well been in a crash today, long story i wont bore you with yet, caused by one agreesive idiot who drove off and sadly we didnt get his registration number
however in the course of events i had to do an emergency stop and the girl behind me went into the back of me
her insurance company have sent me a text saying i may not have to claim on my own policy and pay an excess if i ring them instead they ***may*** be able to get my car fixed and a hire car without me paying any excess
is this an admission of liability almost?
what would be the implications of ringing elephant and letting them fix my car ?
am i under risk if the repair is dodgy or similar?
am i better off just claiming on my own insurance and letting them sort it?
any experience of this?
Edited by rtj70 on 13/03/2009 at 22:53
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however in the course of events i had to do an emergency stop
Not you that caused the accident then. People have to do emergency stops Driver behind should have been able to stop. If not they were driving too close or too fast.
This may have been caused by what happened to you but the other driver should have been able to avoid you anyway. And should have been reading the road ahead and seen what was happening.
I wonder what other backroom members think.
Edited by rtj70 on 13/03/2009 at 22:41
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Just read your post... so she is admitting fault. You need to tell your insurance anyway so I suppose the repair option depends on what you prefer. My wife has had two non-fault claims and car fixed by our insurance. Only thing then was we paid the excess and had to wait for a cheque from the third party's insurance. Getting them to fix may avoid this but depends on body shop and warranty on repairs.
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Out insurance had a local body repair shop that was very good. Okay they scratched the car by accident but sorted that too.... that's More Than you can hope for these days I think.
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I was insured by them and had a repair, it was so atrocious the paint was coming off and damaged parts were just painted over.
Elephant were no help. In the end I had to sue them and use the money to pay someone to repair it again. Sounds easy, but dragged on for 9 months.
I shudder to think what they would do for someone who is not a customer and has no contract with them, and little ability to impose sanctions.
Their motivation in doing this is to save themselves money.
What make of car do you have? Many makers have claims assistance hotlines who will repair your car at a dealership and deal directly with the third party's insurer. Vauxhall and VW do anyway.
Edited by Hamsafar on 13/03/2009 at 22:39
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suzuki
still going to have to "inform" my insurance even if i dont claim though?
problem with using makers claim assistance helpline is that if elephant dont cough up im left holding the baby if i have not claimed on my own insurance?
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still going to have to "inform" my insurance even if i dont claim though?
Yes. You have to declare accidents. When getting a quote thought you say it was an accident and costs reclaimed (whatever the words). It does not affect you. I tried quotes online for SWMBO and it made no difference if she had an accident and not her fault. Two in the past 3 years - one stationary in traffic and the other stationary in a car park!
I also this year added me to the policy. Reduced it. I had to add the accident I had with an HGV in Italy and that made a saving! And the roads around Milan were shutdown due to my accident - multiple lorries involved.
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Why would you lose your excess anyway? You pay this if it is your fault or if there is no-one else to blame (as when my car was written off by a falling tree), not when you claim from someone else.
She hit you and so she/her insurance company pay for repairs to put you back in the situation you were in before the accident. That includes a hire-car if needed.
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If your insurance company provides a hire car via their bodyshop then take this if you can. Don't risk credit hire type companies if you can. But if you need a car larger than supermini again contact your company first.
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if you claim on your own insurance you normally have to pay the garage the excess and then wait for matters to be resolved between insurance companies before a long time later getting a cheque from the other drivers insurance company for the excess, even if other driver has admitted it
also own insurance usually has day limit on hire car
so it would be a compelling offer IF it was a bodyshop of my choice and hire car of my choice, but i think thats unlikely?
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so it would be a compelling offer IF it was a bodyshop of my choice and hire car of my choice, but i think thats unlikely? >>
No, no, no. YOU dictate the terms to get your car back to the state it was in before the 3rd party's negligent actions.
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And the limits on what your insurance might offer might make it better taking the offer from 3rd party without involving your insurance. But they need informing of the accident.
When my car was in an accident in 2003 (2004?) the bodyshop could have given a car. But a Fiesta type car was unacceptable for the mileage I was doing. 200+ miles per day. Got a hire car but my company paid.
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She hit you and so she/her insurance company pay for repairs to put you back in the situation you were in before the accident. That includes a hire-car if needed. >>
Yep, HJ has an excellent FAQ on this, see tab on top right. Currently FAQ no. 104 in his index.
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It seems more and more insurance co's are doing this when it was their drivers fault.
My mother had a no fault accident the other week, the other drivers insurance contacted her, said they would sort it out, but she wanted a particular bodyshop to do the work, they asked for her to send a quote and approved it with no problem. Sorted her out a car and paid the bill for the repair and the hire car.
