Insurance Excess -Virgin Money

scouselad1974

Hi everyone

This is probably the wrong place for my post but I'm a bit desperate at the moment for urgent help, 4 weeks ago a friend of mine bumped into the back of another car, I wont go into details but hardly any damage was done and the guy told him not to worry about it, anyway you guessed it 4 weeeks later and a solicitors letter has arrived, saying that the guy is claiming for back pain/stiffness, excess and further details to be anounced.
Anyway my mates excess is £300 and he hasn't got £300, he was made bankrupt a few years ago and has been struggling to manage for the past couple of years, he gets refused if he applies for credit because of the bankruptcy even though he was discharged a year ago so he can't get a credit card to put the excess on, I know this is a long shot but can anyone give me any advice to pass onto him as he is at his wits end and there is no one who can lend him the money. His only option is to start selling things like his TV, Phone etc

dacouch

Normally you only have to pay the excess if you are claiming off your policy for the damage to your own vehicle. If your friend is not claiming for his damage and its just the other driver claim then he would not normally have to pay his excess.

If he rings up the customers services department for his Insurer and asks them do I pay an excess for an accident if I do not claim for my own damage they should be able to confirm whether this is correct with them.

NB the fact he was previouslly bankrupt can affect Insurance, they normally as whether you are bankrupt. If he has not told them and he should have done under the disclosure rules it could cause problems if they discover it

scouselad1974

Hi

thank you for the quick reply, my friend was discharged after 6 months which was around 2.5 years ago, sorry for not explaining that fact correctly, he has rang the insurance and they have told him that he does have to pay the excess even if not claiming for his own vehicle

dacouch

I think he has been speaking to the normal high quality call centre staff who don't know their product. I have just read their policy and it does not appear (I could be wrong) that you pay the excess if he is not claiming for his own repairs. Get him to ring again and ask to speak to a superviser as they tend to have more knowledge. Alternatively if they still cannot help you ask them to put you through to a claims handler or preferably claims superviser

scouselad1974

Thank you for taking the time to look through the policy online, I will pass your message on, thank you for your help

Quentin

If your friend takes the time to read his own actual policy he will see that under the section that covers him against causing damage to other people and their property there will be a section headed something like "what is not covered" or "exclusions".

In this section there will be no mention of any excess being required.

pepsi662400

scouselad1974 wrote: »

Hi everyone

This is probably the wrong place for my post but I'm a bit desperate at the moment for urgent help, 4 weeks ago a friend of mine bumped into the back of another car, I wont go into details but hardly any damage was done and the guy told him not to worry about it, anyway you guessed it 4 weeeks later and a solicitors letter has arrived, saying that the guy is claiming for back pain/stiffness, excess and further details to be anounced.
Anyway my mates excess is £300 and he hasn't got £300, he was made bankrupt a few years ago and has been struggling to manage for the past couple of years, he gets refused if he applies for credit because of the bankruptcy even though he was discharged a year ago so he can't get a credit card to put the excess on, I know this is a long shot but can anyone give me any advice to pass onto him as he is at his wits end and there is no one who can lend him the money. His only option is to start selling things like his TV, Phone etc

Hi

It might be adviseable to get legal advise via the CAB. Or, if he goes need credit, what about any local credit unions and as these are not banks, they will only give you what you need.

scouselad1974

Hi

Thanks everyone for your excellent advice, just a quickie does the fact that the person claiming from my friend has given his solicitor the wrong date for the accident, they are saying it was the 16th but it was actually the 17th.

dacouch

I'm not sure what effect it has legally, hopefully one of the legal bods on here will come along and answer it.

All I can advise you is that you friend should make sure he tells his Insurer the date he thinks it is and gives them the correct version of his side of the events.

geri1965_2

It shouldn't make any difference, if your friend's policy was valid for both dates.

Unless your friend is sceptical about the injury happening when it did, in which case he shoud tell his insurers to look into it more closely.