advice please: esure, helphire and fix auto birmingham south: who will be liable?

StanVanDamn

Hi Pangloss,

I work for an insurance company claims department.

If this happened on one of my files I would just send an independent assessor to see your vehicle. That way an independent view can be given and the matter can be put to bed.

However, as helphire dealt you might have to ask them to instruct the assessor.

ukmike

I was hit by a German lorry earlier this year,their fault.I rang Esure who put me on to Helphire.Thankfully Helphire wouldn't get involved as it was a foreign driver so Esure arranged K.C. auto's of Manchester(Esure's recommended garage) to do the repairs & what a cracking job they did, couldn't fault it.

Pangloss_2

@ ukmike: I think as with all service industries, the performance always depends on the individuals you are dealing with and the quality of the leadership.

Has anyone ever heard of a central door locking system starting to behave erratically due to wear and tear?

ukmike

Has anyone ever heard of a central door locking system starting to behave erratically due to wear and tear?

Definatly,had it myself on 3 cars,nothing lasts forever!

mcjordi

Pangloss wrote: »

@ ukmike: I think as with all service industries, the performance always depends on the individuals you are dealing with and the quality of the leadership.

Has anyone ever heard of a central door locking system starting to behave erratically due to wear and tear?

yep.. especially in a pug or citroen

Pangloss_2

OK, but at just 25,000 miles?

Pangloss_2

Done some research on failure of central locking systems on Peugeot Citroen group vehicles the might be of interest to others as well. Central locking and security systems on these cars is controlled by a "BSI" module. It contains an EEPROM which contains the software. The software in an EEPROM can become corrupted for a number of reasons, for example a spike on the power supply or if the voltage goes below a certain threshold while the system is awake.

It turns out that Peugeot's manual contains a warning to wait at least 3 minutes after disconnecting the battery before doing anything that might wake up the BSI including for example, opening a door.

Therefore the most likely explanation of the faulty central locking systems and some other associated faults is Fix Auto's mechanic didn't observe the 3 minute rule.

Pangloss_2

I have written to esure asking them to:
- restore my claim to the situation where it would have been if they had offered me the option of them handling the claim
- indemnify me against any claims from Helphire and Fix Auto Birmingham South
- book my car into an approved repairer to assess what Fix Auto Birmingham South have done to my car and at no cost to me restore my car to an acceptable standard.

I have sent them all the correspondence so far from Helphire and Fix Auto to deal with and have told them I will forward all future correspondence un-answered.

Pangloss_2

From my experience so far and my assessment of the risks involved, I think you would have to be out of your mind to voluntarily go down the claims handling company route if you had a fully comprehensive insurance policy.

The contracts proposed by Helphire and the companies they selected contain disclaimers that mean no claims may be made against Helphire if something goes wrong. That means the responsibility for dealing with any mistakes or omissions by the companies Helphire select goes to the insured person. What's more although Helphire say they provide an insurance policy against the possibility that the costs can't be recovered from the third party, how it work work in practice would depend on any exclusion clauses in the insurance policy and the ability and willingness of the insurer to pay up if a claim had to be made. That means there is a distinct and un-quantifiable risk that the insured person could end up having to foot the bill for the car hire and the cost of the repairs.

pindi1966

check out other people who have had their car repaired by esure, you will find that the garage are under strict rules on what they can and can not fix. The garage in most cases would want to help but thier hands are tied by restrictions. The norm being if the customer complains we will look at it. The insurance company are good at blaming the garage as they want to stay sweet with you(renewed business). As I understand the law the Insurance co. is your agent acting on your behalf to keep you road legal (road traffic act) and also for a premium look after costs incurred to repair your car. So it is the insurance who are liable. If you are saying it happened it the accident, it did!!. I am sure that the garage would have tried to get the insurance to get it fixed, afterall I am sure they would want repeat business form you??.