Involved in an accident last week, nobody hurt, "I was the nonfault party" other driver admitted liability straight away. Contacted Ins co, they said I had two choices, either claim on mine, pay my excess and my Ins co would claim it back from the other drivers Ins co, or as the other party had admitted liability let them "manage" it all.
My car is 3 month old Honda CRV, their approved repairer was 30 miles away, "no problem sir,as our client has admitted liability you can take it to the garage of your choice and we will also provide a loan car for the duration of the repairs, all you have to do is to obtain an estimate for the repaires and let us have it" Damage on first inspection seems light,scraped wheel, scuffed and gouged rear bumper.
With the car being so new I thought I'd take it to the Honda garage I bought it from. Obtained estimate, contacted Ins co with it. "book the car in sir and our engineer will come out and look at it and authorise repairs"
Problem 1. Did not tell me if I went to a garage of my choice you do not get the Ins warranty on the work, only what the garage will give.
Problem 2 Garage rang up today and said engineer will not approve new bumper (black plastic not painted) and were concerned at having to repair same. comments like "if I had a new car I would not want it repaired" were expressed. Whatever happened to being put back in the position you were in before the accident?? I rang my Ins co and they said "if the other Ins companies engineer would not approve a new bumper it's unlikely mine would, but yes sir you were entitled to be put back in the position you were before the accident"???
Problem 3 Loan car, bought CRV because I have difficulty getting in and out of lower cars due to a back problem and Ins co kindly agreed to "like for like" and provided an X Trail.Sting in the tail is £500.00 excess on accident or £11.00 per day CDW to take it down to zero with the comment from the sales guy "I used to work for an Ins co and you won't be able to get that back either"
Now am I being a bit unreasonable here, I was happy with my new car, I'm the "nonfault party" in an accident, I look like having to have a patched bumper and out of pocket of about £44.00 through no fault of my own or is it another one of these "write it down to experience"
Claybuster
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You should not be out of pocket at all. In my opinion, you should not only be reimbursed for all your direct expenses but also for the time you spend sorting this out. However, this opinion is unlikely to be shared by the insurance co (at least not overtly).
I am in the same position after recently suffering a no-fault collision and I'm pressing to have all my expenses recovered (including the CDW for my hire car). I'll let you know how I get on.
If you have legal assist with your insurance, speak to them about recovering your costs, and getting your car fixed to your satisfaction.
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Thanks for that AdrianM, keep me posted how you get on, I do have legal protection with my Ins, I hadn't thought of them and my Ins co hadn't said anything even when I complained.
Cheers
Claybuster
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You'll have to take the insurance company on.
I had a bump some years ago when a young woman damaged the front wing of my parked car when she was doing a three point turn. She drove off and never informed me. Fortunately, I found a witness and got her details. It was her father's car, and when I pointed out the blue paint from my car on his bumper he admitted she had damaged the back lights and he'd just replaced them. He agreed to claim on his insurance.
The problem came when I tried to claim for the use of a vehicle whilst mine was being repaired. His company refused to pay using the argument that as I received a car allowance that should cover the hire charges. Eventually, I gave up arguing and worked out all of the costs incurred - journey to police station to report accident; visit to repairer for estimate; cost of taking my car to garage and then collecting; visit to culprit to confront etc. I then charged them for all of my 'phone calls and £5 for each letter that I had written to them. I gave them seven days to pay up or I would take legal action. They wrote to say I had no legal basis for my claim, so I wrote back, added another fiver, and told them it was in the hands of my solicitor. They then wrote back again to say they would pay the hire charges. I ignored this letter and eventually had all of my claim for mileage, letters etc. paid in full.
Pursue your claim and obtain legal advice.
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Spot on Robbie, exactly the right thing to do.
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Even more good news re accident, garage rang today to say got out repair man for the bumper as per other parties Insurance engineer request instead of replacement bumper "yes sir I can repair that, but you will still be able to see that it has been repaired" Before "not at fault accident" bumper OK. Why should I end up with a patched bumper when before the accident I had a perfect bumper. Garage guy says other party Ins engineer refuses to budge. Looks like a call to my Ins legal helpline is in order in the morning. Any advice backroomers!
See original post re Insurance? Unfair?
Regards
Claybuster
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Just a little worried that strong adherence to principle may end up costing everyone money, except the lawyers, as usual?
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Don't disagree with what you're saying but what is the alternative? - bend over and get shafted?
Accident not his fault so there should be no argument, he should be put back in same position as prior to the accident. Hopefully the mere mention of "putting it into the hands of my lawyer" should prees them into action.
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Absolutely, Adrian. But once a case is sucked into a process, it can take a long time to emerge at the other end. By then all parties are losing interest and just want it finished. The process-users know this and aggravate things by dragging feet. If a way to sort it offers itself fairly quickly, take it; if not I would be tempted to swallow pride and cut losses. After all, bumpers are intended to bump (at least they used to be) and if a decent repair is possible, that may be cost-effective.
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