Advice after none fault accident

Macey29

Hello I really hope someone can help!
i was involved in an accident 2 weeks ago when we were stopped in traffic when a car behind ploughed directly into us as he had not seen the traffic had stopped.
it has taken him 2 weeks to contact his insurer and in the mean time my insurance company put me in car hire and stored my car in a local garage as I did not want to claim on my insurace and were waiting for the driver at falut to admit liability to his insurance... Eldon Insurance.
On Friday last week this was confirmed and was told by my insurance company that I had to deal with Eldon direct from now on so I telephoned them and after an hour of being put through to different departments they went mental as my insurance had put me in hire and stored my car(it a write off) they then said they would get a chq raised for my car and it was up to me to dispose of the car after thier own assesor had declared it written off??
1. How can they just send a chq before a settlement has been agreed?
2. Am I legally responsible to dispose of my written off car??

I have never had to deal with anything like this before so as much help advice would be helpful and Eldon Insurance I have never spoken to such a rude company.
thanks in advance

adamc260

Macey29 wrote: »

Hello I really hope someone can help!
i was involved in an accident 2 weeks ago when we were stopped in traffic when a car behind ploughed directly into us as he had not seen the traffic had stopped.
it has taken him 2 weeks to contact his insurer and in the mean time my insurance company put me in car hire and stored my car in a local garage as I did not want to claim on my insurace and were waiting for the driver at falut to admit liability to his insurance... Eldon Insurance.
On Friday last week this was confirmed and was told by my insurance company that I had to deal with Eldon direct from now on so I telephoned them and after an hour of being put through to different departments they went mental as my insurance had put me in hire and stored my car(it a write off) they then said they would get a chq raised for my car and it was up to me to dispose of the car after thier own assesor had declared it written off??
1. How can they just send a chq before a settlement has been agreed?
2. Am I legally responsible to dispose of my written off car??

I have never had to deal with anything like this before so as much help advice would be helpful and Eldon Insurance I have never spoken to such a rude company.
thanks in advance

If you have fully comp insurance your insurer shouldn't be pushing you to the third parties insurer really

The TPI (Third party insurer) will also go mental because your insurer have popped you into a credit hire car and are making A LOT of money from it.

Ask them to agree a settlement figure before they start sending cheques (they're doing it as they want you out the hire car) and yes normally your insurer would dispose of the vehicle for you but you do not have a contract with the TPI to do this.

Ring a local scrappie and get them to pick it up, you may even get something extra for it

(And yes, Eldon insurance are VERY rude... and quite useless too!)

lisyloo

If you have fully comp insurance your insurer shouldn't be pushing you to the third parties insurer really

But Macey has said that he/she didn't want to claim off their own insurance.
If he/she doesn't want to use his/her own insurance then they have to claim direct.

The TPI (Third party insurer) will also go mental because your insurer have popped you into a credit hire car and are making A LOT of money from it.

Correct.
You probably have expensive credit hire which they won't like (might even go to court to dispute the charges).
But partly it's their problem as they didn't respond quickly.

I scrapped my car about 2 years ago.
I got £40 for the car and £120 for the tax disc.
Don't forget to retrieve anything you want from the car before it's scrapped including tax disc.
You might even be able to remove any parts you added.
Also make sure you get a COD (certificate of destruction) just in case you receive any erroneous parking/speeding fines then you can prove the car was scrapped.

Macey29

Thank you! it was my choice to claim from TPI as this was not my fault also the driver in front of me has done the same!

I have just found dealing with That particular TP the most stressful expericence ever!

I just know that they are not going to pay out what I think my car is worth and that is the worry.

lisyloo

I just know that they are not going to pay out what I think my car is worth and that is the worry.

This comes up a lot.
Firstly you do have recourse to an independent ombudsman ultimately so you can expect fair treatment eventually (can take some time).
Secondly bear in mind that advertised prices are asking prices and not selling prices. So don't expect to get whatever is advertised in autotrader.
There is a system in place which I believe is taking the average of 3 valuations (glasses guide, parkers and one other that I forget).

If you are concerned then do some research up front.
1) Get the proper valuations (you might have to search this board to find out which ones they are but I'm pretty sure glasses and parkers are two).
2) Get prices for similar cars (same mileage age etc.) from autotrader, trade-it etc. Bear in mind that if you were purchasing then you would probably be expecting to knock the price down.
3) Go onto the ombudsman site and read their articles and test cases.

If you are prepared then you can react quickly and have your research prepared.
Ultimately there is no reason you should not get a fair price although if you need to go through the ombusman it can take months.
You might want to consider your other options short term. Do you have savings you could use to buy another car in the mean time?
Another tip is that I would suggest sending all important correspondance by recorded delivery (around an extra 74p I think). This means they will not be able to say "we didn't get your letter" and they will know that so they might not even try.
Also write down the name of peple you speak to. Keep a record. "Bob" is not good enough if 500 people work there. Get a time and a date.
This can be useful if you need to refer to recorded conversations later on.
Keep a diary of all the correspondance.
If they have 500 people working there and you don't know which day you spoke to someone or who you spoke to, you have no chance at all of getting the recording.
My personal experience is that if someone knows you have got their name then they tend not to "lose" or "forget" about your case.
It's not just about having proof (which is useful in itself) but also about them knowing you have it and in my personal experience that affects the treatment you will receive.

Also if you are informed about your rights (ombudsman etc) then you won't get fobbed off.
I had an expensive TV breakdown after 13 months (outside retailers 12 month warranty).
They initially turned my down but I very smoothed explained in detail my statutory rights under the sales of good act that the good be fit for purpose etc. and I got it fixed right away.
I'm sure I would have been treated differently if I had not demonstrated that I knew my rights.

So if you are worred then do your research so that you can deal with it straightaway.
In addition to the ombudsman you can go via the small claims court, but this kind of case is very well known to the ombudsman so they already know how to deal with it.
Bear in mind it could take months and consider what you are going to do short term (the presence of an expensive hire car should get their butt moving, so you might want to remind them at every opportunity that their delay is costing them in terms of the hire car).

ekkygirl

I got 150.00 quid for my rolled and written off Ford KA and the scrappy collected it

Macey29

Yes my insurance company uses HelpHire which have supplied me with hire.
The way I have been told by them when I am claiming on a TPI I just have to accept the offer they give me, if I had gone through my own insurance I could have had room for neogitation I only found this out this morning!
As for salvage the car is a wreck why would I need it back its all so confusing!!

I have looked for my car at whichcar.com and it gave me a trade,part ex and buy value so I have a guide but think best I do the others that you have all recommended.

dacouch

adamc260 wrote: »

If you have fully comp insurance your insurer shouldn't be pushing you to the third parties insurer really

The TPI (Third party insurer) will also go mental because your insurer have popped you into a credit hire car and are making A LOT of money from it.

Lol Adam...coming from an ex Admiral man

dacouch

Lisyloo if the OP is claiming directly off the third party they normally cannot go to the Ombudsman.

However it's best practice for Insurers to follow the Ombudsman's guidance on valuing a written off car so hopefully they will