorrow to see what outcome has been decided from the other parties insurance.

pork911 said:

You might change your opinion if the OP were to disclose the daily rate, extras and total cost for just a corsa.

Daily rate I think is charged at £50, surely if the insurance was that way inclined they would have settled before I took a car? It wasn't like I was out to make a large bill as much as I could, they seem to be doing that well themselves!

eltax91 said:

Ah. Balbany bassistance. I remember these bloody sharks wouldn't leave me alone when I had a non fault crash.

It's not them, from what I can make out the company I am using doesn't have any bad press so to say.

dacouch said:

You did well to avoid them as their claims tend to end up like the OP's which bearing in mind the credit hire companies won't put you in a CH car without the other party accepting liability is some ask. The OP could just have asked the other Insurers to pay his written off car directly and had it settled in a few weeks.

It never ceases to amaze me how credit hire companies manage to stretch claims out and their customers don't complain because they're driving a new hire car

That isn't the case I can assure you, a corsa although new isn't a great car in my eyes, it's just some wheels, I chase the company every two days and have kicked off numerous times with me getting the backs up of a few and asking if they are keeping me in a hire car on purpose, it didn't go down well I assure you, I just want this nightmare over, it's horrendous, if it wasn't bad enough to have an accident, trying to work and chase up all this mess is enough, plus I get various companies now on my case for whiplash etc, it's never ending.

Carl

Edited by C. Grimsley on Monday 28th April 19:06

Edited by C. Grimsley on Monday 28th April 19:08

Edited by C. Grimsley on Monday 28th April 19:12

Edited by C. Grimsley on Monday 28th April 19:20

[C. Grimsley]

dacouch said:

Naive of you to think they're not hanging the claim out or have unintentionally delay the claim through being ineffecient.

How long do you think it would have taken your own Insurers to pay you out for your written off car? I would suggest the average is circa three weeks.

As stated before the hire company will not normally hire you a car without the other party actually confirming to them that they accept liability. Assuming this was the case, how long do you think the third parties Insurers would have taken to pay out for your claim if you had just gone direct to them. I would suggest an average again of between three and four weeks.

If the claims management without complaints is Helphire, try googling "Helphire court action employee email"

It's not them either. I will take a look at the link.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

eltax91 said:

I hope you don't think I was having a go. Sounds like you have taken all reasonable steps to me.

Insurance companies like to wriggle sometimes.

As long as you can explain the situation at court then I'm certain you will get paid what you are owed and have no claim against you for the hire car.

As the weather is now looking up, maybe send the car back as this will only reflect well on your need for a car in the cold weather?

Yes I was thinking the same to be honest, I was going to call them today and sort that out but just lost track of time.

Seems with a busy day at work etc, things like this just don't get a look in, I don't know about anyone else but trying to find five minutes in the working day to spend some time on the phone is just out the question.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

Little update, the hire car I had went back a few weeks ago now, just as it keeps bloody pissing it down.

Got a call from my solicitors, after having my private and savings accounts investigated they now want all details of the joint account, seems they must really be going to town on me, have to say it's not pleased the missus.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

Well this is still very much on going, I have to say I am at my wits end, so much so I contacted my own solicitor today to see what he thought about it all, he said he has not heard of anything like it for such a small and straight cut claim, not to mention them admitting liability.

Today was the final straw, I have given them literally all my financial details, even a joint account and now they have rung today and asked for all my business accounts, it's just unreal, I just hope this is going to get sorted, Friday I have an appointment to tell my own solicitor what's what and see what he proposes we do, it just seems like I have to prove I am an innocent person in a car accident,

A very stressed Carl

[C. Grimsley]

will_ said:

No, as I said above they are seeking to understand if you mitigated your loss. If the only way that you could have received a courtesy car was by way of a credit-hire agreement then that is reasonable. If, however, you failed to mitigate your loss and incurred unreasonable costs then why should the other party pay for them?

You do have to prove your claim - that's part of being a claimant.

It shouldn't be particularly stressful to print out some bank statements.

They have had my bank statements for 4 months now a years worth of my personal account, savings accounts, joint account but now they want my business account, I had the accident nearly a year ago, I had a courtesy car for the cold winter months and after that gave it them back. I don't see why I should have to prove my innocence, surely an insurance company shouldn't have the right go go through literally all my financial aspects on a hunch of there's, are we not all innocent till proven otherwise.

Basically when the accident happened I didn't have a car till approx 6 weeks after and then gave it back when the weather improved, at the minute I still don't have a vehicle which has replaced what I lost? So in the whole time claiming I had the car for five months. That's no unreasonable is it, it's frustrating as the people who take the piss get away with it.

Carl

Edited by C. Grimsley on Tuesday 22 July 23:17

[C. Grimsley]

Sorry but I think half of the replies on here are unreal, with draw a claim, so I loose £5000 worth of car for no fault of my own, it's great the people who sit behind there computer and write this but if you was in my shoes you would feel the same as me.

When I ring an insurance company and take out a policy I don't delay in paying nor do I ask to see all there bank accounts to make sure they are suitable should an issue arise.

Eltax, many thanks for the offer but as it's sunny I have been walking and using my motor bike as and when I can (my 16 months old son unfortunately doesn't go on the back)

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

Yes thanks for that explanation, after all this that's the first time I have 100% understand what's what! well it still feel I did my best to minimise the costs.

On the other hand if the claim was paid straight away the costs would never have occurred I never asked for a courtesy car to start with as I thought I wouldn't need one.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

Well I went and seen my solicitor yesterday and he feels we have a good case, he has advised me to give them what they ask and go from there, basically my issue with the claims firm is why wasn't this case sorted within the first two months? (This was the time when I wasn't claiming for anything other than the car that got damaged, I had no courtesy car etc)

It seems that it's been dragged on for as long as possible to screw over the other parties insurance, as you can imagine this wasn't my intention, I went with what I thought was a good outfit and seems yes they may sort the claim eventually but at a very high cost.

Time will tell what happens, but an hour with my solicitor has put my mind at ease.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

An accident management company was used by my as I just had the accident got home and typed in non fault accident, spoke to these people and it seemed the way forward, my ins was due in a few weeks and I didn't really want to pay an excess and a hiked premium due to this, in hind sight.......

It's not everyday you have to use your insurance or have a crash, I may have gone down the wrong route.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

I hate a hateful year old corsa, I was just happy it was wheels and had a heater, no excitement from me at all.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

MTSGarage said:

How are you getting on with this Carl? I have received the same letter yesterday.

By the sounds of this thread I'm going to have give them the details they require and wait and see.

These are their exact words "I can confirm that irrespective of the outcome of your case, no costs will be sought from you directly."

I'm not really sure where I stand with that...

Well the paperwork will be collected tomorrow from the bank, it's quite an amount and I also have my solicitors paperwork that needs answers from the claims management company put in with it although I had the bill from them today, boy they can charge, I will keep this thread updated with the outcome.

Carl

[C. Grimsley]

Well since my own solicitors have been on the case I have received a cheque, unsure what's what but it's a small amount in comparison but just states in ref to the claim, unsure what this means and as yet haven't banked it.

Sounds like progress?

Carl