Sheila's Wheels

Diver2

Hello all

Just asking for feedback about the above in relation to making a claim from a third party.

Just had a call from the girlfriend, someone's managed to pile into the back of her at a set of lights (the lights turned orange and she braked, the flatbed truck behind didn't, as they assumed she would run the light, and then piled into the back of her Fiesta).

Damage for V-reg Fiesta sounds terminal, and she'll need a car for work next week. So hopefully SW will sort her with a hire car.

Checked on MID and the truck appears to be insured with Aviva, so hopefully claim should be straight off other party. Just wondering how good SW are at getting these kind situations sorted (sounds like there might be some whiplash involved as well).

Also, anything about their process to beware of?

Thanks in advance.

Andy

Lum

Sheila's Wheels are just a brand name for Halifax IIRC, so they'll be as good as the Halifax.

Personally, speaking as someone who has been hiti n this way 3 times now, I would go through a 3rd party, such as Helphire, for this sort of claim. If only to avoid the hassle when the claim is dragged out and you temporarily lose your no claims bonus.

jackgoldstein15

I can STRONGLY recommend that you do NOT use HelpHire!
Just google "Help Hire reviews" and ignore the 5* reviews that they have blatantly given themselves and look at all the other 1 and 2 star actual ratings.

This is the worst company I have EVER had the misfortune of dealing with.

There has been several legal challenges to stop this company operating gone through the house of lords but unfortunately none were successful. That must surely ring alarm bells that there have been so many legal challenges.

My girlfriend was pleading with them for literally one hour on the phone today to let her talk to a manager there, to no avail.

They say they will give you a hire car "until you have received and banked the cheque from the third party" but in fact will terminate your insurance the second there is a whisper of an offer from the 3rd party.

The way this company treats its customers is absolutely disgusting (speaking from personal experience and from NUMEROUS conversations with other customers)

Avoid at all costs! I am afraid I can't give you any such advice for any other company because this is the only one I've had to deal with.

property.advert

In my experience, you can look to your own policy but the other (guilty) party is required to pay for it in any case until your car is back on the road or the case settled. You may need to confront them as your insurance will not likely cover more than a couple of weeks worth of hire car and you may need more than that.

Lum

jackgoldstein15 wrote: »

I can STRONGLY recommend that you do NOT use HelpHire!
Just google "Help Hire reviews" and ignore the 5* reviews that they have blatantly given themselves and look at all the other 1 and 2 star actual ratings.

This is the worst company I have EVER had the misfortune of dealing with.

Ok maybe not Helphire then. I last used them in 2007 and they were allright then. A little less stressful than dealing with your own insurance, and no risk to your NCB in the event of a long drawn out claim.

I'd still recommend using some sort of 3rd party though. Perhaps someone in this thread who has claimed more recently could recommend one?

Diver2

Thanks everyone.

In the end, the third parties insurer's (Aviva) called up within 24 hours and stated that their client had accepted full responsibility for the accident. They then asked to deal direct with us and for us to cease making our claim via Sheila's wheels, stating that they would pay out in full for both any whiplash and car damage.

Having spoken to SW's we decided to accept their offer.

Moving forward, we're now at the point where we have a hire car from Aviva. They made us a low offer for our car and I need to start to negotiate the value (they've offered us 1K, but equivalents in auto trader are more £1,300 to £1,500). Apart from sending them the adverts, what else can I do to push for the proper value? Can we demand that we keep the hire car until the claim is settled (perhaps stating that if they took the hire car away we would hire one independently and then claim the cost back from them?)

On another note, my girlfriend has been off all this week with whiplash (headache, nausea and sore neck/back). She's been to the doctors and has prescription painkillers. We’ll see where we go with that one)

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Kind Regards

Andy

Lum

Thanks for getting back to us and sorry to hear about the injuries.

Insurers will always try to offer you a low value to begin with and you do need to reject this and push for a higher value. It's a bit like when selling a used car you always ask for a little more because the buying is going to try and knock you down.

As for the injuries, it is important that she tries her best to keep active and doesn't just stay in bed all day. It will hurt in the short term, but being inactive will allow the back to settle into it's new position then weaken and stiffen. You don't want to end up like me where it's 6 years down the line from a crash and I'm stuck in an NHS run fitness class to try to get my back back to normal.

See if you can get Aviva to send her to a good private physio.

Quentin

Diver2 wrote: »

my girlfriend has been off all this week with whiplash (headache, nausea and sore neck/back). She's been to the doctors and has prescription painkillers. We’ll see where we go with that one)

Thanks in advance for any advice!

She should get her own solicitor to look after her interests.

All aviva will do is pass her on to a PI solicitor (and get paid a big backhander by the solicitor for the business).

There are solicitors who will pay a commission to clients for cutting out the middleman insurer and instructing them direct.

Google cashback injury solicitors to find a choice of firms who pay £100s just for giving them the business!

Wh05apk

I claimed off Aviva last year, when my m/c got written off, and without challenging they paid me more than I paid, and more than I was about to sell it for , so was very happy, challenge what they have offered by showing them prices in autotrader (or even ebay, as those prices tend to be higher!)

Sorry to hear about your g/f hope she recovers, sounds like she genuinely has a bad case of whiplash, as has been recommended suggest you get a solictor, as she will probably be looking at £4-5k+ which will make the couple of hundred on the car pale into insignificance!

Diver2

Thanks all

Quentin - not sure what you mean, SW's (our insurer) had passed us to Irwin Mitchell (a "conditional fee" or no no-win/no-fee solicitor). Aviva are the third-parties insurers, so not sure why they would pass g/friend along to the same type of solicitor??

Regards

Andy

Diver2

Thanks for the all best wishes for the g/friend as well. It's appreciated.