Accident abroad - advice needed for claim

froggy27_2

Hoping somebody can advise here.
While in France over the xmas period, a truck went into the back of me. I was parked on the road (correctly parked) and due to icy condition one of the council truck slid and couldn't avoid my car. Driver accepted it was his fault with no problems and filled an accident report. Damages is rear light, bumper and I think a bit more as its now hard to open the petrol door. This of course happened the day before we were due back home but it was ok to drive back.
Now my insurance, 1st Central, says I have to pay the £150 excess before anything can be done....or phone the Motoring Insurance Bureau myself? Is it correct i should pay the excess as it wasn't my fault. And is there anyway i can avoid paying it first as it's a lot of money in January!! What is the Motoring Bureau? do you think it will be quicker to go via them? Also found out that despite me phoning them on the day it happened with all the details, no contact has been made yet. Anyway advice would be welcome please.

Quentin

Your excess isn't covered by your insurance policy (it's an "uninsured" item).

You need to pursue the third party yourself to reclaim your excess, along with any other uninsured losses you experience due to the incident.

Don't know why they suggest you contact MIB (sounds like a poorly trained cs agent suggested this).

The MIB runs 2 schemes whereby you can use it to get recompense were you involved in a hit and run or an incident with an unisured driver, though neither of these appear to be the case here.

froggy27_2

but how can I pursue myself? Via the Motoring Bureau? when i phoned the French insurance they told me they wouldn't do anything without my insurance contacting them....I'm fully comp ... shouldn't my insurance do all the work? and If I pay the £150 up front is there any guarantee I will get it back? thanks

lisyloo

shouldn't my insurance do all the work?

Only for the things that you pay them to insure you for.
That does not include the first £150 for each claim.

Did you pay for the legal cover with your motor insurance?
If you paid this then get them to sort it out for you.

If you haven't got it then it's up to you to claim it back direct.

and If I pay the £150 up front is there any guarantee I will get it back?

I don't think anyone can give you a 100% guarantee.
But given the driver is identified and there is an insurance company involved then I suspect it's likely.
They probably won't do anything until liability is settled between the insurers, but you need to add on your claim for uninsured losses as well. So they won't do anything short term, but you do need to make your claim.
This is what the legal cover does, but if you didn't take it then you'll have to do it yourself, whch is slightly harder beacuse it's a french comapny.

Quentin

froggy27 wrote: »

but how can I pursue myself? Via the Motoring Bureau? when i phoned the French insurance they told me they wouldn't do anything without my insurance contacting them....I'm fully comp ... shouldn't my insurance do all the work? and If I pay the £150 up front is there any guarantee I will get it back? thanks

If you have "legal cover" (ie uninsured loss recovery protection) with your policy (usually an addon you pay extra for) then they will do this for you, but if not it's down to you to diy or instruct a solicitor etc to do this for you.

Your own insurer usn't responsible for "doing all the work" - you agreed the £150 excess when you took out the policy, and if you read up you'll see it's not included in the insurance cover.

There is no guarantee you going to get any money back, though are the repairs major? If so, unless you fork out your insurer isn't going to do any repairs for you by the sound of it!

dogbot

The above is all correct, your excess is uninsured - its up to you to get it back from a responsible party in the case of a loss.

Next thing to point out - 1st Central are not an insurer, they are an intermediary (and are resident off-shore at that!). Who is your insurer?

The reference to the MIB is not that silly - the MIB talk to their equivalent in EU countries to obtain the insurance details for third party vehicles. In this case, however, you have the insurer's details.

What you can obtain from the MIB are the details for that insurer's UK Appointed Representatives. (All insures transacting motor insurance in the EU have to have an appointed representative in other EU member countries to accept and handle claims for them. Sometimes these are accident management companies or law firms, sometimes the insurer's subsidiary etc).

This claim will be dealt with under French law, so normal considerations on liability might not apply. Claims can take much longer to complete, so you are best to go though your insurer in the first instance and get the car sorted. You won’t pay your excess up-front; you will pay it to the repairer once the repair is completed.

Your insurer will have a team who deal with 'international' / European claims - most of their time is spent trying to recover their outlay from the insurers of liable EU resident truckers! They will understand the process that will be followed - most customer service staff won't. In most cases, the insurers will also be happy to put your claim for uninsured losses to the third party's reps if it is just your excess. If they won't, just ask them for the details and get in touch yourself. Make sure you ask them not to prejudice your claim.

Finally - keep hold of any forms you exchanged in France - you should have a standard accident report form used in lots of European countries, with a diagram section in the middle and 2 sections for your details and the third party's at each side. You both sign this as you are agreeing to the version of events recorded in it! This form is held (or was a few years ago) as legally binding evidence in most countries where it is used so hopefully the version of events recorded on it is in your favour!

rev_henry

The MIB is a bit like a trade body for car insurers which keeps a track of who's insured with whom, and that kind of thing. They also run the uninsured accident scheme as above.
If you don't have legal cover you may wish to instruct an accident management company to sort this out for you. Despite us on here generally thinking they're scum of the Earth I can see them being useful in this instance. Just be very careful which one you use; read online about them before choosing.

dacouch

dogbot wrote: »

Your insurer will have a team who deal with 'international' / European claims - most of their time is spent trying to recover their outlay from the insurers of liable EU resident truckers! They will understand the process that will be followed - most customer service staff won't. In most cases, the insurers will also be happy to put your claim for uninsured losses to the third party's reps if it is just your excess. If they won't, just ask them for the details and get in touch yourself. Make sure you ask them not to prejudice your claim.
]

Lol dogbot, I think you are being over optimistic about 1st Central, In addition they continually advertise for claims staff which would suggest to me they have a high turnover of staff

av61

I had an accident on Friday when I was on a day trip via the Shuttle. Luckily a witness came forward and said it was 100% the french driver's fault and helped translate as the police filled in the accident report form. Fortunately I had insurance which covered the car being recovered to a garage in Calais and taxis to the ferry, car hire in Dover & 24hr car hire. We had to pay 90 Euros for ferry.
The car is new, we have had it for 5 months; the damage to the front on drivers side was quite extensive and the driver door was sticking and the remote locking wouldn't work. It couldn't be started to drive on the recovery truck so I figure that it will need a lot of work. I couldn't get any answer from the insurers yesterday (Aviva), I called and logged the claim at the roadside and was hoping to hear from them over the weekend...
Can any of you help - what is likely to happen? I've checked the value of the car (webuyany car....) and it's £8000 (we owe more than that on the finance)
I would like to ask for the car to be replaced, we have GAP? insurance. As it was completely not my fault and the damage is quite bad can I ask this?
Also does anyone have any idea how long it will take to resolve. Really upset about leaving the car behind in Calais!

InsideInsurance

If you have traditional GAP insurance you will simply get the difference between the settlement figure (assuming it is a write off) and the outstanding finance. There are higher versions that will provide a replacement vehicle (VRI) as well as one which will pay what you paid out for it (Return To Invoice).

Do you have comprehensive or TPFT insurance? If your comprehensive then the fact the TP is foreign will only slow things like getting your excess back but if you are TPFT then things may be slow. As has been said earlier in the thread you've hijacked, the MIB will write to their equiv in France to validate the insurer and confirm who the UK agent is for that insurer. The level of delegation between insurers and their foreign agents varies massively with some having almost no authority to act and only communicate with the insurer by letter.