Why are the other parties Insurers phoning?

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Wed 3 Nov 2010 20:16
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - sydney the oz

Daughter in law got hit by another driver, exchanged details etc etc, last Friday. Today, the insurance company of the person who hit her phoned to try and resolve things direct. It's her first knock, and a while since I had such an experience, so don't know why they are hassling her? She asked if they would speak to me about the matter, and took a contact name and call back number and asked me to call them tomorrow, which I will do.

But why would the other parties insurance company want to deal direct? What is there to be wary of? Thanks for any points you can help with.

PS her car is old, but still legally driveable and she needs it for work. It is almost certainly a write off, but she cannot afford for the Insurer to take it for assessment, then write it off and not give it back or a hire car, and then force her to rush to get a replacement.

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Wed 3 Nov 2010 20:51
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - bonzo dog

Assuming the other party is 100% at fault then he / she is liable for damage etc. He / she is insured against any such liablility & the insurance co is doing what they should be doing which is processing the claim.

This way your D in Law will not have to stand any excess & try to re-claim it later. Nor will she have to lose any no claims bonus. This way is far better.

Watch out for the insurance co trying to offer less than the car is worth ie what it would cost for her to buy a similar vehicle (make, model, age, mileage, history etc) retail. Check out Autotrader.co.uk for an idea of what they are going for

Good luck

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Wed 3 Nov 2010 21:25
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - bathtub tom

Have you read this thread?

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=87583

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Wed 3 Nov 2010 21:28
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - martint123

Although she has to report the incident to her own insurer, she can say that at present she will not be claiming on her own insurance.

As mentioned, it is far easier dealing with the third parties insurer as it will be them paying up in any case.

Rememeber, if she claimes from her own insurer, then her NCD will be gone until every last penny is reclaimed from the third party (including any excess).

If they are will ing to pay up promptly and generously, I'd bite their hands off.

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Wed 3 Nov 2010 21:54
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - a900ss
I had a similar situation about 4 weeks ago when my car was hit in a car park. It was the insurer with the red phones and Stephen Fry doing the voiceover...

Basically, they wanted to repair my car at one of their garages and provide one of their own hire cars. It was all to lower costs. Nothing wrong with that in itself.

Having said that I got my own insurance company to deal with It as I wasn't prepared to have a Corsa (or similar) as a hire car whilst mine was being repaired.

Good luck.
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Thu 4 Nov 2010 04:12
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - LucyBC
The notorious Quinn Direct used to send a bloke round who would wave a bundle of notes under the non-fault driver's nose on the doorstep - one was caught on film saying "Take this now my dear and all will be well with the world".

For the most part it would be a blatant attempt to undersettle.

The argument they used to make was that claims could take "years" to complete. This is no longer true except in the most serious cases.

Dealing with the aftermath of accident is always a chore but the interests of the non-fault driver are in most cases contrary to those of the insurer of the fault driver. The latter will be trying to minimise costs (read "cut corners") where they can.

The new fast track procedures for settling claims mean cases are dealt with more quickly but they also encourage third party insurers to jump in and try to circumvent the process before the Fast Track process kicks in.

Generally speaking a non-fault claim should be made directly against the third party insurer but dealing with accidents is a complex and tricky business and I would strongly advise that you don't do it yourself.

I deal with accidents every day. Here's how the Fast Track procedure works with us:

Stage One - Claim Notification Form submitted online to the Insurers of the other driver. Once submitted, the insurers have only 15 "Business Days" (so excluding weekends and Bank Holidays) to state whether they accept liability. If they do so and comply with certain other time limits, the claim will remain in the new process. If liability is quickly admitted the vehicle will be replaced or repaired with a replacement car provided for the duration

Stage Two - Rapid assessment of damages, Assessment of damage, repairs or write off, loss of earnings and other ULR plus replacement car and preparation of medical report in event of injury. Costs of repair or write off, list of your out-of-pocket expenses and the amount of compensation for your injuries based on previous similar settlements submitted to other party's insurer.

The insurers then have only have a further 15 Business Days either to agree the amount sought or make a counter offer and after that a further 20 Business Days is allowed to enable negotiations to continue.

All this means that a claim should not take long but there is a set procedure and even some respectable insurers are attempting to circumvent it in an attempt to save money.

Ask your daughter in law to contact me direct at asklucy@honestjohn.co.uk if she needs further advice on this.
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Thu 4 Nov 2010 09:55
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - Falkirk Bairn
>>. All this means that a claim should not take long but there is a set procedure and >>even some respectable insurers are attempting to circumvent it in an attempt to >>save money.



A good few years back I was hit up the back and it took 21 months to the court date at which the day before the 3rd party insurer settled. Mid November - it was 3 months later that a large insurer from East Anglia sent a cheque - made out to me rather than the Solicitor.

It was then I found out Solicitor got more for his efforts in dragging them to court than I got for my damages - I cashed the £8500 cheque and sent the balance of £4300 back to him!

