No fault insurance claim

rubble2

Not been in this situation before so I would appreciate some guidance please.

Yesterday my daughter was involved in an accident when a van pulled out of a side road and hit her car as she was on her way home from university.

The van driver apologised saying that he hadn't seen her. My daughter tried to take avoiding action by attempting to swerve around the van but it caught her car on the nearside damaging the front door (slightly), the rear door and the rear wheel arch area took the main brunt of the impact - the car is driveable. She has contact details from a witness who saw the accident.

They have exchanged details ( the van was a company vehicle - the driver didn't have insurance company details but gave his name, the company name and his boss's contact details - he called his boss to report the accident while on the scene).

Our intentions at present are as follows :-

Call daughters insurance company and report the incident on an information only basis and claim directly off the other parties policy.

Daughters car is a 2004 Meriva so seems likely that the car will be written off, this is where we need some guidance regarding how to proceed.

Looking at previous posts on here my understanding is that we should,

a) look at the going rate for similar cars in order to find the correct settlement value and use this as evidence for getting the best settlement deal we can.

Alternatively,
b) look at buying the car back assuming it is written off and try and get it repaired ourselves.

It is the second option that I need some help on - should she in advance of reaching a settlement get some idea of cost of repairs using probably second hand parts (doors etc). If so, who do we approach to carry out this work assuming that large bodyshops would not be up for this sort of repair.

The car, as I say is driveable, if the insurance write it off and she buys it back can she continue to drive it unrepaired, saving the settlement money and maybe putting some extra to it later in the year to buy a slightly more up to date vehicle.

The MOT is ok until July - would having a damaged (non opening) rear door be an automatic mot failure?

Wow, didn't realise we had so many questions until I started writing this. Thanks for your forebearance and any advice would be appreciated.

wgl2014

Basically yes!

Needs to be reported to your insurance even if you claim from the third party.

May be a write off but if claiming direct then there won't be any rediculous hire car charges added on so could be economically viable.

If it is a write off and you buy it back so long as it's not in a dangerous condition it will be fine to drive, consider sourcing a replacement door from a scrap yard and as you say going to a local independent body shop for repair.

Aretnap

rubble2 wrote: »

The MOT is ok until July - would having a damaged (non opening) rear door be an automatic mot failure?

Rear door must open, at least from the outside, to pass an MOT I believe. See section 6.2 here (page 140 of the PDF)

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/518634/mot-inspection-manual-for-class-3-4-5-and-7-vehicles.pdf

Hoof_Hearted

The car is worth less than £1,000. Given the number of panels damaged, I am sure it will be written off. Depending of the offer, I would take the money and move on.

rubble2

Just a quick update to the situation so far.

Daughter has spoken to her insurance for information only, they gave her the third parties insurance details so she contacted them to lodge a claim.
Subsequent to that the third parties employer rang her to give her the insurance details she already had so everybody is up to date and has acknowledged that the incident happened.

In order to gain more information in readiness for the claim, she took the car to a local body shop who confirmed (as Hoofhearted suggested) that the car would need approx £3K of work to put it right so it will inevitably be written off.

This raises a further question which we could do with some guidance on please.

Once the insurance make (and we accept) an offer on the value of the car, what happens then? Do the insurance company arrange immediate collection of the vehicle or can my daughter continue to use it for a few days to give her a chance to find a replacement vehicle?

Thanks again.

Quentin

See if the third party insurer will provide a replacement car now until they have sent the settlement cheque and it has cleared. ( From what you say the damage has rendered her car unroadworthy)

If they won't play ball mention that her alternative will be to instruct an accident management company to handle her claim should concentrate their mind!

rubble2

Quentin wrote: »

See if the third party insurer will provide a replacement car now until they have sent the settlement cheque and it has cleared. ( From what you say the damage has rendered her car unroadworthy)

If they won't play ball mention that her alternative will be to instruct an accident management company to handle her claim should concentrate their mind!

Thanks, car is actually driveable. When she took it to the body shop he advised her to get the rear wheel alignment checked as there was a scuff mark on the tyre - he recommended a tyre place that he uses so she took it there and he gave the all clear to use it.

Just really wondered how the whole 'writing off' process works in practice regarding time scales etc.

Quentin

rubble2 wrote: »

Thanks, car is actually driveable. When she took it to the body shop he advised her to get the rear wheel alignment checked as there was a scuff mark on the tyre - he recommended a tyre place that he uses so she took it there and he gave the all clear to use it.

Just really wondered how the whole 'writing off' process works in practice regarding time scales etc.

My suggestion on getting the third party insurer to provide her with a replacement car was intended to answer your question:

rubble2 wrote: »

This raises a further question which we could do with some guidance on please.

Once the insurance make (and we accept) an offer on the value of the car, what happens then? Do the insurance company arrange immediate collection of the vehicle or can my daughter continue to use it for a few days to give her a chance to find a replacement vehicle
.

Her car isn't safe to carry anyone in the rear is it? She should explain this to them!


You say they are accepting liability so they will happily provide a replacement she can keep until the settlement is cleared rather than face dealing with an accident management company/credit hire charges etc!

gilbert_and_sullivan

Unfortunate accident, glad no one hurt, but a nice position to be in now the company van owner seems to have admitted liability, its now purely formalities of getting a short term courtesy car from the third paty insurer and then negotiating a sensible write off value.

The first offer might be a bit stingy but you never know so start listing similar cars for sale so you have some reasonable reasons for wanting more.

Though she is lucky really, this could easily have been a dishonourable person in the other vehicle who disputed the facts and produced witnesses of some sort to back his side up to really muddy the waters...or as happened to sons friend last week smashed into her car in the dark then cleared off pronto before she could even get the reg.

rubble2

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Unfortunate accident, glad no one hurt, but a nice position to be in now the company van owner seems to have admitted liability, its now purely formalities of getting a short term courtesy car from the third paty insurer and then negotiating a sensible write off value.

The first offer might be a bit stingy but you never know so start listing similar cars for sale so you have some reasonable reasons for wanting more.

Though she is lucky really, this could easily have been a dishonourable person in the other vehicle who disputed the facts and produced witnesses of some sort to back his side up to really muddy the waters...or as happened to sons friend last week smashed into her car in the dark then cleared off pronto before she could even get the reg.

Yes we totally agree with this, this could have been much worse in every respect.

Daughter doesn't want to screw anybody over, but equally doesn't want to be screwed over in turn. She just wants to come out of this situation with the correct (fair) outcome.

I guess the information I need at the moment is to judge how the offer process works, if insurance provide a courtesy car (or even if they don't) at what point after the offer is agreed does the courtesy car (or daughter's existing car) disappear? Is there likely to be any 'overlap' where she has the settlement in the bank but still has access to her car or the courtesy car?

Thanks again

Quentin

rubble2 wrote: »

, if insurance provide a courtesy car (or even if they don't) at what point after the offer is agreed does the courtesy car (or daughter's existing car) disappear? Is there likely to be any 'overlap' where she has the settlement in the bank but still has access to her car or the courtesy car?

Thanks again

See #6 & #8.