Insurance Claim help

skint-student-nurse

Hello,

My OH and I were in a car crash just before christmas - He was overtaking 2 parked cars and a truck on a downhill corner and was past the truck and first car when someone was oncoming towards him. He was already commited to overtaking and he obviously checked it was clear before overtaking. However, it was icy and instead of the other car reversing (the road behind was flat and had plenty of room) she kept on coming towards us,my OH couldnt stop as he was skidding on the ice. She didnt stop coming towards us until she we hit head on. My OH knows the road very well as its the road we live on,he knows that it is a problem area due to cars parking where they shouldnt and from the direction the other car was coming,it was a blind corner due to trees and bushes.My OH was only going around 5mph. I can say that he did everything he could to stop. There is possibly one witness,the man who came out to move his car (the third one that we were just about to pass) AFTER we had crashed,but I am possibly the only witness.

Now,the insurance company stated that he was liable even though we thought it would be 50/50 at the most. They never came to investigate which,given the circumstances,we thought they would as there was lots of factors.

So, my questions are:

1- Should they come to investigate?

2- If my OH has the car written off, does he have to pay the remainder of his policy (pays monthly,6 payments left) as he has been told he has too,but we have been told by others that we shouldnt have to, ie,no car - no policy

3 - We have been unhappy with the insurance company and the way they have handled the case (aside from liability) as they keep fobbing us off with getting the car fixed,and their general attitude is like they couldnt care less. Head office have said that they are 'satisfied' with the way its being handled but we are not. For example, we were told the car was going to one garage,and it was actually going to another one and only found out by chance. Might not be a big deal but for us,but they were in different counties and no-where near each other. They also refused to loan a car to us even though its in the policy for us to have one. The car should have also been towed or lifted as the break lights have been on since the accident and the front lights have gone plus several other electrical faults have popped up,but the garage DROVE the car away even though we stressed to the insurance company it shouldnt be driven,the insurance company said they would tell the garage but didnt. The garage then had the cheek to ask for petrol money...!

I would be grateful for any advice, niether of us have been in this situation before.

Thank you!

dacouch

Insurance companies rarely come out to investigate the scene of an accident, they use the information you supply on the claim form and also look at the other parties statement of what happened. If they need to view the scene of the accident they can do this using google street view.

A 50/50 accident means you are still classed as being at fault eg you still lose your no claims bonus.

Quentin

skint-student-nurse wrote: »

If my OH has the car written off, does he have to pay the remainder of his policy (pays monthly,6 payments left) as he has been told he has too,but we have been told by others that we shouldnt have to, ie,no car - no policy

3 - We have been unhappy with the insurance company and the way they have handled the case (aside from liability) as they keep fobbing us off with getting the car fixed,and their general attitude is like they couldnt care less. Head office have said that they are 'satisfied' with the way its being handled but we are not. For example, we were told the car was going to one garage,and it was actually going to another one and only found out by chance. Might not be a big deal but for us,but they were in different counties and no-where near each other. They also refused to loan a car to us even though its in the policy for us to have one. The car should have also been towed or lifted as the break lights have been on since the accident and the front lights have gone plus several other electrical faults have popped up,but the garage DROVE the car away even though we stressed to the insurance company it shouldnt be driven,the insurance company said they would tell the garage but didnt. The garage then had the cheek to ask for petrol money...!

The others who have told you "no car - no policy" have mislead you.

In normal cases, (ie no claim involved), when you just disposed of your car you could cancel your policy (paying whatever cancellation fees were involved).

But you have claimed off your policy, which does mean the full year has to be paid (this would be the same no matter which company you were insured with).

Worse, if your car is a write off, it may be that the policy says following a write off settlement the policy ends, meaning you would have to buy a new policy for any replacement car you get. Read up in your policy and see what it says regarding this.

As far as the bad service you feel you have had, then you first need to follow the insurer's complaints procedure (this will be set out in the policy documents) and take it from there.

If your policy guarantees you a courtesy car, then you have grounds to complain about this, but check the circumstances when the car is given, and also check there are no "subject to availability" type clauses.

Again, check your policy and if it includes collection of your car, then pursue the insurer over the petrol money you were asked to pay.

bigjl

Sorry but you where overtaking approaching a corner and a car on the correct side of the road was in collision with the car on the wrong side of the road.

No matter how unfair you think the decision is consider if you where in the car that was on the correct side of the road.

If your OH was unable to stop in the presenting conditions then he was driving too fast for the conditions.

It is also a standard policy for a car written off to have either the policy cancelled or the rest of the premium become due immediately.

These answers may not be what you want to hear but sadly they are the way things are.