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Thu 4 Nov 2010 10:11
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - LucyBC
The fast track is very good and around 90% of cases should be dealt with through it. Some lawyers are still reluctant to use it and will drag it out but there is no excuse in the vast majority of road traffic collisions.
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Thu 4 Nov 2010 08:21
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - Roly93

Watch out for the insurance co trying to offer less than the car is worth ie what it would cost for her to buy a similar vehicle (make, model, age, mileage, history etc) retail. Check out Autotrader.co.uk for an idea of what they are going for

Good advice, you need to look at the most expensive equivalent possible on Autotrader as usually with older cars, the car is probably still reliable and worth a lot more to your D in law than being 'forced' to spend more replacing it.

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Thu 4 Nov 2010 09:04
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - LucyBC
I can sort her a courtesy car and either get a fair valuation or repairs done on her own vehicle. The case would probably go into the fast track (see above and if they concede liability) as they seem to be doing already I would expect everything to be resolved in a maximum three weeks.

We don't charge the client for running these cases and the third party insurer is likely to be more than happy to deal with us as her own insurer is likely to try and sell the claim on to their highest bidding credit hire chancer.
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Thu 4 Nov 2010 12:40
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - Chris M

LucyBC. You (and your profession) are part of the reason the UK personal motor insurance market is the way it is. You + helphire + all the others that have their snouts in the trough are part of the reason we (those that pay the premiums to pay your salary) are seeing 30 - 40% premium increases this year.

I'm not saying that those with genuine injuries shouldn't be compensated, but the market has now gone mad. A few years ago, you'd have a bump, your car would be repaired and we would have made do with the Corsa for a week or two. Now it's 'I want a similar hire spec car', I took a day off work, I made a phone call.................... Perhaps that's the way it should be. But there are plenty of posts on here of the 'My premium's gone up £xxx this year' kind. We can't have our cake and eat it.

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Thu 4 Nov 2010 13:08
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - Falkirk Bairn

LucyBC. You (and your profession) are part of the reason the UK personal motor insurance market is the way it is. You + helphire + all the others that have their snouts in the trough are part of the reason we (those that pay the premiums to pay your salary) are seeing 30 - 40% premium increases this year.

I think there are 2 sides to this

1)At one point your VW Golf is sitting parked when someone runs into the side of you reversing out their driveway

2) To get your car fixed you are offered a Matiz for 2 weeks (poor car no Isofix for child seat) and you drive 500 mls per week - pleasure and work

The problem is not hiring a VW Golf or equivalent - lots of car hire companies - it is the ambulance /exhorbitant rental charging Hire Companies wanting £150/day when Avis / Hertz etc can do it for £30 to large corporates.

I had a bash years ago, the 3rd party only changed their mind on eve of court date (Perjury and the sphincter control are closely connected). I got £4000 + £200 excess and incidental expenses). Actually I would have settled with them (3rd party + insurer) owning up and paying out more promptly - the legal fees were £4300 including disbursements, court fees etc etc).

I was never reimbursed for the hours on the phone ( 3rd party ignored solicitors letters and returned as not known, would not provide licence details as she wanted to avoid the £1000 excess on driving a garage courtesy car). Only when being advised on allowing a non-insured driver did the MB franchise give up to their 3rd party cover policy number on the loan car), The 6 x visit to get my 2 week old accident car correctly repaired - faulty paintwork, wrong badges, locking mechanism jamming........

I got £4000 for a sore neck but the hassle was awlful, a quick settlement would have been easier and cheaper for all.

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Thu 4 Nov 2010 13:50
Why are the other parties Insurers phoning? - LucyBC

The main reason premiums are increasing are:

uninsured drivers
greater cost of repairs
personal injury claims

Some idiot companies are charging extortionate rates for credit hire and the worst of them deliberately elongate the repair to maximise on their profit.

However who do you think brings these firms in?

In almost every case if you have a non-fault accident you will inform **your insurer** and receive numerous phone calls to someone they have passed it to.

The reason is your insurer has cut their claims department to the bone and is selling your claim out to firm that pays them the most money.

This firm - the "accident manager" - is then flogging the repair to one party, the credit hire to another (or handling it themselves) and any injuries (usually at £700 a case) to their "solicitor panel".

It's a volume business so if it looks dubious on liability they will stick you in a credit hire (not explaining it is a credit hire of course) in the knowledge that they can claim from you if the other side don't pay up. So there is no reason for them to argue your case if there is a liability dispute. Most would not know where to start in any event.

If the accident is clearly your fault they are not interested whatsoever.

I make my living by selling motor legal insurance (proper motor legal insurance) and then dealing with the cases that come in on the back of it.

My firm's legal fees are paid by the insurer of the policy I sold. Most "motor legal insurance" is not legal insurance at all - it is merely a method of capturing claims.

So in our case I know my fees are covered and I don't care if the claim is fault, non fault, damage- only or with an injury I will aklways deal with it.

And I will always fight for the client on the liability issues or in the event of an insurance dispute if I believe they have a genuine case.

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