Advice Please Regarding Accident

mcjordi

as viao says contact the third party insurer to see if they will provide a hire car and tell them if they dont you will have to use DA/Helphire etc. they will be keen to provide you a one to save on a huuugggeee hire bill from DA,,

Diamond78

Ok, thanks. I will try that. I thought I could only go through my insurance for the hire car. Should I call Tesco insurance first and get the contact details for the other drivers insurance? I didn't think I was allowed to contact his insurance.

eddddy

Hi Diamond78

I was in a very similar sitaution to you about a ago. I solved it far more simply (although it may be a little too late for you now).

My 9 year old car was hit from behind and the other driver accepted liability. It sounds like my bump was more severe - dented bumper, dented tailgate, bent rear panel etc. The quote to fix it was about £2000. The insurance engineer confirmed that it was roadworthy and would not fail an MOT because of the damage.

But, they were starting to hint that the car was not worth £2000 etc. I did not want the hassle of having the car written off, and having to find another car etc. So I asked them to make me a cash offer to settle the claim. They offered me £1400.

So I accepted the money, kept the car, and there was no further discussions about repairs, hire cars, write-offs etc. This was a far easier route than buying back a write-off etc. (Looking at it cynically, you could say that I asked the insurance company "How much will you pay me to go away and never bother you again about this?"; - but it is perfectly legitimate and legal.)

I suspect that the insurance company will only do this if the car is safe/roadworthy. At the same time as offering £1400, the insurance company assessor suggested that I could probably get a tailgate and bumper from a scrapyard, and get everything repaired for £700 at a local repairer.

In fact, following some research, it seemed that if I got a tailgate and bumper from a scrapped car with the same paint colour (so no spraying required), it could be much less than £700 to fix.

But, I just drove it around with the damage, and eventually sold it with the damage (to somebody who I guess planned to repair it cheaply.)

One final comment, if you decide to go down this route. You mentioned that your son may have a whiplash injury. Make it clear to the insurance company that you are talking about a cash settlement figure in respect of damage to your car. To avoid confusion, keep any discussion about a personal injury claim separate.

I hope this helps

mcjordi

Diamond78 wrote: »

Ok, thanks. I will try that. I thought I could only go through my insurance for the hire car. Should I call Tesco insurance first and get the contact details for the other drivers insurance? I didn't think I was allowed to contact his insurance.

of course you can contact the tp insurer, after all their customer hit you. they will be keen to sort the claim as cheap as possible.. I used DA for 2 claims (before reading about them lol) the one bill i saw was £8,000 for a hire car :eek::eek::eek:

tell them that you want a similar sized vehicle to what you have atm, as they could end up sending you a KA when you drive a BMW ( just an example )

fred7777

If you have found a mechanic who says he can fix it for £200 then you could always pass on the details to Tesco. I had to have a bumper repaired a few years ago and didn't want to use Direct Line's prefered repair shop as it was too far away. I found a repair place within walking distance from where I worked and after they had done a few checks Direct Line were happy to pay for my car to go there.
Regarding the value of the car is it is written off check autotrader & ebay for some sale prices of the same model in your area then send Tesco a selection of the highest prices you can find if you're not happy with the price offered.

andygb

Regarding DriveAssist, (who I had problems with), I believe that you should contact the other side's insurers (your insurance company should give you the full details), and ask them to foot the complete bill for a courtesy car. When you tell them that the alternative is DriveAssist, they will probably agree. When DriveAssist are used, they charge far more than other companies, and they are also unscrupulous when it comes to being honest about imaginary damage to their car.

Diamond78

Thanks for all your replies. You have all been really helpful. Well the courtesy car has arrived and I don't think I can drive the car. Its so much bigger than mine, plus its a BMW and I feel to scared to drive it. When the guy came, he was very nice and pleasent but when I asked if I could take pictures of the marks on the car, he said what for? Its all on my handheld computer, so once he went through all the details, he then showed me round the car and showed me the marks that were on his screen. But I saw atleast two marks which I pointed out to him and then he put that in his machine. After he left, I started taking pictures as I felt intimidated when he replied like that to me, so I waited till he was gone and I have now seen more marks. He said he picked the car up from another customer before dropping it off to me. I really do not want to drive the car and he said that even if someone scratched up the car, I would have to pay the charges. I know I sound silly but I feel like crying, I just want my car back, I don't want to drive a flash car.

mcjordi

so it sounds like Drive assist have delivered a hire car.. take pics and a video if you can of the car.. and the same on the return.

Diamond78

Thank you, I took pictures after the guy left. I then phoned tesco and moaned as I feel like I am being messed around now. When my car was picked up for repair, I was told the garage would be in touch within 48 hours but they never did get in touch. I emailed them and still they never got back so I called them 48 hours later, when I was told they my car was still being assessed. The following day the garage still did not get in touch so again I emailed but no reply so I called them and they told me the car could possibly be a write off. It is the garages job to keep me up to date as that is what they state on tehir card and website. I spoke to a manager from the garage who said on Monday, Tesco's engineer would be assessing my car and only then will I know. I called the garage before the courtesy car was delivered but again I was told the same that the engineer from Tesco had not looked at my car yet and he blamed Tesco for taking so long.

So I spoke to a nice lady from Tesco's and told her what the garage had been saying and that hey were not contacting me to update me. I said about the drive assist car being to big for me to drive and about the marks on the car and told her I just wanted my car back whether its a write off or not. She basically said the garage should of kept me up to date and she would contact them and driver assist to see if they can arrange a smaller car. I did forget to ask her if I cancel the courtesy car would i be charged as the guy did say if I did cancel, I would have to pay charges.
I wish I never bothered with any of it now and just carried on driving my little banger.

mcjordi

the hire charges will be paid by the other insurer, but drive assist are known to ramp up the cost of any hire. i suggest contacting the third party insurer direct and asking if they would be willing to arrange a hire car themselves and you will cancel the DA car. thats what i would do should anybody hit my car.