[Closed] Yay....my car got written off 🙁

Never mind. Your whiplash payout will cover that.

If it did that much damage whiplash is a real possibility, get checked out, it can take time to show.

Annoyingly (or not!?) I seem to have no after effects from the crash.

I'm not one to make up an injury....though I've already had a phonecall from the injury lawyers linked to the insurance company!

It was 3 years yesterday that my BMW got written off in a no fault rear end shunt - slightly more exciting than yours, by the sounds of things. But apart from the initial renewal - 1 month later when fault hadn't been completely declared it's not really affected my renewals.
Good luck.

Hit with enough force to bend my towbar vertical and impale it in the boot door

Ooof! good thump that

Also I bet they’ll low ball me offer wise.

Standard

Add to the fact it’s a great car, been really reliable, and I’ll have to pay for a towbar on whatever I get to replace it.

Tell them you want the price of the extras fitted to your car. You shouldn't be left out of pocket for others mistakes, you'll have to fight for it but sadly that's the way the game works.

You did declare the tow bar when you took out the insurance ?

FWIW my premiums never went up after I got rear-ended a couple of years back as the other driver admitted full responsibility and their insurer sorted everything. Can't really see any way that they can assign any blame to you for the accident so hopefully it'll be the same outcome.

We had this, guilty drivers ins paid for a hire car, got a fair offer for our car. My shoulder took the impact and took a few days for bruising to come out. A bit of a headache that night but nothing major.

The crossroads where the Muppet flew out without stopping is now regularly speed checked. In fact last week police monitored 60 cars and 20 were speeding, it's a 20 as a school area.

We are still paying higher insurance 2years later, as is everyone named on policy as it's on the database.

I got whiplash from a small shunt when our Panda was written off nearly 2 years ago. It was bloody painful. I didn't feel anything for the first couple of days but by the end of the first week I could barely turn my head. It feels like your neck can't take the weight of your head as if you're wearing a lead helmet or something. It took months to get full movement back in my neck and shoulder. The free physio was very much needed and appreciated. A bad nights sleep now can still trigger it and cause 3 or 4 days of pain and discomfort.

Previously I didn't think whiplash was a real thing as you only ever hear about it in relation to insurance claims. But yes, it's real and you might be yet to experience it.

I put an injury claim in. First time doing such a thing. I got way more than we got for the car and it paid the deposit on a Fiesta ST.

You did declare the tow bar when you took out the insurance ?

Shouldn't matter as a 3rd party (although you should declare it anyway).

FWIW it took 3 offers from mine to get anything approaching a reasnoble value. So just keep refusing.

I’m not one to make up an injury….though I’ve already had a phonecall from the injury lawyers linked to the insurance company!

Think of all the faffy things you're going to have to sort out, the fact that your new car is either going to be newer (expensive) or the same age and being sold because X, Y or Z mainenance jobs are due soon, your premiums are going to go up, your NCD is going down, you're going to waste hours on the phone.

Given the level of general pissed-off-ness you can expect, I'd argue a few grand for being a bit stiff and sore for a few days is further from being unfair than the rest of the process.

Ours was written off last Monday. Couldn't be bothered to haggle as it was in poor cosmetic condition anyway.

New EV lease deal signed today.

Re the towbar, they're suppose to insure you for your loss not for whatever the book says. So tell them you need a towbar and it'll cost more.

Its bloody terrifying when you get rear ended by another car, hope you get it sorted quickly and without hassle. It happened to me 20 odd years ago in my pristine alfa 75 2.0turbo (Italian import) thanks to a dozy bint who ploughed into the back of me at 70mph as I sat stationary in roadworks, unfortunately for her she had removed her seatbelt to apply lipstick in her interior mirror and as such she exited through the front windscreen and ended up mashed over the rear of what was left of my alfa, the insurance company were absolute cocks regarding paying out on the true value of the car and it took independent valuations from various specialists and threat of court action before they eventually paid out.

You did declare the tow bar when you took out the insurance ?

