Car accident, not my fault, assessor agrees, other party says not their fault - HELP!

Luvdup

Hi

My sister had a car accident in May 06. Some prat went on the wrong side of the road and hit her car.

She had an insurance assessor out and he agreed it wasn't her fault. (She has £450 worth of damage to her car)

The woman who hit her said it wasn't her fault and therefore her insurance company won't pay out. My sister's insurance company have stated as blame can't be put either way, they have removed her NCD AND increased her insurance premium and told her she can't take her business elsewhere until the claim is solved. However, she has been calling since MAY to get this resolved and keeps getting fobbed off telling her that she should accept 50/50 blame - but then her car won't get repaired and she will lose her NCD! Now they are saying unless she repairs her car, they won't sort the claim out - yet she hasn't got £450 to repair her car, or indeed why should she pay for it to be fixed when the prat who damaged it doesn't pay??

This is so unfair!

What can she do? Who can she go to for advice? Everytime she calls Admiral, they fob her off and tell her she can't talk to a supervisor as no-one is available. She is not the most confident person on the phone and is very panicky, and the gits won't talk to me as it isn't my car!!

Surely there must a time frame for complaints? They are bullying her to keep her business and penalising her for someone else driving into her!!

Any ideas what we can do?? I am so bloody angry!

Thanks!

impy78

You could approach the Motor Insurance Bureau, but they do charge an excess to investigate the case.

lisyloo

The woman who hit her said it wasn't her fault and therefore her insurance company won't pay out.

Did she not have any independent witness?
Unfortunately if you don't get witnesses then it's her word against theirs and this leaves insurers unable to prove it either way.
I realise it's not possible in all circumstances as there may be no-one around or you can be in shock, but it does leave a legal problem. It would cost a fortune to go to court and there is no gurantee that she won win as it's difficult when it's one persons word against the other.

but then her car won't get repaired

I don't understand this bit.
Are you saying she is not insured fully comp.
If not then she should have known that this was something of a risk.

yet she hasn't got £450 to repair her car

Why isn't she insuring that risk then?
If she hasn't got the money she should insure her car fully comp OR understand the risk she is taking.

or indeed why should she pay for it to be fixed when the prat who damaged it doesn't pay??

I completely understand your frustration but the reason is that she can't prove it as she has no independent winesses so it's her word against the 3d party.

This is so unfair!

I agree it is unfair.

Any ideas what we can do??

Without any independent witnesses or compelling evidence (of the forensic variety) then I think she is nulikely to be able to prove her side.

She could put a complaint into her insurer to make sure they don't fob her off.
Make sure she follows the formal procedures and sends the letter recorded delivery (worth 70p in my view to make sure it doesn't get lost in the post).
Unfortunately she may have to accept it.

If she doesn't have the money to repair the car then her options are
1) Keep it as it is (as it seems to be driveable since May 06).
2) Get more income through extra work.
3) Cut back and save some money from elsewhere.
4) Another option is to sell the car and then use a misture of public/private transport e.g. walking, cycling, train, bus, taxi, get lifts etc. Whether this is practical depends on the journeys she makes, but it can still be cheaper to get taxis some of the time if you can find other ways for the majority of your journeys.

raskazz

impy78 wrote: »

You could approach the Motor Insurance Bureau, but they do charge an excess to investigate the case.

The MIB have no reason to get involved as the third party was insured and the driver of the third party vehicle was known.

To the OP, lisyloo's post pretty much sums up the situation.

Your very first course of action should be to ask your sister to contact Admiral and give explicit authority for you to deal with the issue on her behalf. Then you can discuss it with them and be more assertive than she is.

V_tricky

Until you have a loss incurred, you can't claim it - in other words, unless you have the £450 repairs done, with a receipt to prove your loss, you can't claim it back.

Also, if you leave it a while, and rust develops for example, and then costs MORE than the initial £450, the insurers are STILL only liable for the original £450.



Edited to add:

If YOU want to deal with it on her behalf, all she needs to do is either tell them on the phone (or more likely they'll request it's put in writing) that she authorises YOU to deal with it on her behalf.

StaceyAKelly

Simple!

Walk into a Solicitors office and say you want to speak to a Solicitor following a road traffic accident that wasnt your fault. About 15 Solicitors will dive on you thinking they have a new claim.

Once in explain the situation and they will tell you what to do!!!!!