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AntMB
Active Member
So far as I can tell, I've not made a claim, the insurance company don't seem to know what they're doing at all.
Hit and sod off - should I bother?
- Thread starter AntMB
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So far as I can tell, I've not made a claim, the insurance company don't seem to know what they're doing at all.
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I would hope, in fact I’m sure most of my former (former only because I’m retired) clients wouldn’t agree with you.
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On a general note:
You should contact your own insurer, report the incident, and let them know that it's 'notification only' - I.e. you are not making a claim on your own policy at this stage, and no further action is required from them.
Then, you should contact the other party's insurer directly, and submit a claim against the other driver's insurance policy.
If they other party's insurer tell you that their client admitted liability, then it's all plain sailing from there.
If they tell you that their client denies liability, then you should present them with the evidence you have, e.g. photos etc.
If after seeing the evidence they still deny liability, then you can either drop the whole thing, or get your own insurer involved, it's down to you.
In the event that the other party's insurer simply do not respond, then you first 'threaten' them that you will appoint an accident management firm to deal with them on your behalf, and if they still ignore you, then you go ahead and appoint one - they'll do the work for you.
You should contact your own insurer, report the incident, and let them know that it's 'notification only' - I.e. you are not making a claim on your own policy at this stage, and no further action is required from them.
Then, you should contact the other party's insurer directly, and submit a claim against the other driver's insurance policy.
If they other party's insurer tell you that their client admitted liability, then it's all plain sailing from there.
If they tell you that their client denies liability, then you should present them with the evidence you have, e.g. photos etc.
If after seeing the evidence they still deny liability, then you can either drop the whole thing, or get your own insurer involved, it's down to you.
In the event that the other party's insurer simply do not respond, then you first 'threaten' them that you will appoint an accident management firm to deal with them on your behalf, and if they still ignore you, then you go ahead and appoint one - they'll do the work for you.
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AntMB
Active Member
I contacted the other drivers insurance company this morning. Interestingly they told me that they haven't heard from Esure at all.
I don't think they look at it as your fault necessarily, but because you've had an accident of some kind most insurer's algorithms will statisically see that as a greater risk to insure.
BigJase88
MB Enthusiast
Your insurance company will fix your car after you pay your excess.
Submit photos to your insurance and they will then chase the 3rd party insurance to cover costs and reimburse your excess once settled.
Your insurance company won't start to chase anything until there is money to be chased.
Submit photos to your insurance and they will then chase the 3rd party insurance to cover costs and reimburse your excess once settled.
Your insurance company won't start to chase anything until there is money to be chased.
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From personal experience... this is the long way to go about it.
The shortest route is to cut your own insurer out of the loop, they only serve to introduce unnecessary delays and tend to obfuscate matters.
Contact the other party's insurer directly. They will contact their client to get his/her side of the story. If the other-party's insurer accepts liability (either because their client admitted they were at fault, or because you have submitted overwhelming evidence), then they will be very eager to settle the claim as soon as possible. They will know very well that if you contact an accident management firm, the cost to them could double and more.
The above won't work though in the event that the other party denies liability, and you have no evidence to refute their claims. In this case, you either drop the claim altogether and take it on the chin, or submit a claim on your own policy and let your insurer battle with the other party's insurer. You can also take the other-party's insurer to court yourself, but this is not generally a recommended course of action.
But again, if the other party's insurer accept liability... they will be chasing you for a quick settlement, before their own costs start to balloon.
BigJase88
MB Enthusiast
Im down the long route as the 3rd party has not accepted liability.
It's now due to go to court. [Still waiting]
Think you’re talking about scenario when the claim has been settled. Agree that you’ll be viewed as a greater risk overall.
Whilst claim is open in the insurers database some companies will view that as a fault accident and provide you with quotes accordingly. That’s the information that was provided to me by the claims handler when I had to escalate in the end(wasn’t much help either way).
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If you submit 'notification only' to your own insurer, and then submit a claim directly to the other-party's insurer, then your own insurer's database won't show an open claim (unless you end-up claiming on your own policy). I believe this is the case even if both policies are with the same insurer.
