My car has been written off. What are the next stages?

TractorFactor

What are the next stages in terms of insurance?

It was a single vehicle accident and my car has been in a garage for 2 weeks being assessed. But it's not an insurance approved garage. I think they want to recover it to their garage. Should I be asking for a courtesy car now?

I'm 3 months away from renewal. If I get another car, could I potentially change the vehicle and keep this year's no claims? I am claiming for the accident but it's protected so won't affect the number of years I have.

Is there any other advice?
This is the first time of anything like this happening to me.

Thank you kindly.

DullGreyGuy

A courtesy car is typically only available if the vehicle is repairable as the garage provide it and don't directly get compensated for it (in theory its built into the labour rate). Some insurers do offer a hire car option, sold under a wide range of marketing names like Guaranteed Courtesy Car or Enhanced Courtesy Car etc, which is available during the write off. 

Your insurer's engineer (in person or desk based) will inspect the vehicle and the garage's estimates of repair and either authorise repairs or deem it a total loss. For the later they will then contact you to discuss a few points and ultimately make an offer. 

After that the path diverges a little depending on if you are wanting to retain the car or not, some insurer will ask for all docs and keys before paying out whereas others payout whilst awaiting the docs. 

As long as you replace the vehicle in a reasonable timeframe you should be able to transfer the remainder of the cover onto the new vehicle.

Mildly_Miffed

Has it been written off, or is it still being assessed?

If it has been, then it won't be being moved to an insurance garage - it'll be going to copart.

Read your policy to see if you get a courtesy car after write-off, and for how long. Some policies do, some don't.

What happens now? They decide the value of the car before the collision, and pay you it. End of. Claim closed.

Whether your policy is ended by a total loss claim also depends on the policy wording. Some do, some don't.

TractorFactor

Thanks both.

The policy states they will give a courtesy car but only when repairs are authorised.

The garage think it's a complete write off and have sent a report to the AA (who recovered the car).  They haven't heard of my insurance company and won't send the report to them or me.

The AA say the garage needs to send a copy of the report to my insurance direct.

My insurance company say they won't proceed with the claim until they get the engineers report (I think they don't want to recover it to one of their approved garages for inspection if someone else has already done a report).  They have given me an email but the garage won't send it direct to them - they will only communicate with the AA.

The AA are almost washing their hands of it.

Complete circles!

Goudy

Yes, the AA only dragged it to where it is.
They consider their job done.

You have obviously raised a claim on your policy for it and as unfortunate as it is, you have to leave it to the insurance company to sort out.

The insurance claims handler should arrange for it's inspection.
They could do this themselves with their own engineer or use a freelancer but it's normally left to the garage/body shop to produce a repair quote, which the insurance company may or may not think worthwhile to repair.

They might accept a non approved quote, they might not, they might ask the AA for that one, they might not or they might not get it.
But they will be used to vehicles being in the wrong place, like at unapproved garages, so hopefully they will get on with it soon.

Once you get to this stage, it's either repaired or they write it off. Then your hire car kicks in.

There's not much you can do except supply everything the insurance company ask for.

It's always a good idea to try and get hold of the contract details of the person actually handling the claim.

This isn't for roasting them over the phone whenever you are frustrated, but to keep in contact and help them settle the claim quickly and efficiently.

You can also get a better idea from them what is going on, what they might be waiting for etc.

If you do buy another car before the claim is settled you can usually transfer your insurance across to that for a small fee, if they insure that type of car.
If you have to reinsure that one before the claim is settled, you have to tell them a claim is pending.
They might want some details of the pending claim and it would more than likely increase your premium.

 

force_ten1

the AA are a breakdown service and l am surprised they even came out to recover your car after an accident 

if the AA were contracted to recover the car by your insurance company then their job was done when the car was unloaded at the garage storage area    

Jaybee_16

Did the OP consider using AA Accident Assist?

TractorFactor

Jaybee_16 said:

Did the OP consider using AA Accident Assist?

Yes, that's what was used.

I'm don't have a policy with them but the person I was with has and it's the type where it's then not the car that gets the cover.