PO Car Insurance - Any experience of claiming?

TrikerAndBiker

We were involved in a minor (ish) RTA yesterday in which a young girl cut straight across us at a crossroads to which we had right of way. We ended up swiping the side of her car resulting in damage on our car to the bonnet, wing, bumper and front light cluster. Three police cars and two ambulances later (think North Wales emergency services were bored lol) I ended up in hospital with a torn AC joint in my shoulder from the seatbelt cutting in (amazing really as we were only doing about 12mph at the time of the collision!)

As its an R reg Corsa I have a feeling the insurance company will write it off. Any idea how long they will take to make payment (and yes, I know to refuse the first offer if it seems rather low) I am also going for a personal injury claim as the hospital have said my arm will be in a sling for up to 8 weeks which means I cant drive (or ride my bike) and it will cause real disruption in my job. We also have had to cancel a holiday in this country which we were due to go on on Wednesday (really knew we should have gone out for a ride on the bikes saturday instead of going shopping in the car! lol)

When I phoned the PO insurance line on saturday to report the smash I was told I would have to wait til Monday for someone in the assessment office to contact me to discuss the car and the possibility of a curtesy car as they only work Monday to Friday in that department. So note to all those with PO insurance, make sure you only have an accident during office hours!

Anyone with any advice please as to how long it might take and am I better off using the PO insurance services to pursue the personal injury claim or going to my solicitor?

Thank you for any help