Welliesorter
the simplest possible outcome for you would be a cheque from the 20-something made out to your bodyshop - assuming there is no insurance claim.
Re: backenders: when i had my cav estate, boy racer ran into the back of me at a red light. No damage to the cav, but boy lost 3 sets of driving lights on the front bumper !
..and i did once backend a parked mondeo. I was cycling up a 1 in 6 with my nose over the front wheel...no damage, thankfully !
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It looks as if this will have to be an insurance job.
I've taken my car to the nearest main dealer who sent me to their bodyshop.
Their man came out, tested the tailgate a few times (fine, but I already knew that) looked under the bumper and said he'll put an estimate in the post.
I asked him for a sensible guess and he said £180ish for a new bumper, £200ish for labour so with VAT, £500 would be a sensible guess. He said the car is safe to drive in its present state. He asked for the name of my insurance company and the other driver's, and put a lot of stress on the fact that he was an authorised repairer and that I didn't have to accept the insurance company's choice of garage.
So what's my next course of action? Contact the other driver or ring my insurance company?
I also, through my bank, have something called 'AA Accident Management' which 'may include recovering your vehicle to a garage, organising a replacement vehicle and arranging paperwork between you, your insurer and the repairers'. Should I make use of this?
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I forgot to add that the situation is complicated by the fact that I'm a long way from home and not planning to return until Wednesday.
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I've notified my insurance company and they've given me a claim number and the name of their nearest approved garage, and told me I'll hear from them shortly. They say there's no need for me to contact the other driver at all.
I don't see any reason to object to their choice of repairer as it's a main Ford dealer about a mile from where I live.
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But, surely, if you are not to lose your no claims discount you will have to get your excess from the driver who hit you? I doubt if your ins co will do that for you.
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But, surely, if you are not to lose your no claims discount you will have to get your excess from the driver who hit you? I doubt if your ins co will do that for you.
They said I would have to pay it directly to the garage and it would be recovered later if appropriate.
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I've notified my insurance company ....
Did they not query why you didn't report the accident within 24 hrs of it happening?
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When I was hit 'up the rear' so to speak (oo er missus!), elephant.co.uk (via Albany Uninsured Loss Recovery) did all the work, booked it into a garage, arranged a suitable hire car (BMW X5), paid my excess for me. All I had to was sign two bits of paper and take deliver of the hire vehicle.
If anyone wonders whether the £10 legal expenses extra is worth having, theres your answer!
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Did they not query why you didn't report the accident within 24 hrs of it happening?
Thankfully not, but it was concern about that that prevented me delaying any longer. I believe the requirement is to report it as soon as reasonably practical. I'd have thought the first working day later would be reasonable.
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It's been nearly three weeks since the incident. My car has been fixed and I've paid the excess. To my untrained eye, the car looks as good as new so no complaints there.
Since I reported the incident to the insurance company, all I've received from them is a standard 'thank you for contacting us' letter, and a phone call to make sure the repairer had been in touch. Apart from the brief account of the incident that I gave over the phone, I haven't even given them my version of events. Certainly, they haven't contacted me about the claim or what (if anything) is happening regarding the other driver.
Is this par for the course or should I be chasing them for information? Shouldn't I have been asked to fill in a form giving my version of events or will they just act on the basis of what I told them on the phone?
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Least said soonest mended. Why bother with a load of carp from insurance men?
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Except that you want to make sure it is the other parties insurer that stumps up, not yours.
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Least said soonest mended. Why bother with a load of carp from >> insurance men?
Yes, my thoughts too, except...
Except that you want to make sure it is the other parties insurer that stumps up, not yours.
Indeed. My concern is that an oversight now may be storing up problems for later.
Does anyone with recent experience of dealing with insurance companies have any insights to offer? In particular, is it normal to submit some sort of claim form? I seem to remember my father completing forms, and even drawing diagrams, when he had to report incidents in the olden days. Also, what sort of timescales are usual before being able to draw a line under the matter?
After my post last night, it dawned on me that I'm 37 years old and have never before made an insurance claim of any kind for any purpose whatsoever (cue smell of burning as house instantly burns down). I wonder if this is some sort of record.
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And when you reach the new retirement age of 87 and try to claim on your National Insurance, you'll find the company has gone out of business.
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I was 36 - a flooded kitchen. No motoring claims - yet. Touch wood.
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The machine is clearly in motion, albeit slowly.
Today I received a call from the other driver, the first contact I've had with her since the incident. She had received a form from her insurance company and was obviously upset.
