Non Fault Accident - Albany Assistance Advice Please.

BertTheRaccoon

Nearly all insurers are upto this practice, largely because they get referral fees from hire companies and lawyers.

Referral fees for injury claims will be outlawed as of April 2013, but they will simply get around this by buying up a law firm (as they are currently doing) so that although they will lose out on referral fee revenue, they will just keep the costs their subsiduary law firm earns instead.

This is the problem with the insurance industry. They are happy to refer their own non-fault customer on for credit hire etc so that they earn commissions for this, yet they squeel like pigs when they are on the receiving end of such a claim themselves. essentially they fuel a whole marketplace by this practice.

starrynight23

Wow, glad (not sure if that is really the best word to use) I found this.

I was involved in a crash on Saturday morning when I had pulled away from a green light coming up towards a round about, saw a fire engine coming with its lights and sirens going so stopped at the roundabout junction and someone ran into the back of me, shunting me onto the middle lane of the roundabout and almost in the path of the fire engine. I have whiplash and have been told car will be written off and the rest of my claim has been referred to Albany. Albany or the people who Albany use to pick up cars and evaluate damage and repair costs will not touch my car as it is old ('98 Nissan Micra) and so it has be referred back to my Insurers (Diamond) to write off.

I have been assured by my insurers and Albany that I will not have to pay a penny for the the hire as it will be claimed back from the TP and I am protected as long as I help in every way possible. Although sounds like a total hassle having to go to court etc and I hope it really doesn't come to that. I am hoping that I will be able to get a new car ASAP and hopefully won't have the hire for too long but I'm really going to struggle with the money aspect, I'm hoping a family member will be able to help me out with perhaps a deposit or something and I'll pay them back when I can afford it.

My main concern is the settlement for my car which is going to be written off. Insurers have told me that they will value the car (pre-accident condition obviously) and I will receive the money for that minus my excess and the remaining premium as I pay my insurance monthly. The problem is that as a '98 Nissan Micra with 22295miles on the clock it isn't really worth very much and my excess is £400 (as I've only been driving for just over a year and a half) and the remainder of my policy will be £546. So by the looks of things I'm probably going to end up owing my insurers money and getting nothing to put towards a new car. I have been told by Albany that I will get my excess off the TP. I'm just not sure how all this works out.

I've been told by Diamond and Albany that I shouldn't worry about it all and that they will handle it but I'm still worried, stressed and confused!

dacouch

starrynight23 wrote: »

Wow, glad (not sure if that is really the best word to use) I found this.

I was involved in a crash on Saturday morning when I had pulled away from a green light coming up towards a round about, saw a fire engine coming with its lights and sirens going so stopped at the roundabout junction and someone ran into the back of me, shunting me onto the middle lane of the roundabout and almost in the path of the fire engine. I have whiplash and have been told car will be written off and the rest of my claim has been referred to Albany. Albany or the people who Albany use to pick up cars and evaluate damage and repair costs will not touch my car as it is old ('98 Nissan Micra) and so it has be referred back to my Insurers (Diamond) to write off.

I have been assured by my insurers and Albany that I will not have to pay a penny for the the hire as it will be claimed back from the TP and I am protected as long as I help in every way possible. Although sounds like a total hassle having to go to court etc and I hope it really doesn't come to that. I am hoping that I will be able to get a new car ASAP and hopefully won't have the hire for too long but I'm really going to struggle with the money aspect, I'm hoping a family member will be able to help me out with perhaps a deposit or something and I'll pay them back when I can afford it.

My main concern is the settlement for my car which is going to be written off. Insurers have told me that they will value the car (pre-accident condition obviously) and I will receive the money for that minus my excess and the remaining premium as I pay my insurance monthly. The problem is that as a '98 Nissan Micra with 22295miles on the clock it isn't really worth very much and my excess is £400 (as I've only been driving for just over a year and a half) and the remainder of my policy will be £546. So by the looks of things I'm probably going to end up owing my insurers money and getting nothing to put towards a new car. I have been told by Albany that I will get my excess off the TP. I'm just not sure how all this works out.

I've been told by Diamond and Albany that I shouldn't worry about it all and that they will handle it but I'm still worried, stressed and confused!

You can claim for your write off directly from the other Insurer, this will mean no excess to pay and they won't deduct the remaining instalments from your settlement.

They will even arrange a hire car at their expense and risk.

If you don't have their details you can find them from this site for a small fee https://www.askmid.com

BertTheRaccoon

Tell Albany you have no interest in claiming from your own insurers for the reasons you have outlined above (once excess and outstanding premniums are deducted, you are left with nothing to buy abother car).

I can't see any reason why the vehicle claim cannot be presented to the third party insurers, who can inspect and make an offer of settlement for the pre-accident value.

skivenov

I used Albany when someone reversed off a drive into my van. Big mistake, I'd never use them again. The only way I finally got them so sort the case and pay out was by cancelling my credit card so I couldn't get charged and taking their hire van hostage (probably not legal actions on my part, but desparate times, desparate measures!).

They won't fight your corner in the slightest, they just accept your vehicle as a write off and accept the third party's first offer, however derisory.

My brother's lass had her car backed into on a forecourt the other week, her insurer wanted her to use Albany (guessing they pay the best referal fee). We sacked them off, hired a car for her temporarily and dealt straight with the third party's insurers. Decent payout received in under 3 weeks.

Main trick is, you've got to make sure the insurance is in no doubt that they are liable to you, so you'll be calling the shots.

starrynight23

dacouch wrote: »

You can claim for your write off directly from the other Insurer, this will mean no excess to pay and they won't deduct the remaining instalments from your settlement.

They will even arrange a hire car at their expense and risk.

I already have a hire car through Albany and if Albany are trying to claim everything through the TP's insurers but have said they won't touch my car then can they still include the the costs of the write off in their claim if they have referred the car back to my insurers? The solicitors that phoned me today asked me what was happening with my car and I explained I was unsure and told them what I typed above so I'm not sure if they are going to to try and claim it back or not.

TP's insurance phoned me and, before I could say that I have been told to refer them to Diamond/Albany, told me that the TP has admitted all liability - not that there could have been any doubt about it anyway.

dacouch

You can avoid them all and just speak to the other Insurer and allow them to pay you out for your car

newfoundglory

dacouch - do you work for an insurance company

The problem, as I see it, is that insurers are out to make a bit of extra money.

The reason for this, we are told, is that "margins" on (car) insurance are small.

So things go something like this:
1. customer calls insurer to report a (non-fault) accident
2. insurer tells customer to ignore all comms from other party, and forward them on
3. insured then gets passed onto claims management company, under the guise of 'legal' protection under the policy

As this seems to be a bit of a profit making 'game', personally, if it happened to me again I think i'd play the system for as much as I could get.

Contacting the third party insurer directly might be the cheapest for all involved... but if the customer can make a bit of cash themselves... :rotfl:

starrynight23

dacouch wrote: »

You can avoid them all and just speak to the other Insurer and allow them to pay you out for your car

But if I were to turn round to Albany and Diamond and say I wanted to deal with the third party's insurers I'd probably end up having to pay the fee's for the hire car I already have and also be left to deal with this all by myself as they would say I'm not helping them to get the money back from the TP. I think in both mine and the OP's case as the ball has started rolling already there isn't very much you can do to stop it.

I, quite honestly, don't have the time, patience and, most importantly, knowledge to get a good deal for me by myself.

BertTheRaccoon

See Post # 6 above - final paragraph