Insurance Claim Advice

Adam_Barnes

To cut a long story short a few days ago a motorbike ran into the back of my car. The 3rd party has admitted responsibility so i can assume it will go down as 100% his fault.

My car = Citroen C2 Furio (2004) 57,000 miles
Damage = Panel damage to the rear bumber and rear passanger quarter panel. Tyre blown. No internal damage, car runs fine, police have said its road legal to drive.
My insurance = Elephant.co.uk

Ive been given a courtasy car (shiny new DS3!) and my car has been removed to their 'approved garage'.

My concern is from speaking to elephant on the phone origionally to make the claim is that their going to write off the car. I bought it for £3,000. Id say its current value is around £2,000.

The questions i have:-

1) If it is a write off ive read that my insurance will be cancelled (only paid the £800 last week for the year!). Is this correct? Surly if this happens im not going to be 'put back into the position i was in prior to the accident? Im going to be £800 out of pocket to start with!

2) If they just repair it will my insurance just carry on as usual or be cancelled?

3) If they declare it as a write off can i argue it just be repaired? The garage have told me they have to use 'approved parts'. Can i instruct them just to use 2nd hand parts to keep the costs down?

Many thanks for any responses :beer:

malkyh

Adam_Barnes wrote: »

To cut a long story short a few days ago a motorbike ran into the back of my car. The 3rd party has admitted responsibility so i can assume it will go down as 100% his fault.

My car = Citroen C2 Furio (2004) 57,000 miles
Damage = Panel damage to the rear bumber and rear passanger quarter panel. Tyre blown. No internal damage, car runs fine, police have said its road legal to drive.
My insurance = Elephant.co.uk

Ive been given a courtasy car (shiny new DS3!) and my car has been removed to their 'approved garage'.

My concern is from speaking to elephant on the phone origionally to make the claim is that their going to write off the car. I bought it for £3,000. Id say its current value is around £2,000.

The questions i have:-

1) If it is a write off ive read that my insurance will be cancelled (only paid the £800 last week for the year!). Is this correct? Surly if this happens im not going to be 'put back into the position i was in prior to the accident? Im going to be £800 out of pocket to start with!

I would think if they cancelled it you would receive a refund of your insurance based on how long it has left to run.

2) If they just repair it will my insurance just carry on as usual or be cancelled?

Your insurance would carry on as normal.

3) If they declare it as a write off can i argue it just be repaired? The garage have told me they have to use 'approved parts'. Can i instruct them just to use 2nd hand parts to keep the costs down?

I wouldn't think you would be able to instruct them to use second hand parts. The garage will offer a guarantee on repair and they would not do this using second hand parts. If they write it off, you could possibly buy the car back from them and have it repaired yourself. It would be classed as a Category 'X' write off though which would affect the resale value if you ever sold it.

Many thanks for any responses :beer:

Responses above

Quentin

Cancel your claim and go direct to the third party insurer to make your claim.

This will preserve your policy, avoid having to pay and reclaim your excess etc.

vaio

Read your policy, some policies end on a total loss payout and some don’t so can be transferred to a replacement vehicle. If it does end then there will be no refund.

Along the “putting you back etc” line, if yours is one that ends then you can add the lost premium to your uninsured losses and reclaim from the third party along with any other out of pocket costs.

Adam_Barnes

Thanks for the advice. Looking at elephants website it looks like a write off means the insurance is cancelled.

Would anyone know to what extent you can argue a write off to be repaired?

Hopefully they'll just repair it anyway but just in case!

vax2002

You have made a huge mistake claiming on YOUR insurance for ANOTHER person accident.
If they were 100% liable you should have sent the rider the estimates for the damage and make the responsible party claim from THEIR insurance.
If you proceed as now you are in bed with the hire car, you need to make sure you dont accept anything that say full and final settlement as you will not be able to claim your uninsured losses, amend any letters saying "full and final " to FRPO and INTERIM settlement and return a copy.

