Car accident that wasn't my fault - help regarding insurance

housebuyer7

Hello

Someone reversed into my parked car when no one was in the vehicle a couple of months ago. The damage is cosmetic only - a dent in my car door. The driver left a note with their details. I contacted them and they asked to just pay for the repair rather than go through insurance. As I thought the cost would be minimal I agreed. However, I got quotes and the cost was £1000+ and she couldn't afford to pay so it was decided to go through insurance. I therefore contacted my insurance who referred me to an independent agency so that my no-claims wouldn't be affected and I wouldn't have to pay an excess. They have now said they can't help because the cost of the repairs is worth 60% of the car value. I've been passed onto someone else (within their agency I think) who is going to collect my car to assess by an engineer and I will be given a hire car in the mean time.

I have no idea what is going on. From reading it seems my car is going to be considered a drivable write off. I need the car as a keyworker and don't have the cash for a new car so what do I do? My questions are as follows:

1. Is my car no longer going to be insured (I assume it will be a CAT N)?
2. I paid out in full in September for insurance, is all that money lost?
3. Do I need to pay out for another £400+ for another year of insurance out of my own pocket even though I'm not at fault?
4. If the car is deemed a drivable write off does this mean the damage won't be repaired? If so how am I compensated for the fact it will be worth £1000+ less if I were to sell?
5. Will I even be able to get my car back from my insurers? If so will there be a cost to me for this even though I'm not at fault?

Thank you for any help anyone can give!

martinbainbridge1975

if the claim is 100% non fault as the above suggests, then all money would not be lost providing costs are recovered from the 3rd party insurance.

should the vehicle be replaced you can do change of vehicle on your existing insurance policy, so there would be no need to set up a new policy - check with insurer would be my advice

you sometimes get the option to get the car back plus a salvage payment as settlement if the damage is minor and it would not be costly to repair, the suggestion would be you use the salvage payment to repair the car

maybe worth checking the write off categories as they have changed 

hope this helps

DullGreyGuy

housebuyer7 said:

 I've been passed onto someone else (within their agency I think) who is going to collect my car to assess by an engineer and I will be given a hire car in the mean time.

I have no idea what is going on. From reading it seems my car is going to be considered a drivable write off. I need the car as a keyworker and don't have the cash for a new car so what do I do? My questions are as follows:

1. Is my car no longer going to be insured (I assume it will be a CAT N)?
2. I paid out in full in September for insurance, is all that money lost?
3. Do I need to pay out for another £400+ for another year of insurance out of my own pocket even though I'm not at fault?
4. If the car is deemed a drivable write off does this mean the damage won't be repaired? If so how am I compensated for the fact it will be worth £1000+ less if I were to sell?
5. Will I even be able to get my car back from my insurers? If so will there be a cost to me for this even though I'm not at fault?

Ok, so you have been sold passed to a credit hire/accident management company, this will add some complexity because its not your insurers that will write it off.

1) The car will still be insured; you should however ask them if they require any form of proof its still drivable or not

2) Had you claimed off of your own insurance then your policy would normally be suspended once the total loss occurres and you'd have a "reasonable period" (normally circa 60 days) to transfer the remainder of the policy onto a new car or get your old car back on the road and confirmed as roadworthy (if required).

3) No, as above, your not claiming off of your insurance so your policy just continues if you retain the salvage

4) If its beyond economical repair they will pay you the preaccident value of the car. You can choose to keep the salvage in which case the settlement is reduced by what the insurer would have received from selling the salvage. So its up to you if you want all the money and buy an equivalent car or most the money and either live with the damage or pay for it to be repaired.

