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I have been given the option to go through a no fault claims company for a recent car/van interface which was not my fault. Sounds nice, but I understand that these are the bottom feeders who charge extortionate amounts for rental cars etc, and they push the cost of insurance up to us all.
Not really keen on enabling these guys but the othe roption is for me to pay the excess and arrange myself, which goes down as a claim until the other party agrees this. I'm not wanting to go down this route and for me even to consider it, I would want it to be a repair and courtesy car through the main dealer. I think that the no-fault guys would be more robust in chasing their money than my insurer would so it would be more likely to be successful if the third party did deny liability.
The no fault guys have said that there is a credit protectiomn thing (free) which ensures that there will never be any cost to me (although the T&Cs contradict this somewhat).
Anyone have experience of this type of company?
I want to offer the third party an opportunity to let their insurance deal with it all, it would cost him and his insurers less and his premiums wouldn't get savaged hopefully, I'm not out to screw anyone, I just want my car fixed.
Advice welcome.
Firstly I assume you've talked all this through with your insurer?
Do you have cover for uninsured losses on your policy as you might be able to use this to fight the claim
The insurer referred me to these guys, I am the one not at fault.
The insurer referred me to these guys, I am the one not at fault
Ok that sounds familiar. In my no fault accident they had that lot on the phone in minutes. Mine was sorted without the need of outide help
But surely at the very least you want to talk to a company who aren't paying your insurers for a referral
PS Unisured losses cover is to provide legal help with claims where you are not at fault but your own policy doesn't cover you
Ah sorry. I have the extra legal bit in my insurance and would likely get my excess paid off, but I don't want a claim on my record. My worry is that the other party disputes, despite admitting fault at the time and me being left in the shit.
I'm not sure how engaging the [s]bottom feeders[/s] claims company helps prevent that. I'm sure they'll make all sorts of claims to get you on the hook, but ultimately the process of disputing the claim will be much the same.
Admiral?
The path of least resistance is to use the claim management co. It sucks but in non-fault claim why should you have to arrange all your own repair and stump up the excess until when/if the claim is settled with the third party?
Sadly, motor insurance is an industry which feeds off the inevitable and this is simply an effective way of generating more revenue.
As far as I understand it, these no fault claims companies pay for your repairs and arrange hire cars etc.
They then claim back from the third party insurers but charge huge profits on the work, admin fees and extortionate hire car costs (£000's for a week or two) etc.
I have no real sympathy for the third party, he was driving like an idiot but I still don't want to screw him over by using these guys, at least without giving him an option first.
Admiral?
BINGO!
If it's not your fault, go through the other guys insurance, but not via Albany (now renamed Auxillis). Just ring the other insurer up directly.
They'll probably supply you a genuinely free to you hire car at a reasonable rate to them, rather than the "credit" rates that Auxillis charge, and your car will probably be fixed quicker, as Auxillis earn more the longer your hire goes on. Ususal story with acredit hire/repair is that cars get booked in on a thursday, as a credit repairer must inspect the vehicle inside 48 WORKING hours, and so this gives them an extra weekend hire. You car will probably be ready late on a friday, ensuring you can't readilly collect and thus another weekend hire charges accrue.
If the insurer organises, there's far less scope for bickering.
These amc's really can be scum, you're just a pawn to earn cash.
That's pretty much my take on it. I'll see if the third party gets back to me.
About the only purpose of claims companies I can see is to suggest to the other insurer that you'll have to go that way if they can't sort it out themselves. Just in case you need to encourage them a bit.
Op I was offered same. Told them I wanted a few days to think about what route to take as only minor damage to my car. within 24 hours the other insurer had phoned 3 times to admit liability and try and sort my car out without any further involvement from my insurer or the claims company. If it's a cut and dried case (I was rear ended stationary at a red light) then you may get the same. In the end the repairs were <120 and the other party settled direct with me as their car was unscarred. Suited both of us.
^this, I did the same but I initiated by phoning the 3rd parties insurance.
The driver had already contacted them and admitted fault,was a painless way to deal with it.
If your case is simple then that is the way to go, insurance companies are all about limiting the loss, so if the 3rd party believes you have a case they'll happily deal with you knowing if you get an accident management company involved it will cost them a whole lot more.
we had the same scenario, sounded great until you read the T&Cs from the claims company,
you basically are liable for all the costs, but they include "insurance" to cover you in the event of the 3rd party being found not liable or not paying!
at that stage we told them to bolt and got it sorted via Admirals traditional route. took 7 months to get the excess back but apart from that was flawless.