Your out of pocket expenses will be,
The loss of your whole years premium
The increase in your premiums for several years as YOU are the one making the claim, your insurance will rise substantially year on year.
The cost of your Excess.
Any other expenses, taxis ect.
You will need to bill the other driver for all these, hence why pundits advice is to bill the other driver for the lot and inform your insurance For record purposes only as a non fault incident.
This is not withstanding your insurance may go 50/50 % with the other and you will be held 50% responsible for what happened.

Adam_Barnes

Thanks for the information.

Few questions:-

1) Surly if their 100% responsible my insurance will argue that case (its pretty clear cut...the police have him down on file as saying he was looking in his mirror) thus any costs will be recovered 100% from their side? Why would my insurance even think about going 50/50? I dont see how this could ever become a claim on MY insurance...

2) The uninsured losses - dont my insurers sort this out on my instruction?


Thanks

Adam_Barnes

''What happens if the accident was not my fault?
Our first priority is to get your car repaired, or a settlement to you if it is a total loss (write-off).
After this, we will try to recover our outlay from the person responsible for the accident. If we are successful then making the claim will not affect your No Claims Bonus. Your policy includes elephant.co.uk Legal Protection cover, so our legal department will assist you in recovering any uninsured losses such as your policy excess.''

Taken from the Elephant website...

Premier_2

Adam_Barnes wrote: »

...
The questions i have:-

1) If it is a write off ive read that my insurance will be cancelled (only paid the £800 last week for the year!). Is this correct? Surly if this happens im not going to be 'put back into the position i was in prior to the accident? Im going to be £800 out of pocket to start with!

On the contrary, you were already out of pocket by £800 paying for insurance before the accident.
But luckily that insurance is going to compensate you (either directly or from the TP) ca. £2000 (if that's the true value of the car) plus the value of the car rental (probably £50-£100 per day)

However I'm very surprised they agreed to a hire car if they planned to write the insured car off. The cost of the hire car will normally be deducted from the total insured value from the day they agree to write the insured car off ... and as that was before you appear to have got the hire car then you may end up footing the entire bill for the hire car (paid as a deduction of the insurance payout)

Adam_Barnes wrote: »

...
2) If they just repair it will my insurance just carry on as usual or be cancelled?

I suspect from the damage you have claimed for, and the £2000 value you put on the car, then they will not repair it.

It is always their call as to whether to repair or simply payout the insured value.

In a hypothertical claim where a repair was deemed financially viable then the insurance cover would continue.

Adam_Barnes wrote: »

3) If they declare it as a write off can i argue it just be repaired? The garage have told me they have to use 'approved parts'. Can i instruct them just to use 2nd hand parts to keep the costs down?

Many thanks for any responses :beer:

No. It is the insurance company's final decision on whether to repair the vehicle or otherwise payout the full value of the car.
An insurance company is equally unlikley to use any dodgy, second hand parts. If a repair were agreed, you'd want some warranty of that repair wouldn't you? And you won't get that with second hand parts of unknown history.

What you may be able to do is negotiate with the insurer to buy back the salvage in the case of a total loss (thereby allowing you to do what you want with it), but insurers are now weary of agreeing to this because of the number of vehicles in the past that have had dodgy repairs done on the cheap as you are suggesting.

Quentin

Adam_Barnes wrote: »

Thanks for the information.

Few questions:-

1) Surly if their 100% responsible my insurance will argue that case (its pretty clear cut...the police have him down on file as saying he was looking in his mirror) thus any costs will be recovered 100% from their side? Why would my insurance even think about going 50/50? I dont see how this could ever become a claim on MY insurance...

2) The uninsured losses - dont my insurers sort this out on my instruction?


Thanks

When you claim off your own policy, then the claim remains on your file as a fault claim until your insurer is reimbursed in full. Only then is it marked a non fault claim, and your NCD reinstated, premium adjusted etc (should your renewal have come before the claim is concluded)

Your insurer won't take instructions to sort out your ininsured losses. You need to use any "legal cover" you may have.

Premier_2

Adam_Barnes wrote: »

...
2) The uninsured losses - dont my insurers sort this out on my instruction?


Thanks

You really think your insurance will cover your uninsured losses?

What do you think an uninsured loss is exactly? :huh: