DH had accident. Which way forward ?

izoomzoom

DH was shunted up his rear end on the motorway coming home last night.

He exchanged details with the other driver and they both deemed their vehicles okay to drive so off DH came home.

DH took his car to a shop this am, to get a quote, but they reckon that the back has been pushed in.

anyhows, dh phoned insurance co and has got claim no. we have comprehensive cover, with protected bonus but no legal cover.

probably don't have a replacement / hire car clause and we are waiting for we think the car hire company to call back.

Reading through here, I think we have made a big mistake with not having legal cover.

What would you suggest our best course of action be ?

Car is a T reg, so not worth much.

DaveF327

Report the incident to your own company "for information only", then get in touch with the other party's insurance to make a claim and ask them for a hire car as a necessary replacement while yours is fixed. Ask to speak to their accident management company if they don't already put you in touch with them.

When I was rear ended, I got a far better and more efficient service from the third party's insurance company's company than from my own... and I do have legal cover. Legal cover becomes a bit of a rip off if your car is old or low value as they charge a fortune in charges which means they'll stop dealing as soon as these charges quickly exceed the pre-accident value of the vehicle.

december

I thought I had legal cover until I had an accident then my insurer passed my details onto a third party legal company anyway.

wealdroam

december wrote: »

I thought I had legal cover until I had an accident then my insurer passed my details onto a third party legal company anyway.

Isn't that what you expected to happen?

thescouselander

Yes, always get legal cover - its only a few quid but could save you a lot of grief.

dacouch

december wrote: »

I thought I had legal cover until I had an accident then my insurer passed my details onto a third party legal company anyway.

You could well have Legal Expense Cover, a lot of Insurers pass these cases over to third party legal companies as they get paid large amounts of money in commission.

Would I be right in assuming you have injuries ?

Are you aware that the hire car they have mentioned is actually a Credit Hire Car which basically is a hire car at an inflated cost that you sign a credit agreement for. In a lot of cases if they cannot recover the hire car costs with 51 weeks they invoke the credit agreement and ask you for the hire costs which are often thousands. There are a few companies that will not pursue you but if they say they won't ask them to confirm this in writing as they have a habit of telling porkies.

Also if it is Drive Assist providing the car you should be very cautious as they tend to "find" damage on the car when you return it and charge you an amount of circa £300.

ScottishSapper

izoomzoom wrote: »

DH was shunted up his rear end on the motorway coming home last night.

.

Not sure it will help after having an accident but you could have a look at
http://www.valuetyres.one1one.co.uk/

I have registered with them for my van but never used them (and hopefully never will;))

dacouch

ScottishSapper wrote: »

Not sure it will help after having an accident but you could have a look at
http://www.valuetyres.one1one.co.uk/

I have registered with them for my van but never used them (and hopefully never will;))

That is in effect what the Insurer have passed them onto an accident management company who make nice profits on the injury claim, credit hire and credit repairs.

It's also very missleading, unless you read the full terms you could assume it covers you for any accident when as it's PI and credit hire / repairs it only applies to accidents that are entirely not your fault

Rolandtheroadie

When I recently had a claim and no legal cover, my insurer passed my details onto a company who then passed me onto a local solicitor. They dealt with anything and it never cost me a penny.
The other drivers insurer also offered to deal with it direct with me but by that time I'd signed up.
So after my own initial "I haven't got legal cover" panic, everything worked out ok.

december

Yes I have injuries, I read the details that they sent about the hire car and I checked the paperwork to make sure that they couldn't pursue me for the hire costs. The third party has already admitted liability too. The company isn't Drive Assist luckily.


[/QUOTE] Are you aware that the hire car they have mentioned is actually a Credit Hire Car which basically is a hire car at an inflated cost that you sign a credit agreement for. In a lot of cases if they cannot recover the hire car costs with 51 weeks they invoke the credit agreement and ask you for the hire costs which are often thousands. There are a few companies that will not pursue you but if they say they won't ask them to confirm this in writing as they have a habit of telling porkies.

Also if it is Drive Assist providing the car you should be very cautious as they tend to "find" damage on the car when you return it and charge you an amount of circa £300.[/QUOTE]

december

wealdroam wrote: »

Isn't that what you expected to happen?

Sorry I was unclear, when sending back my certificate of insurance I noticed that I didn't have legal expenses cover on there, despite me being sure that I'd asked for it. The insurance company automatically appointed a solicitors I think.