Insurance claim against Domino's moped rider

loskie

If you don't need the hire car you can claim £10 a day in lieu. That's what I did when I claimed against a third party this year. His insurer was Privelige.
They actually wrote my car off as an uneconomic repair which suited me fine. Paid out £1900 for a car I paid £1450 for 18 months earlier. I bought it off them for £155 and spent £350 or so fixing it.
So OP sounds as like you should get things sorted amicably.

Quentin

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Because their excess might be £10,000 (for example) so they can't claim on their insurance.

Not really - you only pay your excess when you claim for damage to your own property.




In this instance their insurer is dealing with the OP's claim.

Quentin

AdrianC wrote: »

.....Oh, gawd, an accident management company.



OK, great. Read the small-print of the hire car very carefully. If their insurer is going this route, then liability is near-as-dammit accepted, but if you don't NEED that hire car, don't take it - because there is a small chance the massively inflated cost of it could end up back on you - and you sign to accept that when you sign to take the car.



This is from the AMC, rather than the insurer? There's a bit of wriggle-room in there because they cannot speak on behalf of the insurer directly.

Lot of misinformation and scaremongering here

Many reputable insurers use accident management companies to handle repairs rfather than employ an in house team.

(You are mixing up this case with the ambulance chaser type AMCs who are mainly interested in expensive credit car hire - this won't be the case here as any replacement hire car won't be at extortionate credit hire rates, it will be at a cut price rate negotiated by the insurer(who will be a "good" customer), and no question the OP would end up paying for it!)

qxt123

Quentin wrote: »

Lot of misinformation and scaremongering here

Many reputable insurers use accident management companies to handle repairs rfather than employ an in house team.

(You are mixing up this case with the ambulance chaser type AMCs who are mainly interested in expensive credit car hire - this won't be the case here as any replacement hire car won't be at extortionate credit hire rates, it will be at a cut price rate negotiated by the insurer(who will be a "good" customer), and no question the OP would end up paying for it!)

I do need a hire car to get to work and travel to London this weekend, but are there implications for taking this from them as tbh, my car is perfectly drivable and if the damage is only cosmetic as I presume, it shouldn't be in a garage for more than a few hours? Starting to doubt whether I should take their offer of a hire car now as you're making it sound like there are hidden charges to sting me?

Update: was contacted by yet another company (nationwide repairs) acting on behalf of the one acting on behalf of the original insurer (broker) who will actually collect and repair the car. They're the ones providing the hire car through enterprise. A letter today suggested I take the third party accident management's offer of repair to 'keep costs low' as they offer hire cars at low rates, eg £12 for a small hatchback.

Ultimately, their letter states they're offering free repairs and free hire car - am I expected to pay for anything? When I call them back today to go ahead with repairs, I think I might ask for the T&C in writing regarding the hire car.

Edit: How can I 'demand' my car be repaired at a garage of my choice as I'm sure they would only fix it using one their approved garages? And I wouldn't know of good garage beyond the VW dealership anyway? Would probably lose the hire car too.

Quentin

My post was intended to reassure you that you won't get stung!


You can "demand" your car gets repaired at your choice of repairer as it's your right.


But not an issue if you are happy with the suggested repairer.


You are also entitled to a replacement car (if you need one) whilst yours is off the road, so the choice of repairer doesn't affect that.


The various offers you have had from AMCs are confusing - to be free from any possibility of expensive credit hire charges you need to be using the third party insurer or their own AMC.




Has your car been looked at by a garage/insurance engineer etc - if they say it's not roadworthy then of course accept the hire car.


Be sure to read any agreement you get over this to determine that you are not in the hands of a credit hire type AMC, but are with the third party insurer - if necessary ring the third party insurer and get confirmation that they have instructed the particular company you are now dealing with

qxt123

Quentin wrote: »

My post was intended to reassure you that you won't get stung!


You can "demand" your car gets repaired at your choice of repairer as it's your right.


But not an issue if you are happy with the suggested repairer.


