Where do I stand?
Discussion
My wife was involved in a hit and run accident last week. She was in a one-car width lane travelling at about 15mph when a car came in the opposite direction so fast that all my wife could do was drive up onto a bank to the left hand side. The other car skidded and tried to avoid her and hit his nearside embankment. He ended up hitting my wife's car, damaging the rear door and rear wing. The driver of the other car then stepped on the gas and drove off immediately. My wife managed to get the registration number and make/model of the car and duly reported it to the police. She then informed her insurance company of the incident but they came back to her saying that the other car is uninsured. The police have confirmed that they have TWO(?) owners/addresses for this vehicle and have issued a notice of intended prosecution, giving the car owner 28 days to provide the name of the driver. Needless to say, my wife is not a happy bunny with the prospect of having to either lose her no claims bonus, or pay up personally and "smile". As she has now informed the insurance company of the situation, is her claim now going to be processed to show an increase in premium next year even though the insurance company are saying they are not paying for the damage?
It's one of those catch twenty two situations where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. The insurance excess is about a third of the cost to repair the damage.
Does anybody have any experience of this situation or meaningful advice on this case?
It's one of those catch twenty two situations where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't. The insurance excess is about a third of the cost to repair the damage.
Does anybody have any experience of this situation or meaningful advice on this case?
Why are the insurance company saying they won't pay for the damage? If she has an excess one assumes she has comp cover.
They should pay for the repairs (less the excess) and try and claim it back from the responsible party. If they can't reclaim her outlay, and you have no luck claiming back your excess, then yes, a reduction in no claims bonus.
They should pay for the repairs (less the excess) and try and claim it back from the responsible party. If they can't reclaim her outlay, and you have no luck claiming back your excess, then yes, a reduction in no claims bonus.
How do the insurers know the car was uninsured, if the driver is to be determined? Seems to me the other car could have been insured any number of ways (other car not belonging to policy holder, trader policy, etc) (edit) without it being explicitly insured by reg. number. Smacks of your insurer trying to weasel out at the very earliest opportunity ... I don't know what you can do about it though 
RedCarsAnonymous said:
How do the insurers know the car was uninsured, if the driver is to be determined? Seems to me the other car could have been insured any number of ways (other car not belonging to policy holder, trader policy, etc) (edit) without it being explicitly insured by reg. number. Smacks of your insurer trying to weasel out at the very earliest opportunity ... I don't know what you can do about it though
Even if the other car is uninsured, how does that help his own insurer weasel out of anything. I don't get it, am I missing something here?TwigtheWonderkid said:
RedCarsAnonymous said:
How do the insurers know the car was uninsured, if the driver is to be determined? Seems to me the other car could have been insured any number of ways (other car not belonging to policy holder, trader policy, etc) (edit) without it being explicitly insured by reg. number. Smacks of your insurer trying to weasel out at the very earliest opportunity ... I don't know what you can do about it though
Even if the other car is uninsured, how does that help his own insurer weasel out of anything. I don't get it, am I missing something here?Her insurance company maintain that they would not be able to recover any of the cost from the unnamed (and, according to them, uninsured)driver, or the vehicle owner. This means that my wife's premium will inevitably increase next year plus she will have to pay the excess for this accident. If you add up all the financial penalties that this will incur, we are reluctantly coming to the conclusion that we may as well pay the garage repair bill ourselves and probably end up with a net gain. I have always suspected, and now I am pretty certain, that insurance companies are only there to a) line their own pockets and b) wheedle their way out of any claim that looks as if it will cause them some problem to recover money from the third party. The only thing about insurance is that it makes you "street legal" from a law point of view but God help you if you have a claim of this size, which, I agree is not massive. We are talking about £1200 here. Any other helpful suggestions would be welcomed.
goddo said:
No, TwigtheWonderkid, I don't think you are missing anything. The main problem we now have is that it appears my wife does not have protected no-claims bonus which is now totalling fifteen years. She was unaware that this was the case until Monday afternoon while talking to the insurance agent "adviser".
Whilst broadly I am not fan of insurance companies, there is a certain responsibility on the purchaser of a policy to check their documentation once issued.Vaud said:
Whilst broadly I am not fan of insurance companies, there is a certain responsibility on the purchaser of a policy to check their documentation once issued.
I agree entirely with what you say and as she already has fifteen years protected no-claims, you can see that has not always been the case and was a slip on her part to not include it. My bone of contention is that her insurer is so insistent that nothing can be done because they say the other driver was uninsured. As a previous comment was made, how do they know that the vehicle was not insured by another means just because their cursory check does not show anything? Can anyone explain why my wife has comprehensive insurance but cannot make a claim against an accident that was clearly not her fault?goddo said:
Can anyone explain why my wife has comprehensive insurance but cannot make a claim against an accident that was clearly not her fault?
But she can. She can claim against her own policy. It's your decision not to go down that route due to a high excess (they you must have agreed to) and loss of ncb (because you didn't have protected, which again was your choice, all be it in error).Pip1968 said:
I thought that the Uninsured Motor Bureau or is it MIB (?) dealt with motorists without insurance or at least provided a fund to claim against. It is where up £15 of every premium goes.
Pip
That is to compensate people who have uninsured losses as a result of an uninsured driver. But the OP's losses are insured, he has comp cover. He just doesn't want to utilise it. Slightly different. Pip
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