Yeeeessssssss, I think.
I seem to remember clicking 'yes' to the any modifications question, but then towbar not being an option to choose!

This is also my 3rd year with these insurers, they managed to actually best the other lowest quotes each year. So I think/hope I did!

Mrs M had this very same accident a few years back - but hers was a BMW 3-series hitting a Toyota Landcruiser that then went into the back of our car.

As far as our insurer was concerned, for us it was a no fault accident - they'll send you a letter to that affect when it's all been closed off and that means your future premiums are not affected.

As for what they pay you for your car, it'll be trade, so what you'd get for PX rather than buying it off the forecourt. Ours was fairly old so was worth more as a working car than a pile of cash, not that insurers see it that way.
I did note that it had recently been filled up and claimed for that as well as other incidentals you incur from having your car written off. The other guys insurers were good though and we had a hire car the next day, their claims team went through everything with us and even told us who would ring to avoid the inevitable influx of ambulance-chasers ringing us.

If you've got whiplash it'll be tomorrow morning that you notice it. It manifests in odd ways sometimes, in a different (bike) accident I thought I had a sore shoulder but it was the insured party's physio that told me it was whiplash.

that means your future premiums are not affected.

Sorry, that isn't the case.

Our car was crashed into parked with no driver - it is still a claim. It doesn't affect No Claims DISCOUNT, but it does affect baseline Premium price.

I was paying about £380 a year for my Forester before I had to claim for a stolen exhaust. It dropped my no claims down to 4 years.

Claim declared on my new policy on my Octavia with 4 years no claims and I'm only paying £290 a year, so don't lose hope!

In my experience, the cost of our insurance did not go up. It wasn't a claim on our insurance after all, the claim was against Mr BMW driver.

As for what they pay you for your car, it’ll be trade

Is that right. Can you (an ordinary non motortrading bod) easily buy at trade prices ?

As for what they pay you for your car, it’ll be trade, so what you’d get for PX rather than buying it off the forecourt.

That is incorrect. Bad insurers may try it on, good ones less so. Either way, it's the start point of a negotiation.

Annoyingly (or not!?) I seem to have no after effects from the crash.

You will. Get checked out by a GP - even virtually. I was rear-ended 15 years ago by a transit stationary in traffic. Neck has never been the same since despite physio. Payout was modest.

You are claiming from your insurer who will recover from the other party. Premium may rise slightly. Reject offers and state why. When Son 1 wrote off my RS Twingo, it was easy to justify their low offer was rubbish since there were only 14 cars available in the country to purchase!

Whiplash doesn't always present immediately. When I was taken roughly from behind by a large Polish gentleman it took a few days for symptoms to develop.

Just being in an accident can impact your insurance. I've been in two accidents where I wasn't involved in making the claim, one a hire car and one a named driver. Both non fault accidents but both increased my premiums at the time.

I'll have to wait and see what happens with the latest accident after someone decided to reverse into me last week.

This is over the space of about 17 years btw.

Second others on the whiplash, I was fine immediately after, it was a different story 12 hours later.

It was a fun call to the rental car company - "Where's the damage?" Me: "All over" (Someone decided to make me the filling in a car sandwich at the back of a queue of traffic, literally every single panel was damaged, even the roof was creased)

Whiplash doesn’t always present immediately. When I was taken roughly from behind by a large Polish gentleman it took a few days for symptoms to develop.

Mr Sheen?

Deal with the other party's insurer and get them to give you a hire car until you're sorted. They're less likely to dick you around with lowball offers when you're costing them £75 per day or whatever to keep you mobile.

Cos I called the RAC first to get towed, they passed me on to their claims management company (Slater Gordon).

They seem very efficient, already spoken to other drivers, assessed that I'm a no fault claim, arranged garage and hire car, all within a couple of hours.
Even had a non-pushy call about potential whiplash, etc. Told them no pain now, and they'll call back in 48 hours to see if I'm hurting then.

