car insurance stress

gwingwyn

hi all,
just thought i'd write up my issue in here in the hope someone could advise.

I was hit by a driver in what is essentially a hit and run, he hit me three times on purpose in the rear first, and then the driver side of my vehicle, shunting me out of the way.

police & ambulance attended, i went to casualty with whiplash. a cyclist witnessed most of the incident and sent a police car to chase after the vehicle which absconded the scene at high speed through a red light / green pedestrian crossing.

the vehicle owner was then tracked down at his home address and arrested, about 3 hours after the incident - he spent 16 hours in custody. the CPS would not allow the police to bring charges because they had not taken a statement from me. the vehicle owner was released on bail for 3 weeks for the police to bring a case.

i gave a statement the next morning and am waiting to hear. can't get hold of the officer at the moment to find out whether he has been charged.

The following Saturday I contacted my insurance company and after explaining the situation was given the following info by the person i spoke to:

1. you will be contacted by a garage who will assess your vehicle
2. while your vehicle is in the garage / awaiting repair you will receive a hire car, Enterprise will contact you on Monday to arrange this
3. As tomorrow is Sunday and you have to work don't worry - hire a vehicle at your own cost and you'll be able to claim this back
4. As you have legal cover a firm of solicitors will be in touch to arrange a personal injury claim and help you get healthcare treatment if necessary

The following week after this call I discovered I had been completely misinformed.

I privately hired a car from Enterprise and drove off to do a couple of days work elsewhere in the country. On my return I went to Enterprise and called Direct Line to ask why I had not heard about the hire car, and seeing as I was at Enterprise anyway could i just switch over. The service rep said that should be fine and they didn't understand why I hadn't heard. She resent the order by fax and stayed on the line while I spoke to the hire company who took all my details to set up a non-fault hire. They then explained that as I was unable to give the details of the 3rd party and his insurance company that they would not issue a non-fault hire. This was the first I'd heard of it, I wasn't told by Direct Line that non-fault hire is at Enterprise's discretion.

So I now have no car, my own car is kind of driveable but not really very safe, the bumper is hanging off and the steering veers to the right quite heavily.

The garage sent me a text a few days later saying they would contact me when they had an appointment for me. I heard nothing further from them. I presume this is because they have been instructed to wait on repairs or something until I can bring the car in. But i need a car...

I spoke to Direct Line who said they were sorry I had been given the wrong info. I asked them whether they were attempting to get the info from the other insurance company and they said no, they had not started that process yet. I said if they had explained the non-fault hire process in the first place they could have started chasing his details much earlier. They said if I needed a guaranteed hire car so badly I should have paid for one by adding it as an extra to my insurance policy. This chap I was speaking to was so rude!

They then suggested I contact the police directly to get the details of the other driver. (seriously?!)

When I said that was highly unlikely they suggested I speak to the solicitors that had been instructed by them and look at getting a hire car privately and getting costs recouped.

They gave me the solicitors details and I called them up, they arranged a call back. I gave all the details of the crash to the solicitors and they said they were not likely to be able to help with the claim of any car hire costs and they did not understand why Direct Line had suggested that. They said I would be contacted by a private physiotherapist to set up an appointment.

I received a call this morning from these solicitors saying they were abandoning my claim. They did not understand why Direct Line had instructed them as this is in fact a criminal claim not an accident claim and they are not in a position to help. They instructed me to make my own arrangements and contact a criminal solicitors and make an application for support myself.

There have been lots of calls between myself and Direct Line about this, with me chasing them to get hold of the other driver and so on but I won't add any more in. But essentially I'm so confused! It looks as if I won't get much at all here.

I feel completely let down and misled by Direct Line. And I need a car but can't really decide what to do - I think the cheapest thing to do is buy a reasonably priced car or try and borrow one until I know the final outcome on the non fault hire - so I can carry on working and wait and see what happens.

Has anyone had this sort of experience and have any advice they could offer?


I'm thinking of writing to the chief exec regarding the misleading, the poor customer service, the amount of time I've had to spend finding out what I'm really able to claim. etc etc. I will dig out my policy later and have a good nose. I have a complain registered with their customer relations tea,, who are not very helpful - I think they need some training! Also the Financial Ombudsman service have made an enquiry.

I guess I have a complaint about the frustration and am then trying to decide what is the best thing to do about having a driveable car.

Anyway - any advice much appreciated!

Thanks
Emma

dacouch

Have you rung the police for his Insurance details or reg number?

Quentin

Your insurance cover won't provide a replacement hire car (unless you have paid for a "guaranteed replacement" as an extra to your policy). Most comprehensive policies will just cover you for a courtesy car (provided by the repairer) whilst the garage has your car in for repair.

The "non fault" car they are talking about refers to a non fault claim where they are certain of getting fully recompensed by the third party for all costs incurred, so they arrange a hire car in the knowledge they can get paid for this by the third party.

In your case they have no such guarantee (yet).

So you are stuck with paying for your own replacement till yours is in for repair and you hopefully get a courtesy car.

Eventually you should be able to get reimbursed your uninsured losses from either a third party or the MIB uninsured driver scheme (if it turns out the culprit is uninsured).

gwingwyn

hey dacouch - i took his reg on the night - could see the plate as he drove past.
police will not provide any details! the only way is through freedom of info via the insurance company as i understand it.

hey MIB - he is insured - by AXA. but he isn't speaking to his insurance company. they can't get hold of him.
i understand the non-fault system. but what can I do about the poor information, advice and customer service? i have wasted hours and money doing things in accordance with their wrong advice.

i better look into whether I can get a courtesy car, i should ask them about that, maybe that is the other way to sort this out.

police have not heard from the CPS about the charge yet.

Direct Line have just told me their solicitors have definitely abandoned the personal injury as they will only deal with motor negligence not criminal injury, so now I have to find my own solicitors.

So how would I get these 'uninsured losses' if I don't have a solicitor? Do I then have to pay for one?

so confusing.

EJ