I Feel Very Foolish - A Cautionary Tale!
Discussion
The TL;DR is at the bottom.
On Friday 23rd March I popped into my nearest town to pay in a cheque. It was a beautiful spring day, but breezy and cool. I was waiting at a box junction as traffic beyond was at a red light. I settled down into the seat of my beloved 64 plate Jag XFR, thinking how much I loved the car and how lucky I was to have it, when there was an almighty bang behind me and my car was pushed into the box junction. Someone had driven right into the back of me. I was a bit dazed and got out of the car to see the other driver (let's call him MA) already on his phone.
Both cars were badly damaged and likely to be write offs. The impact was enough that his VW Polo had pushed my Jag more than a car length into the box junction. The only skid marks (aside from the new ones on my underwear) were from my car, not his - visible on the photos I took at the time. I have never been involved in a collision as bad as this and we were obstructing traffic. Also, I was slightly concerned that the other driver might be ringing for extended family and friends to come and form a large crowd - a frequently told tale by other local drivers involved in similar incidents. So I dialed 999. In the end there was no need - he was just calling his son or son-in-law.
As there were no serious injuries, the police just sent a PCSO. Which was fine. As I calmed down after the shock, I could see that was the right thing and all we needed to do was move the cars, arrange recovery and swap details. Anyway, while we were getting sorted MA suggested I had no business to have stopped in the road, and I must confess at that point I got a bit shouty. I am not a company director, although I am powerfully built (fat), but the PCSO soon calmed me down and later I shook hands with MA & apologised. I [i]try[i/] to never be the a
hole, but cannot deny I was upset and somewhat aggrieved. To my embarrassment, the PCSO felt it was better she wait at the scene until one of other car had been recovered lest things become more acrimonious.
A quick word here about the PCSO. She was coming up to retirement and was very helpful, pleasant and professional. While we waited for recovery we had chance to talk and she obviously knew all the individuals who could be trouble in town and was able to speak to them, and sort out their disruptive behaviour. There was trouble with a gang of 13-15 year old street thieves that she felt powerless to work against (she has no powers of arrest and no training in dealing with knife carriers), particularly as they are repeatedly taken to court, but always allowed to avoid detention or supervision. Because of this she was leaving the police and moving to Northumbria to be nearer family. I understood her frustration.
I thought I had better contact my insurance company, Admiral, to arrange recovery. So I googled the number and spoke to a helpful call handler who took my details, asked security questions (DOB, postcode, etc), said she would arrange recovery and put me touch with a car hire company as this was covered on my policy. Also put me through to someone to start arranging the insurance claim. Slightly different to how the other claim I had with Admiral was handled, but that was done online as it occurred 10 metres from my drive when a neighbour reversed into my son's car so I thought this was because I was calling from the scene of the incident. I am very slightly hard of hearing, and there was a fair bit of wind and traffic noise so I struggled a bit with the phone call, but felt that everything was being done to help me.
Recovery came, and I received emails from the company dealing with my claim, Connexus. The emails contained forms for details of the third party, damage to the vehicles, circumstances of the incident: everything you would expect.
Within a week I received notification of the engineer's report, the XFR was a Cat S write off, as I expected. Value approx £19k, part of this was about £4,800 salvage value. They offered approx £14,200 with the balance to be paid once salvage recovered. If the £4,800 was not realised, then they will claim the difference from the third party insurer. Obviously MA's insurers got in touch offering to settle directly with me, but I'd received a text from my insurance company advising me not to deal with any third party, so I politely declined the offer.
4 weeks on I've heard nothing regarding settlement, despite chasing up by email last week, an email I'm still waiting for a reply to. I emailed again today but thought I should check with Admiral to see if they could follow up and speed things along. I suspect many readers might now guess where this is going.
