Car Insurance claim question

Essex_Jim

We had someone hit the back of our car a couple of days ago. We are insured with Admiral. Third Party with LV.

All parties agreed we were not at fault. 

We completed the claim within the hour with Admiral. They contacted us the next day saying that they will get a garage to contact us to arrange repair and we would pay our excess direct to the repairing garage and we would have to recover these costs ourselves (I assume I did not select legal protection) or they could recover for an additional fee which they could not quote.

Following day LV  contacted us to say that third party had admitted full liability and they could arrange the repairs at an appropriate garage with no cost to us. Worth noting at this point our car is an MG EV. LV were going to send us to an approved Tesla repairer. 

We then contacted Admiral to make them aware of this and they advised against it as the repair may be sub standard, third party insurance would cut the cost and they could not get involved.

I personally want to go with the third Party repair as it saves the recovery of the excess. 

Looking for peoples guidance on this please.

facade

As Admiral say, if you go through them you have a contract with the repairer through Admiral, and when if it becomes apparent that the repair is substandard (like when you are about to hand it back at the end of PCP) you go back to Admiral and get it sorted. (Admiral work for you, and through them so does their Contractor)

If you take the third party repair, once you sign it off, they kiss you goodbye, and unless you personally have a guarantee from the repairer, if there are any problems you are left crying. (The third party insurer does not work for you, neither does the repairer as you didn't pay anything)

Beeblebr0x

"They contacted us the next day saying that they will get a garage to contact us to arrange repair and we would pay our excess direct to the repairing garage and we would have to recover these costs ourselves (I assume I did not select legal protection) or they could recover for an additional fee which they could not quote."

Is this true or just bull from Admiral?

QrizB

Beeblebr0x said:

"They contacted us the next day saying that they will get a garage to contact us to arrange repair and we would pay our excess direct to the repairing garage and we would have to recover these costs ourselves (I assume I did not select legal protection) or they could recover for an additional fee which they could not quote."

Is this true or just bull from Admiral?

Also, is it actually Admiral or is it their tame claims management company?

Essex_Jim

Beeblebr0x said:

"They contacted us the next day saying that they will get a garage to contact us to arrange repair and we would pay our excess direct to the repairing garage and we would have to recover these costs ourselves (I assume I did not select legal protection) or they could recover for an additional fee which they could not quote."

Is this true or just bull from Admiral?

This is what Admiral stated to me. 

Not sure if you are talking about the repair or the excess. In terms of the excess, if I go with Admiral, it is clear I have to recover the excess myself or pay Admiral an undefined fee to recover.

Essex_Jim

Thanks @facade for your reply. Going through Admiral clearly gives a Guarantee on the repair. I suspect if I do run into a problem with the repair I  doubt they will be easy to tie down to honouring follow up actions based on there dealing yesterday. See the thread about Auxillis. At best, they weren't bothered with my queries.

The next question would be how easy it would be to recovery my excess (Which is a reasonable amount!)

Beeblebr0x

Essex_Jim said:

Beeblebr0x said:

"They contacted us the next day saying that they will get a garage to contact us to arrange repair and we would pay our excess direct to the repairing garage and we would have to recover these costs ourselves (I assume I did not select legal protection) or they could recover for an additional fee which they could not quote."

Is this true or just bull from Admiral?

This is what Admiral stated to me. 

Not sure if you are talking about the repair or the excess. In terms of the excess, if I go with Admiral, it is clear I have to recover the excess myself or pay Admiral an undefined fee to recover.

I never opt for legal protection, so having to recover the excess myself would come as a surprise.

MyRealNameToo

QrizB said:

Beeblebr0x said:

"They contacted us the next day saying that they will get a garage to contact us to arrange repair and we would pay our excess direct to the repairing garage and we would have to recover these costs ourselves (I assume I did not select legal protection) or they could recover for an additional fee which they could not quote."

Is this true or just bull from Admiral?

Also, is it actually Admiral or is it their tame claims management company?

You dont pay an excess with a claims management company and credit repairs so its unlikely to be Auxillis 

Essex_Jim said:

The next question would be how easy it would be to recovery my excess (Which is a reasonable amount!)

Assuming you have the correct details from LV= then it should be very simple, just a case of a short letter and a copy of the invoice showing you paid the excess. Dont send the original invoice in case it goes AWOL. 


The one point of note in claiming directly from a third party insurer is that as you are not their customer you have no right to go to the Financial Ombudsman if things go wrong, your only redress would be via the courts. 

Essex_Jim

Beeblebr0x said:

Essex_Jim said:

Beeblebr0x said:

"They contacted us the next day saying that they will get a garage to contact us to arrange repair and we would pay our excess direct to the repairing garage and we would have to recover these costs ourselves (I assume I did not select legal protection) or they could recover for an additional fee which they could not quote."

Is this true or just bull from Admiral?

This is what Admiral stated to me. 

Not sure if you are talking about the repair or the excess. In terms of the excess, if I go with Admiral, it is clear I have to recover the excess myself or pay Admiral an undefined fee to recover.

I never opt for legal protection, so having to recover the excess myself would come as a surprise.

It did to me too! Frustrating that the cost can be recovered for a fee, that they cannot quote me 

Essex_Jim

QrizB said:

Beeblebr0x said:

"They contacted us the next day saying that they will get a garage to contact us to arrange repair and we would pay our excess direct to the repairing garage and we would have to recover these costs ourselves (I assume I did not select legal protection) or they could recover for an additional fee which they could not quote."

Is this true or just bull from Admiral?

Also, is it actually Admiral or is it their tame claims management company?

I assumed we were talking to Admiral/. When we were on the chat the day after trying to clarify things, they said they could hear the recorded call where replacement car was discussed. May well be the claims company