Spoke to my insurance co, and they seem happy for this company to deal with it, as I'm not making any claim on my insurance.
Even had a verbal promise that my no claims is safe and premium shouldn't be overly affected.

Our car was crashed into parked with no driver – it is still a claim. It doesn’t affect No Claims DISCOUNT, but it does affect baseline Premium price.

So was there another insurance company involved that bore the brunt of the costs or was it your insurance company that paid out? If the latter that may explain.

Secondly to state that it wont effect NCD isn't true as it depends if they're protected or not as part of the level of cover you take.

I had a no fault claim in 2015 and it made zero difference at renewal. You can work it out by doing quotes with and without the claim.

Given the level of general pissed-off-ness you can expect, I’d argue a few grand for being a bit stiff and sore for a few days is further from being unfair than the rest of the process.

My wife was involved in a whiplash-inducing crash some 14 years ago (pretty much to the day). At the time we took the nice little pay off and enjoyed having a few grand to spunk away. Yet had we known the longer term effects we’d have not signed her rights away. And just a couple of nights ago her lower neck flared up yet again (two years ago it flared up so badly it was so debilitating she couldn’t drive or do pretty much anything with her left arm).

Never assume whiplash is a bit of discomfort and a bit of money - consider what longer term issues may surface. After all, it’s exactly those sort of issues the insurance companies want you to waive your rights away for.

Op, don't forget you'll have to declare this no fault claim with a new insurer for some years to come at general time

I didn't know that (Hell, the insurance wasn't even involved but I thought I should call my insurer just to notify then that the rear of my car had been scratched a little in a shunt, to cover myself...) and got a rather abrupt letter from the new insurer. Easily sorted but worth remembering.

Deal with the other party’s insurer and get them to give you a hire car until you’re sorted. They’re less likely to dick you around with lowball offers when you’re costing them £75 per day or whatever to keep you mobile.

Worth being cautious if dealing directly with the 3rd party insurer. You have a contract for with your insurer, so if they arrange for the repairs to your car and later there’s a problem with those repairs, they’re obliged to help you out. If things go wrong further down the line when you’ve dealt with the 3rd party that might not be so easy. Should be low risk if you’re not injured and not precious about your car though.

Deal with the other party’s insurer and get them to give you a hire car until you’re sorted.

I have never known it to work like that. It's always been a case of if you are at fault your insurance company will give you the lowest spec cheap car they can get away with (whatever is in the terms of the insurance and often there is a limit to how long they will give you it for). But if the third-party is at fault then you should get at least a like-for-like car (or better) and keep it until the claim is settled. This is still done by your insurer and they just pass the cost on to the third-party's insurer.

I got rear ended by a chap in a Citroen Picasso who must of been looking at his phone. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and made a very nice skull indentation in the windscreen. Anyway my car bmw was a write off although hardly looked damaged. The Picasso just collapsed on impact.

Direct line was the insurer and made me a paltry offer. As said above the insurance is to make good your losses so should pay the going rate for exactly the same car. I trawled autotrader got several examples of similar cars and emailed these and they paid (eventually). I wonder how many people accept the first offer...it’s a game to wear you down...

I wonder how many people accept the first offer…it’s a game to wear you down…

Our car was so low in value I just couldn't be bothered haggling up 10 or 20% as that would only have been a few hundred quid!

Soooooo...turns out Mr ****tyboombatty in the white van isn't a named driver on the insurance :-/
Apparently the insurance co. are arguing that their vehicle wasn't present at the crash. Luckily both me and the other driver have photos of it with the reg visible.

I'm getting a bad feeling about this!

I’m getting a bad feeling about this!

Got any old bombers?

cock weasel in a van drove into the bloke behind me who then rear-ended me (we were both stationary).

Apparently the insurance co. are arguing that their vehicle wasn’t present at the crash. Luckily both me and the other driver have photos of it with the reg visible.

Is your claim not off the insured vehicle behind you as they never left enough space behind your car and his insurance claims off the white van man?

Actually yes, I suspect you're right. Though me and the bloke behind were both stationary, so gap is moot I suppose?

