Claim advice - My right of way - Other driver not admitting to fault.

jbardsleybob

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately i've been involved my first car accident over the weekend which i have been hit on the side of the vehicle on the passenger side by a driver coming out of a junction. The contact on the car was across both doors on the passenger side on my vehicle, and on their car it was the front right side.

After the incident they wouldn't accept responsibility for the crash when i asked them directly and also haven't reported it to their insurer.

I have since contacted my insurer of which i have explained my situation, i have a full comprehensive cover which included legal fee's, etc. My insurer explained that under these circumstances i will not have to pay an excess fee in order to get my car repaired and it seems like the other driver is at fault, however as i mentioned earlier the other driver hasn't accepted responsibility or made a claim through their insurer.

They referred me to Auxaillis who would take my car for repair, and give me a hire car but having seen the reviews I'm worried to go ahead with this option.

Im thinking to go with a third party claims management service which will deal with the claim for me.

At this stage i have sent images to my insurance company of the incident but i am yet to contact Auxaillis for a repair & replacement vehicle in the time being.

Do you have any advice on the next steps, with the other driver not openly admitting fault i think the two insurance companies are going to have to fight it out. As for the repair and temporary car service i don't want to be left with bills which i cannot afford this time of year and being left with a low grade repair service.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

AdrianC

jbardsleybob wrote: »

After the incident they wouldn't accept responsibility for the crash when i asked them directly and also haven't reported it to their insurer.

Are they insured?

My insurer explained that under these circumstances i will not have to pay an excess fee in order to get my car repaired

Yep.

Until your insurer recovers all their costs from the other insurer, you are held "at fault". "Fault", in this context, means whose hand is in whose pocket - no more than that. Your excess will be repaid, and your NCB reinstated, when the other insurer pays in full.

They referred me to Auxaillis who would take my car for repair, and give me a hire car but having seen the reviews I'm worried to go ahead with this option.

Im thinking to go with a third party claims management service which will deal with the claim for me.

That's what Auxillis are.

Do you have any advice on the next steps, with the other driver not openly admitting fault i think the two insurance companies are going to have to fight it out.

If it's as clear-cut as you suggest, the other driver's insurer won't need them to admit liability. I'd start by going straight to them. If you have their registration, you can find out their insurer by pointing a phone or tablet at MID - http://www.askmid.com

jbardsleybob

Thank you for your reply. They are insured and my insurance company confirmed their insurer with me earlier today. I think i'll go ahead with Auxaillis and i think the car will be written off due to the extent of the damages compared to the cars current value.

DUTR

jbardsleybob wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. They are insured and my insurance company confirmed their insurer with me earlier today. I think i'll go ahead with Auxaillis and i think the car will be written off due to the extent of the damages compared to the cars current value.

As above, yes you can go via an AM company if you don't wish to go via your insurer, but yo still have to inform yor insurer of the incident.
The car being written off is prolly where your woes begin.... less than market value offered then having to mess around buying a replacement.

jbardsleybob

I'm preparing myself for the worst, this time of year its a nightmare.

daveyjp

I would press your insurance company for the other side to admit full liability before you get that hire car.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

To be fair, if you read anything about accidents, you are always warned against admitting liability (for example, read the citizens advice page, which is a good neutral point of advice) so I would not suggest anyone refusing to admit liability was ever acting unreasonably, regardless of how blameworthy you might believe them. An insurer is entitled to fight its corner and admissions of liability compromise that, that is not to say that they will not happily concede fault where the circumstances are clear.

What you should do is agree the facts - so without any admissions of the wrongs and rights, you agree as much of the facts as you can, that neither of you were speeding, that the light was poor/good, it was raining/dry, the damage and what signals were given, what road markings were present - and in fact things you disagree on - he might claim that he saw you signal - you will maintain that you did not for example.

Based on that, the insurers will come to their own decision on where they want to apportion blame. Plenty of people might get intimidated into making admissions of fault and later on realise that the circumstances were different so it is pretty meaningless getting someone to admit liability

You could speak directly to their insurer - insurers are set up for this. People certainly do claim against the other party's insurance company if they believe they are wholly at fault without involving their own insurers. I am not sure whether the insured has the option to block you from claiming or not. The other party would be in trouble if they hadn't reported the accident as soon as possible to the insurer.

sheramber

We were hit by a lorry when we were parked. The company involved did not advise their insurance company who therefore would not accept any claim.

I was offered a claims company as I had legal cover and they guaranteed my excess if the other side didn't pay up.. They also covered the cost of a hire car.

My insurance company paid for the repairs to our car less the excess amount.

The claims company ended up taking the case to court to reclaim the costs as the other side still didn't acknowledge the accident.

They advised me they had been granted a summary warrant against the company for the costs.

CHR15

I wish you well but my experience of Insurance Companies is less than impressive.
My first accident in 30yrs involved me going straight on at a roundabout, in the correct lane as clearly marked.
The driver to my right also in a straight ahead lane decided to take the first exit crashing into my car as he tried his stupid stunt.

I provided a huge amount of info, lane markings, photos etc but as there were no witnesses (nobody stopped to act as one) the Insurance decided it is split liability so I am held to blame too.

My Insurance company is LV, for now but come renewal, they won't be seeing any of my business.

The lesson I learned, no matter how obvious it is, just deny anything and the innocent party will suffer.

esuhl

When I was insured to drive, the terms & conditions of the insurance stated that I must not accept liability or apologise for any incident (as an apology would be a implicit acceptance of liability).

Never admit fault, never apologise, and leave it to the insurers to sort out.