My car insurer

leehuggy72

Hi, I had a car accident of no fault to me Thurs 10th can someone give me a bit of advice please.

I did the normal exchange of details and went our different ways. I contacted One Call insurance (my insurer) and told them I had an accident and had to be assessed before a file handler will take up the case. My car was drivable from the accident but the chassis was bent as it drove funny so at this moment is parked at my works private car park. Once assessed they put me through to a handler but this is were I have been having problems.....
I was waiting on the line which abruptly cut dead.
so I had to ring again and try to explain I was cut off put through again and was cut off again.
The following day Friday I got through to a file handler were she said will be in touch and would send a pack out through email for me to send relevant photos,infomation relevant to the claim.
since then nothing no email I've tried every day to get this sorted but I either get told someone will contact you or the email will get sorted.
I complained on their online chat facility that I was frustrated that nothing is being done and I haven't got a car to drive. what was taking so long to sort out.
1, Can I threaten them that I'm going to hire a car and back charge my insurance company for its inability to sort out my situation.
2, Is it worth contacting the ombudsman regarding my insurance company and its handling of the claim.
3, I'm I expecting to much too soon?
4, How can I get things to move faster by the way their complaints dept is rubbish and basically its an address you have to write to and post.

I've never claimed so I don't know these things.
Sorry in advance if this is in the wrong forum, hopefully someone can help..
Regards 
Lee

Brie

Might be better on the motoring forum but others will know, no doubt.

I quite get that this is frustrating but so far I think you've been doing the right thing.  I do think you need to ensure there is a formal complaint raised as it sounds like nothing will get done any time soon without this.  That means on the phone getting a complaint reference, and making a note of that, the date and time and who you talked to. I suggest you make a list of every other single time you've called or whatever as well as this will form part of your complaint.  I doubt contacting an ombudsperson will work if you have not exhausted the company's own complaint procedures first.  

I strongly suggest you do NOT go out and hire a car assuming this will be covered by your or another person's insurance.  

You might want to find a mobile mechanic or AA or someone who can have a look at the car in the meantime to see whether they think the car can be repaired.  If the chassis is bent as you say then it may be impossible to repair and therefore hazardous to drive and need to be scrapped.  If that is the case then maybe you should start looking around for a new vehicle now so you're ready to purchase something suitable.  

Obviously inspecting the car for repairability is up to your insurance company but be prepared for them to state "not economically viable to repair" even if the damage is relatively minor.  Even painting a car can be expensive and may exceed the actual value of the car.  Also be prepared that if they are willing to pay you for the car that it will be a very low amount.  I had an accident a few years back (car park, other driver reversed out of a parking spot into the side of my car as I was driving past) and was offered about 1/4 the value of my car.  I refused their offer and went on to autotrader and pulled up an ad for the same make and model as my car but a year older with higher mileage that was almost as much as what I'd paid for mine 2 years earlier.  We settled on a figure about 3/4 of what was listed in that ad and I got to keep the car which frankly had just cosmetic damage.  

housebuyer143

I claimed last month after driving into a post but I was sent the email by RAC in a few hours, photos back and garage selected. It's different as it's not your fault but I would imagine that you should have had some confirmation of the claim and a place to send photos already. I would put in a formal complaint.

superbigal

Try and claim directly on the 3rd parties insurance if you are 100% sure it will be "their fault".  Ie you were parked and they drove into you.