Insurance advice/thoughts

[mmmunch]

Tried to register a new name to do this as I can’t be arsed with some of the judgemental/pious responses last time I posted about my eldest. However I can’t post under an anonymous name so I’d really appreciate if the matter in hand could be commented on only.

Now then, eldest child (18) has been going through a process of splitting up with his girlfriend. After the 4th time on Monday night he tried to take his own life. He took a pair of scissors to himself and then drove at speed into a block of garages resulting in the garages collapsing on the car and himself being excavated by the police and a fire crew.

He was sectioned under the mental health act and has had police by his bedside in the hospital since Monday, he’s hopefully secured a bed in a psychiatric ward and is being moved later on today for a residential stay of some weeks.

And now the insurance piece- we aren’t sure what to do with the insurance/car. We are fully expecting that the owners of the garages will be in touch with the police and then onto the insurance. Basically he’s borked insurance wise as the cost of it was more than the car cost this year. With the claim he’ll most probably be uninsurable next year- but that’s the least of our worries at present.
The car has been recovered to a police pound in South East London somewhere and there are fees and daily storage charges mounting. I’m expecting the car to be a write off, and if that is the case then there is a one off charge to dispose of it and no further storage charges.

However I’ve no idea what we should do- I doubt the insurance (full comp) will pay out for the car as it was a deliberate collision, there was property involved and the fact he’s been sectioned.

I’d really be grateful for some thoughts or suggestions as to what to do....

Thanks,


J

[mmmunch]

TooMany2cvs said:

They'll certainly pay out for the damage to the garages, and for the bill that's inevitably coming from the emergency services. They have no choice in that matter - the law requires them to pay.

They may well refuse to pay for the damage to his car, and they may try to hand the bill back on to him (there's probably a clause in the policy - especially if he'd had a drink or three in the attempt). TBH, in the circumstances, I'd be surprised. It'd be a PR disaster - besides, can he actually pay it...?

Good luck to you both in dealing with his problems.

Thanks for the prompt response- fortunately no drink/drugs involved and fully insured to drive his car under a fully comp policy.

As he will be in hospital for the next few weeks it was how we approach the insurer as we aren’t the policy holder, he is..

[mmmunch]

desolate said:

If the insurance company piss you about please PM me and we'll do what we can to help.

Thanks so much for the offer.

[mmmunch]

Thanks all.

We’ve just heard he’s being moved to secure unit this afternoon.

I appreciate the comments and kind words.

[mmmunch]

I’m just in contact with the insurer now- Tesco Black Box insurance..

[mmmunch]

Just a small update from my 45minute wait to speak to someone!

They’ve confirmed that if it’s deliberate damage they will not cover the cost of repairs/settlement for the car.

Coincidentally they had been trying to contact him about an accident he had had on Saturday night where he had pulled out from a side road into another car. They were really good on the phone and offered solutions to getting the car out of police storage to reduce cost etc.

I can’t help worrying that the incident on Saturday had a bearing on Monday night- but that is all irrelevant now.

[mmmunch]

Hi all,
I just thought I’d share a quick update to all those who gave such good advice earlier in the week.
So, he got a bed in a secure unit at St Peters in Chertsey on Wednesday and we visited him on Thursday, he had the impression he’d be able to come and go as he pleased as he wanted to leave on Friday to spend time with his friends and girlfriend over the weekend.

On delving deeper it appears that his girlfriend (although I use the term loosely as she’s shown she is a master manipulator over the last few days) was the root cause of this latest incident, however she’s in pretty much constant contact on his phone, that the unit are not allowed to take from him. She’s been told that she’s not allowed to visit him in the unit as she’s been particularly absuvive to the staff there on the ward when she called to try and see him.

We had several texts today saying that he’d had enough as ‘the food is ste’. And he wants to see the girlfriend- my wife asked her to leave him alone to get better but that only resulted in her telling him that his mum was interfering and that she was forcing her to cut contact with him.

Unfortunately as he was in the ward voluntarily he walked out today to see her, and very sadly when my wife text her to again ask her to leave him alone to get better and to tell her he’d left the ward her response to her was ‘cool, he’s coming to stay with me now’.

We aren’t able to do anything about this now as he’s classed as an adult and I guess we just have to wait for the fallout from when it inevitably happens again..

Very sad and sadly pushing both my wife and I to breaking point with our daughter stuck in the middle..

[mmmunch]

pidsy said:

Christ!

Sounds like the car and the insurance issues are the least of your problems right now. The girlfriend is seriously endangering your son - he doesn't see it - but everyone else can. Can you speak to his mental health team and explain the situation more? They should have the power to stop her entering the unit or him leaving to see her. They can also involve the police to stop her contacting him by phone.

Hoping all this gets sorted for you and your son OP.

Thanks, unfortunately the team in the hospital seem pretty useless in doing anything- re taking the phone, ceasing further contact with the gf- whilst also saying that they thought she had issues herself just from the conversation with her....

He’s currently at her house and she is quite smug that he is there. His friend who is a police officer said to him that she is the issue but he won’t have any of it...

[mmmunch]

InitialDave said:

Does he have any close friends you can ask to keep an eye on him/keep his girlfriend under control? Preferably one who won't put up with her st.

Unfortunately not, she,s keeping him away from them, as it stands, we don’t know exactly where she lives, and he will be dependent on her for transport ( for obvious reasons)..

[mmmunch]

elanfan said:

If I may add a couple of points

Regarding the insurance own damage claim - if they continue with their stance I'd be surprised, you may need to have a proper go at them, threaten Ombudsman etc. IMHO I'm not sure they can refuse a claim - yes he 'deliberately' caused the damage but proveably he was not in his right mind at the time. Insurers could argue ' you ignored the lights/traffic sign/ junction markings etc etc so that's a deliberate act too. Might be worth contacting anniesdad on here for an opinion. I'm sure in the circumstances he'd be glad to help.

We will have to see what happens as he also had an accident last Saturday that wasn’t mentioned, pulled out onto a main road without looking and hit a car driving past, so that coupled with what happened when he had the big one last Monday-( he was at a T junction and deliberately drove a speed through a fence into a garage that subsequently collapsed onto the car) I’m fully expecting the policy to be cancelled.

As much as I hate to say it I’m glad the car is a total loss-in the last 6 months since he got his license he’s got 3 points for speeding, and 3 accidents, one of which has resulted in property damage and a total loss. I’m just grateful he hasn’t hurt or killed anyone else at this point. It’s doubtful he will be able to afford insurance for the next few years so I’m not going to worry if the insurance Co refuse to pay out...