She was upset with me for not telling her that I intended to claim from her insurance and felt that she shouldn't lose her no claims bonus when the responsibility for the incident was shared.
I apologised for not having contacted her but explained that my insurance company had advised me against it. I also regretted that the letter had come as a complete shock to her and expressed surprise that it had taken so long for her to receive anything.
I explained that perhaps responsibility for the incident isn't a topic that it would be proper for us to discuss at this point and it was best if we simply leave the insurance companies to get on with their job.
At the time of the accident, the damage looked very minor, and I'd expressed the wish not to involve insurance companies if it was going to be cheap to fix. I got the impression from today's conversation that she'd had her car repaired without contacting her own insurance company and, although the damage looked worse, it was probably less serious than mine.
I felt sorry for her, mainly because the contact from her own company has come as a shock to her. Is it usual for it to take this long? Is it likely to have taken this long just because the paperwork has been sitting on someone's desk for a while, or is it more probable that my company wouldn't have contacted hers until the damage had been assessed and the cost of fixing it known?
Are there things that I should have done differently and is there anything that I should do now? I do feel guilty about not contacting her after the incident but can't help wondering whether any discussions we might have had at the time would have been unhelpful, despite the fact that she has never appeared unreasonable.
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>>when the responsibility for the incident was shared
IIRC, she hit you up the rear when you stopped suddenly so presumably she was either too close or not paying attention. So how's this blame sharing work, then ??
What was the shock ? That she thought she'd got away with it lightly since she hadn't received a letter yet ? Or did she really not think it her fault ? In which case I wonder what else she isn't aware of.
She's upset that you didn't tell her that you would go through insurance after SHE hit YOU ?!?!
Its a funny old world.
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Are there things that I should have done differently and is there anything that I should do now?
Probably would have been courteous to let her know you had changed your mind and decided to go through insurance. Her ins. company might have had a go at her for not notifying them.
A few years back I was sitting at the back of a queue at traffic lights when a woman drove into the back of my car. Luckily it was only at low speed but cracked her and my bumpers. She said she wanted to go through insurance (despite her initially having the cheek to say "well how do I know that your car wasnt already like that?").
So I phoned my ins. co. to notify them, and was told to get a quotation. Later that day, before I had chance to do anything about it, her ins. co. phoned me and said as a "goodwill gesture" they would repair my car immediately without me having to pay my excess, and gave me the address of a very convenient garage to take it to the next morning. So I got it repaired and got a courtesy car without having to lift a finger or spend any money.
I hope it goes as easy as that if/when it happens again!
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In particular, is it normal to submit some sort of claim form?
It usually is I think, at least if there is any dispute over liability. My insurer said no form would be required if one or the other admitted blame.
I seem to remember my father completing forms, and even drawing diagrams, when he had to report incidents in the olden days.
You should still do this if it will help, many claim forms will have labelled space for diagrams. Photos are even better, if not of the actual collision but at least of the collision location (road layout, signs, etc) and of the damage to the vehicles.
Also, what sort of timescales are usual before being able to draw a line under the matter?
As long as it takes I'm afraid....
Last year, another driver pulled out from a side road into my car. This occured on the 18th June last year; they admitted liability in September but my excess was not returned untill late November after some phone calls to my insurer, even though my insurer had not recovered *any* costs at that time. Even by February not all costs had been recovered so my renewal notice showed no NCB (should be 3 yrs); more phone calls were made untill my insurer put in writing that NCB had be reinstated even though not all costs had been recoverd. Finally, I had a letter from my (ex)insurer this week to say all costs had now been recovered, over 9 months after the collision.
Pity for them that I didnt renewal my insurance & took my business elsewhere.
The point to remember is the insurer is working for you. Of course they have wait for the other insurer to pay for the damage [where the other party is to blame] but its their job to push for the money. My lot dithered around so much I went elsewhere for my insurance.
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The point to remember is the insurer is working for you. Of course they have wait for the other insurer to pay for the damage [where the other party is to blame] but its their job to push for the money. My lot dithered around so much I went elsewhere for my insurance.
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I had a driver open their door as I was passing and I could not avoid hitting it.
....Eventually it was agreed that half my excess would be payed by the other party.
So I expected a £100 cheque.
After NN calls and being accused of cashing said cheque I asked my legal cover to proceed. Several of their letters failed so I said it was off to court which they agreed. Just prior to the case, having obtained a poor copy of said cheque, all became clear, my insurer, one of the majors had cashed said cheque that had been made out to ME.
I shudder to think how much all that cost, all over just £100 but I was happy with my legal cover.
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