Driving along minding my own business when an A3 turns right, across my path. Damage to his car is mostly to the rear NS passenger door, damage to mine is NS front corner, headlamp smashed, NS wing crumpled at front.
My 405 TD estate (190k, slightly scruffy) will be a write off. My insurance is TPFT only. Should I just write to him claiming the replacement value of the car, and leave it at that? He will forward that to his insurers and then they'll deal/negotiate direct.
Apart from telling my insurance co. that it's being written off, what else is there to do?
I'd like to get the car scrapped before the tax runs out on 30 Nov. Can I scrap it before his insurers examine it, or can I just supply photos? As it happens I have off-road storage space, but SWMBO is unamused at rusting heaps littering the view.
|
Personally i'd ring your ins co. and 'let them get on with it'. Although you're only TPF&T they still have a responsibilty to deal, albeit they won't be paying you anything, but they should negotiate with the other party's ins co to get them to cough up.
Make sure you get your excess etc paid as well, otherwise if you don't get a full pay out from the oter side your ins co. can load your next premium, showing it as a degree of fault/ongoing claim.
I had similar a few years back on a TPF&T policy and my co. did the lot (albeit there were extra complications, which i won't bore you with now).
|
Make sure you get your excess etc paid as well otherwise if you don't get a full pay out from the oter side your ins co. can load your next premium showing it as a degree of fault/ongoing claim.
There is no excess on 3rd party claim - all you want is for them to pay out 100% of the value of your car + cars hire, taxis, loss of earnings (say you are hourly paid and you missed 3 or 4 hours at work) + any out of pocket expenses.
Good luck
|
|
|
Personally i'd ring your ins co. and 'let them get on with it'. Although you're only TPF&T they still have a responsibilty to deal albeit they won't be paying you anything but they should negotiate with the other party's ins co to get them to cough up.
Nope they have no such duty, nor will they bother. (most of them anyway)
------
< Ulla>
|
|
|
|
Tell your Ins Co of the bump (in case they counterclaim)
Write to him with details of your car, make, model, reg no, chassis no etc
State date, time, what happened you are holding him /her 100% to blame as they turned right (without due care and attention) across in front of you he hit you and that you are the innocent party.
Tell him to copy this to his Ins Co and by return ask him to confirm his details, names address, Car Reg, Ins Co - Policy No etc.
OR
Contact a 3rd party Claims Management Co and let them deal with it - they will make you mobile again (until 3rd party Ins Co pays out + 1 week maybe to get another set of wheels)and this will speed up the 3rd party Ins Co to settle your claim.
This speeds up the claim as they will be billed extortionate car hire rates compared to the modest value of a 200K Peugeot 405.
I had a claim many years ago and the 2 other car drivers involved were insured by the same Ins Co - 1 through a Glasgow based office (Direct Ins arm) and 1 through a Midlands based office (Corporate Ins Arm) - neither office of the same company would settle because they wanted the other part of the company to pay.
The Claims Mgt Co concentrated their minds and after 2 weeks of going nowhere they settled in 48 hours - car hire was estimated at 5 days to fix the car - in the end it took 14 days as the parts were delayed. The intransigence of the 2 offices cost them dearly as 2 weeks+ car hire at £80+/day contrasted with say £25/day at the local Enterprise / Budget Corporate rates.
|
OR Contact a 3rd party Claims Management Co and let them deal with it...................
I did this about 15 months ago, as long as the claim is not your fault it makes life much easier, had a hire car whilst mine was in for repair - I am sure if it is a write off they will sort storage out if you ask. I can recommend one down Chichester way if that is close to where you are?
|
|
|
|
Its not your call to declare a write off, therefore you cant get rid of it till its has been so declared by the other ins company.
Inform your insurance company of the circumstances, they wont do anything for you apart from try and raise your premium next time round becuase you are now a risk. But you have to because:
1/ Its the terms of your policy
2/ A3 driver might claim its your fault oh and BTW he now has whiplash
Get a quote for the repair of your car. Get a valuatation of your car ( or what it would cost to buy a similar one )
Write to A3 driver with the valuation, quote, and a covering letter, suggesting to Mr A3 that he forward them to his insurance company.
The covering letter should say
"dear insurance co, your driver is at fault, please arrange repair (quote at £xxx) or £xxx cheque (valuation) to enable me to buy another. Please acknowledge within 14 days"
------
< Ulla>
|
when my old Triumph 2000 was side swiped by a car pulling out of a side turning (when it was on a TPF&T policy)...my ins co. did the lot....this was about 10 yrs ago.
