Mercedes-Benz Direct Accident Management

[whitenemesis]

Any one else received this?

A complimentary service from M-B Direct that, in the event of you being involved in an accident that leaves you off the road through no fault of your own.

Quoting from the letter;-

"If an accident leaves you off the road through no fault of your own the law entitles you to two things; the use of a Mercedes-Benz of the same size and standard and the expertise and warranty of a Mercedes-Benz Approved Bodyshop to repair your car"

The Service will ;-

• Recover your vehicle if nessecary
• Deal with your insurance company
• Supply a suitable M-B replacement car
• Start your repairs immediately
• Book your car into a M-B Approved Bodyshop
• Assist you with, recovering any loss of earnings and uninsured losses, any personal injury claim,

All free of charge, extends to family and friends should they have an accident in their own vehicle.

 

[Dieselman]

I think all dealers of this service, mine does.

 

[whitenemesis]

Was wondering about the accuracy of the "the law entitles..." statement?

 

[drcarrera]

I had use of a similar service when a PO van hit my 911 a few years ago. It was in the shop for two months, during which time I had use of an (old style) SL500 and a Boxster.
The Royal Mail decided to go to court when confronted with a five figure bill for the repairs and "premium" courtesy cars. The judge ruled in their favour and stated "...there is nothing in law which entitles use of a car of a similar standard. It is the drivers responsibilty to ensure costs are kept to a reasonable level, and there is no reason why a cheaper car would not have been perfectly adequate for your needs..."

So I would be very careful if using this service if claiming from a third party.

Chris

 

[davidjpowell]

When I have used this type of service in the past the orginisations have justified to their happiness that I/they could justify a premium car. Because I was a Director at the time that was there justification (It was not a big deal as only a small company). They were happy that they could justify that I needed to impress clients!

I wonder what that judge would have thought if it was their 911?

Generally if the 3rd party is at fault their insurance company will negotiate directly with you, to avoid expensive accident management services, but it is more hassle.

David

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Everybody is into Accident Management these days - even Pistonheads are pushing a similar scheme.

No doubt these schemes contribute to higher premiums for us all, as they increase costs for the insurer of the party at fault, which is then passed on to their customers.

 

[gl boy]

I think all dealers of this service, mine does.

DITTO

 

[Rory]

No doubt these schemes contribute to higher premiums for us all, as they increase costs for the insurer of the party at fault, which is then passed on to their customers.

That's absolutely true - they're ambulance chasers basically.

I got the MB Direct letter too - it stressed over and over again to call them first "if the accident was someone else's fault". It's clear where their interest lies and it stinks.

 

[whitenemesis]

What happens if it is later proven it was your fault? Or more increasingly 50/50?

 

[Dryce]

No doubt these schemes contribute to higher premiums for us all, as they increase costs for the insurer of the party at fault, which is then passed on to their customers.

The insurers have brought this upon themselves.

I wouldn't be inclined to use such a company. However we've twice had to go to court to get clear cut cases settled. Coincidentally both cases were sorted just before the court date - and my view was that the inusrers were just trying it on. Having watched a colleague deal with a serious accident and go through the same ritual and 18 months I don't think our experiences were an aberation.

So last time we had a bang my wife went straight to a company to handle it. Things were handled very smoothly and we knew the third party's insurer was being screwed over on costs like the hire car rate. However from our perspective is zero hassle - everything was just sorted. No quibble about hire car, no quibble about the car going to MB body shop.

As a result of this some insurers will be on the phone to you within hours of notification of an accident where their client is at clear cut fault to get you a car and have repairs sorted. Clearly they are learning. However, in my view it has taken the accident management companies to incentivise them to do this.

What insurers should do is sign up to a set of standards with regarding to claimants against their clients. Where it can be established that the case is clear cut (eg. claimant stationary or rear ended) then they should just get things fixed and sorted as soon as. For example, it's ridiculous how long it can take to get an excess sorted and that can also have a secondary effect of making it difficult to deal with your own insurer if you need a renewal or change of insurer in that time.

 

[marcos]

Everybody is into Accident Management these days - even Pistonheads are pushing a similar scheme.

No doubt these schemes contribute to higher premiums for us all, as they increase costs for the insurer of the party at fault, which is then passed on to their customers.

Which is why my Dad gave the E320 CDI back that they had given him whilst his CLS was having the bumper repaired.
They were charging just under £350 per day for dealing with the accident and supplying a car and he was absolutely appalled when he found out. Now you can't tell me that an E320 CDI would cost £350 a day to hire would it

I think the word he used to describe them was Parasites. probably not far from the truth.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Which is why my Dad gave the E320 CDI back that they had given him whilst his CLS was having the bumper repaired.

It's the sort of thing that's easy to say but unlikely to do in reality. Top marks to Marcos Snr.

