Car Insurance query re no fault accident

Traveljunky

I haven't posted for quite a while so sorry but this might be longwinded.

My husband was involved in an accident about 5 weeks ago. An SUV cut the corner turning into a road at a T-junction and knocked my husband off his motorbike whilst he was sitting waiting to turn right.
Luckily he wasn't seriously hurt, there were witnesses and the driver admitted he was at fault and insurance details were exchanged. My husbands motorbike is severely damaged sitting in our garage, his bike gear did its job but it's also quite damaged.

The thing is my husband contacted his own insurance company who advised that rather than claim through his own protected insurance he should proceed with a no fault claim against the other guys insurance.

The other guy rather than inform his own insurance company directly put everything in the hands of a company called Crash Services and as of last week they had not actually informed his insurance company of the accident. This means that currently my husband has no bike, no bike gear and no sign at all that anything is being done to recompense him for the damage caused during the accident.

He is due to go off on a biking holiday in a couple of months and needs a bike and bike gear. 

So after all that what we want to know is firstly should it be taking this long and secondly should he just claim through his own insurance which has protected no-claims and let the 2 insurance companies fight it out amongst themselves.

Mark_d

Assuming your husband has a comprehensive policy, your husband should raise the claim through his own insurance who should then recover the cost from the third party.

If your husband's policy is not comprehensive but he does have legal cover, then I would investigate taking legal action against the other driver.

"Crash Services" are trying to take a slice of cash by reducing the payout due to your husband.  I would avoid dealing with these "accident management companies" as far as possible

GrumpyDil

Mark_d said:

Assuming your husband has a comprehensive policy, your husband should raise the claim through his own insurance who should then recover the cost from the third party.

If your husband's policy is not comprehensive but he does have legal cover, then I would investigate taking legal action against the other driver.

"Crash Services" are trying to take a slice of cash by reducing the payout due to your husband.  I would avoid dealing with these "accident management companies" as far as possible

Although worth noting Crash Services are being used by the other driver and not the OP. 

DullGreyGuy

Their use of Crash Services and the fact their own insurer have not been informed for the accident would suggest that the TP is claiming that this is a non-fault accident to them. 

Who have you contacted as "their insurer"... many mistake brokers for insurers whereas in this circumstance you want to be talking to the firm with claims handling authority on the policy. Did you advise them you were making a claim against their policyholder? Many will take a claim report from a TP but may require it in writing or such.

Your other two options, assuming you have comp cover is to revert to your own insurance or instruct your own claims management company to manage the claim on credit terms as the TP has. 

Zbubuman

I am a claims handler by profession with over 15 years experience. Whilst I haven't been involved with motor insurance for a few years. The process is to always go via your own insurance and then let them pursue the third party's insurers for their outlay. 

The minor exception of this rule is when the third party's insurers approach you direct to deal with your claim ( usually happens when the TP informs his insurers that he is at fault). They do this as it will help them to keep costs down, and usually you will get better service ( better courtesy car, quicker turnaround on repairs, etc), however the caveat is that if things go wrong you don't hold much leverage ( remember they are not your insurers, so they will have the best interests of their client and their own interests at heart).

Judging by the fact that the TP approached a claims management company and not even informed his insurers, raises a lot of red flags and he might be trying to dispute liability.  So go back to your insurers and ask them to deal with the claim. You might have to pay the excess, but provided they make a full recover on the claim it will be reimbursed back to you at a later stage.

Also if for some reason the equipment ( helmet, pads, clothing, etc) is not covered under the main policy, but you have legal cover. you can claim these as uninsured losses. 

DullGreyGuy

Zbubuman said:
 The process is to always go via your own insurance and then let them pursue the third party's insurers for their outlay. 

The process is to always inform your insurers but not necessarily claim on it. Certain insurers, eg Admiral Group, will always look to sell push you to Accident Management (Auxilis) if you state the accident was non-fault rather than have you claim off your insurance. 

Plenty more will advocate claiming directly from the TPI for the reasons you mentioned though it's worth noting that you lose FOS rights by doing this if things go wrong. 

Zbubuman said:
Also if for some reason the equipment ( helmet, pads, clothing, etc) is not covered under the main policy, but you have legal cover. you can claim these as uninsured losses. 

Helmet and leathers are not covered as standard on Comp Motorbike insurance, it is an optional extra offered by many. TPFT and TPO cover is much more common on bikes than it is on cars too. 

Traveljunky

Thank you for all the advice. So my husband bought his insurance through Cornmarket and when he informed them of the accident they put him onto a company called Lemonade. The policy itself is underwritten by Ageas. I assume then from what you have said that Lemonade is a company like Crash Services, am I misunderstanding this?

Lemonade have contacted my husband and advised that they have managed to contact the TP's insurance company, which I believe is eSure, and they have said they are investigating.
Goodness knows how long that will take.

With regard to just claiming of his own comprehensive insurance, to get things sorted more quickly, is there a disadvantage to this going forward such as higher insurance premium costs, loss of no claims etc given that this was definitely not my husbands fault.

BarelySentientAI

There will be higher premiums regardless of settlement method because he has been involved in an accident.

DullGreyGuy

Traveljunky said:

Thank you for all the advice. So my husband bought his insurance through Cornmarket and when he informed them of the accident they put him onto a company called Lemonade. The policy itself is underwritten by Ageas. I assume then from what you have said that Lemonade is a company like Crash Services, am I misunderstanding this?

Lemonade have contacted my husband and advised that they have managed to contact the TP's insurance company, which I believe is eSure, and they have said they are investigating.
Goodness knows how long that will take.

With regard to just claiming of his own comprehensive insurance, to get things sorted more quickly, is there a disadvantage to this going forward such as higher insurance premium costs, loss of no claims etc given that this was definitely not my husbands fault.

A google shows there is a claims management company called Lemonaid Motor Legal, never heard of them personally but there are hundreds such companies.  They offer a broader range of services than Crash Services but on the basis they were instructed by the broker in this case it's likely they are acting as an accident management company. 

There are a few potential disadvantages and also benefits of claiming off your own insurance.... you have to pay your excess in most cases but can recover it later, if something goes wrong and the insurer cannot recover their outlay then its a fault claim and any replacement vehicle during repair/write off are subject to the terms of the policy. On the flip side if the claim goes wrong you can go to the Ombudsman whereas you cannot on either  claiming via an AMC or directly with the third party insurer.