Car accident and confused.

elsien

Very briefly, I have a new car (Feb 18) which I bought following writing off my previous car in an accident that was my fault. Previous insurer wouldn't cover the new car (no idea why, it's a bog standard Skoda) so the broker (Lloyds) found another insurer who I went with through them because I couldn't find anything comparable cheaper elsewhere.

Fast forward to today and someone has driven into the back of me at an island causing damage to the bumper. His fault and I have an independent witness.

Phoned up Lloyds to report it and they have said I can either go through the underwriter, pay the excess and let them sort it all out, or I can go through Enterprise hire and repair who will repair the car, sort out a hire car and claim the costs back from the other driver. This will give me a 5 year warranty on any work done.

This has me thoroughly confused because I wasn't aware of the option of not going through the underwriter/insurer - I thought that's what you always did, but the broker does seem to be pushing me towards Enterprise while telling me it's my decision. The other driver's details match and they appear to be insured - he said he had comprehensive cover.

Please can someone explain/advice the pros and cons of each course of action because I'm stumped and Lloyds weren't a huge amount of help with the explanations.

Thank you.

Stoke

Not heard of the enterprise thing..... but personally, I would go through the underwriter. If they're pushing you to go via Enterprise it might be some kind of 'commission' deal or something even more ridiculous. I've never heard of it myself, but nah, it doesn't sound that clever to me.

Plus, any work done via the underwriter will usually be done by a dealership or a Skoda approved facility. So the 5 year warranty on a big piece of painted plastic attached to your car is about as much use as a chocolate frying pan, in my opinion anyway.

DUTR

elsien wrote: »

Very briefly, I have a new car (Feb 18) which I bought following writing off my previous car in an accident that was my fault. Previous insurer wouldn't cover the new car (no idea why, it's a bog standard Skoda) so the broker (Lloyds) found another insurer who I went with through them because I couldn't find anything comparable cheaper elsewhere.

Fast forward to today and someone has driven into the back of me at an island causing damage to the bumper. His fault and I have an independent witness.

Phoned up Lloyds to report it and they have said I can either go through the underwriter, pay the excess and let them sort it all out, or I can go through Enterprise hire and repair who will repair the car, sort out a hire car and claim the costs back from the other driver. This will give me a 5 year warranty on any work done.

This has me thoroughly confused because I wasn't aware of the option of not going through the underwriter/insurer - I thought that's what you always did, but the broker does seem to be pushing me towards Enterprise while telling me it's my decision. The other driver's details match and they appear to be insured - he said he had comprehensive cover.

Please can someone explain/advice the pros and cons of each course of action because I'm stumped and Lloyds weren't a huge amount of help with the explanations.

Thank you.

basically when it is clear cut that the other party is going to honour a claim, then you simply notify your insurance company, and the accident management company deal with the claim including the repairs and courtesy vehicle, some give like for like cars, some give entry level cars with logos splashed all over them, me? I like the like for like with high quality repair, oh... and my following premium didn't increase.

debtdebt

Third option is to go directly to the Third Party Insurer. They will approve repairs at whichever garage you like or suggest their own. They will also give you a like for like hire vehicle.

The benefit of this is you don!!!8217;t have to use an accident management company nor do you have to use a credit hire company who ramp up the charges.

m0bov

Claim via the third party, choose your own garage by doing research.

Cash-Strapped.T32

debtdebt wrote: »

Third option is to go directly to the Third Party Insurer. They will approve repairs at whichever garage you like or suggest their own. They will also give you a like for like hire vehicle.

The benefit of this is you don!!!8217;t have to use an accident management company nor do you have to use a credit hire company who ramp up the charges.

This. :T
What they're giving the OP the option of doing is just an additional income stream for them - in clear-cut cases where it's the "other" driver's fault, most companies will try & steer you toward a claims management company.

This generates money for them by consisting of an expensive credit-hire "courtesy" car, from Enterprise or similar hire-car place, and in return they take a commission from the rental firm for passing them new business - the longer you're int eh hire car, they more money they all make.

Other times the claims management first will actually be in-house, under a euphamistic term like "deployment dept" etc..
Since thier income is sourced directly from the proceeds of your claim from the au-fault driver, obviously they're only interested in incidents where you are at little to no rish of going 50/50 or having any blame attribute to you.
The line to direct you along the claims management route is part of the call-script that appears when "customer not at fault" is ticked on the comuter system.


Saying that you go through enterprise rather than the underwriter if you go the way they push you is kinda dishonest - who else do we think is going to pay for all this?
Of course it goes to the underwriter - the at-fault person's underwriter - which is who would be paying out anyway... It's semantics, of course, as most people shy away from dealing with big scary insurance companies.

Saying you don't pay your excess is also dishonest - your excess is only paid when you claim from your own insurer - and in the case of it being the other person's fault, you don't claim from your own insurer, you claim from the other guy's - you only inform your insurer for information's sake, to let them know you're making a claim on the other guy's insurance.