 

[Rory]

As a result of this some insurers will be on the phone to you within hours of notification of an accident where their client is at clear cut fault to get you a car and have repairs sorted.

That happened when somone ran into the back of my wife's car last year. I just put the claim through my insurer (Liverpool Victoria) but the 3rd parties insurer (actually, their underwriters, as it was M&S) called and were very anxious to handle the claim directly.
What became stupid though, was that they wouldn't speak to me, even though the car is registered and insured in my name. I told them to go away.

Liverpool Victoria couldn't have been easier to deal with - the whole thing was done in one call and they waived the excess, which I expected to have to pay and reclaim especially as I insisted on having done at the local dealer rather than their repairer.

 

[Rory]

What happens if it is later proven it was your fault? Or more increasingly 50/50?

I *think* they take a view up front and once they decide to take on the case then they insure (or self-insure) against the possibility of not getting paid.

Helphire is one of the biggest and it's a fantastically profitable business. They're increasingly buying (rather than leasing) large quantities of cars to loan to people - in fact it was one of their Porsche's that was famously clocked doing 172MPH after an employee "borrowed" it.


I don't what happens if it's questionable at the beginning. One of the things that confused me about the MB Direct mailshot was that it mentions "£100 discount on your excess". Unless they assume you would be paying that and then claiming it back? There's no sugestion in the literature that they have any interest in handling "at fault" claims.

 

[Dryce]

Which is why my Dad gave the E320 CDI back that they had given him whilst his CLS was having the bumper repaired.
They were charging just under £350 per day for dealing with the accident and supplying a car and he was absolutely appalled when he found out. Now you can't tell me that an E320 CDI would cost £350 a day to hire would it

I think the word he used to describe them was Parasites. probably not far from the truth.

Parasites perhaps. But the insurance companies thoroughly deserve them on occasion.

I was hit while stationary a long while back. My motorbike was off the road for 8 weeks (parts availability). During that time I minimised my expenses using trains and buses and walking. I think the total was something like £145 all in with everything receipted. I didn't claim for the bruising or anything in the way of compensation.

Net result. The b*st*rd insurance company (Zurich) quibbled right down to the last £2.50 train fare to go collect my bike (which was eventually fixed with a second hand part). So much for being decent and honest.

My wife had one of AXA's client's hit her in a car park. The communication with AXA was just downright disgusting - I would use the term bullying and intimidating - stating that she was at fault when it should have been a clear cut no-fault and they were going to claim against her. 18 months on and they settled the day before it went to court.

So yes £350 is outrageous but some of these large respectable companies well and truly deserve it. They helped create this market. You make your bed and you lie in it.

Having been burned more than once I would have absolutely no qualms about going straight to the accident management company and just get it sorted. This goes againt my normal inclinations.

 

[drcarrera]

What made my experience with the post office worse was that they actually agreed a settlement of 75% of the claim before it was due to go to court. I was happy enough with that, as was my insurance company, but the company providing the courtesy cars weren't, so it had to go to court! I was self employed at the time but again the judge refused to pay me any costs as she deemed it my fault the case hadn't been settled out of court.
The whole experience made my blood boil to be honest.

 

[Rory]

Parasites perhaps. But the insurance companies thoroughly deserve them on occasion.

Some insurance companies are contracting out their claims handling to these sorts of companies anyway, so they're all in it together.

 

[Mudster]

What made my experience with the post office worse was that they actually agreed a settlement of 75% of the claim before it was due to go to court. I was happy enough with that, as was my insurance company, but the company providing the courtesy cars weren't, so it had to go to court! I was self employed at the time but again the judge refused to pay me any costs as she deemed it my fault the case hadn't been settled out of court.
The whole experience made my blood boil to be honest.

The Post Office are self insured, they actually don't have an insurance policy as we understand, the premium would simply be so large it is more cost effective for them to put that money into a fund and deal with claims themselves. They then have an insurance policy with an enormous excess attached to it to deal with any serious injury or death situations (I'm not sure what but it could be say and excess of £50,000) anything over this figure is then passed to an insurer to deal with and the Post Office's liability is limited to £50,000 per single event.

They are far more likely to litigate in an attempt to save costs.

The Mercedes Direct document is clearly misleading, there is actually no Law governing these arrangements - there are test cases in civil court that set precedents but these are not necessarily "law". What they are is precedents.

The single most important statement anyone has to remember in cases of non fault accidents is you have a duty to mitigate your loses, this includes renting Porsches, if your Porsche has been smashed up. That may sound bias, but that's how it is.

These claims handling companies are ambulance chasers, much in the same way loss assessors used to be in the days of old.

 

[daveuj]

Hi had the same offer from Inchcape of derby(Accident Aftercare) they say my car will lose value & 30 year corrosion warranty on parts fitted if not done by MB