Hastings Direct: Accident

Syrlee

Hey, looking for some savvy advice.

I was in an accident, where I was sitting stationary and a car pulled out of a junction into the back quarter panel of my car. The other driver has accepted full liability. The car is still mobile, just bodywork needing done with a bit of panel beating. My father is a mechanic and his colleague is a bodywork specialist, so quite easy to get it sorted.
I opted to have my own repair quote sent to them as I didn’t want my car in their possession. It’s been classed as a total loss and I had a Hastings engineer sent out to take photographs.... At all points of contact with insurers I have told them I want to keep the car and repair.

I was offered £800 which I contested with proof, another engineer was meant to be coming out to have a look at the car. New engineer rang yesterday and the offer has been increased (without seeing the car) , the engineers words were considering condition of the car and the fact it’s still being used, that he came to the conclusion of the increase and told me the money will be forwarded to me ASAP, I agreed to the value and thought I was finally seeing results.

Now today hastings have been on the phone again asking for confirmation that I was keeping the car, to which I agreed... He then went on to say if I keep it they will cancel my insurance on the car as it classed as a Cat S(formerly known as Cat C), he also told me I’ll struggle to get it insured after repairs, he was very aggressive about it. This has never once been mentioned in all our conversations over the past two months.
I’m currently contemplating transferring my insurance to another car I can get a hold of whilst I repair my car.
Does anybody know where I stand with all of this? Are they going to attempt to remove the car in my possession? The communication I keep recieving from Hastings is conflicting and confusing.

Thanks
Gem

jk0

I take it Hastings are your insurer?


I think I might tell them you are not claiming on your insurance, and just sue the other driver for cash for repairs.


I don't see how Hastings could cancel your policy then.

daveyjp

How much is the repair quote?

foxy-stoat

If Hastings Direct are your insurers then they may have a policy not to continue to cover previously written off cars or cars that the owner wants to retain the salvage.

They are correct that it will be harder to insure now it has been registered as a total loss, but not impossible.

When I wanted to retain the salvage on my car the insurers wrote to me to confirm that they would put the insured value at the salvage amount (£107.00) until it was repaired and I was to keep the proof once it was repaired.

AdrianC

Cancelling a policy after a total loss payout is far from unusual. It'll be in the Ts & Cs.

Insuring a CatS isn't that hard.

Syrlee

Thanks for the replies!

-Hastings is my insurer yes.

-Garage Quote was £2,500 , that was for whole back quarter panel to be replaced. Getting it done through my dads friend would be considerably less.

-I have an injury claim going through solicitors on referral from my insurer, I need to find out if cancelling the accident claim will affect that.... I might be just as well writing off, which is a sin as I’ve had my type R for 9 years and it’s literally never had a mechanical issue or breakdown and still going strong for a 17 year old car!
I’ve heard insurance will be through the roof if I do manage to insure it, if it’s only going to be worth pennies after a CatS am I better cutting my losses

jk0

Syrlee wrote: »

Thanks for the replies!

-Hastings is my insurer yes.

-Garage Quote was £2,500 , that was for whole back quarter panel to be replaced. Getting it done through my dads friend would be considerably less.

-I have an injury claim going through solicitors on referral from my insurer, I need to find out if cancelling the accident claim will affect that.... I might be just as well writing off, which is a sin as I’ve had my type R for 9 years and it’s literally never had a mechanical issue or breakdown and still going strong for a 17 year old car!
I’ve heard insurance will be through the roof if I do manage to insure it, if it’s only going to be worth pennies after a CatS am I better cutting my losses

Yeah. Just sue other driver for actual repair costs, and injury costs IIWY. I wonder if injury claim firm might even help you claim car repair costs into the bargain?


FTA: I think you'll have to formally write to Hastings to say you are withdrawing your claim

daveyjp

Syrlee wrote: »

Thanks for the replies!

-Hastings is my insurer yes.

-Garage Quote was £2,500 , that was for whole back quarter panel to be replaced. Getting it done through my dads friend would be considerably less.

-I have an injury claim going through solicitors on referral from my insurer, I need to find out if cancelling the accident claim will affect that.... I might be just as well writing off, which is a sin as I’ve had my type R for 9 years and it’s literally never had a mechanical issue or breakdown and still going strong for a 17 year old car!
I’ve heard insurance will be through the roof if I do manage to insure it, if it’s only going to be worth pennies after a CatS am I better cutting my losses

Why send a quote for a price you won't actually be paying? If it can be done for much less that's the quote you should have sent.

If you were hoping to get £2,500 payout and pay a lot less to your friend that's called insurance fraud.

The insurance company believe they are looking at a £2,500 claim on a car worth £1,600, thats why they are writing it off.

Syrlee

Not the case in the slightest, it was meant to be the garage who carried out the quote doing the actual repairs, but he advised they would likely deem repairs higher than the value of the car, therefore likelihood would it would be a buy back for unecological. Then got an offer for £800.

Only then did I talk to my dad to ask if any of his friends could help me out. Even the assessor said on buy back it could be done at a quarter of the price.

No fraud here buddy!

Syrlee

Just wanted to add, I had no visibility of the repairs quote from the garage prior to it being sent off directly to the insurance. I got a copy in the post.

Geodark

I worked at a place years ago that did windscreens for cars and vans, they had two price books - one for insurance companies and one direct to the public - the insurance one was often 2 to 3 times the price of the other one. I bet this is common practice out there as well.