How to handle an insurance claim for incident and Aviva lies

Searcher2

Over a month ago a man reversed into my car in a car park.

The day after I reported it to my insurance company (Southern Rock) who then tried to get me to deal with HelpHire to get the repair done. However, Help HIre computers were slow so I asked them to ring me back. They didn't so I went to a recommended garage to get a quote for the work. I expressed my concern to the garage about the possibility of HelpHire getting the work done and then the bloke who ran into me wangling out of the claim or at least getting at split claim. The garage told me I should go direct to his insurance company (Aviva) and get them to say they would pay for the repair before getting the work done.

So I rang Aviva and was handled well and told someone would ring me back within 24 hours. Nobody did. After a week I rang and asked why nobody had rung me. I was told the claim had been put to the disputes section and had not been allocated to anyone yet. I asked how it could be disputed when I wasn't in the car and had a witness and a photo but he couldn't answer. I was told I would hear something by the end of the week or if not the end of the following week at the latest.

Sure enough nobody contacted me.... so I rang Aviva again. I was told that they had not been able to get a response from their client and they would write to him one final time and if he didn't respond they would be in a position to pay out the claim

I have just rung again (one week later) to be told that nobody has dealt with the claim yet and their client has not been contacted or attempted to be contacted at all. They had tried to contact my insurance company once and were put on hold for 10 minutes so didn't bother contacting them again. They said they were going to contact their client but I should not be dealing with Aviva but I should be dealing with my insurance company. I asked if that was the case they hadn't told me that 4 weeks ago when I reported it and was told on 3 occasions someone would get back to me. I asked why I had been previously lied to and they couldn't answer.

I asked to speak to a manager and was told they were in a meeting (I was told this on the previous call too).

I am now confused as to whether I should be going through my insurance company or not. As far as I know Help Hire will just try to give me a hire car and get me to go to one of their assigned garages - which I don't want to do. I want to get confirmation that Aviva are going to pay out and then get the work done at my garage.

I rang Aviva's customer service department and asked to speak to someone regarding complaints and they said they could only put me through to claims (who I had already spoken to and been lied to).

cogito

You can't complain to Aviva because they don't insure you.

You have a choice of pursuing it directly through your insurers but avoid a credit hire agreement as you are potentially responsible for the cost if things go wrong.

What I would do is tell Aviva that if they have not accepted responsibility within seven days, you will institute legal proceedings for recovery without further notice. If that doesn't concentrate their minds, nothing will.

Searcher2

Thanks for the reply... but judging by my last phone call with Aviva I should not even be talking to them. I should be handling it through my insurance company. Is this true?

daveyjp

You pay your insurance premium for your insurance company to act on your behalf. They should be calling Aviva not you.

You can either wait until it is settled before having the work done, or have it done, pay the excess then let the insurance companies argue.

Avoid Help Hire.

Searcher2

daveyjp wrote: »

You pay your insurance premium for your insurance company to act on your behalf. They should be calling Aviva not you.

Avoid Help Hire.

That's my issue. My insurance company put me through to Help Hire to handle the claim as soon as they took all my details.... and I didn't want Help Hire to do anything.

So it looks like I should go back to my insurance company direct and tell them to get on to Aviva.

Quentin

Searcher2 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply... but judging by my last phone call with Aviva I should not even be talking to them. I should be handling it through my insurance company. Is this true?

No, this is not true at all.

(What if you only had third party insurance - or no insurance at all?)

You are quite entitled to pursue the third party or their insurers direct.

Searcher2

Thanks for the advice. On ringing again Aviva have finally written to their client. I asked for an address to write so I could put it in writing that I wanted the claim sorting in 7 days or I would take legal action and they gave me "PO Box 50217 London EC1 V3XZ". I said that that was not the correct format for a postcode and they insisted it was correct. I googled it online and told them it did not exist. They eventually gave me another address in Norwich.... but what a shower of a company!

foggytown

Searcher2 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. On ringing again Aviva have finally written to their client. I asked for an address to write so I could put it in writing that I wanted the claim sorting in 7 days or I would take legal action and they gave me "PO Box 50217 London EC1 V3XZ". I said that that was not the correct format for a postcode and they insisted it was correct. I googled it online and told them it did not exist. They eventually gave me another address in Norwich.... but what a shower of a company!

Some basic priniples. Aviva has no contractual duty to you. They are the insurer of the other party. Insurers always prefer it if you claim on your own policy and then let the two sides fight it out at their leisure. You (like most people) forget that your claim is against the bloke that hit you - not his insurer. His insurer has a contractual obligation to pay his legal debt to you. The responsible party's insurer will often drag their heels and try to encourage you to go through your own policy.

The best way to get things moving when there is a problem like this is to keep pestering the person that hit you. If he says, "Talk to my insurance company." remind him that they aren't cooperating and doing a rubbish job representing his interests. Get the responsible party to complain to HIS insurer about their service. In extreme cases, it can be effective to file a small claim against the responsible party which his insurer is responsible to defend. It gets them interested.

FlameCloud

Searcher2 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. On ringing again Aviva have finally written to their client. I asked for an address to write so I could put it in writing that I wanted the claim sorting in 7 days or I would take legal action and they gave me "PO Box 50217 London EC1 V3XZ". I said that that was not the correct format for a postcode and they insisted it was correct. I googled it online and told them it did not exist. They eventually gave me another address in Norwich.... but what a shower of a company!

You cannot be much of a searcher then! EC1V 3XZ is a city of London postcode- some people put the V after the first three digits, others put it before the last three. Either way google finds it and it does exist.

dacouch

It's the post code for the Mount Pleasant Sorting Office where Aviva must have a PO Box

Searcher2

FlameCloud wrote: »

You cannot be much of a searcher then! EC1V 3XZ is a city of London postcode- some people put the V after the first three digits, others put it before the last three. Either way google finds it and it does exist.

Thanks - it was a quick google whilst I had her on the phone. Google didn't return anything when I searched for "EC1 V3XZ" but it does if you search for "EC1V 3XZ". I stand corrected.... but still think they are a shower when it has taken over 1 month from the incident being reported to them to write to their client (and that's ignoring the lies they have told me so far).