Car Insurance - Help Please!

DJS1988

vaio wrote: »

lisyloo wrote: »

Why didn't you go direct to the 3rd parties insurer?
You wouldn't have had to pay an excess......../QUOTE]

If you have a strong enough case you could even get a NWNF company to take it on for you.

I did make some calls, but every company I spoke to said they only took on personal injury claims. If you know of any I could go to, I would appreciate a point in the right direction.

lisyloo

I was advised that if/when I won, I may still not reclaim court costs

Do you actually know how much this is?
I think it's quite small.
I can understand as a principle you don't want to lose money, but if it's £20 or £40 then I'd say it was worth it.

after all this situation has risen through no fault of my own.

I do sympathise and I understand the principle.
Sadly life isn't that black and white.

Surely they have not done their job?

You might not like it but the order is as follows
1) They do the repairs and you pay the excess.
2) THEN they try to claim back the money.
I know you want it to work the other way round, but the world doesn't work that way.
They can't do their job because you won't pay the excess and therefore you are holding up the repairs.

I am not sure how we can help you further.
You have bought insurance with a £400 excess that you should have known about but now don't want to pay it.
You don't want to pay a court fee either.

I know this accident wasn't your fault, but unfortunately you have to accept some responsibility for sorting it out given that you didn't take a policy with a smaller excess or any appropriate legal cover.

BTW - Do you have legal cover for legal costs on your home insurance? and if so have you called them to see if they will cover it?
(They will generally not cover motoring accidents, but this is not a road traffic accident)

DJS1988

lisyloo wrote: »

Do you actually know how much this is?
I think it's quite small.
I can understand as a principle you don't want to lose money, but if it's £20 or £40 then I'd say it was worth it.

I was told that the costs are relative to the amount of the claim, and that this would most likely exceed the £400 in excess.

lisyloo wrote: »

I do sympathise and I understand the principle.
Sadly life isn't that black and white.

I've definitely realised this - it just seems so unfair, as I really am at no fault here. The letters from TP insurers are disgusting, I feel like I am being made out to be a complete liar!

[QUOTE=lisyloo;40605594You might not like it but the order is as follows
1) They do the repairs and you pay the excess.
2) THEN they try to claim back the money.
I know you want it to work the other way round, but the world doesn't work that way.
They can't do their job because you won't pay the excess and therefore you are holding up the repairs.[/QUOTE]

See, I was actually informed by Elephant in April that I could do this. Also, the reason I say they have not done their job is because they said they were going to deal with the claim from October. I actually spoke to someone there beginning of Jan, after sending numerous emails and leaving a ton of messages, and he asked me "How I was getting on". My reply was, "No, how are you getting on". They had made NO contact with AXA!

lisyloo wrote: »

I know this accident wasn't your fault, but unfortunately you have to accept some responsibility for sorting it out given that you didn't take a policy with a smaller excess or any appropriate legal cover.

I have legal expenses cover (think that is the correct term). But they fob me off and say I will not win as I have no witnesses (bar my partner who was in the car with me). This being despite the issues I have raised about the CCTV not being provided.

Thanks for heads up on home insurance, I will look into that.

Quentin

DJS1988 wrote: »

I decided against the small claims court, mainly because I was advised that if/when I won, I may still not reclaim court costs.

Whoever advised you this has mislead you. If you win, you don't need to "reclaim" the court costs.

These costs are included in your original claim on top of the money you are claiming, and when you win the defendant is ordered to pay the amount claimed.

DJS1988

Thank you.

I feel that I have a strong case, especially as they have not been forthcoming with the CCTV evidence, (they have contradicted themselves over this twice now) or the machinery tech spec which I asked for.

However, my only witness is my partner whom I would assume does not count for much in the eyes on the law, as they would see him to be bias.

What if there is no conclusion and they decide neither party is at fault - do I have any other costs to pay? Also if I lose, I assume I will then have to pay their costs? Although I cannot see how they can proove I am at fault, as fact is - I'm not.

Thanks

Quentin

DJS1988 wrote: »

What if there is no conclusion and they decide neither party is at fault - do I have any other costs to pay? Also if I lose, I assume I will then have to pay their costs? Although I cannot see how they can proove I am at fault, as fact is - I'm not.

If you proceed with court action, the defendant does not have to prove you are at fault. (Unless they submit a counterclaim).

It will be for you to prove they are at fault, and as their insurer has already denied liability, you will be up against them. (The third party will have the benefit of his insurer fighting you).

Unless you win your case you will have lost all court fees you have paid, plus have to pay the reasonable expenses of the other side plus any loss of earnings they have incurred by attending court.

vaio

If you lose you will have to pay their expenses.

There is no obligation on them to provide you with anything (CCTV etc), once you’ve started the case you might be able to get the court to order them to provide it but at this stage they don’t have to and even if you get an order if they don’t keep copies/doesn’t cover the car wash means it just isn’t available. If they did erase it that might add support to your case but it’s far from conclusive.

Finally they don’t have to prove anything, you do. Actually, prove is the wrong word, you have to convince a judge that on the balance of probabilities the machine damaged your car, anything more than 50% and you are a winner.

Go back to the original thread and follow the advice in Crabmans posts, 11 & 16

DJS1988

So this could end up with me being in a bigger hole than £400.

Absolutely gutting situation that I've been left in - all through no fault of my own. I really do not know which way to turn! It's so hard to swallow that my car that I work hard to pay for has been smashed up to the tune of £2500 and I seemingly cannot do anything about it without it costing me a big chunk of money.

I guess I must be seriously naive to think they I pay insurance premiums to ensure my insurance company will be there in my hour of need (have never made a claim before). Does anyone have advice on how I can use my legal expenses cover to help here?

lisyloo

See, I was actually informed by Elephant in April that I could do this.

I think they meant that you could withold getting repairs done (and hence paying the excess) and wait until the third party accepted liability to get repairs done.
But this has not happened, so you cannot take their statement out of that context.

They had made NO contact with AXA!

As I have tried to explain they only pursue their financial lsses when there is a loss i.e. repairs have been paid for.

I appreciate the principle at stake, but have you not been able to save £400 in the last 7 months??
I know times are tough, but if you can't find any odd jobs or save then do you have no family at all that would help you out?
I do sympathise with your situation but if you are going to be involved in private motoring then you do need to have access to some spare cash from time to time. It's perfectly normal.

Does anyone have advice on how I can use my legal expenses cover to help here?

They will only take on a case if they think there is a good chance of winning. They won't flog what they consider to be a "dead horse".
This is the case with ALL legal expenses insurance.
If you don't agree with their decision then have you put in a formal complaint in writing? Then it will get reviewed.

BTW - the longer this goes on, potentially the less chance you have of winning.
People's memories fade which could lead to inconsistencies.
Records won't necessarily be kept over a long period.

DJS1988

I'm unsure as to why Elephant asked me for contact details, all correspondance and said they would get the cogs in motion, back in October if they were not going to do anything? What one earth do we pay premiums for :mad:.

Unfortunately, every bit of spare cash we currently have has been going towards house renovation. Looks like I'm going to have to put the brakes on a few things at home due to the incompetance of this garage. It just stings to think I may go ahead with this, lose £400, lose my NCB and have my premiums go up!

I have made a formal complaint, which they sent to the person much of my complaint was about, and had him respond! I have now sent another letter and am awaiting a response.

Think the main lesson here is never use one of these bloody carwashes!