There isn't a magic option that bypasses insurance - it's just that now there is a layer of companies taking a cut out in-between you and the other driver's underwriter who will beultimately paying the extra bills.

My background is in commercial vehicles, so I'm not going to state this as fact - but the 5yr warranty claim sounds fishy to me too - the repair agent (exactly the same workshop that would be used unless you specify a particular one) is going to fit new parts - those parts will come with whatever warranty the manufactuer specifies; If for instance a drive-line system comes with a 3yr warranty, they're not going to replace it in 5yrs because an accident management firm said they would, half a decade ago.

I can't actually see how the warranty offered by the workshop would be affected at all by who takes thier slice tbh, either on parts or labour.

Any decent bodyshop should guarantee thier work within reason, but it seems to me like the claims about the 5-yr warranty is being used by the phone agent to try & imply that if the OP goes through the proper channels (ie; the at-fault party's insurer), they'll somehow get shonky workmanship and a dodgy repair, with no quality control or comeback that we'd all expect from any workshop...

Then again it is in thier financial interrest to imply such, as that's how they make commision...
So too as regards the "courtesy" car - implying that you'll be left without a car unless you go down the credit-hire route.

I dunno, go your own way OP, but when I'm faced with someone over the phone who has a clear financial incentive uses dishonesty to push me one way, my instinct is to err the other way.
And in this case, that other way is the way inwhich the system is designed to work - the other party's insurer will be bending over backwards to get your claim through as quickly as possible, as doing so (naturally and quite rightly) keeps the costs down for all involved - why would that ever be a bad thing?

Adding more compaines into the mix only increases the time and cost of the claim - as it is designed to do, as that keeps those credit-hire fees racking up, which is where the money comes from.

*EDIT* Haha, just looked back over that, wow, long post by me - looks a bit ranty. Still, pretty much sums up my PoV.

dacouch

As mentioned Enterprise will pay your broker circa £300 for refering you into a nice expensive credit hire vehicle.

The cost of the CH vehicle will be about two or three times the normal rate.

You would get a warranty on work carried out by your own Insurers if you claimed from them anyway. It is far easier to enforce warranty work when you claim from your own Insurers.

Personally I dislike Europcar for their business practices in normal hire cars eg inventing damage when you return the car

elsien

Apparently Lloyds is my insurer, underwritten by Covea. It's Lloyds on the insurance schedule, anyway.
I have informed Lloyds so the underwriters don't need to know (they said) unless I contact them directly and pay the excess. Which is where I started to lose track of things.
I understand now about the claims management company. I'm still a little unclear about the benefits of otherwise of going to the underwriter instead.

I just want my new car fixed so it's as new and a car provided for work use in the meantime (my job involves a fair amount of driving.) without the possibility at some point in the future someone turning round and telling me I'm responsible for the costs.

I don't know how to start to find a decent garage so my inclination would be to go to the dealer/skoda approved repairer. If I go to the third party insurer directly, where would that leave me if there was any sort of dispute about costs at any point?

DUTR

elsien wrote: »

Apparently Lloyds is my insurer, underwritten by Covea. It's Lloyds on the insurance schedule, anyway.
I have informed Lloyds so the underwriters don't need to know (they said) unless I contact them directly and pay the excess. Which is where I started to lose track of things.
I understand now about the claims management company. I'm still a little unclear about the benefits of otherwise of going to the underwriter instead.

I just want my new car fixed so it's as new and a car provided for work use in the meantime (my job involves a fair amount of driving.) without the possibility at some point in the future someone turning round and telling me I'm responsible for the costs.

I don't know how to start to find a decent garage so my inclination would be to go to the dealer/skoda approved repairer. If I go to the third party insurer directly, where would that leave me if there was any sort of dispute about costs at any point?

Where I had taken my car, they work to a standard not a price, my car is pearlescent, so I was worried about the match, no fear the guys had done a great job, I'm on another forum and a guy there had let the 3rd party garage do a repair on his car, the door did not match the rest of body paintwork.
But as others have said you get to choose where to take it.

eddddy

elsien wrote: »

I don't know how to start to find a decent garage so my inclination would be to go to the dealer/skoda approved repairer. If I go to the third party insurer directly, where would that leave me if there was any sort of dispute about costs at any point?

I've made arrangements with 3rd party insurers a few times, when other party has admitted liability.

I let the 3rd party insurers arrange a hire car (having agreed on size, spec etc), which they like because they get huge discounts.

I choose a main dealer to do the repairs, get a spec of the work they're going to do - then put the 3rd party insurers in touch with the main dealers. Again, I suspect the insurers haggle a discount.

In one case, more work came to light during the repair - the main dealer contacted the 3rd party insurer and got it authorised.

The 3rd party insurers pay the hire car firm direct, and the main dealer direct - no money passed through my hands.

The main dealer gives me a lifetime warranty on the repairs (which I made use of on one occasion).

It was all really easy.

Jlo31

Who is the othe third party insured with? You can find out on ASKMID.com

I would then give their insurer a ring directly and see if they are happy to deal with you directly.