Insurance Claims after Accident Advice Req'

Empdal

Last October (09) my wife and I bought a brand new Hyundai i20. Sadly it was involved in an accident on Jan 1st. The car that hit us was being driven by an uninsured driver in a company owned car. After the accident the driver of the other vehicle left the scene(on foot/the third party car is held by the police), without giving their details. Police are investigating this side of the incident.

Our car was moved on the day to a safe location by low loader, it was then moved to our local garage when the weather improved. The car was not inspected by the Insurers assessor until the 4th Feb! He wrote the car off stating that it would cost about £8k to put right.

We have had very little correspondence with our insurers (Budget-broker, NIG-Underwriters) since the accident and have had to call them numerous times for updates. My wife suffered whiplash in the accident and MinsterLaw are dealing with her personal injury claim and we fully expect the delay with regards to that.

However we still don't know what the state of play is regarding a replacement vehicle is. We are fully comp with a protected policy. Our policy clearly states that new cars under 12 months old will be relaced with one to the same spec, though the lack of progress seems to make us think they are going to try and wiggle out of this. We don't have gap insurance. Can we expect to have the car replaced or wwill we have to find some extra cash towards a new one, especially with the change in VAT and car price increase since we orginally bought it.

Will our No-claims be affected (accident was not our fault) will we have higher premiums?

Any advice and we will be very grateful.

lisyloo

Can we expect to have the car replaced or wwill we have to find some extra cash towards a new one, especially with the change in VAT and car price increase since we orginally bought it.

If your policy says it's replaced with one to the same spec then that's what I'd expect them to do.
VAT or the price don't come into it.
You have a contract for a replacement car, the cost is their issue not yours.

Will our No-claims be affected (accident was not our fault)

Whether it's your fault of not doesn't matter.
What matters is whether money can be reclaimed from a 3rd party.
If the money is all recovered then it's classed as a non fault claim.
If the money cannot be recovered and your insurer pays then it's classed as a "fault" claim every though you weren't to blame.
The terminology i a bit comfusing, but NCB is a NO CLAIMS binus not a no blames bonus.
What they care about is who ends up paying.

will we have higher premiums?

I'm sorry to say that you will most likely have higher premiums whatever the outcome with the money.
Sadly if you make a claim you are considered to be at higher risk of making another claim.
This appears unfair, but if you drive near uninsured, inconsiderate drivers and other people don't then your premium will be loaded, not because you are a bad driver, but because unfortunately you tend to come into contact with them and some other people haven't.
The rise will be a lot less if the money is recoverd than if your insurer ends up paying.
But I think the company will have some liability here if it's a company owned car.

dacouch

You will only get the new car replacement if you are claiming off your own Insurers for the write off (They can then try to recover their other party to repay their outlay)

It sounds like they are trying to claim directly off the other parties Insurance and bypassing your policy

Anihilator

Its also worth stating the similar spec replacement is only if the car was owned from new for a lot of insurers.

If it wasnt it reverts back to market value..