Car insurance claim

joAnn

I was recently involved in a collision with a lorry that was not my fault. Serious damage was sustained to the body work and there is a possibility that the cost of the repairs are uneconomical, therefore resulting in my car being written off. The other driver is disputing the responsibility, even though he did apologise to me at the time. I had a passenger in the car who is actually my boss and I mentioned this to Elephnat who are my insurers. They have disregarded my passenger as a witness, is this correct?
Does anybody have any advice about how I may resolve this?
All comments are appreciated!
Thanks.

rich010273

Be prepared for a drawn out experience.
I'm currently up to 8 months waiting for the Insurers to agree.

If your car is struck then the other Insurers will dispute liability and attempt to "write-off" your vehicle if the book value is less then the repair estimate.

You are proabably using Albany Assistance for your claim and I would recommend calling them on their freephone number daily to make sure they prioritise your case.

Idiophreak

joAnn wrote: »

They have disregarded my passenger as a witness, is this correct?

I guess so. I was involved in a collision in my parents' car - my gf was with me, but she couldn't be used as a witness...I think they gather anyone in the car is "too close" and not really impartial for the sake of a witness statement. Annoying, but seems to be the way it works...

(ours has gone on for a good year now...think it's the insurance company arguing it, not the other party themselves...trouble is, in our case, the other car reversed into us on the main carriage way - so it's only our word against theirs that we didn't just go into the back of them.)

tinkerbell84

my friend was allowed to use her passenger as a witness, but he was a police officer!

Quentin

joAnn wrote: »

Does anybody have any advice about how I may resolve this?

If your vehicle is a write off (or cannot be driven without repair), then in view of the disputed liability (which could drag on for months/years) you may want to claim off your own insurer (assuming you have comprehensive insurance) to get you back on the road, and argue the liability separately in action against the third party to recover your uninsured losses. If that is successful, you would then have strong grounds to go back to your insurer to claim their costs off the third party too, and mark it a non fault claim on your record.

joAnn

Thanks Quentin, how would I go about doing all that? Sounds very complicated! would I have to fork out any intial costs?

tinkerbell84

You'll have to pay your accidental damage excess (which will then be recoverable from the 3rd party if the liability is deemed to be with them).

Quentin

joAnn wrote: »

Thanks Quentin, how would I go about doing all that? Sounds very complicated! would I have to fork out any intial costs?

It's not complicated as long as you have comprehensive insurance.

If so, ring your insurer and ask to make a claim. All you will pay is your policy compulsory excess (if any) plus any voluntary excess you agreed to pay when taking out the policy.

If you only have third party insurance, then you need more advice on the liability issue. If liability isn't cut and dried, and you want your car on the road asap, you will need to pay for the repairs and battle with the third party over who is liable.

joAnn

Ok so I have fully comp ins and have just found out today that the car is not a write off and is actually being repaired.
How does this affect my insurance for next year and what might I have to pay out for in all of this? I have protected my no claims bonus, but the insurer mentioned something about a strike against my name for the next few years. Is there any way that I can prove the collision is not my fault, even though my only witness is my boss who was my passenger? Could I take the other driver or the company who owns the lorry he was driving to the small claims court?

Quentin

You will be facing extra premiums for the next few years - the premiums are set based on your own circs, and this claim alters your circs. Your no claims bonus will be unaffected, and the discount will be applied against the revised premium.

Now you will have to pay your excess (probably to the garage) once repairs are completed.

See if you can recoup this and any other uninsured expenses you have had to pay over the incident from the third party - if you are successful, (taking court action if necessary), then your insurer should accept the incident is not your fault, and mark your record accordingly. Though you would still have a non fault accident on your record.

steve1097_2

I have a cliam ongoing for 6 months. a simle low value collision not much doubt as to who is at fault and yet it is still dragging on Albany assistance are supposedly dealing on my behalf but they last wrote to direct line (third parties insurer) in dec 2008. I have called numerous times since and they always tell me they will chase it up. Just called today to be told they still havent made contact. No correspondence from third party from day one yet they let it lie. They are a complete waste of space. I will be checking who deals with claims next time I renew my insurance