Admiral and Albany - Claim in process

djgandy

Hi all,

I would be really grateful for some advice on how to deal with an insurance claim I am making.

On Friday I was involved in an accident where I was not at fault. The other driver immediately admitted liability and we pulled over somewhere safe and I got his insurance details. He phoned his insurer then too, and it's a company car so I don't think he was too bothered about no claims etc.

When I got to work, I called his insurer to check up on the claim, it turned out to be the hire company zenith, they had a reference number for his call. They then forwarded me onto the actual insurer Allianz. they said they hadn't got anything in the system yet, but I gave them details of what happened and they said they would contact the driver and get his side of the story.

I then thought I maybe should have contacted my insurer first as they would then deal with it all and be on my side (Sily of me I know all they care about is money). So I rang Admiral, gave them details, and also mentioned that I had already spoken to Allianz. The first reaction from Admiral upon hearing this was "Did they offer you any services?" to which I replied no, but infact they had offered me hire car, repair costs etc. I have the text Allianz sent me stating this.

We carried on and Admiral then said would I want a hire car, and kind of implied I had to take it. I figured I don't really need it as the damage is minor, and I can get someone to drive me back from the garage. Admiral then passed me onto Albany. I explained to Albany what happened as Admiral had logged some of the details incorrectly. They then said you'll have to take a hire car else they can't do the repairs. This seemed weird to me, and immediately stank of we want to rip off the third party insurer. Anyway it was Friday evening and the garage that I was told to use (not a BMW garage) was closed so I couldn't' get an assessment of the damage.

This morning I went to the garage and got an assessment, it is not much more than a front bumper and right headlamp that needs replacing. They said they would send the quote back to Albany I assume then it can be arranged for the work to be done.

Now after reading about Albany, and looking at their parent company's annual report and share price I am wondering if it is in my best interests to deal with them if the third party is admitting liability.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I should do? And whether by not using Albany things such as my no claims can be affected?

Personally if the third party is admitting liability I would rather deal directly with Allianz and have the work done at a BMW dealer and then have them arrange me a hire car. Would this be the most advisable option?

Is it too late to change who I deal with?

Any help appreciated,
Andy

Quentin

Cancel albany.

Accept allianz offer of help. Tell them you want your own garage to do repair and ask them to sort a replacement car for you whilst yours is in dock.

djgandy

Thanks and done!

I hope this will prove to be a good move. From talking at work today 2 people have already said that Albany are a complete nightmare.

The person at Allianz was very helpful and the two garages they recommended were both BMW dealers, one of which was in the group the car was purchased from. They have taken care of everything, and were surprised when I told them I had to drive to the garage myself to get a quote for repair.

Annoyingly Allianz had actually phoned me this morning and left a voice mail but my phone didn't send me a voice mail notification! I was surprised to have not to had heard from them since it must be much more favourable for them to settle directly.

BenTiffin

Sorry to hear about your accident djdandy.

It is your right to take your vehicle anywhere you want so don't worry. Insist on taking it to a reputable repairer.

Hope your car gets sorted soon.

Quentin

Just to dot all the i's, also confirm to your insurer that you do not want to use them or albany, and that you are pursuing the third party directly yourself.

Then when you get your car back and you are happy with the job, tell your insurer the third party have accepted full liability and settled your claim (to make sure the claim is closed at your insurer, and there will be no hassle at renewal time about an "open" claim pending conclusion)

Christopher7

Hi OP

I agree with Quentin, that you were right to cancel Albany. The conduct code between insurers and credit hire organisations (CHO's) like Albany, states that Albany should not provide a hire vehicle if the other sides insurer (Allianz) had already offered their service.

Well done for demanding a BMW approved repairer, it's no surprise that Allianz had 2 readilly available, they underwrite the BMW insurance product so will have network agreements with all of the BMW body shops.

ashleypride

djgandy wrote: »

This seemed weird to me, and immediately stank of we want to rip off the third party insurer

Yes, the problem is you assume that your insurance company will be doing the best thing for you.

djgandy wrote: »

I hope this will prove to be a good move. From talking at work today 2 people have already said that Albany are a complete nightmare.

It will be, don't worry. I've had the displeasure of dealing with Albany, and getting a credit hire car from them.

The 3rd party settled quickly direct with me, but Albany refused to take the hire car back before 6 weeks after the accident.
3 years later on from the accident I get a letter from Albany saying the 3rd party will not settle because of the ridiculously high credit hire charges, I then had to take the 3rd party to small claims using a dodgy Albany provided solicitor to recover the money. I hated being part of the scam, I had incorrectly assumed my insurance company were giving professional advice, while they were just creaming the system.

djgandy

I agree Ashley, you assume your insurer works for you, but that would only apply when claiming on your own policy I guess, since they won't be racking up too many bills then since they are on the hook for it. My general philosophy for any company is that they only care about their profits, if I'd known how it all works prior to the accident I'd have just done what I did but accepted Allianz offer of help immediately then informed admiral on an information only basis.

If the third party would not admit liability I could see where Albany may come in, but I think if push came to shove in that case I'd just give up my no claims and save myself some stress.

With the third party admitting liability I wondered what the point of having a middle man was. I am just glad it dawned on me before it was too late. The letters from Albany with the credit hire agreement came though this morning, at least they embolden the word YOU at least 15 times making it very clear that you are essentially signing a bit of paper that allows them to print a large invoice to the third party and when they refuse put YOU through a lot of stress.

Meanwhile my car is already in the garage thanks to Allianz, something that would probably still be another week off if using Albany.

The stock price of Albany's parent company HelpHire and their annual report leave a lot to be desired. Looks like they'll be gone soon anyway