Admiral knew nothing about the claim. When I first called to report the incident, I had not called Admiral, I had dialed "Claims Line". I thought this was Admiral's claims line, but it was a claim handling firm. Daft, but I was straining to hear them and still shaking from the collision. As it stands I've signed everything thinking I was dealing with a company authorised and endorsed by Admiral and I am well down the line now, too far on for Admiral to be able to intervene. I don't know how this will pan out financially. I expect the final settlement won't be a lot different to what Admiral would have offered, but we will never know now.
Worst of all, I believed that I had notified Admiral of my collision. Their claims advisor today was very helpful. She logged all the details and logged it as a no fault incident, adding a note that I delayed notifying them only because I thought I already had advised them. I thought that things were going differently to what I expected, but I browse the forums here and try to be a responsible driver, and I have not come across this situation before. The call handler at Admiral said until she started that job she hadn't encountered it either, but actually these days it was quite common. Hence, I thought it a story worth sharing, so others can learn from my stupidity!
TL;DR
Thought I called Admiral Claims Line, but actually called a claim handling company after using a Google search to get the number.
Service I am getting is less good than it would have been with Admiral.
Most importantly, believing I had already spoken to Admiral, I expected my incident to have been logged with them: it wasn't and this was obviously a violation of my policy.
Moral of the story: in the chaos of a big bump, pay close attention to who you are speaking to!
On Friday 23rd March I popped into my nearest town to pay in a cheque. It was a beautiful spring day, but breezy and cool. I was waiting at a box junction as traffic beyond was at a red light. I settled down into the seat of my beloved 64 plate Jag XFR, thinking how much I loved the car and how lucky I was to have it, when there was an almighty bang behind me and my car was pushed into the box junction. Someone had driven right into the back of me. I was a bit dazed and got out of the car to see the other driver (let's call him MA) already on his phone.
Both cars were badly damaged and likely to be write offs. The impact was enough that his VW Polo had pushed my Jag more than a car length into the box junction. The only skid marks (aside from the new ones on my underwear) were from my car, not his - visible on the photos I took at the time. I have never been involved in a collision as bad as this and we were obstructing traffic. Also, I was slightly concerned that the other driver might be ringing for extended family and friends to come and form a large crowd - a frequently told tale by other local drivers involved in similar incidents. So I dialed 999. In the end there was no need - he was just calling his son or son-in-law.
As there were no serious injuries, the police just sent a PCSO. Which was fine. As I calmed down after the shock, I could see that was the right thing and all we needed to do was move the cars, arrange recovery and swap details. Anyway, while we were getting sorted MA suggested I had no business to have stopped in the road, and I must confess at that point I got a bit shouty. I am not a company director, although I am powerfully built (fat), but the PCSO soon calmed me down and later I shook hands with MA & apologised. I [i]try[i/] to never be the a
hole, but cannot deny I was upset and somewhat aggrieved. To my embarrassment, the PCSO felt it was better she wait at the scene until one of other car had been recovered lest things become more acrimonious.A quick word here about the PCSO. She was coming up to retirement and was very helpful, pleasant and professional. While we waited for recovery we had chance to talk and she obviously knew all the individuals who could be trouble in town and was able to speak to them, and sort out their disruptive behaviour. There was trouble with a gang of 13-15 year old street thieves that she felt powerless to work against (she has no powers of arrest and no training in dealing with knife carriers), particularly as they are repeatedly taken to court, but always allowed to avoid detention or supervision. Because of this she was leaving the police and moving to Northumbria to be nearer family. I understood her frustration.
I thought I had better contact my insurance company, Admiral, to arrange recovery. So I googled the number and spoke to a helpful call handler who took my details, asked security questions (DOB, postcode, etc), said she would arrange recovery and put me touch with a car hire company as this was covered on my policy. Also put me through to someone to start arranging the insurance claim. Slightly different to how the other claim I had with Admiral was handled, but that was done online as it occurred 10 metres from my drive when a neighbour reversed into my son's car so I thought this was because I was calling from the scene of the incident. I am very slightly hard of hearing, and there was a fair bit of wind and traffic noise so I struggled a bit with the phone call, but felt that everything was being done to help me.
