Why oh why does my insurer claim that THEY will do all the work regarding my no-fault claim with my van's rear end shunt?
Why claim this is I have had to intervene twice now to keep the process going?
Heres how its gone so far:
2/12/06 - Accident happens. 3rd Party admits liability to their insurer that day and I informed my insurer also on this day. So far so good.
4/12/06 - Called my insurer just to confirm a couple of details.
Also received a call from the repairer asking me to bring my van in to be assessed and booked in.
I took my van in the same day and was told their fax from insurer said assess only as there was a hold up. Fair enough, they had a look and said they would send the info to my insurer.
5/12/06 - 3rd party insurer phones to confirm details and offer their help as they do.
12/12/06 - I rang them to find out what the hold up was. I said that my repairer had been told to assess only - my insurer said that cant be right, they should have booked it in. They then admitted a clerical error on their part and said they had just faxed the repairer telling them to proceed and within a few days, I should hear from the repairer.
Right I thought, all in hand...
Today - I ring up and enquired why i still had no repair date - my insurer said ' we thought it was already being repaired'. I said no, I havent heard from the repairer since they assessed it on the 4th Dec.
So my insurer rang the repairer, who first said that I had not brought my van in to be assessed yet - I said I damn well did on the 4th!
My insurer also said the the hire car firm should have contacted me aswell, which they havent - hmm....
So my insurer goes back to the repairer and low and behold, they find the paperwork this time.
Now ive finally got a repair date so hopefully I will get my van fixed by the end of the month.
Now all that remains is to see whether the hire car firm actually phone me tomorrow as Ive been told they will... like the phoned me last time they were supposed to!
Is this typical of how it works? The insurer seems to have little idea whats going on and if I had not kept ontop of this situation and 'Let them do all the work', I dread to think how long this could have dragged on?
Im not going to name and shame, but im sure anyone who saw my original thread will remember who my insurer was.
Im just wondering why they go to great lengths to tell me that I wont have to do a thing, including sending a reassuring letter to the effect, when infact, Ive had to intervene twice to keep the process moving?
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No, it sounds entiirely stress free for them. Facile comments aside though, I don't know your insurer, but would guess it's a call-centre based broker offering the moon-on-a-stick in the event of an intervention for a ha'porth of tar. If not, forgive me, but I guess alot of the apparent problem is that your claim has no 'champion' or dedicated person other than ' friendly-first-name' who's different each time. When that happens you face the bureaucratic equivalent of 'groundhog day' each time you ring - much the same, probably, as most call-centre based utilities & it's purely a function of cost-cutting to offer the lowest priced 'service'.
Insurance is interesting because it's about the only service most of us don't make use of (hopefully!) but when we do we tend to be in a vulnerable & unknowing position as to due process & 'drill'
I can't offer any palliatives, post hoc, but only suggest your next insurance quote takes account of what happens in the breach. Personally, I've been with the same broker for 10 years, I know the (full) names of the people I deal with & when I had a little bump a few years ago, it was dealt with promptly & satisfactorily.
When I change/alter/modify my policy (for different cars etc) their cover note is in the post the same day to the supplying dealer & an invoice/refund sent after.
Oddly, they always seem to offer the best quote too, (but I always recce the opposition come renewal time, of course) but don't sell their service on lowest price - important to remember that - lowest price doesn't always equal lowest cost.
Best of luck with it though, but Xmas/New Year is always a mucky time for these things multiple party things.
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Well according to the paperwork I have been given I have a 'dedicated' individual handling my claim of which I have a name, but is never available although whenever I have had to phone up and kick them into touch - they are very helpful because obviously, the system is failing rather badly to get the job done.
I wonder if the lovely Mrs Lumley is insured with them and if in the event she has a bump, she will feel as underprivileged as I do :-)
On the upside, the claims hotline they have doesnt leave me on hold for more than a minute or so when you first ring, although longer when they were trying to get me through to the right person/s!
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Knowing who the insurer in question is im very surprised this has happened
When I claimed through this insurer one phone call was all it took,
Within 30 minutes of calling them I was at the repair centre & the fax was there waiting to inspect the car.
Car was booked in for a week later & then within 4 hours of ringing the claim in the hire car company rang me to confirm the hire car booking.
Only time I had to ring back was when I went to pick the car up & found the repair well below standard, in fact it looked like a 5 year old had sprayed it.
After calling them this insurance company they rebooked another hire car right then, got the hire car company back out to collect me & sent there inspector out next day & he told the body shop to re do the paintwork correctly & that he would inspect it again before I saw the finished job.
