NON FAULT ACCIDENT! Disgusting behaviour by AVIVA

Nervo1234

I was involved in a non-fault accident where our car was parked locked and stationary on the side of the road, when a foreign driver smashed into the side of our car by driving on the opposite side of the road and was convicted of DRINK DRIVING by the police who attended at the road side.

I was advised by the police to called my insurance company (AVIVA) and get them to deal with it, which is what we pay them to do!!

Called up AVIVA, told them exactly what happened, they arranged a courtesy car with Drive Assist and took my car for estimates!!

Once the garage sent the estimate to AVIVA everything was approved and the necessary panels were ordered, therefore assumed it was happy days!

HOWEVER, three weeks later I had received a call from Drive Assist stating the insurance claim has been pending for three weeks and their courtesy car needs to be returned, which I was totally surprised at, as I had received no calls from AVIVA, DA or the repairs to let me know why the claim was pending...

Got onto AVIVA and apparently the claim had been pending for three weeks and submitted to their "verification department" - the claim was submitted by myself which I'm a NAMED DRIVER on the policy, and they needed to speak to the MAIN policy which was not an issue! - They have also said an investigator would need to be sent to my property for a face-to-face interview because they are unsatified, don't have an issue with that HOWEVER main policy is abroad which was explained to them!

Got the main policy holder to call and AVIVA for some bizarre reason are not satisfied with the authenticity of the main driver who's on the phone, despite passing all the security checks and now the main policy holder has gone abroad, however is still reachable by Skype or telephone!

I then called AVIVA to ask what on earth is going and they are refusing to talk to me, because I'm a named driver and are being very difficult, whilst our car has been sat at the repairers for over 4-5 weeks now for a completely NON-fault accident!

AVIVA approved the claim initially, the garage ordered all the necessary parts to complete the job and Drive Assist have given me a courtesy car which has now been returned!

I am considering going through the MIB and using the UK Claims Handler to contact the third-party insurance company myself, as AVIVA are absolutely causing so much hassle for absolutely no reason!!

Could anyone please advise me with this absolute farce as I'm very worried with whats facing potentially!

Much appreciated!!

wacko911

At a guess. your insurance company maybe thinks you may be 'fronting' your insurance and this would be an excuse for them to cancel your insurance and not pay out for the claim.

Fronting is when you use someone else with thier NCB/Age/Experience to lower the insurance premium and then the named driver does most of the driving.

Step one for all claims is find a way not to pay!

As your not at fault, by all means go to a claim handler (eg crash or someone) as they will reclaim all costs from the fault drivers insurance (plus thier fee no doubt!). There may be an issue with the driver - ie not insured and Aviva know this so they will be bearing the cost for the claim which explains why they are looking to get out of paying out.

keith1950

Hi, if the main policy holder is not the main driver you are ' fronting'.

If they are living/working abroad they should have informed the insurer that you were now the main driver and the premium recalculated.

If you do not have 'legal expenses' cover you need to involve an accident management company to claim off the 3rd party.

If you cannot recover these losses then you will most likely be responsible for the hire car costs.

There is a difference between a hire car and a courtesy car.

A courtesy car is usually provided by the repairer , free of charge , while the repairs are being carried out ( worked on ).

A hire car is provided on the understanding that if the 3rd party costs cannot be recovered you will usually be responsible for them.

bouncydog1

You need to provide a bit more information. Who is the policyholder and what is their relationship to you? Has the policyholder informed Aviva that you are the main user of the vehicle (which you are because they are not here to use it).

Who is the owner and registered keeper of the vehicle.

Do you have all of the details of the third party driver. Did you sign any documents for the courtesy car?

Aviva are well within their rights to insist on only dealing with the policyholder because you have no contract with Aviva. If the policyholder is say, your husband, and you are a driver of equal age and driving experience then Aviva may accept a letter from the policyholder authorising you to deal with insurance matters.

However if the policyholder is your parent and you are a young driver insured on their policy to keep costs down, then Aviva may simply cancel the policy for non-disclosure.

As mentioned more info needed before comment can be provided constructively.

Quentin

keith1950 wrote: »

Hi, if the main policy holder is not the main driver you are ' fronting'.

Not so.

You are fronting when you are the main driver, but someone else is nominated as the main driver on the policy.

(The policyholder does not have to be the main driver)

dunstonh

AVIVA are absolutely causing so much hassle for absolutely no reason!!

As you have read from the above posts, Aviva are not causing hassle for no reason.

What you have described sounds like you have tried to commit insurance fraud. It doesn't mean you have as we only have some information to go on but based solely on what we have, that is what it looks like and that is what it looks like to Aviva.

There are some questions that can help clear this up:

now the main policy holder has gone abroad

Is that for a holiday or for an extended period or for foreseeable future?

Who is recorded as the main driver on the policy? you or the policyholder
What is your relationship with the policyholder?

thenudeone

The car was parked unattended so the issue of fronting may be a red herring. There's nothing in the post to say that the OP had even been driving the car. For all we know the main driver was the last one to drive it and park it where it was left. just because the named driver reported the accident doesn't mean that they were fronting!

Everyone seems to be getting carried away with the issue of fronting, and forgotten about the issue of how to recover costs from the foreign driver.

OP should ask the police for the identity and insurance details of the driver. If he wasn't insured then a claim to the MIB should be initiated.

Norfolk_Jim

I dont think anyone here is getting carried away with the issue of fronting - the suspicion of fronting is the obvious reason for Avivas behaviour.
That the OP has not replied causes me to wonder if it has suddenly dawned on them.

vax2002

MIB only act where the loss is not covered by any other insurance.
So if you have fully comprehensive insurance then MIB will not help.

Quentin

vax2002 wrote: »

MIB only act where the loss is not covered by any other insurance.
So if you have fully comprehensive insurance then MIB will not help.

This is bad, incorrect advice.

The MIB will help you if you are involved in any incident (with damage or injury to yourself or your property) with an uninsured or untraced driver irrespective of your own insurance cover. This includes if you have comprehensive insurance.

The MIB will also assist if you are involved in an incident with a foreign-registered vehicle, and if that is the case for the OP, then they can make use of rhe MIB (either direct or via a solicitor). One advantage is there is no excess to pay to the MIB when the claim is against a foreign insurer.

Nervo1234

The main policy holder is the MAIN driver of the car and has gone away on a family emergency!

I have filed a claim with MIB and the UK Claims Handler for the foreign driver has initiated the first-stages of the claim! Am just very appalled with the level of service I've received from AVIVA! Why did they approve the claim in the first then? They approved the claim, the garage ordered all the parts and now four weeks laters, we have been contacted saying that Claim has been pending! Have had no calls from anybody!

Hopefully the MIB will be more helpful than AVIVA!