Car insurance: non fault - undrivable write off

J332

My friend had a car reverse into the side of hers whist stationary, resulting in a dent to the rear quarter panel and scuffs/minor dent on the drivers door.  She called the insurance at the scene to inform and provided an account of the incident.  She was informed it would likely be a total loss but refrained from initiating a claim there and then as she was in shock and could not process the information being provided.

She had the car visually inspected at 2 bodyshops for quotes and both indicated, driveable, repairable but costly and most likely total loss due to uneconomical repair given the age of the vehicle. She contacted the insurance and was offered an "after the event policy" to take care of costs/excess/courtesy car etc. Based on the damages informed over the phone, there was either a salvage or retention route (car taken and inspected by a salvage agent or  kept and  loss assessed via photos). She asked to retain, as she wants to keep using the car whilst looking for a replacement.

Unsure why she was being offered a courtesy car (till settlement) when she could still use hers she was told told her car was undrivable, based only on the fact that when asked if there was a gap in the drivers door she had said yes, without any clear parameters of what was being asked !  She was advised not to use the car, that this was advice only and that her insurance policy would still be in place however if the damage caused an accident she may be liable/not covered if a claim was made.  

Can a person over the phone can make such a judgement call ahead of it being assessed by the assessors and despite independent bodyshops stating it was driveable/reparable. Is this just standard Q&A process to be re-evaluated by the loss assessor or is the phone decision final and held ?

My friend, distraught since the incident is now further distressed about her car/insurance status. I'm trying to support her, but have no experience of how these things are dealt with.


Many thanks in advance for any advice from your own experiences.




Harsh words cause pain, kindness cost nothing

[Deleted User]

Might be worth trying the at fault person's insurance, see what they say.

DullGreyGuy

You have been speaking to an accident management company, they make their money by providing you a hire car on credit which they then recover the cost from the third party insurer. The rate they charge is vastly higher than what you'd get if you were to go to a Hertz or Avis and try to hire one yourself. Dealing with a total loss gets them about £30 which just isn't worth their time/effort without a hire car involved hence why you've found they are so certain its undrivable, agent wants their commission. 

It's not ATE Insurance, that's what a solicitor buys if you are claiming for injuries on a no win, no fee basis. 

You potentially will have to stand up in court and explain why you needed a hire car and why you needed it on credit. It is unlikely but would you be comfortable telling the judge you think your car is undrivable? If not then don't go down this route. 

Your other two options are either to claim off of your insurance policy or approach the third party insurers directly and ask them about cash in lieu of repairs or a total loss where you retain the salvage. 

J332

DullGreyGuy said:

You have been speaking to an accident management company, they make their money by providing you a hire car on credit which they then recover the cost from the third party insurer. The rate they charge is vastly higher than what you'd get if you were to go to a Hertz or Avis and try to hire one yourself. Dealing with a total loss gets them about £30 which just isn't worth their time/effort without a hire car involved hence why you've found they are so certain its undrivable, agent wants their commission. 

It's not ATE Insurance, that's what a solicitor buys if you are claiming for injuries on a no win, no fee basis. 

You potentially will have to stand up in court and explain why you needed a hire car and why you needed it on credit. It is unlikely but would you be comfortable telling the judge you think your car is undrivable? If not then don't go down this route. 

Your other two options are either to claim off of your insurance policy or approach the third party insurers directly and ask them about cash in lieu of repairs or a total loss where you retain the salvage. 

She has only ever spoken to her insurance company, they gave her 2 service options: 
1. claim through her motor insurance policy (pay the excess, not be entitled to a courtesy car).
or
2. take as offered a no cost a policy guaranteeing not needing to pay the motor insurance policy excess, provision of a hire vehicle (until settlement in the case of total loss) and without making a claim on the motor insurance.

Based on this she indicated option 2, but on trying to get clarity on why a hire car was even needed if  retaining her car was told hers was 'undrivable'. She disputed this and told them to stop and not proceed any further. On asking them to put all that had been discussed in writing as the call was causing confusion & distress, she received only documentation for an ATE policy (paid for and underwritten by the same insurance company, with a cancellation cooling off period) and a letter setting out what to expect next despite having said STOP.

What are the pro/cons of either option, as it never fully explained ... just here's you options which do you choose ?   As to contacting the 3rd party insurer all I can see online is advice to not do that but go through the 1st party's own

DullGreyGuy

J332 said:
As to contacting the 3rd party insurer all I can see online is advice to not do that but go through the 1st party's own

The one downside of claiming off the third party insurer is the fact you have no right to go to the Financial Ombudsman if things go wrong. It is a risk but then the percentage of claims that end at the ombudsman is tiny and the ombudsman tends to side with the customer about 30% of the time in Motor (from memory).

Some third party insurers even offer a cash incentive for you to claim directly just because of the vast difference in hire car costs etc between them providing you one and you going the credit hire route. 

[Deleted User]

DullGreyGuy said:

J332 said:
As to contacting the 3rd party insurer all I can see online is advice to not do that but go through the 1st party's own

The one downside of claiming off the third party insurer is the fact you have no right to go to the Financial Ombudsman if things go wrong. It is a risk but then the percentage of claims that end at the ombudsman is tiny and the ombudsman tends to side with the customer about 30% of the time in Motor (from memory).

Some third party insurers even offer a cash incentive for you to claim directly just because of the vast difference in hire car costs etc between them providing you one and you going the credit hire route. 

If they mess you around you can always just claim from your own insurer instead.

DullGreyGuy

[Deleted User] said:

DullGreyGuy said:

J332 said:
As to contacting the 3rd party insurer all I can see online is advice to not do that but go through the 1st party's own

The one downside of claiming off the third party insurer is the fact you have no right to go to the Financial Ombudsman if things go wrong. It is a risk but then the percentage of claims that end at the ombudsman is tiny and the ombudsman tends to side with the customer about 30% of the time in Motor (from memory).

Some third party insurers even offer a cash incentive for you to claim directly just because of the vast difference in hire car costs etc between them providing you one and you going the credit hire route. 

If they mess you around you can always just claim from your own insurer instead.

You can but that has the potential to create complexity and potentially could result in a fault claim being registered on your own insurance if the TPI refuse to pay for things they'd already paid for when they were dealing with you directly.