Options given after no-fault write-off

Bernard_Coleslaw

Mrs Coleslaw was involved in an accident last week which has resulted in her car being written off as beyond economical repair.

The other party has admitted liability since day 1, so it seems to be pretty cut and dried.

My wife has been given two options by the claims handler.

1) Pursue the claim with the other party's insurer - no deduction for excess, no impact on NCB, but may take more time to settle.

2) Pursue it through her own insurer (Admiral) - quicker payout, but excess deducted and NCB temporarily affected, until Admiral sorts things out with the other party's insurer.

Is this correct? And if so, which option would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

InsideInsurance

The speed aspect is questionable. If the TP has informed their insurer and the insurer agrees they are liable then it is simply a question of how quick Admiral is -v- whoever the TPI are and the fact you arent their insured makes no difference at all to the speed.

The two other considerations are:

1) If you claim directly from the TPI you have no FOS protection so if you dispute their valuation you have to argue directly with them rather than escalating it to the ombudsman

2) Admiral traditionally sell all non-fault claims to claims management companies, though this may have changed now. Its worth checking with them if they themselves would be dealing with the claim or if a third party would be


Generally I would claim direct from the TPI but it is slightly more complex when it is a definite total loss -v- a repair job

Bernard_Coleslaw

Thanks InsideInsurance for such a speedy and comprehensive reply.

She had a call from the TPI last week to confirm his liability, so I think we'll go with option 1. If they offer us a silly number for the valuation we'll just have to put our brave trousers on and go to battle.

vaio

I'm inclined to agree with you and see what the TP insurer offers, if they are being silly then you could hand it back over to your insurer to deal with

Read http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u...valuation.html

it covers pretty much all you need to know re fair valuations

Retail price is what you should get from your insurer

BertTheRaccoon

InsideInsurance wrote: »

2) Admiral traditionally sell all non-fault claims to claims management companies, though this may have changed now. Its worth checking with them if they themselves would be dealing with the claim or if a third party would be

Just for information purposes, Admiral can no longer "sell on" details of non-fault customers, especially injured customers, as there is a ban on referral fees now.

To get around this, they now have integrated with a law firm called Lyons Davidson where profits from the venture are shared out.

InsideInsurance

BertTheRaccoon wrote: »

Just for information purposes, Admiral can no longer "sell on" details of non-fault customers, especially injured customers, as there is a ban on referral fees now.

To get around this, they now have integrated with a law firm called Lyons Davidson where profits from the venture are shared out.

In the old old days we couldnt get a case by case referral fee either however we could sell postcode sectors to different panel solicitors with our estimate of the number of claims we were likely to receive for each one included in the tenure process.

I didnt realise however that there was any ban on credit hire fees etc for insurers - I've been stuck in back end risk management for too long it seems.

dacouch

InsideInsurance wrote: »

In the old old days we couldnt get a case by case referral fee either however we could sell postcode sectors to different panel solicitors with our estimate of the number of claims we were likely to receive for each one included in the tenure process.

I didnt realise however that there was any ban on credit hire fees etc for insurers - I've been stuck in back end risk management for too long it seems.

Is this the same as covering your a$$ ?

TadleyBaggie

It not unheard of for the TPI to suddenly change their mind. My son was involved in an accident where a car pulled out of side road and a collision occurred. The TPI called him within 30 minutes and told him not to worry, they would sort everything out. All seemed to be going swimmingly, nice hire car turned up, car was written off and a cheque issued. However they had misspelt his name, so he sent it back. Next thing he heard was that the other driver had suddenly decided he wasn't to blame after all and so the TPI withdrew its offer. Then a flood of personal injury claims turned up, all which were forwarded to his own insurance company. So what started off looking an easy choice end up in nightmare.

InsideInsurance

dacouch wrote: »

Is this the same as covering your a$$ ?

It is covering the clients a$$, lots of time looking at aggregation and man made cat scenario modelling across multiple lines of business and countries. There is more interesting dish water out there but it pays the bills.

BertTheRaccoon

InsideInsurance wrote: »

In the old old days we couldnt get a case by case referral fee either however we could sell postcode sectors to different panel solicitors with our estimate of the number of claims we were likely to receive for each one included in the tenure process.

I didnt realise however that there was any ban on credit hire fees etc for insurers - I've been stuck in back end risk management for too long it seems.

it is only PI referral fees that are banned

But the credit hire boys will be getting hosed down next now that the insurance industry and government have finished killing off the independent law firm.

The PI small claims limit will go to £5k next, mark my words

Bernard_Coleslaw

Thanks everyone for your help on this one.

They've been in touch and the valuation that was offered was actually broadly in line with what we were looking for. In fact, it's almost the same as the amount we paid for the car when we bought it 18 months ago.

I'm led to believe it doesn't happen like this all the time.

We did try a cheeky haggle upwards - it would have been churlish not to - but the number they offered us was ok.

I'm mindful of course that there can be slip-ups between being told a figure and actually receiving a cheque for that amount, so we'll stay cautious.

Thanks all. :beer: