Car insurance claim
Discussion
Firstly apologies if this all sounds a bit dumb but 1st time dealing with car insurance.
Mrs had a guy crash into the side of her, got a phone call from the guy last night informing us he had spoken to his insurance company and gave us the reference number. (fair play, still some decent people left in the world)
We’ve put a claim into our insurance earlier today.
Just received a call from the guys insurance company (AA insurance) he has taken full liability and they have said not to speak/go through with our insurance company, they will come and collect the car, take it to a nearby bodyshop get it repaired and drop of once repaired, with a hire car in the meantime.
Is this standard practise, I would expect to only have contact with our insurance company?
In addition we are getting messages copart claims settlement on behalf of our insurance.
Does anyone have any advice, do with just run with what the AA are proposing or is it best with stick with dealing with our insurance company?
Mrs had a guy crash into the side of her, got a phone call from the guy last night informing us he had spoken to his insurance company and gave us the reference number. (fair play, still some decent people left in the world)
We’ve put a claim into our insurance earlier today.
Just received a call from the guys insurance company (AA insurance) he has taken full liability and they have said not to speak/go through with our insurance company, they will come and collect the car, take it to a nearby bodyshop get it repaired and drop of once repaired, with a hire car in the meantime.
Is this standard practise, I would expect to only have contact with our insurance company?
In addition we are getting messages copart claims settlement on behalf of our insurance.
Does anyone have any advice, do with just run with what the AA are proposing or is it best with stick with dealing with our insurance company?
This is how all prangs involving insurance should go, one side admits liability and their insurer usually bends over backwards to sort the damage out rapidly for the injured third party, mitigates costs and get things done quickly.
The hire car might be something very basic but if you need something larger, ie needing to fit 2 child seats and carry 3 dogs in the boot, then the third party's insurer should provide something suitable.
The hire car might be something very basic but if you need something larger, ie needing to fit 2 child seats and carry 3 dogs in the boot, then the third party's insurer should provide something suitable.
Smint said:
The hire car might be something very basic but if you need something larger, ie needing to fit 2 child seats and carry 3 dogs in the boot, then the third party's insurer should provide something suitable.
The third party's insurer usually supplies a like-for-like hire car. It's mainly this cost that they're trying to control.The only snag with this arrangement is it can get messy if things go wrong - someone on a Merc forum I use did this, and insisted that the car was repaired at the MB dealer's body shop. He wasn't happy with the job but the body shop didn't care much and neither did the third party insurer as it wasn't one of their nominated repairers. He then found he couldn't complain as he wasn't that insurers customer so he had no legal relationship with them.
Sheepshanks said:
The third party's insurer usually supplies a like-for-like hire car. It's mainly this cost that they're trying to control.
The only snag with this arrangement is it can get messy if things go wrong - someone on a Merc forum I use did this, and insisted that the car was repaired at the MB dealer's body shop. He wasn't happy with the job but the body shop didn't care much and neither did the third party insurer as it wasn't one of their nominated repairers. He then found he couldn't complain as he wasn't that insurers customer so he had no legal relationship with them.
I had a similar experience last year when I claimed against the insurer of the car that hit me in the rear and I went to the repairer they recommended. It only needed a rear bumper cover that cost about £650 in primer, but they managed to pad their estimate up to over £2K so I now have a Cat N. The only snag with this arrangement is it can get messy if things go wrong - someone on a Merc forum I use did this, and insisted that the car was repaired at the MB dealer's body shop. He wasn't happy with the job but the body shop didn't care much and neither did the third party insurer as it wasn't one of their nominated repairers. He then found he couldn't complain as he wasn't that insurers customer so he had no legal relationship with them.
But it was, and still is, drivable so there was no hire car element and making it a Cat N meant they could avoid the hire factor. But Hastings were very mean with their valuation.
Surely the guy had a relationship with the MB dealers' bodyshop though?
Mr Tidy said:
I had a similar experience last year when I claimed against the insurer of the car that hit me in the rear and I went to the repairer they recommended. It only needed a rear bumper cover that cost about £650 in primer, but they managed to pad their estimate up to over £2K so I now have a Cat N.
