Help Needed with Car Insurance claim

slinkydonkey

Hello

I was involved with car crash where the lady drove into the back of my car as I was waiting at a T junction.

Initially my car insurance company Hastings Direct asked if I wanted to use Albany Assistance but as soon as they started to offer me a hire car and asking me to agree to a hire purchase agreement which assumed that the 3rd party will pay the bill I got nervous and googled Albany Assistance.

There are some true horror stories about them which is enough to make me not want to use them has anyone had a good experience with them ? my brother said he used them and they was ok?

I did go to my local Ford Garage to get a quote to fix my car but Hastings said and ive double checked in my policy that they will double my excess if I choose my own garage.

After reading on this forum people suggest its alot better to go with the 3rd partys insurance company but...im finding this equally if not more frustratingly slow they seem even more unwilling to help they are being very vague and cagey over been able to repair my car even though they have NOW ADMITTED IT WAS HER FAULT.

The benifit if using there insurance company I thought was one not long call queing times, two I get to CHOOSE THE GARAGE they repair my car at.


Now the problem is I closed my claim with Hastings which included my legal claim I assume.

Im assuming I can't claim legal assitance with the 3rd party insurance company?

To be honest think im going to phone hastings in the morning and get them back in the driving seat.

I have actually emailed and had a response back from the Office Of Fair Trading in regards to matters realating to this..below is taken from part of there reply.

"It may also interest you to know that the OFT has recently completed a market study
on private motor insurance. We concluded that the insurers of drivers responsible for
an accident ('at-fault' drivers) appear to have little control over the way repairs and
replacement vehicles are provided to the 'not-at-fault' driver. This may enable the
insurers of not-at-fault drivers, and others such as insurance brokers, credit hire
organisations and repairers, to engage in practices which appear to result in the cost
of replacement vehicles and vehicle repairs provided to not-at-fault drivers being
higher than they might otherwise be.
In view of this, we have referred the market to the Competition Commission (CC) for
further investigation. The CC has up to two years to report its findings. If it finds that
features of a market are harming competition, it has powers to impose remedies to address this situation."

Any advice Im a noob really when it comes to car crashes which is good really me thinks

InsideInsurance

Legal expenses cover is normally limited to your uninsured losses (eg excess, personal injury, loss of use of the vehicle if you dont take a hire car etc) and therefore would not provide cover to claim the property damage from the TPI which is an insured loss via your own policy.

Who are the TPI in this case? Most insurers are keen to "capture" the TP claim when their client is at fault but it isnt the case in all instances. I am confused why you contacted the OFT though?

Ultimately if the TPI dont want to directly assist with your claim it is up to you to decide if you want to claim off of your insurance and potentially use Albany to provide credit hire or potentially use Albany to credit hire and repairs (or another ambulance chaser)

EdGasket

Avoid Albany Assistance at all costs; they will make matters worse for you/potentially leave you liable to their excessive costs and hire charges. Deal with the third-party's insurance if you at all can; they will usually want to use thier preferred repairer though but this is not usually a problem. Contact them again and ask when and how they propose to get your car repaired.
Your other options are:
2) to get Hastings to deal with your claim themselves though you will have to refuse most strongly to be fobbed off with Albany or any other claims management company. You will have to forcefully tell them to deal with the claim under your comprehensive cover; you insured with Hastings; not Albany.
3) Claim directly off the third party if you have tried to claim from her insurance and they won't 'play ball'. You may need to write a letter threatening to commence a small-claim in the court to get things moving. She will pass this onto her insurers and it will be her problem to get her insurers moving.

In the last claim I had, I informed the TP's insurers that if they did not get my repairs moving, I would be claiming the cost from the TP through the small-claims court. They got moving pretty quickly then!

slinkydonkey

I decided to phone Hastings again (took me 10 minutes to get through to them) and asked them to reopen the case they are going to get Nationwide Repairs to asses my car but this now wont be done until the new year as they are very busy. I think its likely the car will get written off anyway as its a 1999V Reg, Ive not closed the case with the 3rd partys insurance company as if they get back to me sooner then ill let them fix the car.

slinkydonkey

Update- I have now booked my car into repair using Hastings Direct using there approved garages (Nationwide Repairs) on the first week in January. But yesterday the 3rd insurance company have now approved the repair of my car using my chosen local Ford main dealer. It is a bit bizarre as the repair bill is more than they car is worth according to both parkers and glasses.

As the car is so old anyway I turned them down and im going to stick with my insurance company (Nationwide Repairs).

But do you think I should phone the 3rd party insurance company and ask them for a cash settlement ? I really want to get new car as my old focus is falling apart.

Cheers
Paul S