Her car was off the road for 1 day! So a big saving to the insurance Co. I think they are now doing this to cut down on all the accident management type companies taking them for a ride.
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Just remembered my wife's Seicento had a small bump from a colleague in the work car park many years ago. Other two accidents involved a lot more work! (one replaced the panel affected in this bump I mention).
We took it to where I got my Passat fixed for a quote. And it was then approved and fixed. Local to us so all winners. Accidents to happen.
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ok so now weve both got pain in the neck
not too bad but definite low level dull pain
so fairly obvious self diagnosis is weve got whiplash
some questions
i) both of us are busy next few days and dont really want to waste time queuing up at nhs facilities just to be told to go away and use an ice pack or similar, ie is there anything the medics can do that will actually help? or is it a go away and take some paracetamol job? dont fancy a neck collar unless its really essential
ii) while everybody else seems to claim fantasy whiplash as a money spinning claim to stick in addition on the insurance claim while weve genuinely got it im not sure i can be bothered with the hassle of trying to claim, presumably they will expect us to have wasted half a day in an nhs queue etc
so just wondering what to do, and whether to make a fuss
how much is the average payout for whiplash now anyways, how comes it hurts now and not at the time of the accident?
etc etc
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i Yes - actually make a record of the actual injury - your self diagnosis will be worth nothing in Court - it may actually stop long term problems and prevent you becoming a long term drain on the NHS.
ii Don't then - its as simple as that.
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what exactly is a doc going to do to diagnose it anyway, its only a dull pain, its not like there is a rash or anything
sorry pugugly its just been a bad time and im all drained from all the hassle
bit of sympathy would be nice the way im feeling right now, dont be too hard on me
thanks
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You have my sympathy !
Mrs P - had long term neck problems after an accident she was involved in -she wouldn't seek medical attention. Diagnostic and treatment of whiplash is available - its free and the waiting is the only hassle, could save you lots of grief in years to come. Honest.
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i had a car hit me up the rear 3 yrs ago i was fine but company said i had to go hospital just for the check up.... but 36 hrs later i got the pains in the neck and back so off to the doctors and so on and so on..... but after 15 months i got £3550 compo !!! its best to get it checked out as whiplash can last for many months if not treated.... the claim side of it was ok most of it done by the gmb union !!
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Havent heard of this before, but i like the idea.
In theory it should be good for the innocent party when they renew insurance, a hassle free customer has got to be a better bet for the ins co.
Most of us thankfully are still reasonable people who just want our car putting right should we be involved in a minor prang.
It makes sense to keep things simple like this, if the insurance companies can stop the worst excesses of dick turpin's claims r us con men at the same time we're all better off.
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i really wish i could name and shame my own insurance company here
and as for the police and their sum total contribution to world peace being sticking a producer on the victims (us) i find them a bit of a joke
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just done a quick search and apparently around 15 % of all UK car insurance premiums ends up being paid out in whiplash claims
thats ridiculous, there carnt be that many people getting shunted from behind surely?
the mind boggles
carnt we set up a special club for folk who promise never to claim for whiplash and sort out insurance with a discount for ourselves, if the club got big enough it would preumably pay the insurance companies to endorse it?
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Nothing stopping you from doing that - that's the spirit that set up the original mutual organisations that are/were the rockbed of the insurance companies.
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carnt we set up a special club for folk who promise never to claim for whiplash and sort out insurance with a discount for ourselves
A cosy old fashioned view there, i'd like to join that club, i'm fed up to the back teeth of paying through the nose for all and sundry, not just insurance either.
Was there a more decent general standard of behaviour in years gone by or is it the old rose tints again, i'd like to think so, or have some people always wanted something for nothing.
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There are plenty of Credit Unions across the country that continue this tradition. I do some work for one locally (for nothing !) and they are an honourable crowd of decent hard-working people.
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i) both of us are busy next few days and dont really want to waste time queuing up at nhs facilities just to be told to go away
It wont be a waste of time.... whiplash hurts, and can be a sign or real neck damage - when i went to A&E with it, i was strapped down until they were sure I hadnt broken my neck...ii) while everybody else seems to claim fantasy whiplash as a money spinning claim to do and whether to make a fuss
Many of the claims are NOT fantasy... in fact doctors are very good at telling the fake from the real.... injured muscle shows sign of swelling for one thing....how much is the average payout for whiplash now anyways how comes it hurts now and not at the time of the accident?
your tense after the accident, so the muscles are also tense, after the muscles start relaxing the pain starts..... I got about 2 grand, from an accident 2 years ago, sometime i think i should have held out for more, as i still suffer form neck pain -but the payout was a final settlement, with no chance of addition claims....
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