Also got a courtesy call of them a week later asking if I was happy with the claim.
Im in the same area as the OP too.
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That is sort of why ive been disappointed - after my initial post, I think it was LeeP who said how good the insurer was yet the service I am getting seems to be rather lacking in accuracy and communication.
Its now a month since the accident and only now, because I took the initiative, is my van booked in at all. This just isnt my idea of stress free!
Im using Prestige for the repair work who I am told are very good by everyone I know who has used them. Lets hope so or im going to have a temper tantrum!
I hope I get a courtesy call... they will wish they had never dialled my number :-)
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Sorry to hear about this.
My two bumps last year (both my fault) were sorted out over the phone with a minimum of fuss. Like LeeP, I had a courtesy car the same day.
I wouldn't buy my groceries from John, but his insurance is fine.
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I must say on the two occasions in recent years I have had to use them, the people with the red telephone on wheels have been brilliant. On both occasions all it took was a phone call and a bit of form filling and the cars were picked up and dropped off at a place of my choosing with the standard of repair being excellent. I suppose it helped that they were both the fault of the other party with plenty of witnesses,so the 'perps' couldn't deny liability and drag things out.
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As predicted, the hire car company, didnt call.... ho-hum...
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Is it the same company I used? If it is they dont shut till 6pm.
Also are you 100% sure the insurance company has sent them the fax? You never know the hire company might not even have a booking for you.
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I have to say that my recent experience with a wellknown East Anglian Ins Co is entirely different.
Wife was shunted from behind on 20th Dec, ran the Co later that day. All details taken on phone (took a while but no need for forms, and not talking to someone from Bangladesh) Told was a no-blame accident so no excess to pay and an equivalent value vehicle would be available as replacement.
Next day the local approved repairer rang to see when we wanted car collected from home, had to be after Xmas (fair enough) We agreed 27th Dec.
Same day Drive Direct also contacted us re replacement car. Again agreed they would deliver the same morning 27th.
So far all is going as promised, on the repair Co website I can track progress, and it shows everything is approved and work has started.
We also had a letter from the other parties' insurer offereing to do all the repairs and provide a car at no cost to us! As our Ins Co had already collected the car and provided a replacement I rang to say not needed thank you. Chap said in that case I will write to your Co confirming our client was entirely at fault and we will pay all costs.
I just hope we hit no snags, but so far cannot fault the service.
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The insurance company have twice said they have contacted the hire car company.
No phone call today still :(
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My experiance of late with the insurance company CAR but initials not necessarily in that order came across as a lot of incompetent twits who lost several lots of paperwork used people working in india so conversations were difficult at best.And did not know what the left hand was doing. I think they will not get my premiums at the next renewel.
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rustbucket (the original)
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Following on from the hire car company not phoning me when my insurer said they would, I rang my insurer again today to ask why I was told they would when they didnt?
Seems pedantic I know, but I run a business that depends on having a vehicle and due to the fact that my repairer wont give me a loan vehicle to use for my business use, I have to go with the hire company. This means I want a cast iron assurance that I will have a suitable vehicle on teh day I loose my van for ten days.
So I rang up and yes they were faxed and they had no idea why I wasnt contacted for the second time in a row.
This time my insurer contacted the hire company by phone and yes they had received it and my insurer got me my reservation number etc and the contact number for my local branch with instructions to phone them asap to confirm.
This I did, only to be told that they had no record of it. She suggested that I wait a couple of hours to see if it came through to them and to call back at the end of the afternoon. Why tell me to ring asap?
Im sure im being punished for something here...!!
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Some companies are great and some bad. It's all about the management and the systems they have in place.
Many many years ago I made a claim with Direct Line for vandalism and they were fine. They were always very professional. I also found Its4Me very good.
A few years later I made a claim for a broken side window. The repairer turned up the next day so the car had to sit in a car park overnight with no side window, and it filled up with damp The repairer was a local cowboy who left bits of broken glass all over the place. The broker was based in Manchester and the staff were uniformly unprofessional and untogether. The term sloppy sums them up.
Some time later I had a minor bump (my fault) and the other persons insurer was Manchester based. They left me a phone message, and spoke so fast I could not understand the number or the firm's name. I eventually worked out the number, but no-one answered any of my 20 or so calls. I found another number on the internet but it was dead. Then I got a message threatening legal action if I did not contact them. I eventually traced the other party and rang her to get the number. The insurer was Manchester based and they had the same sloppy untogether manner, like a character from the Catherine Tate show.
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