But it was, and still is, drivable so there was no hire car element and making it a Cat N meant they could avoid the hire factor. But Hastings were very mean with their valuation.
Surely the guy had a relationship with the MB dealers' bodyshop though?
Imagine how much you would have whinged if they cut corners and botched it with how much you bleat on about it being done properly. But it was, and still is, drivable so there was no hire car element and making it a Cat N meant they could avoid the hire factor. But Hastings were very mean with their valuation.
Surely the guy had a relationship with the MB dealers' bodyshop though?
Go with the 3rd party if you can, you can maintain control, you are not bound by any contract with the 3rd party to accept anything.
If they say it's a write off, you can say no, I insist on cash in leu of repair.
If they want it repaired somewhere you don't want, you can refuse, again insist on cash instead.
If you go with your own insurer you have a contract which allows them to act on your behalf which is not a good situation.
If they deem the car a write off, it's a write off, they may allow your to buy back the salvage, they may not.
If they want it repaired and a slow body shop, while they spend a fortune on a hire car through a credit hire agreement which they can reclaim in full and get a considerable referral fee, that is what is happening.
If they want to get in a fight with the 3rd party about about who is providing the hire car, that s
t lands at your door step.
If the 3rd party wants to take you to court suggesting you had the financial means to hire a car without expensive credit, you're going to court to have your finances looked over.
If they say it's a write off, you can say no, I insist on cash in leu of repair.
If they want it repaired somewhere you don't want, you can refuse, again insist on cash instead.
If you go with your own insurer you have a contract which allows them to act on your behalf which is not a good situation.
If they deem the car a write off, it's a write off, they may allow your to buy back the salvage, they may not.
If they want it repaired and a slow body shop, while they spend a fortune on a hire car through a credit hire agreement which they can reclaim in full and get a considerable referral fee, that is what is happening.
If they want to get in a fight with the 3rd party about about who is providing the hire car, that s
t lands at your door step.If the 3rd party wants to take you to court suggesting you had the financial means to hire a car without expensive credit, you're going to court to have your finances looked over.
Mr Tidy said:
Dingu said:
Imagine how much you would have whinged if they cut corners and botched it with how much you bleat on about it being done properly.
It's a bumper cover, how badly wrong could they have done on an 18 year old car?Also, if it’s 18 years old and you aren’t bothered about the repair quality then it’s worth absolutely the net sum of f all regardless of write off marker
Edited by Dingu on Saturday 24th August 01:33
Mr Tidy said:
I had a similar experience last year when I claimed against the insurer of the car that hit me in the rear and I went to the repairer they recommended. It only needed a rear bumper cover that cost about £650 in primer, but they managed to pad their estimate up to over £2K so I now have a Cat N.
But it was, and still is, drivable so there was no hire car element and making it a Cat N meant they could avoid the hire factor. But Hastings were very mean with their valuation.
Well, similar happened to daughter’s car when it was rear-ended by an Argos van and she claimed off her own insurer, LV. Their repairer, after looking at the car, said it would be fixed. Next thing a message on the answerphone from LV saying it would be written off, a cheque’s in the post and we’ll be collecting the loan car.But it was, and still is, drivable so there was no hire car element and making it a Cat N meant they could avoid the hire factor. But Hastings were very mean with their valuation.
Very easy car to value and they were £1000 too low. They admitted breaking their own rules in several ways and sent another £500 but refused to discuss it further.
We tried to get the car back and were given a run- around from both LV and the repairer. I suspected something dodgy was going on as it would have been an easy fix but it did turn up on Copart some weeks later.
She was contacted later by LV about legal action against the Argos van’s insurer as they weren’t responding, so it didn’t look like going directly would have been fruitful.
OTOH a friend’s daughter’s car was T-boned and everyone, including the repairer, said it was a write off. They let the third party insurer handle it who insisted on repairing, even when they asked for it to be written off.
Mr Tidy said:
Surely the guy had a relationship with the MB dealers' bodyshop though?
