Non Fault Car Insurance Claim - Driver at Fault Not Contacted His Insurance Company!

lisyloo

Agree with Bert.
If credit hire is involved they will have to pay more in the long run.
I would state this to them assertively (I'm holding back from using the word threaten).

You are being a bit of a pushover so far - I mean that in the nicest possible way, because you are being a nice person.
Well insurance companies aren't nice and they won't do anything until they are pushed.
Try to be polite over the phone but be assertive and let them know you've waited long enough and aren't prepared to wait any longer.
They can use telephones and mobiles these days. It's not hard for people to contact someone if they want to.

Avoid contact with the 3rd party directly.
It really isn't the done thing especially if you go "mob handed" as a couple of males.

If you go through your own insurer you'll have to pay the excess plus next year lose some NCB (if not protected) and get loaded for a claim unless it' all completely paid up by your renewal. We don't know how long you've got till renewal but as you can see they go at a snail's pace so chances of it all being settled AND paid are not high.

Pincher

Did you tick the "Legal Assistance" option and pay extra when you got the insurance? This situation is exactly what it's for.

Ideally you should have taken pictures of the other driver at the scene, as well as the cars and the surroundings, preferably with road names etc. If you put the effort in at the time of the accident, you can hand the case over to the firm of solicitors referred by the insurance company, and god help the other driver. Provided you gathered sufficient evidence, the whole thing will just go at its own pace.

Even your own insurance company will try to deny the claim if they suspect you staged the accident, so make sure the time stamp on your camera is correct.

With regards to the excess, you have to fork it out first.

I had a similar accident, where someone rushed out from a side road.

I had to pay the excess to the repairers, who was very good.
Then the insurers LOST the final invoice, and I had to find out that they lost it, get the repairers to send it again, and then chase again to get them to forward it to the other insurance company. Only then could I claim the excess back. Three months, roughly.

I was entitled to a free hire car under a fully comprehensive policy, but they simply passed the buck to Enterprise (car hire), and told them the OTHER insurance company will be paying!

My excess was virtually the same as the repair bill, and the other side paid the car hire. They simply processed a few forms, after my nagging. If they claim admin cost from the other side, my insurance company should pay ME for having a policy with them.

lisyloo

With regards to the excess, you have to fork it out first.

But only if you get your own insurers to repair the car and go through your own insurance. This isn't the only option.

If you get the other insurer to do the repairs (currently failling) or get a credit hire firm to provide a replacement car then you don't need to do this

Quentin

Pincher wrote: »

Did you tick the "Legal Assistance" option and pay extra when you got the insurance? This situation is exactly what it's for. .....

No.

"Legal assistance" doesn't work like this at all.

It is primarily for uninsured loss recovery.

The OP so far has no uninsured losses to chase.

He wants to claim of the third party and avoid the problem of paying his excess (which would be when he could make use of any "legal expenses")

Pincher

Quentin wrote: »

No.

"Legal assistance" doesn't work like this at all.

It is primarily for uninsured loss recovery.

It is supposed to be for pursuing disputed claims as well.

It is just difficult to get the insurance company to support any such action because they have to pay legal expenses, so they just make a no-fault settlement with the other insurance company, saddling the claimant with the excess.
Obviously, claiming for legal expenses is a claim as well, so it will impact on his claim history, and a no fault settlement can affect the no-claims bonus.

It is much easier to get the insurance company to initiate legal action if the other driver is uninsured, because they have to pay for the loss/repair without getting it back from somebody else.

For the next renewal, the OP will still have to declare the accident, even if the other side accepts liability.

Theoretically, you can take the culprit to small claims court, but all they will do is delay and then offer a no-fault settlement, and try to NOT pay for the hire car, because they did not authorise replacement car hire.

Quentin

Pincher wrote: »

It is supposed to be for pursuing disputed claims as well........

Which company's legal cover are you referring to?

They all state in the policy what "legal cover" is for and in the main it is uninsured loss recovery.

ie. recovering losses not covered by any insurance policy.

And they will only pursue for these if they believe the claim is likely to succeeed.

Eg Direct Line's so called "Motor Legal Protection":

http://www.directline.com/car-insurance/extras/legal-protection.htm

Pincher

Quentin wrote: »

Which company's legal cover are you referring to?

I had a wing mirror clipping incident. The other driver was over-confident, and carried on at speed, so the two wing mirrors touched. My mirror bent back and was fine, but the other car's motorised wing mirror was broken. We exchanged insurance details and basically expected a no-fault settlement.

I reported by mobile phone on the day, and assumed it would just sort itself out, as my car had no damage. I think my insurance company was NIG, which advised me that as I had Legal Assistance, they were referring me to a claim assistance firm. This firm then started asking for all sorts of evidence, including proof that my car was actually there. A document package eventually turns up, where I was supposed to appoint them to pursue my claim. My car did not have a scratch! I refused to sign, so they had to drop it. They just wanted to make up a claim so they can get paid. If there is actually a good case, as in the case of the OP, they will really go for it. This is in the age where the insurance company got a kickback in the form of a referral fee.

There are always going to be cases that are not clear cut, and not necessarily uninsured, where the dispute can escalate to legal action. The problem is, the insurance company will have to actually pay the legal costs, so they will usually find a cheaper way out, and refuse to pay for you to go to court.

Quentin

Pincher wrote: »

I had a wing mirror clipping incident. .......

This anecdote is nothing to do with having paid for the motor insurance add on "legal insurance".

Your insurer was hoping to gain a commission by passing you on to a claim management company.

Irrelevant to this thread.

BertTheRaccoon

What you have demonstrated in your post is that the legal expenses policy was not used. It was merely used as a claims capture mechanism for your insurer or broker to refer you onto a claims management or credit hire company in order to:

a) avoid financial exposure by you claiming against your policy
b) receive a commission for credit hire

Legal expenses policies are not all they are purported to be and generally any of the solicitors who are appointed to act under the policies are bullied into agreeing never to claim any costs against the policy, otherwise they won't see any injury claims referred to them.

Pincher

I understand the OP wants to avoid going through his own insurance company, but faced with an obstructive culprit, stronger measures are necessary. The claims management rottweilers can work for you because they want their cut.

If you go straight to a No win no fee firm, they can come after you if they can't get blood from the other side. Going through the Legal Expenses referral at least insulates you from the hounds of hell from biting back.