need advice on a non-fault accident

qyuk

I had a car accident on last Saturday that another driver insured by Zurich hit the back of my car resulting the bumper damaged on the passenger side. i just bought the car from a Vauxhall dealer two weeks ago and this accident happened exactly in front the Vauxhall dealer ( i went to their garage for a MOT). some salesman at the dealer helped to take the photos on the scene ( i am so grateful to them) and advised me to contact their accident team which can avoid the contact of my insurer using their service. i called them immediately and found they are very friendly. They said they would arrange my car repaired and let me have a hired car as it is non-fault claim. they can recover the cost from the 3rd party insurer at a later date . they were very quick and they even arranged a damage estimate for me. i drove my car to the dealer's body shop and the estimate was done. they provided a report.
throughout the call, i thought i was only dealing with the dealer's accident management team. they said they would send me a car repair credit agreement. when i received the documents yesterday,it turned out to be a different company called Albany assistance Ltd.and i found out from the beginning, it was them who have been talking to me. i read the terms carefully and one sentence made me extremely nervous: if they can not recover the cost from the 3rd party, i am liable for all the cost. particularly i heard about a lot of bad stories about the dispute raised from the car hire cost. i did a research on the internet and many people suggest avoiding the accident management company but talk to the 3rd party insurer directly. i did this morning and i talked to Zurich. they advised their insured has contacted them and accepted liability. they agreed to fix my car at the dealer's garage and provide me with a hired car. they asked me to fax the estimate to their engineer's fax number which i have done already. when i called Zurich earlier this morning. it was an english lady who answered my call and advised everything,taking details and asked me to fax the estimate. after the fax, i called them again, this time the operator seems to be someone based in another country. having no idea about the addresses, cities i am taking about. even he can not spell some simple words. this made me very worried. but finally he said he would arrange an engineer to inspect the car and authorise the repair. i asked them how quickly this can be done, he can not guarantee.
anyone had a similar situation and delt with Zurich for such a claim (non-fault on myside but on the driver insured by them)? how long will it take before the settlement, particularly with Zurich?
i feel i have made right choice to stop the accident management company involved to avoid potential risk that the hire cost can be disputed.
but now dealing with the 3rd party insurer on myself, i have another concern how long it is going to take.
it was my first accident in 8 years. would appreciate your suggestions how to settle this quickly. safest and quickest route?
sorry for the long post. thanks. :beer:

InsideInsurance

Albany obviously will be very helpful as they charge extortionate prices, as will Vauxhall who sold your details to them for a few hundred pounds.

Normally the best route for non-injury claims is direct with the TPI as you derisk the whole situation. How long they'll take? Depends on a number of factors, if youre in an area affected by the flooding it may be slower because of all the water damaged car claims going through. Best thing to do is call them again and ask, hopefully youll get someone more like the first person you spoke to

Buzby

But you still need to advise your insurer of your no-fault shunt. If you fail to do this you are in danger of invalidating your insurance due to non-disclosure.

Advise them that you are providing the data for information purposes only, as this will keep yourself in the clear.

Gavin_C

qyuk wrote: »

