Car Total Loss- A Few Questions

johnsons_baby

Hello

Myself & my daughter were involved in a car smash last week. My car is a total loss, the other driver has admitted liability to the police (on mobile phone & speeding).

My car is now.....somewhere in the UK! It was recovered from the scene by a private recovery firm, after contacting my insurer (M&S underwritten by Ageas) they asked for permission to remove the car from the recovery garage and dispose of the car if it was a total loss, I agreed to this. Heard nothing more from them.

I'm now without a car and my policy only covers a courtesy car in the event that the car is at an authorised repair agent, mine has no front end and only 3 doors (one had to be cut off to get me out). I've asked but not received a response to can I get a hire car and as other side has admitted liability, can it be charged to their insurer? I've been told possibly but they aren't sure, would I be able to do this?

Secondly, I've been told that I will get a settlement which will buy a similar car like for like at the time immediately prior to the accident. I've looked and can't find a similar car locally but can find 6 within 100 miles on Autotrader, they vary in price from £1895 to £2495, the closest being £2295. I know they will probably offer a derisory sum initially but would really like to buy a similar car, my excess is £250. As I can find comparable cars for around the 2k mark and ideally after my excess I would like as near to the £1800 mark as possible, given those values, would that be a fair amount to try to achieve?

Lastly does anyone have any idea of the timescales these things take? I spoke to Ageas but they said up to 12-18 weeks?!

Any help appreciated, never been in a crash before now do not really know what to expect!

InsideInsurance

Hire car - best thing to do is to speak to the other insurers, if their customer has admitted liability to them (or they feel he is liable) then they will almost certainly hire a car for your directly avoiding the potential problems of credit hire or you hiring it yourself and having to reclaim the cost afterwards

Partially, remember autotrader lists asking prices not selling prices and so if someone is asking for £2,300 they would probably sell at £2,100. The offer should be for the gross amount and then excess will be deducted, this can then be claimed back from the TP Insurer, if you have legal expenses your insurers will arrange this on your behalf along with any other uninsured losses

18 weeks is a long time for a total loss! Assuming offers can be quickly agreed on, you send paperwork quickly etc then ~6 weeks is a more reasonable time but some insurers are much slower than others (and with the current weather you can expect a bit of a backlog)

Obviously after settling the total loss there is the other matter of your insurers recovering their outlay, your excess etc and that can be 3-6 months (or more in some cases)

johnsons_baby

Yes I realise that about the asking prices, hence I would be happy at the £1800 mark after the excess.

I've spoke to the TP insurers (Admiral) who say they need Ageas to contact them as their driver has not contacted them yet & they need a police report before they'll do anything. Ageas are just waiting rather than doing anything but not sure if that is normal!

Luckily we're physically fine which is the main thing in the end!

InsideInsurance

johnsons_baby wrote: »

Luckily we're physically fine which is the main thing in the end!

Glad to hear it!

Normally your insurers will write to the TPI to advise them of the claim against them. Some insurers are very proactive and send the letter on "day 1" where as others are much slower and may wait until they have the AD claim settled first so they can quantify the losses and go straight into recovery mode.

There is nothing to stop you writing a letter of claim to the TPI, certainly in my claims day we would set up a claim file off the back of either a TP or TPI letter but they are under no obligation to act on it as ultimately your claim is legally against their client and they are just answering it on their behalf.

rs65

johnsons_baby wrote: »

Ageas are just waiting rather than doing anything but not sure if that is normal!

When they say 12-18 weeks I assume they are talking about resolving the claim entirely.

Assuming you are comprehensive, I would expect a settlement offer in days rather than weeks.

weejonnie

I would hope so - Ageas has a good reputation in the insurance industry and I cannot imagine they would treat an M&S customer unfairly.

However I would keep pestering them every few days, just to find out what the situation is (they do have to wait for the engineer's report for valuation purposes).

With regards to Admiral, I suggest calling them up again (hopefully their client has reported the claim to them), which might put pressure on them to contact their insured.

As a point of interest - did the M&S policy come with legal expenses insurance (Premier) or did you buy it as an add-on (Standard) (perhaps underwritten by another company)? If so you should involve them (if only to claim back your excess).

johnsons_baby

I bought the all singing all dancing premier cover and they got on the ball for my car seats and will do my uninsured losses, which I assume will be for my excess?

johnsons_baby

Just on an aside....how long should the engineers report take to be completed and received by Ageas?

itsgazza_2

Just a thought, there are literally hundreds of claims management companies out there looking for cases just like yours. no fault / police reports etc.. if you are getting frustrated at the delays and bureaucracy why not approach one of these and get them to take the hassle?? I believe they claim their inflated fees from the insurance company so you dont suffer any financial loss by using their services.

InsideInsurance

itsgazza wrote: »

I believe they claim their inflated fees from the insurance company so you dont suffer any financial loss by using their services.

And do you think the insurers just happily pay inflated figures and cut their profits or do you think they inflate premiums to reflect inflated claims?

It may not be an amount you pay out up front but there is a good reason why insurance is increasing massively above inflation and yet combined ratios arent moving significantly.

johnsons_baby

Right had some news which wasn't exactly what I expected.

Ageas have contacted Admiral, the driver is insured but he's a named driver only (young driver) they've still not been notified by their policy holder, Ageas have an engineer booked for my vehicle for Friday, the lady said it could be up to a week before their report comes through. As long as I know what to expect I'm happy with that.

They did ask me what I thought my car was worth, so I said I could replace it like for like at £2495 within a 100 mile radius of my home address, I said I had found several similar vehicles in that price range and she asked where these were found, so told her Autotrader, private ads and eBay and she didn't ask any more.

Just wondering why neither the driver nor policyholder have notified Admiral yet? Their car was quite damaged, it's quite noticeable not like you could hide it!!