Excess Charges for Car Insurance

dacouch

Give them a ring and they should sort it out.

If they try and get you to get your car repaired at Solus (NOrwich Union / Aviva own them) which is one of their approved repairers ask them to recommend someone else as Solus can be a pain sorting any snags out.

talksr

dacouch wrote: »

Give them a ring and they should sort it out.

If they try and get you to get your car repaired at Solus (NOrwich Union / Aviva own them) which is one of their approved repairers ask them to recommend someone else as Solus can be a pain sorting any snags out.

Thanks dacouch, you seem to really know your stuff. I did the claim yesterday, they said they will call me when he has admitted liability, if he does not, they won't contact me, so I should wait for about two weeks before calling them.
:money:

dacouch

Not contacting you if he does not contact them is not on, ring back and ask for a superviser and ask for them to ring you back in two weeks irrespective of whether he contacts you or not.

Remind them that the law changed recently and it makes NU / Aviva jointly liable with policyholder in the event of an accident. This in effect means that you no longer have to sue the policyholder you can sue NU and thus you will expect them to repair the car irrespective of whether their client ignores them.

Do you have any witnesses to teh accident, if you do advise NU of this.

When you speak to them take the supervisers name and the date / time of the call and speak to them politely but firmly

talksr

Many thanks for this. (I have been clicking the Thanks button on each of your posts as they have been so useful to me. I will give this a try. There were two witnesses both of which I told the lady about yesterday and gave her their names and numbers.

If there are any updates, I will post on here. Thanks again

dacouch

Great, if you have witnesses then NU should realise that they have to deal with the claim, make sure you point out what I mentioned above

talksr

dacouch wrote: »

Great, if you have witnesses then NU should realise that they have to deal with the claim, make sure you point out what I mentioned above

Dacouch, I didn't need to mention this, a week later they called me to say the third party had neglected to contact them as they had requested, and because of this they would now begin to process my claim. They said an 'inspector' would be in contact with me in the next 48 hrs to arrange to come and inspect the vehicle.
I got a call the same day, when I told the inspector on the phone about the quotes I had already got, he seemed happy with one which was from one of their approved bodyworks companies.
He asked me to go down to the place and have them take a look.
I went on Thursday and they have booked me in for next Thursday.

My only concern is what courtesy car I will get. I do lots of miles at the moment. And on the Thursday when I pickup the courtesy car I am heading straight from London to Sheffield and then on to Middlesbrough and back again just in the space of two days. Do you think I will be limited to how many miles I can do? I would have done this journey in my car anyway, so I don't see why I should be.

Thanks for all of your help.

dacouch

I assume you are using the third parties Insurer for the repairs and their approved repairer. If this is the case they will normally loan you a basic car such as a fiat cinquento or similar, it normally has no milege restriction.

However if you need a certain type of car eg automatic or larger car due to your work, or are not happy with a small car you could ring the other Insurer and ask them to provide a like for like car for your existing car, they should be happy to offer a similar car

Quentin

In the circumstances you have reported, you are entitled to a like for like replacement vehicle, and shouldn't have to drive round in a courtesy car (which are invariably small and basic). So don't accept the courtesy car arrangement unless you are happy with it.

Tell the third party insurer that you have long journeys to do, the car is unsuitable, and if they are unable to supply a like for like replacement you will be forced to hire one, and will be claiming the cost of it from them.

talksr

dacouch wrote: »

I assume you are using the third parties Insurer for the repairs and their approved repairer. If this is the case they will normally loan you a basic car such as a fiat cinquento or similar, it normally has no milege restriction.

However if you need a certain type of car eg automatic or larger car due to your work, or are not happy with a small car you could ring the other Insurer and ask them to provide a like for like car for your existing car, they should be happy to offer a similar car

Thank you both dacouch and Quentin for your comments. I am using the 3rd parties insurer. I am really not too fussed about the vehicle provided, obviously as long as it is not a cruddy old banger, size is not much of an issue, my concern was really just the travel. I have a lot going on at the moment and I didn't want to be penalised for over-use.
I have tried to keep things as simple and un-complicated as possible with this claim, I have just told the truth and kept things short and simple, so I would rather not call the insurers demanding a better car etc, I can see exactly where you are coming from, and I know I am well within my rights to, but it seems they are happy to fix the damage this guy has done, so as long as that gets done, that is my main concern. If the courtesy car is not great, then I can cope it is only in for 4 working days next week so I think I will be ok.

Thanks again for your help, this is the first time I have had any dealings with the insurance and your help and suggestions have been really helpful to me.

rev_henry

I understand what your saying OP, and as far as I can see its legit. You share the car with your mother, but in the holidays you use it a lot more as your mum doesn't need it and you are home to use it more? Sounds very similar to what I do, although I'm at 6th form not uni.