Glacial progress with insurer; could I use a 3rd party?
Discussion
Having not dealt with an insurance claim in yonks, perhaps someone with more knowledge/experience could guide me on this?
Minor prang in wife's car (me driving). Two straight ahead lanes in a 30 limit, I am in lane 1, driver at my 5 o'clock in lane 2 changes lane without looking and catches my offside rear quarter/wheel/bumper. Nasty noise, minor damage. I stop, he stops now behind me in the same lane. I signal him to pull into a nearby car park. He refuses to identify himself until I call the police and start photographing him, his car, and his passenger. He succumbs. He later calls me to ask I don't make a claim. I said throughout I would simply prefer the insurance to do what they're paid for.
Anyway, my wife's insurer are as slow/useless/annoying as they come, it turns out. The accident was on the 16th of April and reported online (at their request) that day. A week or so in the insurers ask for more info that they recieve within 24 hours. Here commences numerous failed attempts to call (indefinite hold music and me needing to take/make other calls) and email (they don't reply). When I eventually ask to go through complaints process I'm asked to allow the "manager" an opportunity to contact me. I get a very short email from the manager who tells me that 4 weeks on from additional info they had not yet done anything with it, and that the 3rd party is claiming I drove into them. That's where we are now.
The only proactive calls I'd have from the insurer are asking if I'd like to make a personal injury claim. Their hire car company and bodyshop have also been calling me.
Is an insurance claim always this painful? Am I being unrealistic in expecting to get off their backsides? Whenever I call I'm put on hold and am customer facing during the day, so can't wait indefinitely.
Is this the sort of thing I could hand off to an accident management company?
TL:DR - insurance company don't answer the phone or reply to emails, and 6 weeks in no progress has been made with claim. Can I use an accident management company and if so who?
Minor prang in wife's car (me driving). Two straight ahead lanes in a 30 limit, I am in lane 1, driver at my 5 o'clock in lane 2 changes lane without looking and catches my offside rear quarter/wheel/bumper. Nasty noise, minor damage. I stop, he stops now behind me in the same lane. I signal him to pull into a nearby car park. He refuses to identify himself until I call the police and start photographing him, his car, and his passenger. He succumbs. He later calls me to ask I don't make a claim. I said throughout I would simply prefer the insurance to do what they're paid for.
Anyway, my wife's insurer are as slow/useless/annoying as they come, it turns out. The accident was on the 16th of April and reported online (at their request) that day. A week or so in the insurers ask for more info that they recieve within 24 hours. Here commences numerous failed attempts to call (indefinite hold music and me needing to take/make other calls) and email (they don't reply). When I eventually ask to go through complaints process I'm asked to allow the "manager" an opportunity to contact me. I get a very short email from the manager who tells me that 4 weeks on from additional info they had not yet done anything with it, and that the 3rd party is claiming I drove into them. That's where we are now.
The only proactive calls I'd have from the insurer are asking if I'd like to make a personal injury claim. Their hire car company and bodyshop have also been calling me.
Is an insurance claim always this painful? Am I being unrealistic in expecting to get off their backsides? Whenever I call I'm put on hold and am customer facing during the day, so can't wait indefinitely.
Is this the sort of thing I could hand off to an accident management company?
TL:DR - insurance company don't answer the phone or reply to emails, and 6 weeks in no progress has been made with claim. Can I use an accident management company and if so who?
Moderator edit: no naming & shaming
Take it to the body shop and leave it to them to deal with the insurance company...That's how it worked for me. Once I had notified the insurer I had little contact with them. The body shop dealt with the insurer direct. Handled the insurers inspection and argued the toss between write-off/repair etc.
I've not seen/heard exactly what the third party has said, but I have this secondhand from insurer:
"The third party is disputing liability and stating it was yourself that changed lanes and collided with their vehicle."
The accident occured on a slight left hand bend with me in the left hand lane, if it wasn't a deliberate lane-change by 3rd party it's likely they cut the corner absent mindedly and clipped wife's car. I've been made all too painfully aware that I am but an inconvenience to the insurer, and they would rather just get paid to do nothing.
I'm tempted to have a chat with an accident management company and let them pester on my behalf.
"The third party is disputing liability and stating it was yourself that changed lanes and collided with their vehicle."
The accident occured on a slight left hand bend with me in the left hand lane, if it wasn't a deliberate lane-change by 3rd party it's likely they cut the corner absent mindedly and clipped wife's car. I've been made all too painfully aware that I am but an inconvenience to the insurer, and they would rather just get paid to do nothing.
I'm tempted to have a chat with an accident management company and let them pester on my behalf.
cadmunkey said:
Have you got dashcam footage or independent witnesses of the incident? If the other party is claiming you cut lanes then I'm sorry to say your insurance will probably settle 50/50 just to make it go away as they are lazy as they come, unless you have proof.
It’s not really to do with laziness, if both parties have differing accounts and the damage doesn’t show either to be untrue what else are you expecting to be done? Insurance would be a lot more expensive to pursue claims like that through the courts just to get a 50/50 settlement anyway. Dingu said:
It’s not really to do with laziness, if both parties have differing accounts and the damage doesn’t show either to be untrue what else are you expecting to be done? Insurance would be a lot more expensive to pursue claims like that through the courts just to get a 50/50 settlement anyway.