Is your claim not off the insured vehicle behind you as they never left enough space behind your car and his insurance claims off the white van man?

no, they were not negligent so they have no liability for the claim. Being stationary a foot off the bumper of another stationary car is not negligent behavior

This when you let your insurance company do what you pay them for. Get yourself sorted, let them (and the police) chase the other party. With the evidence you have it really comes down to 2 choices; either the owner knowingly let the driver take the van without insurance or it’s been taken without permission (ie stolen). So the 3rd party has got themselves into a right mess

Things seem to be progressing ok.

Photos with van reg showing mean that the 3rd party's insurance co. have agreed that it's the right vehicle...it seems that owner 'may' have lent vehicle to the driver. I'm guessing he'll get in some shit for that.

So I'm guessing insurance pays out, but will then they probably sue owner or driver for the money?

On a positive note I've found a really well priced, excellent condition, full service history, Skoda Yeti (always fancied one), with towbar already installed.

So I’m guessing insurance pays out, but will then they probably sue owner or driver for the money?

Not sure about this. I always thought it was the driver insured not the vehicle, so sadly this might still fall back to your insurers.

Have the driver and owner been reported to the police yet?

Have the driver and owner been reported to the police yet?

Yep, I rang up and informed them with the police ref number I had. Little shit deserves all he gets 😡

Having looked into it, if it is confirmed he has no insurance cover, then I need to speak to the Motor Insurance Bureau and access the uninsured drivers fund.

The driver may have been covered to use other vehicles on his own policy. If not, I'd expect the van owners insurer to pay out third party then cancel the policy. In that case, next time the owner tries to buy insurance, they'll need to answer 'yes' when asked if they've ever been refused insurance or had a policy cancelled. That will make it interesting for them to get reasonably priced cover.

Still no news on insurance payout.
I have a feeling white vans insurers are dragging their heels, even though he (apparently) lent vehicle to the driver.

Two positives though...

I picked up the 'new' Yeti yesterday. It's great 😍 really nice to drive, love the tall/upright feel if the car. Kids really Ike it too.

...and amazingly when I did my a swap of my insurance to the new vehicle, it actually came out cheaper!
Same engine size, age, etc. But I guess it's considered a safer and more staid vehicle than a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Mitsubishi Lancer.

But Lancer is very reliable.

But Lancer is very reliable

Yep, one of the reasons I got it originally.

Only reliable until some **** stoves your rear-end in though!

But if the third-party is at fault then you should get at least a like-for-like car (or better) and keep it until the claim is settled. This is still done by your insurer and they just pass the cost on to the third-party’s insurer.

That’s what happened when a dozy bint in a Berlingo changed her mind on a roundabout I was exiting and forced her way past me, pushing the offside front wing in. That was on my seventeen year old Octavia, and I was given an Insignia SRi diesel with a full tank by the insurer while they decided what was happening to mine, and I did nearly 900 miles in it, before I handed it back.
I accepted a reduced offer and kept the car, which was only worth £900 anyway, had an MOT done to prove roadworthyness, and kept driving it for another two years.
Insurers are still chasing her for the money, I’ve had two letters from solicitors asking me to confirm all the details I gave were correct before it goes to court, I have one on the table in front of me now I’ve got to send back!
And she did a lot more damage to her own vehicle as well.

Well the cluster-**** that is the aftermath of my accident continues...

Driver of van hasn't been contacted by anyone since the day of the crash - why I don't know!?
I got pissed off with waiting, so rang him and had a chat.

He has provided me with full details of his insurance now, but having passed them on to my claims management people they are saying that his insurers still claim to not be his insurers!

Not sure how they can do that, unless insurance was cancelled or void, but they seem to just be saying 'Nope, not ours, don't know him.'

Well it's possible he just told you a pack of lies to get rid of you. He's got form for being a wrongun! Also if your claims company are giving the reg. of the van to his insurers, that's going to confuse the situation, a lot of policies don't cover the driving of other vehicles these days so they'll tell your claims team to jog on.

