Third party insurer refusing to pay out

Lenny_2013

Two months ago, an Asda HGV collided with my car on a busy roundabout causing £1500 damage to the rear wing of my ehicle. (No damage to the HGV). It was busy and dark at the time and impossible to see who was at fault.

After exchanging details at the roadside, the HGV driver said he had cameras on board which would prove who breached the lane on the roundabout.

After pursuing the HGV camera footage, Asda's insurer told me that the camera was broken therefore no footage existed. (I though this very convenient).

Therefore Asda's insurer are claiming no liability and leaving me with a £550 excess and hike in my premium. I've written to Asda and their insurer requesting they pay half my excess to no avail.

Is it worth trying an accident claims management company? What else could I try to get Asda's insurer to contribute to my repair bill?

agrinnall

I'm sorry to say that I don't think you have any chance in the circumstances, if you ask them to contribute to your costs they will ask for your evidence that their driver was at fault, and you don't have any. Even you admit you don't know who was at fault, so their position seems very reasonable to me.

Marvel1

Lenny_2013 wrote: »

It was busy and dark at the time and impossible to see who was at fault.

Therefore Asda's insurer are claiming no liability and leaving me with a £550 excess and hike in my premium. I've written to Asda and their insurer requesting they pay half my excess to no avail.

Is it worth trying an accident claims management company? What else could I try to get Asda's insurer to contribute to my repair bill?

No.

...........

Mercdriver

By all means employ an accodent management company if you like pourng money down the drain...

arcon5

Give your current insurer the details and let them negotiate with the third party.

Warwick_Hunt

arcon5 wrote: »

Give your current insurer the details and let them negotiate with the third party.

But only if they covered you at the time of the accident.

They are however unlikely to negotiate as it will cost them money to get half the excess back and why should they bother given the op has already paid it.

ratrace

Just a bit of advise buy a dash cam asap or if you have a smart phone use that in a phone holder for the time being untill you buy one

Just had a few idiots driving around hand breaking in our street and one of them has just hit my neighbours car and drove off never to be seen again

rudekid48

Warwick_Hunt wrote: »

But only if they covered you at the time of the accident.

They are however unlikely to negotiate as it will cost them money to get half the excess back and why should they bother given the op has already paid it.

The OP's insurer would not recover the excess on behalf of the OP anyway (it is an uninsured loss), but they may well pursue a split liability with the TP insurer seeing as there was no damage to the HGV, which means that they could recover part of their own outlay from the TP insurer. If they were successful then the OP would be able to claim the same % of their excess back from the TP insurer directly..

AdrianC

So it's a he-said-she-said claim over who changed lane on a roundabout, with no proof.

50/50 at best.

System

Just to add your insurance was going to be going up anyway even if you had been found completely innocent.

Unfortunately there's a definite culture of "must do anything to get in front of the lorry" and I've had cars come over into the lane I'm in in my truck as we've both entered a roundabout, albeit I don't think they do it intentionally but they just take the shortest route from the give way instead of taking a wide arc. The problem is that depending on the curvature of the entry road and roundabout that happens to coincide with the time I need to be looking in my nearside mirror to check that my trailer wheels which are 30ft or so behind me aren't going to go up the kerb before I start to turn to the left to navigate the roundabout. Occassionally it results in the inevitable coming together because the car driver has failed to heed the Highway Code advice of taking care around large vehicles and giving them plenty of room in their haste to gain a few milliseconds.

Warwick_Hunt

Tarambor wrote: »

Just to add your insurance was going to be going up anyway even if you had been found completely innocent.

Unfortunately there's a definite culture of "must do anything to get in front of the lorry" and I've had cars come over into the lane I'm in in my truck as we've both entered a roundabout, albeit I don't think they do it intentionally but they just take the shortest route from the give way instead of taking a wide arc. The problem is that depending on the curvature of the entry road and roundabout that happens to coincide with the time I need to be looking in my nearside mirror to check that my trailer wheels which are 30ft or so behind me aren't going to go up the kerb before I start to turn to the left to navigate the roundabout. Occassionally it results in the inevitable coming together because the car driver has failed to heed the Highway Code advice of taking care around large vehicles and giving them plenty of room in their haste to gain a few milliseconds.

There’s a lot to go wrong with a truck including driver error.