Just to clarify, I meant OP's insurer not all of them. Dealing with them was a very painful experience, they just didnt seem bothered in sorting anything out.Dr G said:
"The third party is disputing liability and stating it was yourself that changed lanes and collided with their vehicle."
The accident occured on a slight left hand bend with me in the left hand lane, if it wasn't a deliberate lane-change by 3rd party it's likely they cut the corner absent mindedly and clipped wife's car. I've been made all too painfully aware that I am but an inconvenience to shmee-shmure, and they would rather just get paid to do nothing.
I'm tempted to have a chat with an accident management company and let them pester on my behalf.
It's likely that your wife straight lined the corner/bend absent mindedly and clipped the third party car.The accident occured on a slight left hand bend with me in the left hand lane, if it wasn't a deliberate lane-change by 3rd party it's likely they cut the corner absent mindedly and clipped wife's car. I've been made all too painfully aware that I am but an inconvenience to shmee-shmure, and they would rather just get paid to do nothing.
I'm tempted to have a chat with an accident management company and let them pester on my behalf.
Unfortunately these arguments can be used both ways.
In the absence of any DashCam what I would do is document a detailed description of the journey e.g. where from and to,
is this a regular daily/weekly trip (knows the route/road), why in the left hand lane - perhaps because about to turn left shortly
up the road to get to xxxx, so no need to be in the right hand lane.
Then get this into your insurance company.
It's unlikely that an AMC will be any better than your insurer.
Their main interest is maximising their own profit by keeping you in a hire car for as long as possible.
Unless you have an astronomical excess I would just get the repair done and not worry about liability.
paddy1970 said:
You have to be super careful when there is disputed liability. If your insurer fails to respond on time, you may end it losing the dispute and being fully liable.
This worried me too.They insisted I reply within 7 days, but took almost 4 weeks before even reading the email.
I think you might have to get the car fixed first and then argue later at the insurance companies pace. At a previous job there was an accident in one of the company cars. The car got repaired which took a few weeks, returned, and I think even sold before the insurance companies finally decided to just go 50/50 to close the case many months later.
Dr G said:
Sorry, I should have said (trying not to waffle) that the insurer won't tell me how the claim will be settled. I've told them I want to know first that I'm not being held liable before I agree to their starting the repair.
That's your problem, and I don't see why you've taken this stance. Liability can take months or years to settle. Most of the time you get your car repaired within a few weeks and move on. Leave the rest to your insurer. But you've dug your heels in and decided you don't want your car repaired until liability is agreed. Why??? If it goes against you, you'll still lose your bonus and the tp is claiming, and you'll still have to get your car repaired on your insurance. I'm afraid you're the cause of your own problems. Call them up, say you want them to fix your car asap, regardless of fault. Get it fixed and move on with your life. In the coming months, your insurers will let you know the outcome on liability.
Grumps. said:
Tricky one as without dash cam footage, you could very well have pulled out on him.
This will go 50/50 I reckon.
I would agree. Your expecting a quick decision on fault, your not going to get it. That can take years if liability is in dispute, and without independent witness/dashcam, likely be settled as part liability unless there's other clear evidence for you insurer to pursue the other party through court if they don't admit fault.This will go 50/50 I reckon.
Either sit and wait for liability to be sorted, or just get it repaired and wait, either way its up to your insurer in the long run, subjugation and that...
If your going to get it repaired anyway, might as well get it done, liability will be what it is.
Ask to see all the paperwork the other person has submitted - if they both agree they ended up in Lane 1 then the damage is clear as to who's at fault
It's also telling that the op called the police
My insurance we're going to go 50 / 50 on a claim when I jumped up and down, pointed out I hadn't had a claim in 30 plus years and instructed them not to pay under any circumstances
They then dug their heels in and the other side quickly capitulated
The squeaky hinge gets the oil if you make yourself a pain in the ass it gets resolved
It's also telling that the op called the police
My insurance we're going to go 50 / 50 on a claim when I jumped up and down, pointed out I hadn't had a claim in 30 plus years and instructed them not to pay under any circumstances
They then dug their heels in and the other side quickly capitulated
The squeaky hinge gets the oil if you make yourself a pain in the ass it gets resolved
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Dr G said:
Sorry, I should have said (trying not to waffle) that the insurer won't tell me how the claim will be settled. I've told them I want to know first that I'm not being held liable before I agree to their starting the repair.
That's your problem, and I don't see why you've taken this stance. Liability can take months or years to settle. Most of the time you get your car repaired within a few weeks and move on. Leave the rest to your insurer. But you've dug your heels in and decided you don't want your car repaired until liability is agreed. Why??? If it goes against you, you'll still lose your bonus and the tp is claiming, and you'll still have to get your car repaired on your insurance. I'm afraid you're the cause of your own problems. Call them up, say you want them to fix your car asap, regardless of fault. Get it fixed and move on with your life. In the coming months, your insurers will let you know the outcome on liability.
IME of accidents involving family cars we've just let the insurance company get on with it.
Most recent involved my youngest's car being reversed into while parked & unattended by a delivery van.
Excellent CCTV - he's a teacher & it was at school - which showed the entire thing.
The supermarket concerned made a lot of silly nonsense to our insurers about them not being able to identify the driver which was pointless as the driver had just delivered to the school kitchens so he was on CCTV as well.
By the time it was finally agreed & they'd accepted liability his car had been repaired & he'd had it back for a few weeks.
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