But it's your insurance/claims management firm that should be sorting all this out, you should probably just keep pestering them however the process is rarely fast. What a PITA for you. 😢

In this situation i wonder what can be gained from getting involved other than serious stress (You have already started chasing third party drivers).

THIS IS WHAT YOU PAY YOUR INSURANCE FOR

You have a new car therefore i assume they have paid you out on your own car. It is their job to delve through the pile of dogcrap that is the rest of the claim. You havent got any injuries and it sounds like it hasnt cost you anything yet in premiums.

Best advice is too move on and let other people get dragged down by the stress of sorting it out.

Have you been paid out? By anyone? If so, whom?

If not:

+1

THIS IS WHAT YOU PAY YOUR INSURANCE FOR

Ring them, make the claim, get paid. End.

Driver of van hasn’t been contacted by anyone since the day of the crash – why I don’t know!?
I got pissed off with waiting, so rang him and had a chat.

We had exactly this back in 2008. Churchill were so utterly useless it was laughable. I ended up getting driver to just pay a garage direct (only a new bumper and paint needed) as he lived locally and wanted to settle without making a claim on his insurance. Meanwhile Churchill just shelved the claim as 'knock for knock'.

Then started down the Small Claims route with Churhcill.

After notice to sue, with of course all my evidence and reasoning around 'I pay my insurance, you did **** all', I was refunded a year of premiums and £100 M&S voucher with a very legally letter telling me I shouldn't take them to court or tell anyone, particularly the press, about the issue.

Hands up who couldn't find the V5 when they needed it?

Have you been paid out? By anyone? If so, whom?

Nope, was given a hire car, but decided to buy a 'new' secondhand car using savings on the assumption the hole will be filled when I get a pay-out.

I'm not getting stressed about it really, just finding the process laughably shit from all concerned!

Currently my insurers have it as a 'No-fault claim'. This means I get no lost NCB and so far my premium hasn't gone up (in fact it went down slightly as the new car is more boring than the last!) So his insurers are being chased for the payout.

IF they continue to refuse then I'll probably end up claiming on my insurance - BUT that will probably affect NCB and premiums, so would rather not go down that route if possible.

The other option if he turns out to be uninsured, is that I look to get a payout from the Motor Insurance Bureau, which has a pot to compensate people in the case of uninsured drivers (we all pay into it out of our premiums apparently).

You're lucky they are counting it as no fault claim before it's all done and dusted TBH. I had a renewal some years ago quite a time after a rear end shunt that hadn't been settled and had to stump up with a pending claim showing and no NCB. A big chunk was refunded when it was sorted, but was quite a hike in the cost initially.

If you've bought the car and not had that suppled by your insurer you could take the van driver to small claims, but TBH, and has been said you pay your insurance to sort this stuff out so just keep bothering them.

IF they continue to refuse then I’ll probably end up claiming on my insurance – BUT that will probably affect NCB and premiums, so would rather not go down that route if possible.

you're either not explaining this well, or you don't understand how insurance works

IF they continue to refuse then I’ll probably end up claiming on my insurance – BUT that will probably affect NCB and premiums, so would rather not go down that route if possible.

All of that happens no matter whos insurance you use.

Even with a no fault claim -unless your ncb were protected.

All of that happens no matter whos insurance you use.

Even with a no fault claim -unless your ncb were protected.

Really?

If you make a claim on your insurance and your insurance provider pays out, your no claims discount is typically reduced by two years. ... If the accident wasn't your fault, your insurance provider will try to recover the costs from the driver who was at fault. In which case, your NCD should be unaffected

you’re either not explaining this well, or you don’t understand how insurance works

Yep, I understand that as a no fault claim it shouldn't effect my NCB and premiums, but as tthew said above it doesn't always work out like that.
My understanding is (might be wrong though) that if you have to claim off your insurance because of an uninsured driver, they will then try to reclaim costs from said driver. In the short term that would probably mean higher premiums, because you made a claim. If they can't recover costs for any reason then that will probably have a knock-on effect on you.

