No fault claim query + Renewal car insurance due while claim pending, can still swap?

Lady_K

The girl is not with churchill and churchill said that it is too difficult trying to get the money back for the excess after it has been paid so its better to get it before gong ahead

Quentin

Lady_K wrote: »

churchill said that it is too difficult trying to get the money back for the excess after it has been paid so its better to get it before gong ahead

This is nonsense. It sounds like you have been speaking to the wrong person! Or they are deliberately giving you the run around/get you to give up claiming off them.

The excess is paid by the policyholder. Usually direct to the bodyshop before getting their car back.

If the policyholder thinks the third party is at fault, it's the policyholder's responsibility to recover it. (Or use the Churchill Legal Assistance Service which they charge extra for to recover it for you)

Lady_K

Thanks

We have never had to do tis before so its all completely new. I know she pays extra for legal cover when she renews her insurance along with curtesy car but I didn't know she had to pay her own exess if its not he fault, I thought that automatically went to the person at fault but anyway its all a pretty unpleasant learning curve.

She is going to ask churchill if I can speak to them about it on her behalf on Monday because shes a nurse working long hours and finds it difficult to fit things in.

I asked her again this evening and she says they did tell her she could go ahead and have the work carried out now and pay the exess herself but advised her to wait untill the girls paid it as it could be hard to get it back later. I am quite confused by this too. Would it be because they think the other girl might not be proved liable? Or maybe because my daughter has already paid for legal cover in her insurance as an extra and it would save them time later to do it for her? My daughter asked me if I thought she should give the girl a ring but I said at least lets wait till monday after speaking to churchill but it probably isnt a good idea as if shs not communicating through her own insurance shes not likely to do so to her.

Churchill also assured my daughter that this would definitely not affect her no claims bonus and there is no way the girl could get away with it, I'm beginning to wonder if they have not given my daughter the best information and advice. If she had been told that because there were no witnesess and they were not going to try to get camera evidence and this may affect her own no claims bonus for 3 to 5 yrs even though it was not her fault I'm sure that although reluctantly she would have just had the car repaired herself I'm angry even having to say that but it would cost more to pay exess on top plus lose no claims for all those years, its maddness with such a small amount of damage. Shouldnt churchill have made it clear to my daughter what could happen rather than giving her the impression that it was going to go in her favour and no way the girl could deny.

If theres no admition through the girls insurance cant my daughter then decide not to proceed with a claim as it will likely end in 50/50 and just pay the repairs herself and not lose her no claims bonus, if the girl doesnt put a claim in herself (which would be ludicrous) surely that closes the matter and no need for losing no claims. I feel so upset by it all though because it shouldnt be that way

Quentin

The "girl" wouldn't necessarily pay your daughters excess herself (even if she accepts full liability) - she would pass on the claim to her insurer to deal with. And no insurer (or individual) would normally hand over the excess in advance. This advice from Churchill does seem strange - most insurers would have got on with the repairs as soon as the claim was put in, then sorted out liability/excess etc.

The only reason it could be hard to get the excess back is if the liability issue isn't cut and dried. In that case if liability is shared, then your daughter would get back the proportion of her excess in line with the decision (ie if liability ends up 50/50, then she would get 50% of her excess back off the third party insurers).

Regarding paying for the repairs herself, just not claiming herself won't necessarily mean that no claim is registered against your daughter. If it ends up as a split liability, then her insurer could get a claim off the third party for a proportion of the costs involved in repairing the third party car (and paying a proportion of the third party excess). If any claim is paid out by your daughter's insurer, then her NCD will be affected.

But if she is confident on winning the liability issue, she could pay for the repairs herself, then pursue the third party to reimburse her in full. In that case her NCD would remain intact.

Lady_K

Rang Churchill and they said they have wrote to her insurers again this morning they put me through to liability section who said that her insurers have sent her an incident form for her to give her version of events and they have not recieved it back yet.

They said they don't deal with any video or camera evidence for any claims if my daughter wants that she has to contact the police. I asked about the 50/50 thing as my daughter was worried about losing her no claims and the woman at churchills said they would not accept 50 50 on this they have the other party down as fault she went into the back of my daughters car. I have to say I was quite taken aback by the way the woman in the liability dept handled the call, she was awful, as though she really couldnt be bothered and as though she was having the worst day of her life. I didnt ask about the excess payment it was enough to get this information out of her. I'm just hoping that the form gets filled in honestly and this can be sorted out with as little hassle as possible

Just phoned local police station to ask how to go about evidence and they hae said she should go to the station with all her car details and incident details as they cant give cctv or camera evidence out just like that but the police lady did say that she is very surprised that churchill are not doing this it is usually the insurance company that applies for that evidence

Quentin

Maybe this experience will help your daughter's decision on whether to renew or go elsewhere!

More recent experiences reported here:

http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews-all-2627.html

Lady_K

If she moves to another insurance, its due early sept do you think that could affect the way churchill deal with it as she will have already left.

She always looks for new quotes every year but has stayed with churchill for 3 years now because the price wasnt too bad but this time when she tries for new quotes she will have to declare the incident wont she so I guess her quotes wont be as good as they might have been?

Quentin

From what you have told us about the way they have dealt with the claim so far, I doubt you could get much worse service (wasn't changing insurer the reason you started this thread?)

She will have to declare the incident, but it will still be worthwhile seeing what the others want.

Lady_K

Yes I was enquiring about changing insurers while a claim is pending but also querying things about the claim itself which is why I put claim query in subject line. Then I became concerned but glad you highlighted the fact that there was a possibility that my daughter may lose her own ncb even though it wasnt her fault. At least we are aware of this now.

She has had her renewal for insurance which has increased by around £300 until the claim is complete, they said she would get the ncb back and any extra money paid once she is hopefully proved the innocent party. No updates on the claim as yet but we are now prepared for some months waiting as it seems this is the norm with these things. They told us that even if daughter decides to not procede with claim her ncb and everything will go back to normal and the extra money refunded but f cource the incident will still have to be declared.

After all this though if for some reason the girl does deny it in any way I feel backing out for fear of losing ncb wouldnt be the right thing as the girl would be lying and should not get an easy ride

Quentin

As previously posted, you can shop around for a better premium/company to go with. Explain to them about the ongoing claim and ask that should the NCD be reinstated they will honour it and efund any difference in premium. (It's fairly normal in such cases - claims take months to be finalised, and so do regularly coincide with renewals.