£300 excess cannot pay in not or fault accident? what can we do

Hapless_2

lillymay1975 wrote: »

hi

in a letter i got this morning it says:
Repairs can normally be authorised within 24hr of estimate being recd from the garage. Immediately following authorisation, the repairer will arrange a conveniant time for the repairs to be carried out. When repairs have been completed ford will ask you to pay the £300 excess.

God if they write it off and we only paid £800 for it a few months ago, that means we will have £500 to get a new one??? oh my god, what the hell are we going to do?

You may not get the £500, just a warning, you will get what is "book value".
Example..If you spend £3,000 on a car and the book value is £2,500 then gets written off, you only get the £2,500 not what you paid.

adouglasmhor

You can claim your uninsured losses (ie your excess) from the woman who hit you's insurance. If you pay the legal thingy they will get it from her insurers for you. I had to pay someone else's excess when I pranged them, but my insurance covered it.

lisyloo

as she has admitted liability?

Brilliant!! I must admit I didn't epect that from what you said.
That makes things so much easier for you.

Also we have had a hire car since thursday last week, part of or full comp insurance?

Initially it's part of your insurance but as the other company have admitted liability then ultimately your insurance will be refunded by hers.

what shall i do now, i am waiting for ford assessor to ring me with details of how much it will cost, we only paid £800 for the car in June

You have to wait for the assesor to visit (or look at video on line) and make a decision about whether to repair or write-off.

p.s can we still hold off the repairs until it all goes through and keep the hire car?if it can be repaired? as we need it my hubby needs it for work everyday? the hire company told me last week that we can keep the car for upto 52 weeks ?

You can certainly keep the car until repairs are done so you shouldn't be without a car.
You would have to ask the insurers whether you can delay the repairs until full settlement as I don't know but be aware this can take a while.

Would the garage not have to wait for the car to be inspected by the insurance company before starting any repairs?

I would say definitely yes.
A garage would not want to start doing repairs if the comany want to write the car off as the work is then at their expense, so nothing will have been done so far as the assesor has not made a decision.

God if they write it off and we only paid £800 for it a few months ago, that means we will have £500 to get a new one??? oh my god, what the hell are we going to do?

1) Earn/borrow/save some more money somehow (sell something?)
2) Buy a cheaper car
3) Change your transport options. (I know it's not nice weather right now but as I said a motorbike is much cheaper than a car.)

You may not get the £500, just a warning, you will get what is "book value".
Example..If you spend £3,000 on a car and the book value is £2,500 then gets written off, you only get the £2,500 not what you paid.

My nephew had a accident recently and he got back what he paid so there are wide variations in how good insurance companies are with values they pay.
But hapless is right, there is no gurantee that you will get £500.
You might get more you might get less (often it's less unfortunately).

I know you are very stretched but is there NO option at all for earning more, selling things, changing transport option, re-arranging debt to pay less interest or borrowing some money?

If you can give more details I'm sure people here will try to help.
Do you have NO other transport options at all? (have you tried all the lift share databases?).

lisyloo

You can claim your uninsured losses (ie your excess) from the woman who hit you's insurance. If you pay the legal thingy they will get it from her insurers for you.

Yes, but I think the problem is that the OP doesn't have this money in the meantime (it takes a while although immediate admissin is ecellent it will still take a while for them to pay) hence the idea of delaying repairs so they don't have to sub the £300.

adouglasmhor

But if it's written off as seems likely they wont be able to delay insurer's pay out will they?, my insurance had sent a cheque within a day of me phoning them and the other woman contacting them the same day.

timnicebutdim_2

You had an accident that's not your fault. You shouldn't have to pay a penny. You should have a hire car. Simple. Keep on at your insurers, ask them all the questions you've asked here. If they can't do anything and they're being nobheads then give these geezers a call:

Helphire Plc 0500224455 (freephone) they are specialists in non fault claims and provide hire car, excess payment etc and recover from party at fault.

They can be numpties at times but they can also be very useful.

silvercar

If the car is written off you can sometimes buy it back for peanuts (as its worthless). You then get it repaired using your pay off at a cheapy repair place rather than the Ford main dealer; with a bit of luck it will cost you less than the pay off and you'll end up not being out of pocket.

Once its written off and the payment made to you, the hire car has to go back as the insurance claim is now settled.

dizzie

Lillymay - had someone reverse into me once at a junction, when I was stationary and he completely smashed in the front end of my car. I was so upset and was in tears, but the guy who did this was very fair - he agreed it was his fault, told me not to worry and true to his word, he admitted liability. I was with Direct Line then. They sent me some paperwork to fill in to explain how the accident happended - and his insurer covered my excess, I didn't have to pay anything. I would definitely speak to your insurer - explain that the other driver has admitted liability and ask them to recover the excess for you. If the other side has admitted liability you shouldn't have to pay any excess.

lillymay1975_2

hi all

just spoken to Direct line and they have agreed to pay for the damage excess etc, but rang the ford garage as well, and the car looks like it's a right off, we probably won't be having it back, i am gutted we will prob not get much now, and also the hire car will be going oh god what are we going to do, if my hubby hasen't a car to go to work he don;t get paid, he can't car share as he is working all over wales as a machine driver, oh my god this is terrible?

bandraoi

Is he working all over the place for the same company, ie does he get milage?

Most companies I know will provide a hire car plus petrol costs or mileage, particularly in cases like this.