Recovery came, and I received emails from the company dealing with my claim, Connexus. The emails contained forms for details of the third party, damage to the vehicles, circumstances of the incident: everything you would expect.
Within a week I received notification of the engineer's report, the XFR was a Cat S write off, as I expected. Value approx £19k, part of this was about £4,800 salvage value. They offered approx £14,200 with the balance to be paid once salvage recovered. If the £4,800 was not realised, then they will claim the difference from the third party insurer. Obviously MA's insurers got in touch offering to settle directly with me, but I'd received a text from my insurance company advising me not to deal with any third party, so I politely declined the offer.
4 weeks on I've heard nothing regarding settlement, despite chasing up by email last week, an email I'm still waiting for a reply to. I emailed again today but thought I should check with Admiral to see if they could follow up and speed things along. I suspect many readers might now guess where this is going.
Admiral knew nothing about the claim. When I first called to report the incident, I had not called Admiral, I had dialed "Claims Line". I thought this was Admiral's claims line, but it was a claim handling firm. Daft, but I was straining to hear them and still shaking from the collision. As it stands I've signed everything thinking I was dealing with a company authorised and endorsed by Admiral and I am well down the line now, too far on for Admiral to be able to intervene. I don't know how this will pan out financially. I expect the final settlement won't be a lot different to what Admiral would have offered, but we will never know now.
Worst of all, I believed that I had notified Admiral of my collision. Their claims advisor today was very helpful. She logged all the details and logged it as a no fault incident, adding a note that I delayed notifying them only because I thought I already had advised them. I thought that things were going differently to what I expected, but I browse the forums here and try to be a responsible driver, and I have not come across this situation before. The call handler at Admiral said until she started that job she hadn't encountered it either, but actually these days it was quite common. Hence, I thought it a story worth sharing, so others can learn from my stupidity!
TL;DR
Thought I called Admiral Claims Line, but actually called a claim handling company after using a Google search to get the number.
Service I am getting is less good than it would have been with Admiral.
Most importantly, believing I had already spoken to Admiral, I expected my incident to have been logged with them: it wasn't and this was obviously a violation of my policy.
Moral of the story: in the chaos of a big bump, pay close attention to who you are speaking to!
I must admit I’m a bit confused as thought claims management companies or third party administrators are appointed by insurance companies on their behalf ?
As such I’m a little surprised that they had all your details unless “ everyone “ shares a register ?
But as has been said you paid Admiral a premium and have a genuine claim so don’t see why you should be either out of pocket or indeed suffering the wait for a long time for payment.
As such I’m a little surprised that they had all your details unless “ everyone “ shares a register ?
But as has been said you paid Admiral a premium and have a genuine claim so don’t see why you should be either out of pocket or indeed suffering the wait for a long time for payment.
Firstly I don’t think you’ve been daft, I really hate how Google ads etc prioritise and you get sent to the wrong place
As for Admiral not in a million years can they reject this claim as you honestly thought you had notified them but as for the rest of it, it seems very confused and murky and that’s where I think Admiral may seek to penalise you
The first thing is get a screen shot of the search listing and click through so as to have that to hand.
Unless the other company gave you clear indication they were not Admiral when you first called, they will call foul of reasonable notice.
I’m guessing they charge someone somewhere a fee and in the paperwork you have agreed to indemnify them but who knows.
If it was me I’d be writing saying I’ve been misled and getting matters moving with Admiral and being clear to this other crowd you no longer want any involvement but surely Admiral must be able to offer some direction
As for Admiral not in a million years can they reject this claim as you honestly thought you had notified them but as for the rest of it, it seems very confused and murky and that’s where I think Admiral may seek to penalise you
The first thing is get a screen shot of the search listing and click through so as to have that to hand.
Unless the other company gave you clear indication they were not Admiral when you first called, they will call foul of reasonable notice.
