Fed up from Herts

Twinny99

I need to vent about something so apologise in advance.

on January 19th this year I was driving to work and in a steady flow of traffic. The guy behind me decided he would overtake even though there was a car in front of me and one coming towards us in the oppopsite direction. In order to avert a head on collision he shoved himself infront of me and the rear passenger wing of his car hit the drivers wheel arch on mine. We all stopped and exchanged details etc and he has since admitted that he was at fault.

My rant is that my car STILL hasn't been mended because his insurance company 1st Central keep making excuses and dragging their heels. It took about 4 months before they confirmed that their client had admitted liability, then they kept denying that they had received the quotes for the repairs to my car. They have now since confirmed that they have everything they need and that it is with their engineers. My insurance company want me to put a claim in with them and pay my excess (£350) and they will then attempt to re-claim this back from 1st Central. I dont want to do this as it will affect my no claims bonus.

My car insurance is coming up for renewal now and I was shopping around for an idea of how much it will be and all the companies/comparison sites etc want to know if you have had any accident REGARDLESS OF FAULT. So is this likely to affect my premiums in the future??

Any advice gratefully received. My insurance company said there is nothing they can do other than keep calling 1st Central for them to sort it out. Could I write to 1st Central and threaten them with the Ombudsman or something? I'm paying a fortune each month to pay for this car and its been bashed (albeit not too badly - appx £750 worth of damage) for over 7 months now

Sorry for the long post - any advice gratefully received.

Lum

As you are probably already aware, while the claim is outstanding you have to declare it as such. If you put the claim through your own insurance company then you will temporarily lose 2 years no claims bonus and will have to declare this as such and also make sure that the new insurer is prepared to re-instate the bonus once the claim is finally settled.

Are you currently claiming off the other guy's insurance directly. If so and if they are messing you about then I would get an accident management company, such as HelpHire, to handle your claim on your behalf rather than asking your own insurer to do it. HelpHire, or whoever you choose, will arrange the repairs and hire car rather than your own insurer so your NCD is preserved. You will still have to declare the ongoing claim however.

A lot of people complain about the accident management companies saying they push up the costs to the insurer but frankley if they have been messing you about for 4 months even though their insured has admitted liability then I say **** them, let them have to pay out more.


You should do some research into these accident management companies, HelpHire aren't as good as they used to be and I am fortunate enough to have not needed to use one for a few years so don't know who is currently good.

Twinny99

Thanks Lum - I didn't even know accident managemenet companies existed. I'll have a look into it. :T

neilmcl

Try the likes of Accident exchange but make sure you are fully aware of what you're getting into, re, credit hire.

Twinny99

I wish I'd known about the accident management companies at the beginning this might have been resolved months ago...I wonder if it's too late to get them involved?!

Lum

Ring one, explain the situation and ask is the best advice I can give right now.

As far as I am aware you have to rights to change who is representing you in this claim at any point, within reason.