Much in the same way that if an Emergency vehicle goes through a Red light at walking pace and all the cars see the vehicle and stop, then the Emergency vehicle passes through treating the red light as a giveway with all the lights and sirens going, but as they do so a car approaches the junction and doesn't realise the car in front is stationary and rear ends it, the emergency service vehicle is considered at fault in what is known as a "proximity accident".

In my experience it isn't unusual for the person on the correct side of the road to drive directly at somebody performing a perfectly reasonable manouvere such as your OH was doing, it happens every day in London when we drive on Blues, people know they will get a nice compensation claim from it, so they don't slow down, it is why when you see any emergency vehicle on Blue lights in London you may think they are driving more aggressively than you would expect, not sure about other cities or more rural areas, but we are trained to control the road to an extent, but it is also so we are on the srong side of the road for as little time as possible.

From your forum name I assume you may be in your early twenties? Your situation isn't new or unusual, the compensation claim will soon be on its way, when you work in A/E you will deal with lots of people like this, the Police and Ambulance service do so on a daily basis, people complaining of neck pain in the most trivial of collisions, even those where there is no damage to either car, but we are trained to be cautious so just have the roof cut off by the Firebods, they enjoy the practice, though I do sometimes mention halfway through that I don't think the 3rd party Insurance company will pay for consequential loss, and that they may consider the roof being cut off as consequential, due to the initial accident caused no visible damage.

It would be nice if the Police had the time and resources to investigate every crash but sadly they don't have the time. The only thing I can think of to help in the long term is approach the council to try and stop the people parking so near a blind corner, may not help in this instance, but in the long term may help it happening to somebody else.

skint-student-nurse

Thanks for the replies so far,very much appriciated. Chances are the new car would be in my name as im buying it plus im not far away from my test and my OH would be a named driver,but if thats the case,would we have to go through our current provider?

We fought for a courtesy car and eventually got one last week but it has to be returned within 24 hours of getting told our car is being written off,which we believe it is after it was briefly looked at and told that we would need a new bumper and bonnet at least,and the car is over 8 years old now,and the cost of the work would be more than the car is worth

movilogo

It is also a standard policy for a car written off to have either the policy cancelled or the rest of the premium become due immediately.

No, it depends on insurer. Last year my car was written off and my insurance continued on my new car.

But if you are paying monthly, you need to continue to pay (as you were given a privilege of paying installments instead of lumpsum).

skint-student-nurse

Bigjl, i do appriciate what you are saying. I do work in a+e on the bank and see it quite a lot and unfortunatly also see a lot of people abusing the fact they have had a tiny bump just to get the compensation. I did injured but never bothered to see my GP let alone go to hospital because i didnt see the point.

The frustrating thing in all of this is that the cars and truck that were parked on the road had perfectly good drive ways they could use. I have written to the letting agent with regards to the truck and one of the cars who were parked on the corner but they are still parking there,as well as writing to the council but im yet to recieve a reply.

bigjl

skint-student-nurse wrote: »

Bigjl, i do appriciate what you are saying. I do work in a+e on the bank and see it quite a lot and unfortunatly also see a lot of people abusing the fact they have had a tiny bump just to get the compensation. I did injured but never bothered to see my GP let alone go to hospital because i didnt see the point.

The frustrating thing in all of this is that the cars and truck that were parked on the road had perfectly good drive ways they could use. I have written to the letting agent with regards to the truck and one of the cars who were parked on the corner but they are still parking there,as well as writing to the council but im yet to recieve a reply.

Just remember that if the Ambulance crew are smirking it is because they did a "convertible", just to be on the safe side.

bigjl

movilogo wrote: »

No, it depends on insurer. Last year my car was written off and my insurance continued on my new car.

But if you are paying monthly, you need to continue to pay (as you were given a privilege of paying installments instead of lumpsum).

It is a standard policy with every Insurance company I have ever been with, Admiral wrote to me when my car was stolen a few years ago, but I just paid the balance of the premium and transferred the Insurance to the car we had coincidentally bought that week for the wife.

I am sure it has something to do with it not being allowed to have an unassigned Car Insurance policy.

And also if your car is under a year old( and you where the first registered keeper) then I assume they would automatically replace it with a brand new one.

Which Insurance company are you with? Or did your situation fit into what I said in the last paragraph?

I was lucky to not need a courtesy car and had another couple of cars to use and on the motor trade policy I had at the time.

hubert_cumberdale

you sure you were only doing 5mph

Quentin

movilogo wrote: »

But if you are paying monthly, you need to continue to pay (as you were given a privilege of paying installments instead of lumpsum).

No.

If you pay monthly and your policy ends after a total loss payout, then the remainder owing on the premium will be deducted from the settlement cheque.