We are an innocent third party in a motor accident

Rimkh2

Hello,
Our car was recently involved in an accident. The other driver immediately admitted full responsibility and thanked us for our driving skills in limiting damage to his car and injury to himself.
His insurers provided us without qualm a replacement rental car until we were roadworthy again. This was over six weeks ago.
The insurers offered us over a month ago £650.00 for the value of our 13 year old car. This we declined. The only vehicle with matching spec to ours that we could find online was priced at £1600.00. It was also 250 miles away. Our car also has a cherished plate, we have owned it for 12 years of its life. Subsequent to the original offer a cheque arrived from the insurer for the sum of £756.00 with no letter of explanation to its meaning or warning of its arrival. We returned this to the insurer by registered post with a covering letter. Emphasising our position. No response. Two weeks and several emails to them later another cheque for the identical amount arrived again with no warning or explanation. They have subsequently used the hire car company to contact us and warn of removing the replacement car. This was taken away last week leaving us with no transport and insufficient monies to repair or replace our car which is not roadworthy. We have telephoned the insurer, it takes 15-20 minutes to navigate their telephone claims system part of their recorded message states, if you prefer not to hold email us. We have sent two letters by recorded delivery, 12 emails and not received a single letter or message of response from them. We have never banked their cheques or agreed a settlement figure with them.
What do we do next?

Quentin

Write with your evidence for your valuation, and ask them to revise their offer. (Remember that asking prices are not "market value" as sellers expect buyers to haggle).

If this fails, then you can consider court action or a claim off your own policy (if you have cover).

rev_henry

Well done for not just banking the cheque. My understanding is that insurers often just send a cheque hoping you'll bank it, thus accepting it as full and final settlement by default.

You do know you can transfer the cherished plate don't you? They do however need to add the £100 transfer fee (or however much it is) onto the claim.

Find out the company's complaints procedure and follow it through is my advice.

As Quentin says you may wish to go through your own insurer (if fully comp) BUT until the 3rd party insurer settles your no claims discount WILL be revoked, and this could take time.

Quentin

rev_henry wrote: »

......As Quentin says you may wish to go through your own insurer (if fully comp) BUT until the 3rd party insurer settles your no claims discount WILL be revoked, and this could take time.

Making a claim doesn't "revoke" your NCD.

Normally none is awarded for the current year and 2 years are deducted from any you had at the start of the policy.

But if the claim is concluded prior to renewal then there should be no noticeable impact on your NCD.

Note though you would have to pay your excess were you to claim off your own insurer and pursue the third party for this to be reimbursed, and any outstanding premium due would normally be deducted from the settlement figure.

You would also need to check your policy to see what happens following a total loss payout as some policies end after a payout, or give you a short window to insure any replacement car.

losgiganteskid

Do not forget that all claims are personal - following this accident you do NOT have a claim against the insurer of the other vehicle - your claim is against the person responsible for causing damage ie the driver of the other vehicle.

It has already been said that often the third party insurer will merely send a cheque out to you in the hope that you will bank it and that will be the end of the matter. You did the correct thing in returning it.

The action I would take now if I were you is simple. Send a r/d letter direct to the driver who caused the accident merely stating words to the effect that negotiations between yourself and his insurers have broken down therefore regrettably you are now looking to him personally to pay your losses.

Given that one assumes the third party driver has paid an insurance premium to cover him for any claim made against him he will toot sweet send your letter onto his insurers asking that they deal with the matter on his/her behalf and that they will not be expecting any more correspondence from you regarding the matter - that way, both you and the other driver will be leaning on the insurer to take some action to settle your claim.

I would add to your letter to the responsible driver that in the event of no satisfactory conclusion you will have no alternative other than to issue a County Court summons against him/her - again, he/she won't take too kindly to receiving one of those

Good Luck

makeyourdaddyproud

With all due respect, what price you find online is of no consequence. Insurers use a formula when calculating used car prices based on make and model. I think you made a mistake and wasted time returning the cheque for the revised figure.

For you to say £1600, which is over double the revised offer, just shows you are living in cloud cuckoo land. You will get nowhere close to that figure.

Also, £1600 is just the figure the seller wants for that car, it has nothing to do with the value, only the fact you saw a car which is probably in a better condition and mileage than the one you crashed and are hoping your insurer will acquiesce to it.

I hope they return the first cheque to you (again).

dacouch

Bear in mind that when dealing directly with a third party Insurer, their offer will be for X amount but with you retaining the salvage of the car which is generally worth £200+.

What is the exact make, model, year and mileage of your car?

tberry6686

What type of car is it ?

There are not that many 13 yr old cars worth £1600 around (unless it is a rare model or premium marque).

It may well be that you have only found one at £1600 pounds available but that doesn't mean it is worth £1600.

Rimkh2

Thank you all that offered your advice. Quentin and losgiganteskid particularly. Makesyourdaddyproud, with all due respect to you, we are not living in cloud cuckoo land. We have sent numerous emails and registered letters to the insurance company and they do not respond to us. We accept that all of life is a negotiation and that prices of cars advertised for sale are subject to that. The fact remains the other party has admitted full responsibility yet we are left with losses that their insurer fails to discuss or compensate us for. Yes we do realise that a cherished plate can be transferred at a price. We have made the insurance company aware of this also. Should we bank the second cheque that will leave us with £675.00 to secure the purchase of an equal 13 year old vehicle with full service history and 'one' owner. A needle in a haystack. In the meantime we have no transport. Our costs incurred will go up on wasted train fares etc. during our search for a replacement car. 250 miles for the only car that matches our spec. Why we should we the innocent party have to suffer this?

tberry6686

A 13 yr old car with full service history and 1 owner from new will command only a very slight premium over any other 13 yr old car of the same type. It will not be worth double the money.
What type of car is it. without this information no-one can say whether you are being realistic or wildly optimistic with your valuation.

spacey2012

tberry6686 wrote: »

A 13 yr old car with full service history and 1 owner from new will command only a very slight premium over any other 13 yr old car of the same type. It will not be worth double the money.
What type of car is it. without this information no-one can say whether you are being realistic or wildly optimistic with your valuation.

Answer this question !