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AntMB
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Ok, so, I got in touch with Esure again this morning and had a proper pop at them. The person on the phone was most understanding and confirmed that Esure have been trying to get in touch with the third party insurance company, with the wrong email address. I then had to ask, with months of no communication, why didn't anyone pick up the phone to the third party like I did this morning? I got the correct information once I did, Esure should have done that, but I had to do it.
I've been offered £200 compensation to not escalate to the FOS. The current issue that for some stupid reason, my excess is £400 and as ridiculous as it sounds, I don't have £400 spare anymore, I did a year or so ago, but not anymore, so it's left me without repairs as the third party haven't admitted liability.
Add to that, the third party hasn't even reported anything to his insurer, his insurer told me, so admitting liability is likely to never ever occur.
The best thing I can do is take the compensation, get the car repaired and just forget about it. I've got so much other stuff going on, plus mountains of work to get finished on the house, effing about with cars is not something I'm prepared to be doing.
I've been offered £200 compensation to not escalate to the FOS. The current issue that for some stupid reason, my excess is £400 and as ridiculous as it sounds, I don't have £400 spare anymore, I did a year or so ago, but not anymore, so it's left me without repairs as the third party haven't admitted liability.
Add to that, the third party hasn't even reported anything to his insurer, his insurer told me, so admitting liability is likely to never ever occur.
The best thing I can do is take the compensation, get the car repaired and just forget about it. I've got so much other stuff going on, plus mountains of work to get finished on the house, effing about with cars is not something I'm prepared to be doing.
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That's not how it works. If you have photographic evidence that their client's vehicle was involved in a road traffic accident, and they will query with the client why they haven't reported it (which their client should have done, even if they don't accept liability). Then, if you have conclusive proof that it wasn't your fault (e.g. if the photos show that the other car had 'give way' sign), then the other-party's insurer will pay out even if their client does not accept liability.
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That's a very practical approach.
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The £400 excess only applies if you make a claim on your own policy... but if you claim directly off the other-party's policy, there's no excess to pay.
And, again, you will get paid if the other-party's insurer accepts liability... and regardless of what the other driver says.
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AntMB
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Yes I know, but the other party hasn't even been available to admit liability, so the excess would have to be paid by me if I wanted the repair right away.
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AntMB
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So far, that is how it's been working. I've already put that scenario to my insurer that as the third party hasn't even reported it, that's an admission of guilt right away, but they disagree and say the third party insurer could still refuse to accept liability. I do have photos, so hopefully can pin him to the scene in the eyes of the third party insurer.
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That depends on what you mean by 'right away'.
Once you contact the other-party's insurer with proof that their client's vehicle was involved in a road traffic accident, things will move pretty fast. They'll most likely get back to you in under a week, either to accept liability on their client's behalf, or to tell you that they dispute liability. And, if you mention the magic words 'accident management company', they might get back to you even quicker...
In the event that they do accept liability (e.g. based on the photos you submitted), then they will offer you to have the car collected from your home address asap and taken to their repair shop, and they will also offer you a similar-size rental car for your own use until they bring your repaired car back to you. Yes, they are that nice when you claim directly off them and they can't dispute liability. They are very wary of 'claim inflation', which is what will usually happen in these circumstances if they drag their heels.
You can obviously prefer an MB approved paint shop, which the insurer will begrudgingly agree to, but then you'll have to make your own booking arrangements. The rental car will still be available to you.
As said, the only possible issue here is if the photos you have do not convulsively prove that the other party was at fault.
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AntMB
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Yes I know, but they haven't admitted liability in three months. What do you think I've been doing, waiting to decide if I'm going to claim or not? I have set this out in post 1.
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Your own insurer is in this case is just a conduit, they don't really care what the outcome will be or how long it takes. As said, in the first instance, you shouldn't really involve your own insurer (other than notify them of the incident), it only slows thing down. You should involve your own insurer only once the other-party's insurer refused to accept liability and you do not have photographic evidence to the contrary.
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Call them yourself, submit a claim against their client's policy, submit the photographic evidence that you have, and tell them if you don't hear back from them either-way within 7 days, you will refer the case to an accident management company who will contact them on your behalf. I guarantee you that this will get their attention.