Insurers (and AXMs) use brand new genuine parts, make sure resprays include whole panels and blending into neighbouring panels etc and hence total loss many older vehicles. Owners of such vehicles may be happy with a repair thats below A1 standard and so Dr Dent or back street garage buying spares from breakers etc can easily come well under the total settlement amount

5) Your insurers arent involved, you are dealing with an accident management company. But yes, you can retain the salvage if you pay for the salvage. 

m0bov

You dont need to use an agency, your policy is with Admi, I mean your named insurer. These agencies make their money on hire cars, be careful. If you policy does not cover a hire car if yours is written off, you could get stung for a vastly inflated cost.

macman

Were the quotes you got based on you paying, or your insurer? It's not unknown for bodyshops to somewhat 'inflate' quotes (ahem) when it's the insurer who is paying the bill.

Nobbie1967

You are probably best off claiming directly off the 3rd party insurer for cash in lieu of repair. First check with the accident management company that you can cancel your claim via them without penalty and then phone the 3rd party insurance and say you wish to claim directly off them rather than use an accident management company and they should be keen to sort you out with a cash settlement where you keep the car.

housebuyer7

I’m very confused - it’s bad to claim off the accident management company? My insurance implied this was the best and most commonly used option as it protects my no claims bonus and I don’t have to pay an excess? Please can people explain any rationale behind their thinking as nothing like this has ever happened to me before and I understand absolutely none of it! What things am I supposed to do/check for? 

facade

It is "bad" to use an accident management company as they make a fortune out of it by adding on costs like hire cars at inflated prices and their fees. This means that I have to pay higher premiums to cover these middlemen.

Your insurer thinks it is "good" because

1) they don't have to actually do anything* except count the money from the "referral fee"

2) They get a nice fat "referral fee" from the Accident management company.

If the accident is straightforward claiming off the responsible party direct via their insurer is better for everyone (except your insurer and the claim management company of course)

Claim management companies can be useful if liability isn't clear, they will argue for your (and their) money provided there is more than a 50/50 chance of winning.

* In The Olden Days your own insurer used to handle the claim for you and recover your excess if you were not at fault, but that was when they had legions of clerks scribbling away, now there is just one person to handle everything, and they simply don't have the time or inclination to bother.

daveyjp

OP as this is clear cut third party claim if you have a quote for about £1,000 for the work get the other party's insurance to agree you having the work done at that bodyshop and for the third party insurance to pick up the bill.

The cost is so high going through your insurance because every layer of managing the claim needs to make money, so your £1,000 repair becomes 3-4x that and your car gets written off.

I've just done this myself.  Had I gone through my insurance the approved bodyshop would have charged £100+ an hour labour, would mark up the parts cost and they would want me to have a credit hire car for the 3-4 weeks (probably more as it was just before Christmas) they would have taken to assess the car and have it fixed. 

I had it fixed within two weeks and didn't need a hire car, but one was available from the bodyshop for 3-4 days the repair took if needed.

housebuyer7

OK thank you I understand. So how do I proceed? Do I call up their insurance and tell them I want to claim? Will they try and dissuade me? One thing is the other party didn't tell their insurer about this until a few weeks later due to Christmas (assuming they actually have now). Will they say I can't claim due to their 24 hour notification window?

Aretnap

housebuyer7 said:

OK thank you I understand. So how do I proceed? Do I call up their insurance and tell them I want to claim? Will they try and dissuade me? One thing is the other party didn't tell their insurer about this until a few weeks later due to Christmas (assuming they actually have now). Will they say I can't claim due to their 24 hour notification window?

You should be able to find a number for the other driver's insurer's third party claims department via their website or Google.

There is no "24 hour notification window" for a third party claim - the contract the other driver has with his insurer cannot limit your rights as a third party. Under the Limitations Act you have up to six years to make a claim for damage to your own car.

If there's no dispute over liability then it:s unlikely that they'll try to dissuade you from claiming. They'd much rather handle the claim themselves than have you go through a claims management company as it allows them to control the costs rather than pay the CMC:s inflated fees. This also gives them a strong incentive to give you good service, as you can always go back to the CMC if you're not satisfied with how the the third party insurer is handling your claim.