Claims advice please

lordFSA

Having been rear ended, I contacted my insurance (1st central) to get this sorted. They initially referred me to Kindertons, who said that because the third party denied liability, they cannot do anything about it. (They did send an engineer to assess the damage).

I then called 1st central again, who said my only option (apart from getting it fixed privately) is to claim through my own policy, pay my excess, lose the NCB and then subsequently they will attempt to represent me to the 3rd party insurance.

Am I being naive, or is this how all claims work? I fail to see why I should be out of pocket if I was rear ended and my rear bumper was damaged as a result.

Do I need to liaise with the local constabulary to get hold of CCTV footage etc to show the 3rd party were to blame?

InsideInsurance

1st Central are your brokers not your insurers

When liability is in dispute you either claim off of your own policy who then make a claim against the TP on your behalf or you go DIY and claim directly from the third party but evidently in this case you will have to argue liability which isnt the easiest thing to do.

Do you know on what grounds the TP is denying liability?
Have you called the TPI yourself?

Whilst the ambulance chasers Kindertons have declined to do things on credit for you because of the dispute there may be other leeches that will be more bullish and be willing to take it on. Generally these companies dont actually like risking their money so only take on the very nice easy cases.

lordFSA

If 1st central are the brokers, is my insurance company the underwriters they specified in the policy?

Kinderton's didn't tell me why TP denied liability nor have I called TPI myself. I will chase those up.

Is it worth going through another ambulance chaser or shall I just go through my policy?

Anything else I should do to stay on top/ahead of things?

Cheers for clearing up the procedure in my mind.

InsideInsurance

Things often get lost in translation/ chinese whisper issues etc.

Our client hasnt contacted us yet, we havent decided our position on liability, we are awaiting to discuss liability with out client, there are indemnity issues etc all get converted to "liability is in dispute" when in reality it isnt disputed, just under question still.

You could try calling the TPI yourself and ask to speak to the "third party claims" team (different companies call it different things but most will get the above). You will probably get a straighter picture on if liability is being questioned or disputed. If it is disputed then ask they provide their clients version of events.

If you do the above, remember to remain calm and "professional". The other person isnt emotionally connected to the accident and isnt to blame for the situation but may have a twitchy hang up finger if you start a rant etc.

I will never advocate ambulance chasers and most dont like doing cases they actually need to do work on but another may take it on, esp if the TPI have changed their possition.

Strider590

3rd party insurers nearly always deny liability before they've had time to process their clients explanation of events.

You will get premium increases even if its not your fault, people who have accidents are statistically more likely to have more in future.

PLUS they are aware that rear end shunts can be caused by people trying to provoke others, ie "brake testing" someone to provoke them.

This idea that rear end shunt is clean cut, is in actual fact not based in truth.

InsideInsurance

Strider590 wrote: »

3rd party insurers nearly always deny liability before they've had time to process their clients explanation of events.

Personally never once denied liability before getting a statement etc, it was a case of not being able to comment on liability yet. As per my post, this often gets changed to deny through message relaying but there is a difference between something being denied and something being investigated

dacouch

Strider590 wrote: »

3rd party insurers nearly always deny liability before they've had time to process their clients explanation of events.

You will get premium increases even if its not your fault, people who have accidents are statistically more likely to have more in future.

PLUS they are aware that rear end shunts can be caused by people trying to provoke others, ie "brake testing" someone to provoke them.

This idea that rear end shunt is clean cut, is in actual fact not based in truth.

Incredibly rare for someone hitting another car in the rear not being held liable

InsideInsurance

dacouch wrote: »

Incredibly rare for someone hitting another car in the rear not being held liable

It depends what actually happened. There are plenty of circumstances where someone going into the back of someone isnt liable - eg when that person had just changed lane, when that person is reversing etc

People sometimes are a little selective with the details when the headline makes it look like someone elses fault.

dacouch

InsideInsurance wrote: »

It depends what actually happened. There are plenty of circumstances where someone going into the back of someone isnt liable - eg when that person had just changed lane, when that person is reversing etc

People sometimes are a little selective with the details when the headline makes it look like someone elses fault.

The poster I was replying to was talking about rear end shunts which is not a changing lane or reversing accident.

InsideInsurance

dacouch wrote: »

The poster I was replying to was talking about rear end shunts which is not a changing lane or reversing accident.

Did you read my comment? Thought you had been in this game long enough to know the halve truths people tell.

No comment on the OP, but have had claims before where it was simply logged as rear end shunt. After further investigation it showed that it was a rear end shunt but it was because the client had cut someone up, pulled out of a side road when there wasnt time to do so, was reverse from a parking space at the time etc

lordFSA

I stalled at some traffic lights when they became green, put on my footbrake whilst I restarted the engine, TP in a caddy van then ran into the back of me. Full on bumper-to-bumper impact, no side swipes indicating any overtaking manoeuvres etc.

TP admitted to being distracted whilst plugging his mobile into charge, however I did not have the foresight to record this conversation. He was itching to call it evens and not involve insurance companies, I denied and insisted on exchanging insurance details (which he did) and took photos at the scene.

I didn't inspect the car closely at the scene as everything seemed intact, but returning home I noticed the rear bumper had bent over a metal part of the rear metal bar.




TPI have said they did not receive engineers report as per their request, hence their denying of liability. My insurance are saying that Kindertons are claiming to have never received my statement of truth and sketches of the incident.

This Chinese Whispers is really starting to get frustrating. I have forwarded the email with my SoT to 1st Central, which proves when I sent it to Kindertons. 1st Central are saying they did not receive engineers report from Kindertons, hence why they could not forward to TPI.