Non-fault accident - out of pocket expenses / "hassle"?

[baileywin]

Third party has hit my partners car - they've admitted liability.

The third party's insurer (accident management company I think? it's a large fleet who self insure) have appointed a repairer but they can't agree between them what's required from the pictures, so want the car taken in for assessment. Then later they will collect the car and drive it to the repair centre.

The repair centre is 30 miles away - so two round trips is not an inconsiderable distance. Can you claim the cost of this back as well?

I guess the same would apply for time spent dealing with them / taking pictures / taking it in for assessment etc.

I'm not purely trying to grab as much cash as I can, and I'm sure we'll get a nice hire car for the day, but you can see why you might feel aggrieved having to do lots of running round because someone else drove into your parked car...

[BertBert]

Ask them to collect it from you for the assessment?
If they can do the tranbsport to the repairer, they can do both

[Ninja59]

I would not let them drive it personally, in the instances I have had it on a back of a lorry, way less risk.

[davek_964]

If it needs to be repaired anyway, why can't they take it there and then assess it before starting the work? Seems very odd to take it there twice.

Do you have anything to bargain with? I had a non-fault accident a few years ago, and third party admitted liability. They offered like for like replacement while mine was being repaired but I said I didn't need it.
When it came to repairing the car - they told me that since the car was driveable, I should take it to be repaired and make my own way back. It would have been about a 1 hour drive there, and a few hours back on the train - I said that I was not willing to do that, and they had to collect it. They refused.

I said : OK - in that case, I would like the like for like hire car waiting for me at the bodyshop. I will return it to the bodyshop when my car is ready for collection - however long that takes.
They called me back 30 mins later to say that a lorry was on the way to my house to collect my car for repair.......

[baileywin]

Ninja59 said:

I would not let them drive it personally, in the instances I have had it on a back of a lorry, way less risk.

If it was my car, I'd think the same but my partners not so precious. I don't think they were given a choice.

I had a hot hatch and after a non-fault accident my insurer said they'd drive it, I wasn't keen so asked for it to be recovered but they refused as I hadn't paid for any extras on my policy.
The third party insurer had no issue collecting it on a truck.

davek_964 said:

If it needs to be repaired anyway, why can't they take it there and then assess it before starting the work? Seems very odd to take it there twice.

No idea - presumably the "solictors" want an estimate before giving the repairers any money. If they ask for loads and it's already there they'd be in a bind?

The "inspection" was just taking all the pictures I'd already done but they'd never seen so pointless anyway.

davek_964 said:

Do you have anything to bargain with? I had a non-fault accident a few years ago, and third party admitted liability. They offered like for like replacement while mine was being repaired but I said I didn't need it.

It's a "luxury SUV" so like-for-like would be pretty expensive, but they've already asked what we actually need and gone for something smaller.

[PorkInsider]

It sounds as if they're treating this as though they're doing you a favour, rather than rectifying the damage their insured party has caused.

I'd be twisting back towards telling them what's going to happen, not letting them tell you.

It's not at all reasonable for them to tell you you've got to get the car to their chosen address 30 miles away.

They need to come and get it and then bring it back in the same condition it was before their customer crashed into it.

Tell them they need to sort it out or you'll hire a car get yours fixed yourself and bill them (or see them in court) for the whole lot. That should sharpen them up a bit, I'd have thought?

[KungFuPanda]

As other's have said, they should be the ones to be responsible for getting your car to the repairing garage. Not sure why it takes two trips either. The car goes there, get's inspected and they do an estimate as best as they can. The estimate gets sent to one of the insurer's engineers who now work from their desk and they either approve or reject the estimate. Most of the time, they're approved and work cracks on.

The TP insurer should also be providing you with a like for like hire car whilst yours is off the road.

[davek_964]

baileywin said:

davek_964 said:

Do you have anything to bargain with? I had a non-fault accident a few years ago, and third party admitted liability. They offered like for like replacement while mine was being repaired but I said I didn't need it.

It's a "luxury SUV" so like-for-like would be pretty expensive, but they've already asked what we actually need and gone for something smaller.

My example was a Ferrari. I think the fact that it was expensive is why they were willing to transport the car after all.

[BertBert]

You have no obligation to deal with the third party insurers direct, so just ask them for what you want (them to pickup) which is not unreasonable or you'll instruct a claims management company to handle it for you.

If they have delivered a hire car to you already just say that you won't be taking your car to an assessment, you'll just keep driving around in their hire car.

[loskie]

you can claim IIRC £25 or so per day in lieu of a hire car/ At least thats what did around 5 years ago when I made a claim against the third party. This was a £1500 old Subaru collected for assessment to bodyshop 25 miles away on a loader. It was the bodyshop guy that advised me of the payment in lieu of hire car as the old Forester was a second rough car for dogs and rallies I didnt need or want a rental

[baileywin]

My partner convinced the third party's agent (i.e. their own appointed accident management company) to drop off a hire car and take (drive) hers away.

The repair was completed the next day, but there were some communication / payment issues between repairer and agent that meant it could only be collected over a week later. Partner wanted their car back so drove there to pick it up and bring it back...

Only needed a new mirror but somehow the repair was over £1.5k. Based on GTA rates the car was £150 a day so all in around £3k. What a joke.

[Drawweight]

Concerning the original question, when my motorbike was damaged but still rideable I was asked to drop it off at the garage of my choice and my travel home would be reimbursed. Whether that would be taxi or bus.

This was also a claim directly to the 3rd party’s insurance.

I wouldn’t really expect less.

[QBee]

baileywin said:

My partner convinced the third party's agent (i.e. their own appointed accident management company) to drop off a hire car and take (drive) hers away.

The repair was completed the next day, but there were some communication / payment issues between repairer and agent that meant it could only be collected over a week later. Partner wanted their car back so drove there to pick it up and bring it back...

Only needed a new mirror but somehow the repair was over £1.5k. Based on GTA rates the car was £150 a day so all in around £3k. What a joke.

Just had this on an almost new Cupra Born. Total cost of a replacement door mirror, damaged by another driver in a hotel car park, was £638, all but £80 of the bill was parts.

[Fermit]

It is a poor show OP. When I had a 50/50 accident in 2017, within 48 hours a like for like car (Mondeo Estate loan, Insignia estate in accident) was dropped off, and ours driven away (cosmetic only damage) when repaired the same happened in reverse. The liable parties insurance is there in this instance to ensure that you are not inconvenienced or in a worse position. That means like for like loan car, high standard repair, and collection and drop off.