An ASDA van has just hit me

bigbitty

Hi all

An ASDA van has just reversed into me - his fault, and I have been given a card with ASDA's management team details. It also says that they could deal with my claim faster than my insurance company (Admiral), and arrange a free replacement while repairs happen.

What do you think? Should I use them or Admiral? I really do not want to lose my no claims discount, or have my premiums put up.

Nasqueron

You claim from them and inform your insurer of the accident making it clear it is for information only. If you claim on your insurance I believe you will have to pay your excess and then try and get it back from the other side.

SailorSam

It's not unusual in any crash that the person at fault may offer to get the job done without going through the insurance, They'll not want to lose any no-claims they have.
I think as long as you have some sort of signature confirming it was their fault. Not sure what you should do about informing your insurance you read so many stories where even with no-fault crashes they bung up premiums.

McKneff

Some insurance companies do increase your premiums if you have a no fault accident but it is in all policies terms and condition that you have to inform them of any incident. If you don't, you are breaching your contract with them and if it rears its ugly head in the future in the middle of a fault claim..... your in it up to your neck.


Its easier and faster dealing directly with the other parties insurance. Its happened to me twice and was all sorted out within 10 days.

chris_m

SailorSam wrote: »

It's not unusual in any crash that the person at fault may offer to get the job done without going through the insurance, They'll not want to lose any no-claims they have.

ASDA are large enough that they may well self-insure.

Futuristic

Nasqueron wrote: »

You claim from them and inform your insurer of the accident making it clear it is for information only. If you claim on your insurance I believe you will have to pay your excess and then try and get it back from the other side.

I can't remember what it was but on TV very recently, if you reported to your insurance provider of a accident/"potential claim" you will find it recorded on your file and your premium will go up (will be shown to other insurers)

This of course works against you if you don't report it and you don't get the person/company to resolve the damage themselves or the insurer finds out you didn't tell them.

stator

As long as you get something in writing I would go ahead.

dacouch

Large fleet owners frequently employ this method for a number of reasons eg

1) To control the costs of the claim, they're at fault so at some point will need to pay your losses. If they deal with you directly they can cut out the costs of a "Credit Hire" vehicle and credit repairs which can often more than double the cost of a claim.

2) To protect their brand image, they can avoid alienating a customer by handling the claim smoothly.

3) By forcing their own fleet drivers to report accidents to them instantly it avoids finding out about a small incident the driver thought would not result in a claim which they eventually hear about six months later when presented with an inflated bill.

I would bite Asda's hand off, they should have a well oiled system in place to repair your vehicle and arrange alternative transport.

If there are any injuries, it would not be prudent to claim for the injuries directly through Asda.

If you claim through your Admiral Policy, they will pass you onto Albany (Google them to see how bad they are). Albany will put you in a "Credit Hire" vehicle at a cost of two or three times the going rate and will eventually repair your car (The longer you're in their inflated cost hire car the more money they make)

Albany would pay Admiral circa £350 for passing you over to them as they make so much money from the credit hire vehicle.

It's trying to keep you away from companies such as Albany who massively inflate vehicle claims that Asda have contacted you so quickly to offer their services to repair your car and offer a courtesy vehicle

OnanTheBarbarian

What dacouch said + if you use a credit hire car now you will get drawn into a squabble about the fees you have incurred as a cheaper alternative has been offered to you.

Grab the offer of their help

Nasqueron

Futuristic wrote: »

I can't remember what it was but on TV very recently, if you reported to your insurance provider of a accident/"potential claim" you will find it recorded on your file and your premium will go up (will be shown to other insurers)

This of course works against you if you don't report it and you don't get the person/company to resolve the damage themselves or the insurer finds out you didn't tell them.

Some will load a premium for a non-fault accident yes. Personally I wouldn't recommend someone breaks the terms of their insurance by not reporting something major as it will void their policy and could lead to a cancellation which will cost far more than any small rise. I had an incident in my old car (ice on road, just damage to my own car which I was looking to replace) - I informed the insurers of it (no claim - car was barely above scrap value due to model and age) then got a lower premium on the new (bigger) car I replaced it with via a comparison site at renewal and I avoid anything nasty coming back to bite me.

If it was Asda van doing a little scrape that needed a paint job then yes let them deal with it, major (but repairable) damage I would inform the insurer (and yes I am aware the insurance policy would no doubt treat them the same!)

dacouch

Nasqueron wrote: »

Some will load a premium for a non-fault accident yes. Personally I wouldn't recommend someone breaks the terms of their insurance by not reporting something major as it will void their policy and could lead to a cancellation which will cost far more than any small rise. I had an incident in my old car (ice on road, just damage to my own car which I was looking to replace) - I informed the insurers of it (no claim - car was barely above scrap value due to model and age) then got a lower premium on the new (bigger) car I replaced it with via a comparison site at renewal and I avoid anything nasty coming back to bite me.

If it was Asda van doing a little scrape that needed a paint job then yes let them deal with it, major (but repairable) damage I would inform the insurer (and yes I am aware the insurance policy would no doubt treat them the same!)

The OP's Insurer will just sell the claim onto Albany who will offer the same service as Asda at a grossly inflated cost and it will almost certainly take a lot longer.

Google Albany Assistance or have a look on MSE as there are many threads about how poor they are