Admiral/albany confusion...help required!!

lphillips25

Hi all I am hoping someone can halp us, last Sunday 15th May my husband was in an accident which wasnt his fault (other party has admitted liability) we contacted our insurance company ADMIRAL and they have started the claims process through their legal team ALBANY. We were delivered a courtesy car on Monday via Albany and asked to sign a credit agreement stating that we were to pay costs i they could not claim them from the third party insurer EQUITY RED STAR within a year. I am now feeling uneasy about this I have read on other threads about TP insurers contacting people direct to offer cars etc but we have not heard a thing. What I do not understand is why we need to go through albany? Does Admiral not deal with our claim? What advice would you give us regarding courtesy car should we tell them to come get it or risk being saddled with the costs? We have never made an insurance claim befoore so are very confused over how this all works all advice is greatly appreciated.

dacouch

Is your car driveable (Legally)

lphillips25

no its not unfortunately it has been taken away on a low loader by a garage appointed by albany assistance so we have no vehicle of our own at all and two toddlers to ferry about. We are still waiting to hear whether it is a write off or repairable.

dacouch

Unfortunately Albany are as badly run as you have read on the internet.

Do you have injuries as well ?

keith1950

Hi, what you have received is not a courtesy car, it is a hire car. If you are uneasy about the possibility of ending up with the hire charges then return the hire car and ask Admiral for a courtesy car. However you will not receive the courtesy car until repairs actually start on your car, which can be , in some cases , several weeks down the line.

Soul_Star

Or if the third party are completely at fault, ring equity red star and ask them for a hire car, they'll be chuffed because your saving them a lot of money

mcjordi

contact the TP insurer they will get you a hire car then dump Albany like a hot potato. TP insurer will gladly manage the claim..

lphillips25

We have just been told that our car is a total loss? and that we will hear from albany soon about settlements etc what should we be doing now? We have been keeping on Albanys back does anyone have any experience on how long it takes them to settle on a claim where the TP was completely at fault?

dacouch

It could be a week or it could be many months

2sides2everystory

lphillips25, are you understanding what dacouch and others are trying to get you to understand?

If I understand them correctly (and dacouch is I believe an experienced insurance broker from what I have read) then the fact Albany are involved is inflating your claim against the third party in unnecessary ways and it will continue to inflate for as long as they are handling it.

If it is a slam-dunk TP definitely at fault claim you may well get a better end result if you immediately negotiate directly with the TP insurer cutting out the inflation and drawn out "negotiation" which may not be much about your interests and more about Albany's.

Or have I misunderstood? (There is always the chance that you are less able to represent yourself in negotiation than Albany ... but ....)

lphillips25

thanks for help everyone we have been referred back to admiral now and they are dealing with our claim, its seems the TP has not even reported the accident to his insurer so admiral are now waiting for them to get back with an admission of liability... just a question who pays our excess? as the accident was solely the TP's fault