Albany Assistance (Auxillis)- waste of space?

anselld

My daughter was involved in a multiple collision back in May.

Lorry went into the back end of 4 or 5 cars slowed/stopped on the Motorway. She was one from the front. Car written off due to rear end damage, minimal damage to front.

Fully comp insured with Hastings Direct.

So she phones up to report (a bit shocked). Hastings advise that her claim is "no fault" on her part at face value and she should therefor use Albany Assistance (now Auxillis)to follow up.

They were helpful to start with, arranged vehicle pick up, assessment, valuation, disposal after being declared total loss. Also hire car. A few weeks later job circumstances changed and she didn't really need the car so the hire car was returned.

Since then Albany have done apparently nothing. No progress at all to settle the claim and pay up the assessed write-off value. When asked they just say "the third party is not ready to settle". So I am guessing they will never be ready unless Albany put the pressure on!

So she is lost her vehicle of no money and seems to have lost her no-claims even though the outcome is still in limbo. Basically as a young driver she has been forced off the road through no fault of her own.

Any advice how best to ...
(a) persuade Albany Assistance to settle ?
(b) get her no-claims reinstated ?

With hindsight (if it helps anyone else) I would not touch Hastings Direct or Albany Assistance (Auxillis) again, but we are stuck with it now!

hollie.weimeraner

Albany are a 3rd party claims handler. You need to escalate the matter with Hastings.

The issue may be that with it being a multi vehicle incident there may be issues along the line with liability but it shouldn't stop Hastings paying out for your daughters car.

Contact them and tell them you will be going to the Ombudsman if they don't settle (provided she has comprehensive insurance that is, if she has 3rd party then that will most likely be the cause of the delay)

OnanTheBarbarian

If Albany aren't going to get a wiggle on (they may respond to this thread) then the options are to contact the third party insurers direct or make the total loss claim via own insurance policy, which would involve deduction of her excess and any outstanding premium from the settlement.

With concertina style collisions like this, it only takes one of the parties to allege the vehicle in front of them had aready hit the vehicle in front of that vehicle before they impacted with whoever was in front of them for it to turn into a bun fight and delay the process.

Be careful of going it alone though as you may breach terms of hire/ engagement with Albany and have allegations you have compromised their position.

Make a complaint or wait for them to spot this thread as that may cause them to pull up their socks.

csgohan4

Until the third party has settled damages with your own insurer it will still be classed as open and therefore treated as a fault claim as costs are not paid up. This will undoubtedly affect her premiums on renewal unless the third party settle before then.


On this occasion may have better to use the third party's insurers to settle all costs than your own.


I had a non fault claim but until the third party pay up my premiums are affected and treated as an open claim.

anselld

Thankyou for replies so far.

There have been two reasons for wishing to keep the claim with Albany so far.
(1) They did all the early work so it seemed more likely they should be best placed to follow up.
(2) She had a £350 compulsory excess which she would have lost straight away by claiming with Hastings.

Both of those reasons appear flawed with hindsight!! However, it still seems to muddy the waters by going all the way back to Hastings at this stage.

I was planning a complaint to Albany as the next step, followed by Ombudsman. (Is it FOS? or is there another for Insurance?)

anselld

csgohan4 wrote: »

This will undoubtedly affect her premiums on renewal unless the third party settle before then.

Yes, she has been quoted by Hastings Direct £3150 on renewal, over four times the value of her claim. (What a bunch of sharks!)

Hence my comment that she has been forced off the road.

I know many young drivers are a liability, but she was careful except for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

csgohan4

anselld wrote: »

Yes, she has been quoted by Hastings Direct £3150 on renewal, over four times the value of her claim. (What a bunch of sharks!)

Hence my comment that she has been forced off the road.

I know many young drivers are a liability, but she was careful except for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

my renewal has almost doubled because of the open claim. I am still waiting for the third party (Admiral) to pay my insurers almost 1 month on. My renewal is next month so I got some time.

Auxillis

Hello anselld,

Would you be able to have your daughter email onlineteam@auxillis.com with her reference number, so that we can take a further look into this and arrange for her to be contacted directly.

Kind Regards,

Auxillis Online Team

anselld

Auxillis wrote: »

Hello anselld,

Would you be able to have your daughter email onlineteam@auxillis.com with her reference number, so that we can take a further look into this and arrange for her to be contacted directly.

Kind Regards,

Auxillis Online Team

Thankyou. Letter already in post but I will email a scanned copy.

Quentin

This new id for albany seems a bit of a misnomer.


(It's Latin, meaning to help, aid and remedy!)

anselld

Quentin wrote: »

This new id for albany seems a bit of a misnomer.


(It's Latin, meaning to help, aid and remedy!)

:rotfl:

Perhaps if they were as prompt following up claims as they are at chasing down Internet feedback then Customers would be a lot happier.