You are also entitled to a replacement car (if you need one) whilst yours is off the road, so the choice of repairer doesn't affect that.


The various offers you have had from AMCs are confusing - to be free from any possibility of expensive credit hire charges you need to be using the third party insurer or their own AMC.




Has your car been looked at by a garage/insurance engineer etc - if they say it's not roadworthy then of course accept the hire car.


Be sure to read any agreement you get over this to determine that you are not in the hands of a credit hire type AMC, but are with the third party insurer - if necessary ring the third party insurer and get confirmation that they have instructed the particular company you are now dealing with

Thanks for the reply.

I haven't actually been contacted by the third party insurer in all of this yet. They are ERS. I've been contacted by Innovation Motors which I think is the AMC you're referring to. Who have contracted out the repairs to Nationwide repairs (incidentally, some horror stories on here in the past with these guys I've just found). The hire car is to come from the repairers Nationwide. Who should I be dealing with here: Dominos, ERS, Innovation or Nationwide??

Not much has been in writing as this has all been via telephone. The car hasn't been looked at yet - initially the AMC said an engineer would look at it at my home before arranging collection but the repairers have subsequently stated they will just take it away to their garage and look at it there. I was thinking about getting an independent garage to assess the damage or even my VW dealership and quote the cost of repair (although to my untrained eye I highly suspect the damage is minimal/barely cosmetic). Guessing this wouldn't affect things as I know some insurers refuse to repair your car if you've taken it to an non-approved garage first.

AdrianC

qxt123 wrote: »

I haven't actually been contacted by the third party insurer in all of this yet. They are ERS. I've been contacted by Innovation Motors which I think is the AMC you're referring to. Who have contracted out the repairs to Nationwide repairs (incidentally, some horror stories on here in the past with these guys I've just found). The hire car is to come from the repairers Nationwide. Who should I be dealing with here: Dominos, ERS, Innovation or Nationwide??

Not much has been in writing as this has all been via telephone. The car hasn't been looked at yet - initially the AMC said an engineer would look at it at my home before arranging collection but the repairers have subsequently stated they will just take it away to their garage and look at it there. I was thinking about getting an independent garage to assess the damage or even my VW dealership and quote the cost of repair (although to my untrained eye I highly suspect the damage is minimal/barely cosmetic). Guessing this wouldn't affect things as I know some insurers refuse to repair your car if you've taken it to an non-approved garage first.

You have no contractual relationship with their insurer, or with the AMC, so you don't have to accept ANYTHING they tell you as gospel.

You can arrange for the car to be repaired by whoever you choose - and, since their accept liability for the collision, the bill will land on them. BUT... that doesn't mean it has to be as straightforward as if they manage the whole process. They may decide not to pay for a courtesy car. They may decide that you need to pay and they will reimburse you.

Quentin

qxt123 wrote: »

I haven't actually been contacted by the third party insurer in all of this yet. They are ERS. .........

It was this post that told us you were contacted by the third party insurer's AMC offering help:

qxt123 wrote: »

I received a call yesterday from a third party company authorised by Domino's insurance co. to settle the repairs directly with me. They say they will inspect my vehicle, arrange for delivery to a garage, fix it with genuine parts covered by a 5 year guarantee, offer a courtesy car in the meantime and deliver the vehicle back to me without this affecting my NCD with my own insurers......

You do need to be sure that company are acting on the instructions from ERS.


Otherwise you may be getting hoodwinked into a credit hire type agreement!


Speak to ERS and see if they have an innocent third party claims department who can confirm everything is above board

AdrianC

Quentin wrote: »

You do need to be sure that company are acting on the instructions from ERS.

Otherwise you may be getting hoodwinked into a credit hire type agreement!

Speak to ERS and see if they have an innocent third party claims department who can confirm everything is above board

<cough> "misinformation and scaremongering", eh...?

angrycrow

Quentin wrote: »

Not really - you only pay your excess when you claim for damage to your own property.

That statement is only correct for private motor policies. Lots large fleet policies carry an excess of at least £10000 against own and third party claims. Anything below the excess is dealt with in house.