car insurance non-fault question
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Mattb87_2
Posts: 4 Newbie
Hi there,
At the weekend someone scratched the side of my car in a supermarket car park, I saw him do it and he pulled straight over and admitted fault and gave me what of his details he could remember. So on Monday when my insurance company was open I reported the claim, within an hour they had sorted a repair garage to do my repairs and all seemed well, I rang back the insurance later that day to see if he had admitted fault to them as I know my excess would then be recovered, I was informed that they don't pass claims to that department for 24 hours. Now 4 days on and no further update I called my insurance back for an update to be informed it could take up to 3 months for this guy to admit fault and if they had any news on my claim they would get in touch so basically leave them alone.
Is this normal practise to have to wait up to 3 months to admit fault? 4 years ago someone went into the back of me and within 2 hours my insurance company (a different one) had done all this and more.
Many thanks in advance.
At the weekend someone scratched the side of my car in a supermarket car park, I saw him do it and he pulled straight over and admitted fault and gave me what of his details he could remember. So on Monday when my insurance company was open I reported the claim, within an hour they had sorted a repair garage to do my repairs and all seemed well, I rang back the insurance later that day to see if he had admitted fault to them as I know my excess would then be recovered, I was informed that they don't pass claims to that department for 24 hours. Now 4 days on and no further update I called my insurance back for an update to be informed it could take up to 3 months for this guy to admit fault and if they had any news on my claim they would get in touch so basically leave them alone.
Is this normal practise to have to wait up to 3 months to admit fault? 4 years ago someone went into the back of me and within 2 hours my insurance company (a different one) had done all this and more.
Many thanks in advance.
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Comments
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It COULD take 6 years or it may never happen, your insurers dont sound as if they are being very proactive.Hi there,
At the weekend someone scratched the side of my car in a supermarket car park, I saw him do it and he pulled straight over and admitted fault and gave me what of his details he could remember. So on Monday when my insurance company was open I reported the claim, within an hour they had sorted a repair garage to do my repairs and all seemed well, I rang back the insurance later that day to see if he had admitted fault to them as I know my excess would then be recovered, I was informed that they don't pass claims to that department for 24 hours. Now 4 days on and no further update I called my insurance back for an update to be informed it could take up to 3 months for this guy to admit fault and if they had any news on my claim they would get in touch so basically leave them alone.
Is this normal practise to have to wait up to 3 months to admit fault? 4 years ago someone went into the back of me and within 2 hours my insurance company (a different one) had done all this and more.
Many thanks in advance.
How long these things take does vary greatly, some insurers are very proactive and use the phone a lot. Others are very reactive and prefer to do everything my snail mail. How long it will take is a product of how both your and the TPs insurer is and how responsive the TP is themselves.
Assuming the TP is honest and does report the matter to their insurers then liability should be sorted in a month at most but that is assuming that neither insurer has a big backlog of post which they shouldnt do at the moment but I have known insurers to have a 9 month backlog in worst cases.0 -
3 months is pretty quick to conclude a claim
Next time you are involved in an incident where you are certain the other side is liable then consider claiming directly from the third party insurer. No excess to pay and no temporary loss of ncd which will be a pain if your renewal comes due before the claim is concluded0 -
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Your point being?
The claim needs concluding before the OP is back where he was as far as his NCD is concerned, which could be an issue as pointed out in my post to him.
What's your concern over it? (Though you telling the OP this could take 6 years is pretty poor advice!)0 -
Your point being?
The claim needs concluding before the OP is back where he was as far as his NCD is concerned, which could be an issue as pointed out in my post to him.
What's your concern over it? (Though you telling the OP this could take 6 years is pretty poor advice!)
Point being that there is a big difference between admission of liability and conclusion of the claim. The OP was talking only about the admission
How is warning that liability could take 6 years or that they may never admit liability pretty poor advice? Reality is that claims dont always go smoothly and some people do lie about the circumstances and it cannot be proved otherwise0 -
The 3 months "investigation period" only applies if there is an injury claim and liability is disputed.
If you are just claiming for the cost of repairs, the once that has been quantified, if the other side are pratting about, I give them 21 days to get their house in order and then hit their policyholder with county court proceedings.0 -
I was informed that they don't pass claims to that department for 24 hours.
Who are you insured with?
it sounds to me like your own insurer is probably not being involved and the matter is being passed to a claims management company or credit hire company.
The claims notification dept (which is often manned by an external company or law firm) deliberately delay notifying the actual insurer of the punter so that they can get the show on the road with arranging repairs or hire on a credit basis in order that the punter's own insurer don't tread on toes and lose them the opportunity to make a buck on the commissions they earn from the hire company.0 -
I'm insured with esure, the car is going to be repaired on Friday and I'm having a courtesy car from the garage (I was offered a third party hire car but turned it down).
Thanks for the replies so far, have been very helpful!0 -
In cases like this were your car is still drivable it's best to claim directly from the third party insurer. No excess to pay, and it's usually quicker too. A little more work on your part, but at least you are in control.0
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