IF they continue to refuse then I’ll probably end up claiming on my insurance – BUT that will probably affect NCB and premiums, so would rather not go down that route if possible.

you’re either not explaining this well, or you don’t understand how insurance works

+1 for this. Shouldn't you be claiming from your insurance and they should be chasing the other guy's insurance / the fund if he's uninsured? Think you might be making yourself extra work for a slower resolution here.

+1 for this. Shouldn’t you be claiming from your insurance and they should be chasing the other guy’s insurance / the fund if he’s uninsured? Think you might be making yourself extra work for a slower resolution here.

That's probably how it will go down if they don't get a positive response from his alleged insurers soon.

But as other posters have said, this can have a knock-on effect on your premiums.

I'm not doing any running around after it, just the occasional phone call to my claims management peeps.

Only bit of chasing I've done is one phonecall to the van driver, and that was useful, as it turned out no-one else had bothered to call him!

I'm ok waiting for a resolution, no need to get the money in a hurry.
Decent 2nd hand car bought out of savings, but that doesn't leave me destitute.

I mean even if I never received anything, I'd still survive. It's just a car and some cash at the end of the day.

In the short term that would probably mean higher premiums, because you made a claim. If they can’t recover costs for any reason then that will probably have a knock-on effect on you

Ok that makes more sense..you may have to pay extra until your insurer agrees it's genuinely not your fault..in the long term you shouldn't lose out at all.

I had to pay a higher premium for one renewal when a pedestrian I ran over tried to claim for his injuries. Once the insurance investigator completed his work, I got all the money back and had no long term costs

Well, turns out the little shit was stringing me along and lying the whole time. Been confirmed he's got no insurance 😡

So, now having to claim on my fully comprehensive policy.

Turns out the uninsured drivers fund only covers you if you have a third party policy not fully comp.....A weird situation of the system leaving you worse off if you've been less of a cheapskate and paid for better cover!

I suppose my policy pays out, and then they try to get money back from him. I hope they sue the little fuctk, not just write it off.

Oh well. C'est la vie.

Turns out the uninsured drivers fund only covers you if you have a third party policy not fully comp…..A weird situation of the system leaving you worse off if you’ve been less of a cheapskate and paid for better cover!

The uninsured fund is paid for by the insurers so you end up paying for it either way.

You could always go down the small claims route if it wasn't that expensive a car?

Been confirmed he’s got no insurance

Take it the police are aware of this now?

A weird situation of the system leaving you worse off if you’ve been less of a cheapskate and paid for better cover!

Not really. TPO or TPFT cover is often more expensive than comprehensive.

If you don't mind me saying, you have picked a particularly poor route through your claim. Appreciate that you've not had great service, but there's been some very good quality advice on this thread you seem to have ignored.
I hope it all gets sorted out in the end in your favour.

If you don’t mind me saying, you have picked a particularly poor route through your claim. Appreciate that you’ve not had great service, but there’s been some very good quality advice on this thread you seem to have ignored.

Huh? Cheers, but I don't think I've ignored any advice? and I followed the only route that seemed available.

I reported the accident as soon as it happened to my insurers.

The driver of the van appears to have successfully fobbed off people from both insurers and a claims management company with various claims and stories until a few days ago, but it was then confirmed categorically he had no insurance.

This is all going on what I have been told by the people dealing with the claim, who I have called once a week or so for an update.

My only contact with him was to chase up whether he had been contacted, at which point he lied to me as well.

I don’t think I’ve ignored any advice? and I followed the only route that seemed available

It seems to me that people were advising you to claim through your own insurance and leave it to them to recover what they could, rather than trying to claim from the other driver or a claims manager?

It seems to me that people were advising you to claim through your own insurance and leave it to them to recover what they could, rather than trying to claim from the other driver or a claims manager?

Ok, but this is genuinely the first time I've had to do this in over 25 years of driving!

