Excess dispute

sallyally79

Hi there

I was involved in an accident at the beginning of May where I was at fault. 

We have a £625 excess on our policy. We looked around at getting the work completed and not going through insurance and in that time the car was assessed by the nominated garage. Our insurers, Dial Direct, stated in an email that no excess was due. I questioned that with a phone call and I was told by one of their advisors that no excess was due, even though I was at fault. So having verbal and written consent we decided to put it through the insurance. 

The garage also clarified that £0 excess on our instruction to start the work and still £0 excess when the work was completed and I collected the car. 

Fast forward to Friday, the garage contacts me to say that there is a £625 invoice still outstanding from the work done to the car. 

Would anyone know where we would stand? We made our decision based on their information that no excess was due and now they are demanding it is paid. Also, in this time my husband has been made redundant and we don’t just have £625 laying around to pay the invoice.  

Any advice would be appreciated. 

Thank you 

Brie

I would complain to the insurance company about being given incorrect information.  State that their error has left you financially disadvantaged.  Tell them they must pay it (unlikely but worth a try).  Hopefully you have some details as to who you talked to when, hopefully with names and times of the conversations.  Even if you don't have this they should have a fair bit recorded on their system and can dig that up.  If they stall on doing so you could submit a SAR (subject access request). 

I'd leave out the bit about your husband's redundancy which, while difficult for you both, isn't relevant to your complaint.  

Ultimately it's likely to be a partial payment at most towards the excess and then you can agree a payment plan with the garage.  

Hopefully your husband's employment situation will improve soon.

DullGreyGuy

sallyally79 said:

I was involved in an accident at the beginning of May where I was at fault. 

We have a £625 excess on our policy. We looked around at getting the work completed and not going through insurance and in that time the car was assessed by the nominated garage. Our insurers, Dial Direct, stated in an email that no excess was due. I questioned that with a phone call and I was told by one of their advisors that no excess was due, even though I was at fault. So having verbal and written consent we decided to put it through the insurance. 

The garage also clarified that £0 excess on our instruction to start the work and still £0 excess when the work was completed and I collected the car. 

Fast forward to Friday, the garage contacts me to say that there is a £625 invoice still outstanding from the work done to the car. 

Would anyone know where we would stand? We made our decision based on their information that no excess was due and now they are demanding it is paid. Also, in this time my husband has been made redundant and we don’t just have £625 laying around to pay the invoice.  

Any advice would be appreciated. 

Call centre operators, whilst often treated like robots are actually human and can make mistakes. 

You were aware you had an excess to pay and so the probability of getting away without anything to pay is slim however a complaint to them is likely to result in a reasonable contribution towards the excess.