Car is a write off, advice needed please

justontime

I'm sorry if the questions I am asking are fairly obvious but we have never been in this position before. About two weeks ago a driver failed to stop at a roundabout and drove into my daughter's car as she was driving round the roundabout. He still doesn't think it was his fault. She is insured fully comp, and she had a claims service dealing with her claim. She has now been informed that her car is a write off and the claim has to go back to her insurance company. She hasn't had an offer or anything in writing yet.

She has a hire car through the claims service and has been told that she can keep it until 7 days after she gets the cheque for her car. I really need to know what the usual procedure is, if they offer her a very low amount is there anything she can do? How does she recover her excess? Also she was injured, not too badly, just soft tissue injury, whiplash and shock. She had to have medical attention on the day, she is still on pain medication and she has to have physiotherapy but hopefully she will be okay soon. I very much doubt that she will need to make any claim related to this but if she settles re the car does that prevent her from claiming re injury costs at a later date?

Quentin

What reason have the claim handler given for giving up on her?

Assuming its because liability is looking likely to be hers, then she will have to pay her excess. If there is split liability she can get back her "share " of the split.

eg 50/50 would mean her getting 50% of her uninsured losses including any injury compensation awarded to her.

She needs to gather evidence now on the pre crash market value of her car so she is in a position to argue if the settlement figure is too low.

If she wants to claim for her injury that won't be off her own insurer, so no danger of accepting their settlement for the write off and not being able to pursue the third party for injuries, though the third party does have to be liable/partly liable

justontime

The claims service said it has to go to the insurance company because the car is a write off. No one is saying it was her fault (except the other driver). My daughter was already driving around the roundabout and he failed to stop or even slow down as he approached the roundabout (ignoring the give way sign and road markings) and he drove into the side of my daughters car at speed. He then attempted to drive away, but had to stop. When my daughter got to where her was parked he yelled and swore at her for getting in his way, she said he was about 60.

Quentin

This needs further explanation from the claims company, as your car being written off doesn't mean the claim has to be made against your own insurer.

You have great advantages when you claim off the liable third party eg. No excess to pay, no temporary loss of ncd, no need to pay any outstanding premiums if paying by instalment, and no danger of the policy ending (some insurers end the policy following a total loss payout).

And of course if she only had third party cover, then the third party would be her only way of getting a settlement for the write off.

justontime

lostinheaven wrote: »

How long has she owned the car and did she have GAP insurance?

She has owned the car for about 3 years. I'm not sure what GAP insurance is. She has comprehensive cover, she has never previously been involved in an accident. The claims service she used was connected to her breakdown cover.

I have just looked up GAP insurance, she doesn't have it. She bought the car outright (it was not a new car) so there is no finance outstanding on the car.

justontime

Quentin wrote: »

This needs further explanation from the claims company, as your car being written off doesn't mean the claim has to be made against your own insurer.

You have great advantages when you claim off the liable third party eg. No excess to pay, no temporary loss of ncd, no need to pay any outstanding premiums if paying by instalment, and no danger of the policy ending (some insurers end the policy following a total loss payout).

And of course if she only had third party cover, then the third party would be her only way of getting a settlement for the write off.

She rang the claims service for clarification today. They told her that they do not deal with total loss claims and that is why they have passed it back to her insurance company. She asked if they were suggesting that she was at fault or partly at fault and they said absolutely not, apparently the damage to my daughter's car is consistent with her version of events and it is clear that the other driver was at fault.

fivetide

She hasn't signed anything has she? Sometimes these things are on a credit agreement.

If she hasn't informed her insurance already then she needs to do that pronto but do stress it is for information only.

As Quentin said, claim through the other parties insurance but if things get sticky her insurer will need to know about it and you have a duty to tell them anyway.

Does she have legal cover as part of her policy? That might be a help instead of pushing a claim through her own main insurance policy.

justontime

fivetide wrote: »

She hasn't signed anything has she? Sometimes these things are on a credit agreement.

If she hasn't informed her insurance already then she needs to do that pronto but do stress it is for information only.

As Quentin said, claim through the other parties insurance but if things get sticky her insurer will need to know about it and you have a duty to tell them anyway.

Does she have legal cover as part of her policy? That might be a help instead of pushing a claim through her own main insurance policy.

She hasn't signed anything except her statement about what happened. She informed her own insurance company within half an hour of the accident, but went with the claims company (through her breakdown cover) because her insurance company were slow and she needed a hire car (she is a teacher and she can't get to her school via public transport). I think she has legal cover via her breakdown cover.

fivetide

justontime wrote: »

She hasn't signed anything except her statement about what happened. She informed her own insurance company within half an hour of the accident, but went with the claims company (through her breakdown cover) because her insurance company were slow and she needed a hire car (she is a teacher and she can't get to her school via public transport). I think she has legal cover via her breakdown cover.

Sometimes you have it via home insurance too randomly. It will help get uninsured losses back if needed.

Deal with the third party insurers in the first instance though. Very strange from the claims company though. Essentially they simply love to rack up the bills so they can stick it to the other parties' insurer. Very strange for them to let go of a sure thing although it sounds like they are still going to be billing for the hire car though so they haven't run away completely!

Quentin

Who is paying for the hire car?

Unless she had this provided by her insurer as part of her cover then this may be some form of credit hire arrangement organised by the claim handler.

Them washing their hands of her looks strange.

Write offs often are not initially apparent.

If her insurer didn't provide the replacement car, and have not had any other costs thenshe can sstill pursue the third party insurer direct.

She can contact them and ask if they have an innocent third party claim department. If so they will help her.

As already advised she needs to check what she has signed to regarding the hire car and the claim handler.

justontime

Quentin wrote: »

Who is paying for the hire car?

As already advised she needs to check what she has signed to regarding the hire car and the claim handler.

Apparently the claims service say they will get the hire car cost from the other driver. Yesterday (by phone) she had to give her insurance company and the claims service permission to communicate with each other. The whole thing makes me feel uncomfortable, but I was there when she originally spoke to them on the phone and they assured her that there was no chance of her having to pay for the hire car.

Thanks for all the advice. I will get her to ask again and get more detailed info about payment for the hire car.