Advice please

[Somebody]

Had a minor scrape were a third party scraped into the offside door. Made an insurance claim with Admiral online.

To my dismay they returned this:

“Thank you for reporting your claim online, this has been successfully submitted to our claims department.
We have decided to settle your claim on a total loss basis. Unless you have any urgent queries, there is no need to call us.

As we are proceeding with the claim on a total loss basis, your insurance policy will be cancelled for this vehicle.“

WTF?

I need the insurance to continue to drive the car as it is drivable.

Advise please!!

TIA

[Scrump]

My advice: Speak to your insurers

[Bill]

There's no mention in what you've posted that they've cancelled the policy, but it's worth calling to check. Then decide whether you want to fix it up and let them know. And then turn down the first (and probably second...) offer they make.

[MOTK]

Bill said:

There's no mention in what you've posted that they've cancelled the policy .

Apart from the bit where they say they've cancelled the policy for this car.. 🤔

[Yellow Lizud]

How much do you believe the car is worth?
How much have they offered you for a total write off?
How much do you believe it will cost to repair? Have you had any estimates?
Have they actually paid any money to you yet?

If the insurance co consider it financially unviable to repair then they will write it off, you cannot force them to spend more than it's worth just because you want your car repaired. However you can usually have a slightly reduced payout and keep the car and then repair it your self (or just leave the dent if it's an old car).
If it is written off and you don't want to buy it back then it becomes the insurance co property as soon as they pay out. This means the policy will be cancelled and they will take the car away. If they have already done this then you should not be driving it.

All these points need to be discussed with your insurance co so just phone them up and try to sort something out that both sides are happy with.

[Bill]

MOTK said:

Apart from the bit where they say they've cancelled the policy for this car.. ??

That was added while I was posting.
.

[Sebring440]

Somebody said:

Had a minor scrape were a third party scraped into the offside door. Made an insurance claim with Admiral online.

To my dismay they returned this:

“Thank you for reporting your claim online, this has been successfully submitted to our claims department.
We have decided to settle your claim on a total loss basis. Unless you have any urgent queries, there is no need to call us.

As we are proceeding with the claim on a total loss basis, your insurance policy will be cancelled for this vehicle.“

WTF?

I need the insurance to continue to drive the car as it is drivable.

Advise please!!

TIA

Have they actually " cancelled" the policy? Bad news if they have, when it comes to your next policy: "Have you ever had an insurance policy cancelled?"

[irc]

Somebody said:

I need the insurance to continue to drive the car as it is drivable.

Advise please!!

I wouldn't have claimed my own insurance for a door scrape where the car was driveable. Two options.

1. Notify your insurance but don't claim. Claim repair costs from third party insurer. I have done his where a driver reversed in to my parked car.

2. If third party offers cash up front because he/she is not wanting to tell their insurer then get cash for cheap repair. Technically, you are still required to tell your insurer if you take cash.

Where you are now? Talk to Admiral on the phone to see if you can cancel claim and keep insurance running. Claim from other party.

I am presuming that rather than "cancelled" the policy has been ended because the car is refers to is being scrapped. This, as far as I am aware, is not the cancellation for other reasons which you need to declare on applications.

[Somebody]

I am at loss as to why they deem this scrape as a write off:



Phoned up Admiral, and they claim that their online claims team don’t work weekends! Yet I had that total loss email straight after I filed the claim online. Apparently someone would call me on Monday.

The third party wants to go through insurance.

Any further advice?

Thanks

[Dingu]

Sebring440 said:

Have they actually " cancelled" the policy? Bad news if they have, when it comes to your next policy: "Have you ever had an insurance policy cancelled?"

That question has nothing whatsoever to do with this situation.

[Somebody]

irc said:

I wouldn't have claimed my own insurance for a door scrape where the car was driveable. Two options.

1. Notify your insurance but don't claim. Claim repair costs from third party insurer. I have done his where a driver reversed in to my parked car.

2. If third party offers cash up front because he/she is not wanting to tell their insurer then get cash for cheap repair. Technically, you are still required to tell your insurer if you take cash.

