Car write off - NOT my fault - insurance help?

nickyola

My car was totally written off on Sunday, we were not in the car at the time, and luckily, no-one was killed, it was that bad.

I am so worried about this, the car was on finance, and we do have GAP insurance - my worry is that they are going to null and void my claim for the following reasons: ~

The car insurance is in my name, with me being the named owner of the car. My partner is a named driver.

The car is actually in my partners name, and the GAP insurance is also.

What the heck do I do if they null and void it?! Has anyone else ever been in this situation? I am so scared that we are going to be left paying for a car that we no longer have for the next 4 1/2 years.

Please help if you can, I am so worried about this

Many thanks for reading

Nicky xx

dacouch

Are you married ?

Who drives the car to work ?

Do you have the details of the driver who hit your car ?

What is the reason for you having the ownership / insurances etc for the car in the way you have it

Strider590

It doesn't matter who's insurance it is, because it wasn't being driven at the time. Besides, you might want to consider not using your insurance company and going after the 3rd parties insurer directly, otherwise your premiums will go up.

fred7777

Don't panic, it's not necessarily going to be a problem.
Insurance companies usually like to have the insurance in the name of the main driver, no matter who owns the car.
The registration document refers to the registered keeper and the keeper isn't necessarily the owner or the driver.
The person paying for the car doesn't have to be the owner, I'm sure many people are paying finance on cars they bought for their kids to learn on which are registered to the kids.
As far as the insurance is concerned if you are the main driver, or drive at least as much as your partner then the details are correct.
In any case if a third party is at fault and has been identified then they are liable to pay either by the insurance company chasing them or you sueing them.

neilmcl

Sounds like a case of fronting going on here, ie, partner owns the car and drives it whereas OP has the insurance and puts partner on as named driver. As said, I'm not sure that'll have an impact as it'll be the third-party insurer paying out, not yours but you may think about changing the way you insure the next car.

nickyola

neilmcl wrote: »

Sounds like a case of fronting going on here, ie, partner owns the car and drives it whereas OP has the insurance and puts partner on as named driver. As said, I'm not sure that'll have an impact as it'll be the third-party insurer paying out, not yours but you may think about changing the way you insure the next car.

Hey all, thanks for messages, not sure what fronting is Neilmcl, am I doing somat wrong??

We have the insurance in my name as my OH had an accident and their premiums went sky high. So car insurance is in my name, but because I am self employed, it was recommended that the car finance and gap insurance was in my OH's name, as they had more of a likelyhood to get the finance needed.

No-one was in our car, it was parked outside my house. We both use the car, probably my OH more than me.

Have had to go out and buy a new car, borrowing off a family member to do so, and have insured it with the same company, and actually got some money refunded?!!

Mankysteve

Fronting is when the main driver on the insurance is not the one who most of the driving. It invalidates your insurance. If your both named as equal use driver then that's not really a problem. Not that its a problem at all in this case.

GO though the third party it will take a bit longer but will be better for you in the long run.

As long as the insurance company where told that

A) The owner of the car is her not you
B)Your not named as the main driver/both named as main

Then your fine from you insurance point of view.

nickyola

Have just contacted third party insurance, it is a trade insurance, the vehicle was insured but the driver was not, the company are waiting for the driver to get back in touch with their insurance details. This week is going from bad to worse!

Thanks for all your replies so far, you've made me feel a bit better than I was earlier x

neilmcl

nickyola wrote: »

Hey all, thanks for messages, not sure what fronting is Neilmcl, am I doing somat wrong??

We have the insurance in my name as my OH had an accident and their premiums went sky high. So car insurance is in my name, but because I am self employed, it was recommended that the car finance and gap insurance was in my OH's name, as they had more of a likelyhood to get the finance needed.

No-one was in our car, it was parked outside my house. We both use the car, probably my OH more than me.

Have had to go out and buy a new car, borrowing off a family member to do so, and have insured it with the same company, and actually got some money refunded?!!

If you're not the main driver then you are fronting, which is classed as fraud in the insurer's eyes.

charlearose

same thing happend to me this weekend - my car an 09 audi tt was written off by another car which was arsoned and then hit my car

the car is a lease in my husbands name but i am the keeper and insurure of the car with husband as a named driver but we are seperated but the car is at my address but finance is husbands address
so far its been straighforward

ring your lease /fianace company get a settlelment figure of what the car is worth this is what need to be off then work out what the car is actually worth look in auto traded and the guide thing that give you prices based on car milage age ect

the insurance assessor will try to negoatie with you so be prepared
for example our car had 16800 left on finance but the top book price is 21500 22000 and agreed on 22000
So thats what we asked for and they have agreed minus the excess
so after the finance is settled and excess paid we will end up with around 5000 thousand

Go and get a few ideas of what your car is worth ie milage age model try to get three so that when the assessor comes back to you you have something to bargain with
My accident happend on saturday and we have already agreed on the settlement price so now just waiting for the cheque

nickyola

Thanks charlearose, that's helped a lot. We'd only had the car for 5 1/2 months, so still nearly 4 1/2 years on finance, I can't see us walking away with anything extra, and will be just really pleased if we break even on the finance.

So far, we have had no problems, the insurance company have been in touch regularly, and have not mentioned anything about the differences in the paperwork, surely they would have said something by now! Have been looking at autotrader in local area and have found an older car than mine with more mileage that would nearly cover the finance, so won't be accepting first offer, have to go back and forward between insurance co. and GAP co.

Just a nightmare start to finish for something that wasn't even my fault You'd think they'd make it easier for the innocent party, to sort it al out as quickly as possible? Or would that just be too easy lol!!