Direct Line making me cry!!!

Kasialouise

I just dont know where else to turn, I'm hoping that someone out there can give me some advice

I was involved in an car accident in November 2007, a foreign lorry squashed me on a roundabout and caused a fair amount of damage to my car. It was completely his fault as he changed lanes without seeing me and admitted it at the time.

I paid my £500 excess to Direct Line in order to get the repairs underway, thinking that I would get it back as the accident was not my fault. Direct Line have since mucked me around for months and said the lorry driver has changed his story and said it was my fault - no witnesses!

It has agrieved me enough that they've advised that the claim will have to be settled 50/50 when I know I didnt do anything wrong and that I'm at the mercy of the system, but worse still is that I'm STILL waiting for half of my excess back from them. Each time I contact them they are such a useless bunch of thick idiots and do nothing but push my blood pressure higher than I though it was possible :mad::mad::mad:

I've been to the ombudsman who cant get any joy out of them and have advised me to take them to the small claims court.

I dont want to have to take this up through the courts, I just want my money back!!! Any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated before I end up on the local news after storming their head office or similar!!!

Furious from Northampton :mad:

Idiophreak

Sorry to hear that you're having problems with them - hope they get sorted out swiftly.

Have to say, though, when I was run into a few months back, Direct Line were absolutely fantastic to deal with, really helpful, friendly, very efficient. I'm sure, however, my case was easy to deal with, as the other driver admitted liability straight away, there were plenty of witnesses etc...

Quentin

You wrongly blame your Insurer.

You have to reclaim your excess off the third party yourself. It is an uninsured loss. You have had the repairs carried out in accordance with your policy and you will have agreed a £500 excess when you took out the policy.

If you have uninsured loss recovery expenses as an add on to your policy, then contact them to help you,. Otherwise you need to contact the third party direct to recover this (as already advised to you by the ombudsman!)

dogbot

http://www.mib.org.uk/Customer+Services/en/Accidents+in+the+UK/Green+Card+System/UK+Claims+Handling.htm

Kasialouise

Quentin wrote: »

You wrongly blame your Insurer.

You have to reclaim your excess off the third party yourself. It is an uninsured loss. You have had the repairs carried out in accordance with your policy and you will have agreed a £500 excess when you took out the policy.

If you have uninsured loss recovery expenses as an add on to your policy, then contact them to help you,. Otherwise you need to contact the third party direct to recover this (as already advised to you by the ombudsman!)

Thanks for your advice, I'm confused though.....why do I have to claim directly from the third party? I pay for a comprehensive insurance policy and dutifully informed them of the accident, what do they do for my money if they dont deal with this for me??

silvercar

The claim is being settled 50/50. That means your side pays for 50% of the total damage as does the other side.

You are insured, so the insurer pays your 50% of the damage. But you have an excess of £500 on your policy so you have to pay the first £500 of the claim.

If you want to recoup the £500 then you have to take action against the other party. This means getting them to agree that the accident is their fault and they should reimburse you or taking them to court and proving the same.

If you have legal insurance as part of the policy (I know directline offer it for about £15, you could ask the legal insurance to chase this for you. They will only do so if there is a reasonable chance of success.

Quentin

Kasialouise wrote:

I pay for a comprehensive insurance policy and dutifully informed them of the accident, what do they do for my money if they dont deal with this for me??

They have dealt with it. You got your car repaired.

They don't include recovering uninsured losses in your policy. (Unless you took that as an extra to your policy).

Your excess isn't covered by your own policy. Read the bit in it where it lists what is covered in relation to damage to your own car and (more importantly) what is not covered. You will see your excess isn't covered.

Hope this lifts some of your confusion - and helps you see your insurer in a different light!