Sorry, I meant to include that - no, because they were being paid by the third party’s insurer.Sheepshanks said:
Mr Tidy said:
I had a similar experience last year when I claimed against the insurer of the car that hit me in the rear and I went to the repairer they recommended. It only needed a rear bumper cover that cost about £650 in primer, but they managed to pad their estimate up to over £2K so I now have a Cat N.
But it was, and still is, drivable so there was no hire car element and making it a Cat N meant they could avoid the hire factor. But Hastings were very mean with their valuation.
Well, similar happened to daughter’s car when it was rear-ended by an Argos van and she claimed off her own insurer, LV. Their repairer, after looking at the car, said it would be fixed. Next thing a message on the answerphone from LV saying it would be written off, a cheque’s in the post and we’ll be collecting the loan car.But it was, and still is, drivable so there was no hire car element and making it a Cat N meant they could avoid the hire factor. But Hastings were very mean with their valuation.
Very easy car to value and they were £1000 too low. They admitted breaking their own rules in several ways and sent another £500 but refused to discuss it further.
We tried to get the car back and were given a run- around from both LV and the repairer. I suspected something dodgy was going on as it would have been an easy fix but it did turn up on Copart some weeks later.
She was contacted later by LV about legal action against the Argos van’s insurer as they weren’t responding, so it didn’t look like going directly would have been fruitful.
OTOH a friend’s daughter’s car was T-boned and everyone, including the repairer, said it was a write off. They let the third party insurer handle it who insisted on repairing, even when they asked for it to be written off.
Mr Tidy said:
Surely the guy had a relationship with the MB dealers' bodyshop though?
Sorry, I meant to include that - no, because they were being paid by the third party’s insurer.Only in name, and even that is due to end soon.
Hence the problems.
I can only say, after the hassle my other half went through, don’t go with any company offering a hire car on any sort of credit basis, she did end up having to hand over all sorts of financial details when the 3rd parties insurance rightly kicked off about the hire car costs (back ordered parts), even though we had tried to hand back the hire car several times, only to be told ‘that’s what insurance is for, don’t worry about the time’, etc.
The last time I got rear ended I dealt direct with the 3rd party insurers, they supplied the car, all I did with mine was notify them of the incident, this worked out OK, however, it does seem that what happens really does depend on who you deal with at any company, so I’d say just be very clear on what you need to happen, and get anything important in writing so there can’t be any ‘we didn’t say / agree to that’ conversations further down the line.
The last time I got rear ended I dealt direct with the 3rd party insurers, they supplied the car, all I did with mine was notify them of the incident, this worked out OK, however, it does seem that what happens really does depend on who you deal with at any company, so I’d say just be very clear on what you need to happen, and get anything important in writing so there can’t be any ‘we didn’t say / agree to that’ conversations further down the line.
If you let their company deal with it then they will low ball you any offers, your company will fight for you.
I had an accident earlier in the year a car swerved onto my side of the road at the last seconds and I went into him, he admitted liability both cars were a write off. I was advised early on to let my company deal with it. So thats what I did, I initially got a very low write off value but after putting some research in and speaking to the engineer who wrote it off I got almost double. No way I would of got that had the third party insurance been dealing with it.
I had an accident earlier in the year a car swerved onto my side of the road at the last seconds and I went into him, he admitted liability both cars were a write off. I was advised early on to let my company deal with it. So thats what I did, I initially got a very low write off value but after putting some research in and speaking to the engineer who wrote it off I got almost double. No way I would of got that had the third party insurance been dealing with it.
Dingu said:
Mr Tidy said:
Dingu said:
Imagine how much you would have whinged if they cut corners and botched it with how much you bleat on about it being done properly.
It's a bumper cover, how badly wrong could they have done on an 18 year old car?Also, if it’s 18 years old and you aren’t bothered about the repair quality then it’s worth absolutely the net sum of f all regardless of write off marker
Edited by Dingu on Saturday 24th August 01:33
Painting a £650 bumper cover supplied in primer and fitting it doesn't cost over £2K, unless you're greedy or don't need the job!
What point are you trying to make?
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