I’m guessing they charge someone somewhere a fee and in the paperwork you have agreed to indemnify them but who knows.
If it was me I’d be writing saying I’ve been misled and getting matters moving with Admiral and being clear to this other crowd you no longer want any involvement but surely Admiral must be able to offer some direction
Just to clarify and add some detail. Admiral are happy to be kept updated, but but my car has ben recovered, and is with a salvage company. For all I know it's already scrapped. Connexus are pursuing the third party's insurers, and have appointed solicitors to act for additional losses (in this case my excess and cost of car hire) and personal injury (I just had a slightly stiff back, neck and shoulders for 7-10 days which I managed by keeping mobile and taking ibuprofen). The solicitor can claim money from me for any work undertaken if I now cancel. I've gone back to the documents they sent and the third party's insurers have 6 weeks to respond to the initial claim. I don't doubt that connexus will recover me the money they say, and it wasn't far off what i expected.
It's the initial call that I made which annoys me the most. If I had been sitting at home on my PC I would have spotted I wasn't calling who I thought I was. But I was on a 4G connection on my phone and a bit shaken up. Obviously that conversation is a bit hazy now, but from what I do remember it was a very well worded script, that lead me to believe I was talking to different people to which I thought I was, without actually saying they were Admiral. I do accept I have to take responsibility for this, and in the end I doubt I'll lose out by much (especially if they do reclaim my excess). But like I said in the original post, others in the same situation might not be so lucky and I could have invalidated my insurance.
It's the initial call that I made which annoys me the most. If I had been sitting at home on my PC I would have spotted I wasn't calling who I thought I was. But I was on a 4G connection on my phone and a bit shaken up. Obviously that conversation is a bit hazy now, but from what I do remember it was a very well worded script, that lead me to believe I was talking to different people to which I thought I was, without actually saying they were Admiral. I do accept I have to take responsibility for this, and in the end I doubt I'll lose out by much (especially if they do reclaim my excess). But like I said in the original post, others in the same situation might not be so lucky and I could have invalidated my insurance.
Oliver Hardy said:
I am curious, what did the ad say you responded to?
This far on, I honestly can't remember exactly, but it was something like this: Admiral ClaimsSydneyBridge said:
And whoever you spoke to arranged the engineers report
The woman I spoke to arranged recovery and passed me on to another company for car hire (the car, an A8, was delivered just as promised) and passed me on to Connexus.I have no idea how they make their money doing this as I'm not paying them the premium. I used to work in health care, so this is not an industry I particularly understand.
Horbury56 said:
Just to clarify and add some detail. Admiral are happy to be kept updated, but but my car has ben recovered, and is with a salvage company. For all I know it's already scrapped. Connexus are pursuing the third party's insurers, and have appointed solicitors to act for additional losses (in this case my excess and cost of car hire) and personal injury (I just had a slightly stiff back, neck and shoulders for 7-10 days which I managed by keeping mobile and taking ibuprofen). The solicitor can claim money from me for any work undertaken if I now cancel. I've gone back to the documents they sent and the third party's insurers have 6 weeks to respond to the initial claim. I don't doubt that connexus will recover me the money they say, and it wasn't far off what i expected.
It's the initial call that I made which annoys me the most. If I had been sitting at home on my PC I would have spotted I wasn't calling who I thought I was. But I was on a 4G connection on my phone and a bit shaken up. Obviously that conversation is a bit hazy now, but from what I do remember it was a very well worded script, that lead me to believe I was talking to different people to which I thought I was, without actually saying they were Admiral. I do accept I have to take responsibility for this, and in the end I doubt I'll lose out by much (especially if they do reclaim my excess). But like I said in the original post, others in the same situation might not be so lucky and I could have invalidated my insurance.