When I called the RAC to get towed, their claims management team stepped in, when I then called my insurers they seemed happy to leave the legwork to the CM company.
In hindsight maybe I should've insisted on my insurers taking over, but it seemed relatively cut and dry at that point...not the cluster-**** it seems to have morphed into now.

Well, chalked up to experience. Hopefully it'll be another 25 years before I have to do it all again.

You seem to have a lot of confidence in this claims management firm. Going after uninsured drivers isn't really their bag. Aren't alarm bells ringing yet that nothing much is moving?

It's not totally clear but sounds like you've reported the accident to your insurer, but not registered a claim? So you said something like you were happy to go after the other party's insurer directly (via the crack team operating on your behalf) and your insurance said they were happy for you to crack on with that?

I think you should phone your insurer and have a different conversation with them.

Who sorted you a hire car? Claims management people? If so, they were expecting that to be covered by an insurer who doesn't exist. What did you sign? If you sack the claims management firm now, are you on the hook for it?

You seem to have a lot of confidence in this claims management firm. Going after uninsured drivers isn’t really their bag. Aren’t alarm bells ringing yet that nothing much is moving?

No, not confidence, but they seemed to talk the talk!

It’s not totally clear but sounds like you’ve reported the accident to your insurer, but not registered a claim? So you said something like you were happy to go after the other party’s insurer directly (via the crack team operating on your behalf) and your insurance said they were happy for you to crack on with that?

Kind of, it has been registered with insurers as a non-fault accident, so a claim/accident does show up with them if I log in to their website.

I think you should phone your insurer and have a different conversation with them.

This has now happened, and the wheels are in motion.

Who sorted you a hire car? Claims management people? If so, they were expecting that to be covered by an insurer who doesn’t exist. What did you sign? If you sack the claims management firm now, are you on the hook for it?

Luckily (?) The hire car cost IS covered by the Motor insurance bureau, so I'm not going to be hit with that too. Phew.

Hindsight, is a wonderful thing 😆
If this happened again I'd definitely not let a claims management firm deal with it.
Might drop the RAC a little email of complaint about their choice of shysters.

you seemed to have ignored my question?

Police informed? Yes.

Might drop the RAC a little email of complaint about their choice of shysters

That sounds a good idea. They don't seem to have made a positive contribution. I've only heard of them being used by insurers to force down the claim, not representing the claimant.

Claims company only involved usually if you're making a personal injury claim... if you are not after whiplash compensation they won't be interested surely?

I think in this case they are genuinely employed by The RAC to help in the claims process, but that their help falls down in the face of an uninsured or unhelpful third party.

Digging into it on their site, the RAC employ them for members to help in the claims process. So I don't think anyone's been acting in had faith.

I did also get a call from the injuries/ uninsured losses arm of the same company, but as I had no injuries I didn't need their input.

Tbh the individual people I've spoken to at Slater Gordon Motors have been very pleasant and not at all obstructive, but the company as a whole just seems a bit shit.

Bit of closure on this...

My insurance are paying out, though I lose my excess + a couple of years no claims + higher premiums 😟
I'm about £1500 down though after buying a replacement car.
They are pursuing him for the costs, so if they get the money off him I may well get some reduction on premiums.

Just been informed he's being prosecuted for driving uninsured and probably for driving without due care and attention.

Hope he gets a ban, but I imagine even if he doesn't he's going to have a fun few years getting any insurance.

Thanks for the help and suggestions. I've learnt a few lessons for if this were to happen again. God I hope not!

Just to compound his misery, you could probably start a small claims court/money claim action against him personally to recover your uninsured costs.

Hope he gets a ban, but I imagine even if he doesn’t he’s going to have a fun few years getting any insurance.

If he didn’t have insurance before, I’m not convinced he’ll bother looking for it now it’s considerably more expensive

Thought about that, but I'd rather draw a line under it. Also I suspect other claims (insurers, other driver's injury compensation) will have priority, so I'd be way down the list, and unlikely to see any money even if I won my claim.