Where you are now? Talk to Admiral on the phone to see if you can cancel claim and keep insurance running. Claim from other party.

I am presuming that rather than "cancelled" the policy has been ended because the car is refers to is being scrapped. This, as far as I am aware, is not the cancellation for other reasons which you need to declare on applications.

Thanks for this. For 1, did you get the repair done first and paid yourself before claiming off the third party insurer, or did you contact the third party insurer to claim before the actual repair, ie without you laying out cash first? Can you be more specific with your particular case please?

Thanks again

[OutInTheShed]

What's the value of the car, roughly?

That is, to be fair, not just a door scrape, it's the wing also.
Potentially the hinge could have distorted the pillar?

I get the feeling insurance companies are getting ripped off by repairers and claims managers, it's cheaper to write off cars than to get them fixed and have the costs of servicing the customer while the repair is ongoing.

I think they should have been totally clear about from what point the insurance is terminated, given that you can't even leave it on the road without insurance.

You could usefully gather evidence as to the market value of the car and the cost to repair it.

Personally, I'm not against 'marginal' cars being scrapped, they are IMHO never the same again.

[QJumper]

I had a similiar situation a few years ago with Admiral and it seems that often the default computer response is a write off.

I didn't want my car written off as it had a relatively new warranty repacement engine and was mechnically excellent. So I called them and they said ok, they'll process the claim manually instead. Long story short, they agreed to repair the car, gave me a fancy loan car for 10 days, and recovered the costs from the third party.

Truth be told, the repair and loan costs were far in excess of what they offered for a write off, and probably greater than the value of the car, but I got my car fixed, with no affect on my policy/no claims bonus.

So, just speak to them and see what they can do. Obviously it helps if it's a clear case of third pary liability and they've admitted fault.

[Cold]

Somebody said:

The third party wants to go through insurance.

Claim off their insurer, not yours.

[irc]

Somebody said:

Thanks for this. For 1, did you get the repair done first and paid yourself before claiming off the third party insurer, or did you contact the third party insurer to claim before the actual repair, ie without you laying out cash first? Can you be more specific with your particular case please?

Thanks again

Car was driveable.

I exchanged details with driver. He admitted liability. Because of the extent - wing/bumper dented on 4 year old car he was happy to go insurance. He didn't have his insurance details with him. I told him I would send him a letter claiming against him for him to forward to his insurer.

Within a few days his insurer contacted me. Agreed to settle claim. Arranged assessor to examine my car at my house. After this was done arranged a date for me to drop my car off at a repairer once parts were in.

Dropped car off. Courtesy car from repairing garage or their insurerer (can't remember over 20 yrs ago).

Got my car back in a few days.

No cash laid out from me at any point.

I can't remember what effect if any the claim had on my premiums but I don't think it was much if any.

[Mr Tidy]

A few years ago a relative claimed on his policy with Admiral and they decided his car was a Cat S total loss based on just a couple of photos from his 'phone!

Luckily it was still drivable so he didn't let Copart take it away as he wanted to keep it, but thankfully Admiral never cancelled his policy, and once he'd got it repaired (for less than they paid him) they still insured it.

I hope you can get a decent outcome.

[e-honda]

Every times someone posts a question about claiming from a 3rd party directly and someone chimes in with just contact your insurer, its what you pay them for they should be directed to this thread.

[GasEngineer]

After a recent write-off, Admiral just continued our policy with the replacement car details. New car was a slightly higher group too, and there was no extra charge.

[Dingu]

e-honda said:

Every times someone posts a question about claiming from a 3rd party directly and someone chimes in with just contact your insurer, its what you pay them for they should be directed to this thread.

Why’s that then? Nothing to stop the 3rd party insurer doing similar.

[BertBert]

GasEngineer said:

After a recent write-off, Admiral just continued our policy with the replacement car details. New car was a slightly higher group too, and there was no extra charge.

It depends on what is in the policy. It may also depend on whether it's fault or no fault. Starting point is to read what your policy has to say on the matter.