What isn’t clear is are Connexus charging you for this or do they simply bill the third parties insurance to cover their costs - I guess they do actually and that’s why all our Insurance premiums keep going up !It's the initial call that I made which annoys me the most. If I had been sitting at home on my PC I would have spotted I wasn't calling who I thought I was. But I was on a 4G connection on my phone and a bit shaken up. Obviously that conversation is a bit hazy now, but from what I do remember it was a very well worded script, that lead me to believe I was talking to different people to which I thought I was, without actually saying they were Admiral. I do accept I have to take responsibility for this, and in the end I doubt I'll lose out by much (especially if they do reclaim my excess). But like I said in the original post, others in the same situation might not be so lucky and I could have invalidated my insurance.
Irrespective of you hopefully not suffering my financial impact though I would still be thinking about complaining to Connexus about not exactly being straight with you and / or also speaking again with Admiral.
Horbury56 said:
Oliver Hardy said:
I am curious, what did the ad say you responded to?
This far on, I honestly can't remember exactly, but it was something like this: Admiral Claimsking dodgy. Not surprised you ‘fell’ for it. Thanks for sharing, I can see how easily done this is, especially after an accident. Google shouldn't be putting their searches to the top like this. But I'll be passing this on to my wife who would be most susceptible to this kind of thing!
I hope they sort it out quickly and you aren't out of pocket.
I hope they sort it out quickly and you aren't out of pocket.
alscar said:
What isn’t clear is are Connexus charging you for this or do they simply bill the third parties insurance to cover their costs - I guess they do actually and that’s why all our Insurance premiums keep going up !
Irrespective of you hopefully not suffering my financial impact though I would still be thinking about complaining to Connexus about not exactly being straight with you and / or also speaking again with Admiral.
They try and push the non-fault party to take legal action for injury, and make money out of supplying a credit-hire car.Irrespective of you hopefully not suffering my financial impact though I would still be thinking about complaining to Connexus about not exactly being straight with you and / or also speaking again with Admiral.
OP: Have you still got the hire car, and what is it?
cuprabob said:
He said its an A8.
Fits. I assume he still has it and the AMC is in no hurry to sort things out.When daughter's write off was handled by her own insurer, LV, they arranged a like-for-like car, but once the car was declared a write off they sent a cheque and took the car back. The whole thing was done in a week, and it only went on that long as she pleaded with them to keep the car until the weekend as she isn't in a job where she can just take a few days off while she finds another car.
Yep, A8, 5.0Tdi. Provided on a "prestige" like for like basis for the XFR, instigated by Connexus, so I am not too worried about being accused of not minimising expenses.
Actually, I don't like the A8 - compared to the XFR it is too big and wallowy. And it's a diesel
. All it has done is make me realise just how good a car the XFR was. I'd had it from new (Dec 2014) and really wasn't tired of it. Most of my driving is for pleasure these days, so for trips to the shops I prefer my son's 1.2 Corsa. I have had the Audi 4 weeks and I haven't driven it for 3 weeks. I'm going to ask them to come and collect it next week, I think. Having said all that, if I was doing miles and miles of motorway driving, the A8 would fantastic. But I'm not. So it isn't.
Actually, I don't like the A8 - compared to the XFR it is too big and wallowy. And it's a diesel
. All it has done is make me realise just how good a car the XFR was. I'd had it from new (Dec 2014) and really wasn't tired of it. Most of my driving is for pleasure these days, so for trips to the shops I prefer my son's 1.2 Corsa. I have had the Audi 4 weeks and I haven't driven it for 3 weeks. I'm going to ask them to come and collect it next week, I think. Having said all that, if I was doing miles and miles of motorway driving, the A8 would fantastic. But I'm not. So it isn't.Horbury56 said:
I have had the Audi 4 weeks and I haven't driven it for 3 weeks.
The issue here is that the AMC will eventually send the 3rd party insurer an enormous bill for that car, and they'll say it's vital that you had a like-for-like car and you couldn't afford to hire one yourself.If push comes to shove, you might have to go to Court to support that position. If you refuse, you'll be liable for the bill. If you do go to Court (it's extrememly rare it gets that far) don't say "I didn't drive it for 3 weeks"!
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