Hi Guys,
I am new to this forum so a big hello !! to everyone.
My old Toyota ('98) was recently hit from behind (not at fault) in a rear end collision.
Though the damage was not too much, considering the age of the vehicle and the market value it has been considered a total loss. They are not providing me a courtesy car as it is a total loss.
My insurer is yet to provide me a value but I don't think even after negotiating it would be worth loosing 2 years of NCD which will be suspended until the costs are recovered from the 3rd party.
I need to immediately buy another car and hence cannot wait until the claim is settled.
I am contemplating the following:
1. Withdraw my claim from my insurer, cancel the policy (shall get refund for 6 months!!) and insure my new car with another insurer (who provides courtesy car even in total loss!!) with 2 years NCD. I took some quotes and on a £6K used car, I'm loosing approx. £600 the very first year if there's no NCD. In addition, I need to start building my NCD from scratch if I claim from my insurer.
2. Pursue the claim directly with 3rd party insurer OR through a claim management company OR in worst case just forget about it (approx. £1000 loss, the best my insurer may offer). Do we need to disclose such claims while taking a policy if they were not paid by your previous insurer and do these affect the NCD? I guess no but any feedback is appreciated.
Any suggestions, pitfalls on the above approach are greatly appreciated.
Considering the UK insurance market (ripp off racket!!), I now have a tendency to NOT CLAIM from your insurer until you have built up protected NCD and hence go for cheap cars until then and hope for the best:) That brings me to another question.
Is the NCD accumulated on cheap cars (say £2000 value) valid on a £40K car as well? I think so but you never know.
If yes, then my BMW is only a few years away. If no, I'll always buy cheap cars and claim only after I have a protected NCD !!
Thanks,
Sam.
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Go straight to the third party insurance company. As it was entirely the other driver's fault then claiming on your own insurance will be nothing but a pain in the rear. Only tell yours for information. Make them drop anything to do with it as clearly they are going to foot drag and be a nuisance. Don't touch the claim handlers with a barge pole and they're just out to inflate any claim. Is your car actually driveable? If it isn't ask the third party insurer what you are supposed to do for transport and whether a) they'll provide a hire car at their cost or b) pay for taxi and bus fares for you to get around. They need to do one or the other as you shouldn't be left without transport as the accident was not your fault. Get this in writing!!
Also go and check out autotrader and find comparable cars. Then ask for enough in the payout to replace the car and get it into the same condition as yours was. eg if you've just serviced it then the new one should be serviced etc. As it was entirely the third parties' fault then they should just pay up.
Also investigate how much the car would actually cost to repair if you took to an independent garage as you could consider buying the salvage and repairing it. This will take longer. If it is a common car then you are going to be better off just getting a replacement rather than messing around trying to repair yours unless the damage is minor like just a bumper and will take only a few days.
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Yup - pick option (2). Tell you own insurer you will not be using them to pursue the claim.
Get a 'no win no fee' or reputable claims handler type outfit on the case. But be sure you can prove it was the third parties fault.
When similar happened to me a long time ago, I just used a local solicitor and all they had to do was write a letter to the 3rd party insurer and that was it.
good luck
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Hi Sam,
I had a similar 'incident' to you last Nov. Rear ended by a third party. Firstly, has the third party admitted liability yet? As a rear end accident is pretty much always the 'fault' of the driver that crashed into the back of another vehicle, liability is normally admitted very quickly.
I used my Insurance company to sort my claim out for me. Which they did very well. I ignored all correspondence from incident management companies.
If the third party admits liability then you can claim for a hire car from there insurer, I did this through my Insurance company and was claimed back direct from third party's insurance. It was organised through a well known car hire company who call the third party's insurance direct to get the go ahead after liability has been admitted.
Once liability from the third party has been admitted your NCB shouldn't be affected. A NCB is given on any insurance policy, irrespective of car insured.
The value you are given for you written of car is assessed by an independent assessor working for the insurance companies. Make sure you look in Auto Trader e.t.c. for similar cars to you for sale in the 'Trade' section to know how much you should be getting.
All I can say is use your car insurance company to chase the claim, that's what you pay them for. Obviously this is all my own experience and I could have just been lucky.
Just keep calling them up to chase the claim!
Good luck,
Nial
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Thanks a lot teabelly, martin and Nial for your replies !!
A few more details:
1. The 3rd party accepted liability verbally on the spot and we exchanged the details etc. The elderly guy was also very apologetic. The details he provided are in his own handwriting.
2. On the day of the incident I missed to take any pictures of his vehicle as he pulled up off the road even before I realized and came out of my car. However, I took the pictures of his vehicle (showing front bumper damage etc) a couple of days later as it was still there awaiting recovery.
3. I was provided a hire car from a credit hire company which made me sign that if they cannot recover from 3rd party insurer, I'll be liable for all charges.
When I contacted my insurer, they said it's only a standard process and they have an agreement with the credit hire company that they'll not charge you but didn't give me anything in written though said the call is recorded and they have noted this on the claim record as well.However, I was not comfortable with this and having researched that the credit hire company has been on BBC watchdog, I returned the vehicle after 2 days.
My insurer than told me that they'll provide me a courtesy car (through the bodyshop) which they haven't as it is a total loss. I haven't been informed of the total loss by my insurer yet but only by the bodyshop.
4. My insurer also informed me last week that the 3rd party insurer has no such incident reported.They have sent across the allegations and now shall wait for 2 weeks to receive a reply.
I called up my insurer again and found the following:
a. The new car that you buy after total loss goes on the same policy as the old car.e.g. old car considered total loss after 5 months on the policy,
the new car is then on the policy for the remaining 7 months and once the insurer recovers the charges from the 3rd party insurer you get one year NCD on your next renewal provided no other outstanding claims in the 7 months.
b. I can go back to credit hire company and have been assured that I won't be liable for any charges due to the agreement between the insurer and the credit hire company.
This would mean the car would be available immediately and can keep it until one week after I receive the total loss cheque.
c. I can hire a vehicle and use the receipts to recover the costs once 3rd party admits liability using my motoring legal protection.However, this may or may not be recovered.
d. It will take atleast another 2 weeks for my cheque to arrive considering offer, negotiation and agreeing a value.
I still have 7 months on the policy so positively the claim will be settled before my next renewal date and I'll earn 1 year NCD.
I also do not see why the insurer will drag the recovery process as it's their money they need to recover except my excess which is only £100.00
Considering the complexity of handling the claim independently when the 3rd party has not admitted liability yet and I need a car immediately, going through my insurer seems to be a better and easier option.
Can anyone confirm that agreements such as between my insurer and the credit hire company do exist and I can trust my insurer on this regardless of the contract I will have to sign with the credit hire company?
Thanks,
Sam.
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