Car Insurance - Without Drive Assist!

dacouch

Actually in a lot of circumstances its a lot easier to go through the other Insurers (Assuming they have accepted liability)

You will have no excess to pay, your no claims bonus is not temporarily reduced until the claim is settled (Assuming you don't have protected), they will normally provide a like for like hire vehicle from a "normal" hire company etc etc.

It is normally best to use a seperate claims company or solicitor for injuries / loss of earnings.

There are circumstances when its best to use your own Insurer especially if the other Insurer is a cheap and cheerfull company. So if possible seek advice before going down this route.

rAceR09

Just a follow up from my side. I have been very pleased with the service that Drive Assist have provided me with. The hire car was delivered, my car was picked up.. Unfortunately it's a write off, but I have a new car now so have had the hire car picked up today. The gentleman was very nice, took a quick look over the car, said it was in perfect condition and that he wished all his customers treated there cars like I did.

Now let’s see if I get a letter in 6 months from them asking for money!

clare123456_2

Following on from my previous posts whereby Drive Assist are attempting to deduct the price of the car from ME as they have become impatient wrangling with the insurance company...
I refused to sign their 'statement of truth' as this was a total nonsense. They claimed on the phone that this would help the insurance company pay, when clearly it was a statement they wanted me to sign to say that I would pay. Baffling and bewildering in equal measures.

I sent off a postal order for £10 requesting a copy of the initial telephone conversations with their operator who booked out the car. I asked for the recordings not the transcript [having checked beforehand that they record all of them]. I have since received, played and heard no less than 5 times during the conversation 'no charge whatsoever to you'. Upon reflection it is blatant mis-selling. But of course if they were to be honest and state that there is a risk that the end user has to pay then just how many sales would they lose? Thousands.

I was also given the postal order back saying no need for payment as a 'good will gesture'.
At booking I had also given my credit card details 'only in case of a parking ticket or speeding fine' I had thought debit card so this was a relief as I have cancelled the card.
I'd like to think the matter was closed but this is Drive Assist we're talking about.
It feels like it should be me taking them to court for all the hassle and stress. I have never come across such a cowboy company purporting to be a corporate company.

dacouch

Thanks for a nice and informative post Clare123456 it could be worth anyone else who has a similar problem to you with Drive Assist following your lead and requesting a copy of their file from Drive Assist.

If the other Insurance Company became aware that Drive Assist told you the car hire was at no cost to you and lead you to believe there is no chance of you ever having to pay the cost then it is very unlikely DA could recover their money (Possibly if you have bought their extra insurance they could recover the outlay). This is because the reason they loan you the car on a credit agreement is you have to be liable for the costs of the vehicle so that it is a justifiable cost that YOU have incurred as a result of the accident. If they had told you that you would not have to pay a penny it could be difficult proving that this was a justifiable cost YOU inccured.

It could be worth you mentioning that you are aware of this to DA if you have problems with them!

The other benefit of you having these calls is that it will be very very difficult for them to recover their money from you

Good work, very MSE, Martin would be proud of you

clare123456_2

very interesting dacouch.
In essence if they push me they could get all the wrong answers spilled out in which case they won't get their money from the insurance company or me!

dacouch

In theory that could happen.

The reason they get you to sign a credit agreement is because then the hire costs of the cars are in theory your responsibility and are a cost you have incurred as a result of the accident. If the hire company just loaned you the car with no credit agreement it would not be a cost you had incurred unless you had paid the hire cost out of your own pocket.

Credit Hire law is very open to interpretation and is constantly being challenged by the Insurers as the costs of the hires are sky high.

So in theory if they have told you that there is absolutely no chance of you having to pay the hire costs and the other Insurer discovered this (Unless you had taken the Insurance Cover they offer) then they might not be able to recover the costs from the other Insurer.

Here is a summary of some of the relevant parts of Credit Hire and some of the cases

http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=81652

toptip

Just a quick note, but have you seen who Insurance Times has nominated for "Service Provider of the Year", and better still, "Customer Sevices Initiative of the Year".

http://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=13&storycode=380312

I'd hate to see an example of bad customer service in their eyes!!

dacouch

These awards are very easy to manipulate plus there is a lot of politics involved.

When Zurich had reps that came out to all of their brokers the rep would come out with a voting slip which would be pre filled in with their details for the awards they were nominated for. Surprise Surprise they always one the sections they were nominated for, they are not so hot on the reps now and tend not to win as many awards.

In my experience most brokers C.B.A to vote in these types of awards (Look how many different sections there are to vote in). The brokers / insurance staff that tend to vote in it are normally the ones that actually attend the gala dinner. (You will find that the staff of the companies nominated are "Encouraged" to vote for their employers which bulks the votes up)..

You only have to look at some of the sections to see such as marketing campaign, this is going to be voted for by people in the marketing companies who often have vested interests. The Commercial Broker of the year is pretty worthless as its not really voted for by customers, it will be receive votes from the Insurers who supply them and the employees of the Commercial Brokers listed...

The only ones I find that are worth looking at (And thats with some sceptism) is the Insurer of the Year (Personal / General and Commercial)

The Insurance market is very clicky and centred around London, the main players tend to be very close so there is inter voting and a lot of lobbying

dacouch

Have a look at this link, you can see the sectors that DA are entered in are the result of them putting themselves forward. A lot of other companies in their field would simply not have bothered and / or would have qualified as the Customer Service Initiative is subject to bringing in some new initiative in the last year.

Its a shame their customers and / or BBC Watchdog could not vote on the DA entries

clare123456_2

The irony is crushing.
By the time they've slapped the award logo on their website and briefed their staff to use it, they'll probably start believing it. Brainwashing and bull****