I've just found out that a claim I made from someone else who decided to try and squeeze past my car whilst I was in queue of traffic resulted in over £4000 worth of damage.
The damage that was done to my old Mondeo estate was scrape along the bumper approx 15" long. Only that part of the bumper was resprayed and I was provided a Peugeot 508 for the 7 days whilst it was in for repairs. I don't think the solictors are bumping up the insurance that much when the repair bills are so high. A Chipsway type company could have done the repairs for a few hundred with no need for a hire car.
I had similar a few years back. totally no fault accident but when i called my insurers the "claims" line went straight to some personal injury solicitors who tried to encourage me to have whiplash. told them i was not interested and just needed my car sorted. they put me through to the car repair department...... which was a credit hire company that wanted to send over a "top of the range audi cos you've got an audi innit mate so you need an audi" it was honestly virtually impossible to speak to the actual insurer
in the end i called the 3rd parties insurer directly, explained that my own insurers were being shysters and that i'd rather play with a straight bat. they sent a zafira hire car over the next day (I said my only requirement was an estate to get the dog in the back) and the car was taken away and sorted to a good standard very quickly. they even gave me £500 to replace the child seats that were in the car at the time.
I still had to admit to having had an accident at the next 4 renewals but as the total cost was sensible and there was no personal injuries, it didn't seem to have any effect on premiums (i've not paid more than £200 for insurance in years)
the industry is utterly broken and corrupt, but it is possible to work around it
Interesting about going direct with the third parties insurer in the event of a claim...
What is the risk here? I've always thought the 'correct' way to deal with the situation was to go through your own insurer. Is there any risk involved with bypassing them and dealing direct with the third party?
I guess this completely sidesteps issues like reclaiming the policy excess?
When someone pranged us in a car park, admitted liability, their insurer was in touch with us immediately via phone and email to get it sorted, hire car etc. I would go straight through other party's insurer, while informing your insurer of developments (you have to tell them you've been in a prang).
What is the risk here? I've always thought the 'correct' way to deal with the situation was to go through your own insurer. Is there any risk involved with bypassing them and dealing direct with the third party?
The risk is that the third party insurers don't actually answer to you, so if you are not happy with the standard of the repairs then you're a bit stuffed. The way to minimise this risk is to agree (in writing) who will do the work, and exactly what work will be done. I'm sure the insurers would agree even if you insisted on a main dealer doing the work, the other option (for them) is far worse.
I spoke to the third party today, he was quite grateful for the heads up and thanked me for being reasonable. I'll get an estimation and see what happens.
Not much point getting estimates until the other parties insurance has admitted liability.
Once they have, it's their problem, ifbthe repair is unsatisfactory, then the car goes back for repair again.
Only if they allow it. As I said, the third party insurance co don't answer to you.
wrecker - Member
Ah sorry. I have the extra legal bit in my insurance and would likely get my excess paid off, but [b]I don't want a claim on my record[/b]. My worry is that the other party disputes, despite admitting fault at the time and me being left in the shit.
My knackered old Golf was hit from behind whilst stationary by an elderly lady who wasn't paying attention/was distracted. She admitted liability and her ins co. wrote my car off (£1400).
Despite it not being my fault, my premium was hiked at renewal and my wife's premium has just had £25 added to it because I'm a named driver and the no fault accident shows on my electronic ins record.
A claim will register on your record even if you are not at fault.
In the same situation, and I'm using he bottom feeders which is a pretty accurate description. Different situation though - named driver on my wife's car, got hit head on by a Canadian on the wrong side of the road looking at his sat nav, I tried to get up the bank, he looked and auto corrected - right into me.
I was put on to them by my RAC cover and it's taken a life of its own, not in a terribly good way - taking an age to sort out and we're playing fairly (secured a new car within a week and got hire back, closing down the physio appointments). I was pretty befuddled by the crash, and just wanted the car recovered somewhere and myself home and to be honest I wasn't 100% sure what I'd started. Apparently though, RAC cover doesn't cover recovery from an accident - the cost of that is part of the claim.
5-6 weeks in and still no settlement cheque for our total loss.
The advantage was that we only had to post a 'for info' notice to her insurers, which apparently won't affect renewal - we shall see. Real pisser is that the car was worth nothing (£650 valuation, must have noticed the full tank of fuel) but was well maintained and known to me - it had a good few years of commuting left in it, but we've had to go and spend a bit to get something half reasonable to replace - everything around a grand was a shed, a moneypit or a death trap.