I had a car accident on last Saturday that another driver insured by Zurich hit the back of my car resulting the bumper damaged on the passenger side. i just bought the car from a Vauxhall dealer two weeks ago and this accident happened exactly in front the Vauxhall dealer ( i went to their garage for a MOT). some salesman at the dealer helped to take the photos on the scene ( i am so grateful to them) and advised me to contact their accident team which can avoid the contact of my insurer using their service. i called them immediately and found they are very friendly. They said they would arrange my car repaired and let me have a hired car as it is non-fault claim. they can recover the cost from the 3rd party insurer at a later date . they were very quick and they even arranged a damage estimate for me. i drove my car to the dealer's body shop and the estimate was done. they provided a report.
throughout the call, i thought i was only dealing with the dealer's accident management team. they said they would send me a car repair credit agreement. when i received the documents yesterday,it turned out to be a different company called Albany assistance Ltd.and i found out from the beginning, it was them who have been talking to me. i read the terms carefully and one sentence made me extremely nervous: if they can not recover the cost from the 3rd party, i am liable for all the cost. particularly i heard about a lot of bad stories about the dispute raised from the car hire cost. i did a research on the internet and many people suggest avoiding the accident management company but talk to the 3rd party insurer directly. i did this morning and i talked to Zurich. they advised their insured has contacted them and accepted liability. they agreed to fix my car at the dealer's garage and provide me with a hired car. they asked me to fax the estimate to their engineer's fax number which i have done already. when i called Zurich earlier this morning. it was an english lady who answered my call and advised everything,taking details and asked me to fax the estimate. after the fax, i called them again, this time the operator seems to be someone based in another country. having no idea about the addresses, cities i am taking about. even he can not spell some simple words. this made me very worried. but finally he said he would arrange an engineer to inspect the car and authorise the repair. i asked them how quickly this can be done, he can not guarantee.
anyone had a similar situation and delt with Zurich for such a claim (non-fault on myside but on the driver insured by them)? how long will it take before the settlement, particularly with Zurich?
i feel i have made right choice to stop the accident management company involved to avoid potential risk that the hire cost can be disputed.
but now dealing with the 3rd party insurer on myself, i have another concern how long it is going to take.
it was my first accident in 8 years. would appreciate your suggestions how to settle this quickly. safest and quickest route?
sorry for the long post. thanks. :beer:

What insurance did you have on this car you bought from a main dealer just 2 weeks ago? If fully comp, why not let your insurance company handle it? It's what you pay them for.

If not fully comp, why not with such a new and costly car?

qyuk

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Albany obviously will be very helpful as they charge extortionate prices, as will Vauxhall who sold your details to them for a few hundred pounds.

Normally the best route for non-injury claims is direct with the TPI as you derisk the whole situation. How long they'll take? Depends on a number of factors, if youre in an area affected by the flooding it may be slower because of all the water damaged car claims going through. Best thing to do is call them again and ask, hopefully youll get someone more like the first person you spoke to

thanks for your advice. it seems now in am on the best route now. i have asked the accident management company to cancel and i told them i am not confident enough to accept the credit agreement. i asked them if i can just do the repair bit without the car hire. they said they can't do anything without car hire, where their profit mainly comes from i believe.
but the adviser is really helpful.
now i am dealing with the TPI all on my own and i hope they can help me out quickly. :j

qyuk

Buzby wrote: »

But you still need to advise your insurer of your no-fault shunt. If you fail to do this you are in danger of invalidating your insurance due to non-disclosure.

Advise them that you are providing the data for information purposes only, as this will keep yourself in the clear.

yes, i informed my insurer this Monday and i told them i just want to let them know what happened . they said as it is no fault claim, it won't affect my NCD and premiums, unless my insurer pays out anything. hope this is as what advised, my renewal is just in Dec.
thanks for your advice.

qyuk

Gavin_C wrote: »

What insurance did you have on this car you bought from a main dealer just 2 weeks ago? If fully comp, why not let your insurance company handle it? It's what you pay them for.

If not fully comp, why not with such a new and costly car?

it was comprehensive but the insurance from the dealer was only offered for 5 days. now it is under my own insurance policy but it is a 3rd party only. i was just considering changing it to a comprehensive one when the accident happened. i called my insurer who basically says they can do nothing and today when i called them they said they are going to close this case. they gave me some advice though and advised me to contact the TPI which i did this morning.
sorry, i might forget to mention it is not a new car. 2nd hand but in mint condition(4 years old).
based on all your advice, it seems the best route for me now is to go through the TPI?
any good suggestions to help the settlement get quicker? would appreciate again.
thanks.

Quentin

Ask them to provide you with a replacement car when yours is in for repair or until it's repaired if it's not roadworthy now

qyuk

Quentin wrote: »

Ask them to provide you with a replacement car when yours is in for repair or until it's repaired if it's not roadworthy now

thanks. yes, i have asked them to provide a replacement car when my is in repair. just in the hope they can send in the inspector and authorise the repair asap.
my car is still drivable and everything seems working fine except the bumper's damage.