Council Van hit my car

pulliptears

Slightly different but a council van hit my friends house a few weeks ago!

Its a pebble dash fronted terrace and caused a deep gouge in the front. After being passed from department to department she has finally been told to obtain 2 quotes for repair and send them in.

Hope you get it sorted.

redpete

curtainsplitter wrote: »

I'm yet to speak to my insurance about it all. can anyone help me with a draft letter as ideally I want to get the repair done privately and reclaim the cost?

Phone your insurance company and tell them what happened - they will advise how to claim. As it was not your fault I reckon you are entitled to full recompense for any damage - I know when I had a no-fault accident the full repair was done and I had no expenses.

curtainsplitter

I rang my insurnace company today who is AXA. They were pretty helpful and told me that they already knew about the incident!!They said that when I reported it to the police a crime reference number was generated and the police check both vehicle's documents ie mot, insurance etc and pass it onto each insurance department. However apparently they can't pursue a claim of non-fault without the insurance policy holder's consent and is it THEIR policy and not AXA's. So AXA said I will have to pay a excess upfront and only when they get the costs back from the other side will I get my excess back. So they said am welcome to go privately or I can use my legal cover protection and put in a claim. So I'm going to draft up a letter to the council but no idea what to say..can anyone help me? It would be really appreciated as I have never been in this situation before

arcon5

The police notify insurance companies.....? That's gotta be new right?

curtainsplitter

Yeah. Can anyone help me with a draft letter..?

redpete

curtainsplitter wrote: »

Yeah. Can anyone help me with a draft letter..?

Dear Council,

On dd/mm/2014 I was parked in xxxx car park. When I returned to my car I noticed it had been damaged - a dint near the rear bumper and rear door and also a huge scratch and the rear headlight had been damaged; see the attached photographs. This occurred about hh:mm. The damage was caused by one of your vehicles registration AANN AAA. This was witnessed by a parking warden (badge number NNN) who took a note of the council vehicle's registration number and details of the incident. Note that the driver had not stopped. (NOTE - it's not clear whether the driver had stopped or not because you say the warden had talked to him.)

I have notified my insurance company (AXA, policy number nnn-nn-nnn). The police have also been notified (crime number nnn).

Please let me know how you will reimburse me for repairs to my vehicle.

If I don't hear from you by dd/mm/2014 I will instruct my insurance company to submit a claim to recover the costs using my legal cover protection.

Regards,

curtainsplitter.

colino

Good stab at the letter, but your not a mechanic. Stick with, "severe damage to bumper, lights, rear quarter panel and door." It's up to an assessor to price it up.
Don't put in your insurance details (and I'm still bemused that you say AXA have already been informed). It is none of the LAs business if you are insured at all, you are making an innocent party claim from them.

redpete

colino wrote: »

Good stab at the letter,

Thank you - I think...

but your not a mechanic. Stick with, "severe damage to bumper, lights, rear quarter panel and door." It's up to an assessor to price it up.

That was just a quote from the OP's original statement of the damage.

Don't put in your insurance details (and I'm still bemused that you say AXA have already been informed). It is none of the LAs business if you are insured at all, you are making an innocent party claim from them.

The OP said they've contacted AXA, the council said the claim had to made via the insurance company, it seems reasonable to head off further delaying tactics to say that the insurance company had been contacted.

People get too wound up about exact wording of letters and look for templates for absolutely everything. In this case statement of the facts and asking for money to cover repairs seems reasonable.

curtainsplitter

Thank you guys I'll adapt that letter! Regards

curtainsplitter

Well I didn't end up sending the letter. I instead asked the council on their facebook why they felt the need to ignore me and funnily on a social network site they responded. I got a response and now management is involved.
They tell me that the council driver responsible has been disciplined and they will contact me and they claim full responsibility, and apparently the driver was not meant to be in this area with that council vehicle as it's such a large vehicle it isn't meant for car parks the council management told me. When they have contacted me they've said I have to go through insurance and can't handle it outside of insurance (if the mse users can post me the law on this i would love it as it would be greatfully helpful). I'm not happy about it though because I had a quote from my garage for the damage and its £650.00 but im told that some part prices may increase day to day. My concern is that I'm with AXA insurance and whilst the insurance will repair the damage they won't get my excess back and the premium increase in insurance because I don't have legal cover even though it wasn't my fault. I can buy legal cover and add it to my policy online, but I suppose if I was to do that now I would be told that I didn't have legal cover at the date of the incident..right? Therefore am really upset about it all and then of the accident being added onto my insurance history it will make my premium increase overall as I read that now insurance companies go on the risk not fault. Plus I am more concerned they will write my car off due to the age :as it is a 03 reg (. Anyway I did voice these concerns to the council and email my insurance about it when it happened but haven't hear anything back. I'm told monday someone who deals with claims their will ring me from the council..so slightly unsure whats going to happen really