Car insurance claim and credit repair fob off?

SteelSeries

Hi,

I had an accident today which I registered with my insurer (Hastings) who told me that it sounds like it's no fault of mine, and that they'd submit the allegation to the 3rd party's insurance.

Luckily I've never needed to claim on insurance before, so I'm not sure how it's supposed to go, but after the above Hastings told me someone from a company called Auxillis (a credit repair company) would contact me regarding the sourcing and paying of repairs, arranging a hire car for the duration and recovering the cost of the repairs from the 3rd party.

This company (not a part of Hastings) has its own documentation and terms that need to be agreed prior to the service commencing and suggests there are fees (admin, evaluating engineer, etc) that I am liable for without being explicitly clear what the exact value of these charges are.

Is this all normal? Whilst I wasn't sure of the process, I thought it would be something along the lines of (albeit a simplistic view) I register the accident with my insurer, get a few quotes from Hastings recognised repair garages, Hastings agree the quote, I get the work done and Hastings pay the garage direct, then Hastings recover the money back from the 3rd party's insurance.

Just a bit confused and concerned why I'm being pushed by my insurers to a completely different company. I paid them for my cover, am I incorrect in assuming they should be doing a little more for me?

Please excuse my naivety and simplistic understanding. Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Quentin

The advantage to you of not claiming is no excess to have to pay and reclaim, no temporary loss of ncd till your insurer gets reimbursed ( which can cause problems if renewal is due whilst the claim has not been concluded), and a replacement car provided whilst yours is off the road rather than a courtesy car just whilst yours is in the repairer.

If you aren't happy then consider going direct to the third party insurer and seeing if they will deal with your claim.


If you tellthem that your insurer is pushing you to auxillis, then they may be very happy to deal with your repairs/replacement car etc!

SteelSeries

Many thanks Quentin. That makes sense.

Of the things you suggested, the only benefit I see I'd be missing out on is not having to pay and reclaim the excess. I car share to work, and can work at home if necessary so a courtesy car isn't necessary. I've also just renewed my insurance in July so temporary loss of NCD shouldn't affect me.

So assuming the 3rd party accepts responsibility, I should be able to reclaim my excess from the insurance company and my NCD will be affected only temporarily?

If I go through the credit repair company, I have to pay upfront fee's for the use of their service, but I cannot reclaim these. But on plus side I am not using my insurance company at all so NCD and excess remains untouched?

Am I understanding that right?

Many thanks

Quentin

No.

The credit repair company shouldn't be charging you anything.

One other advantage of using the third party insurer is you will be able to insist on using your choice of repairer.

The credit repairer may insist you use their repairer

SteelSeries

Oh right. They gave me a few garages that they approve, one which was very close to me, who I've initially gone to for an estimate, but I haven't agreed using the Credit Repair company yet. It was just for the purpose of getting an initial quote.

So should I be contacting the 3rd party insurer then? That seems like the kind of hassle that I pay my insurance company for?

Many thanks

EdGasket

It is becoming more and more common for insurance companies to palm you off to so called 'Claims Management Companies' where you have a non-fault claim. This is all well and good for the inurer who receives a nice referral fee for no work. The trouble is that these 'Claims Management Companies' are expensive; their hire cars are expensive, and the policyholder is often left with the bill if the 'Claims Management Companies' fails to recover all their costs from the third party. Even where liability is admitted you can still lose out if the TP's insurer says the hire car costs are excessive and will only pay a contribution towards them.

If it were me, I would:
1) Try to use the TP's insurer in the first instance
2) Insist my own insurer sort out the repairs and claim the costs and excess back off the TP at which point NCB should be reinstated.

By choice I would have nothing to do with 'Claims Management Companies'!

Quentin

SteelSeries wrote: »

So should I be contacting the 3rd party insurer then? That seems like the kind of hassle that I pay my insurance company for?

Many thanks

It shouldn't be any hassle at all.

When liability is clear cut the third party insurer usually is very happy to assist, and there would be no credit repair contracts for you to get involved with.

One phone call to see if they have an innocent third party claims department is all you need to do.

If they won't play ball tell them you are being pushed into a credit repair - if they still don't help you can still go back to your own insurer with the claim

SteelSeries

Thank you both for your help. That really helps. I've also just had a long conversation with Hastings and they took it really slow and fully explained the process choosing to use them for the claim, or to use the referred credit repair company.

I think as you both said, I will initially try an sort things without the credit repair company.

Thanks very much for your help.

TrickyDicky101

SteelSeries wrote: »

Thank you both for your help. That really helps. I've also just had a long conversation with Hastings and they took it really slow and fully explained the process choosing to use them for the claim, or to use the referred credit repair company.

I think as you both said, I will initially try an sort things without the credit repair company.

Thanks very much for your help.

I'm pretty sure that isn't what has been advised - try first going direct to the Third Party insurer.

EdGasket

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that isn't what has been advised - try first going direct to the Third Party insurer.

What the OP says is fine; you misread it. The OP says will try and NOT use the claim management company.

TrickyDicky101

EdGasket wrote: »

What the OP says is fine; you misread it. The OP says will try and NOT use the claim management company.

Oops - totally correct. Sorry OP