The only hassle i had was they asked me to send in the MOT etc, but i'd already decided I was going to keep the car, so didn't want to give up ownership (veh now on classic policy)
because i had such a good deal with the co. repairing it and they re-sprayed the whole lot instead of just the bit that was damaged, with me paying abit extra...i didn't push too hard for my £50 excess from the other party's insurer.......but then had to chase it up when my insurer informed me it would remain outstanding and my next premium would end up being loaded
|
always pay for insurance assist at pos of your insurance
this bucks the other side up no end if you are at non fault
you get a hire car legal help and regular updates of progress from your appointed solicitor
do not get rid of the car until it has been assesed or you might be seen as a scammer
|
|
|
Insurance companies only get involved if you have legal cover as well. TPFT means they have no obligation at all. And even with out legal cover via the car insurance you might find the household insurance has legal cover that can help.
Years ago my brother's car was written off and police were going to charge the other driver with dangerous driving (never happened). But the other insurance company ended up trying to claim it was my brother's fault - no need for details but it wasn't.
It took well over 12 months to get a payout of £1000 for his car plus some more for injury etc. He also had legal cover! In the meantime he had to sort out a loan for a new car, pay off the storage costs for the written off car as there was a mix-up and it had been allowed to run up quite a bill for storage. With legal costs on both sides I believe it cost about £30,000 to settle. The car was worth no more than £1000.
|
I had a head-on crash 9 years ago when I was TPF&T, other guy was clearly in the wrong as he was driving on the right-hand side of the road and we were in England, not France. I was driving on the left hand side and we were on the same stretch of road but travelling in opposite directions.
I had uninsured loss cover, notified my insurance co who passed it onto the uninsured loss recovery firm who dealt with it. My ins co didn't really care, other than to note that I'd been involved in a crash.
In parallel, the other guys insurance co had instructed an acc management firm to deal with the claim and to ensure I was back on the road ASAP so they wrote to me and we arranged for them to drop off a nice Fiat Punto that I could use whilst they were settling the claim.
I left the nice mangled wreck on the driveway and after about 5 weeks or so I had an offer through from other guys ins co of an amount that I was happy with so paid the cheque in to the bank (house deposit fund at the time).
Once this was done they wanted the Punto back sharpish.
I then sold bits off the salvage before scrapping the remainder.
3rd party losses won't be recorded on any register as the other persons ins co don't care, and neither do yours as you're TPF&F and they're not paying out.
In those days though the breakdown services would relay your car to a named location after a crash so no charges were incurred.
hope that helps ?
cheers
Stu
|
"In those days though the breakdown services would relay your car to a named location after a crash so no charges were incurred."
That's what happened to my brother's old Fiesta. They took it to somewhere and it sat for a while. The insurance companies then said "oh we thought it was on your brother's drive". But I was a student in Manchester in a hall of residence and the other brother lives in south Wales without a drive. Accident was near Bracknell! Chris had to pay the storage charges all the same but came to an arrangement and the insurance payout eventually covered it!
|
The car is on the drive/yard - it's done its last trip, to the panel beater, who confirmed it's beyond even repairing with used bumper, wing, lights etc.
I won't be using a claims handler - one more level of hassle I can't be doing with. I'll use shanks' pony when I can't use SWMBO's Focus.
Am I within my rights to charge for storage on my own premises?
|
Only if you can provide a VAT number!
------
< Ulla>
|
I have been the vicm of a non fault accident several times whilst insured TPF&T and have always just bounced it back to my insurers who have ALWAYS dealt with the claim very efficiently (Several different insurance companies). Most accidents have occured whilst my van was parked unoccupied strangely enough, in 2004 the same van was hit twice within four weeks, the second time writing it off!
Being that it was a commercial vehicle as soon as I stated that 'without a van I am losing over £150 a day as I cant work and I shall be claiming this until a replacement vehicle is DELIVERED to me' it was astonishing how fast things can move when they want them too.
I agree with those who say let the insurance deal with it - these days everyone is looking to sue someone and doing things behind the backs of insurance companies could potentially land you in bother.
Good luck : o )
|
> Only if you can provide a VAT number!
Yup, got one of those....
|
I was just about to suggest Helphire, they've had good feedback on here before for someone who was in the same boat, they provided a replacement car (from their own fleet) and then bill the other insurance company. They also sort out the payout for your old car, however, if you don't want a claims management type company then I don't know what else to suggest apart from rining the guy's insurers and seeing what they say.
Blue
|
Update - other driver emailed me the claim number and the contact info for Zurich. I called them this am, their rep was very easy to deal with and we agreed I'd put in writing my version and my claim (car value plus time). I had taken pictures of the site, both cars post-crash and drawn a sketch map to show the incident layout. Put it all together on the PC, printed it off, and sent to Zurich.
As it happens I don't want a hire car - I'd only fill it with muddy dogs, muddy kids and hay, so I'd rather not have some hire co. moaning at me in 10 days time that I've incurred a valet charge of £100. I'll walk/use SWMBO's Focus. Since Zurich seemed OK on the phone, I'd prefer to minimise the number of links in the chain and deal direct.
|
|
|
|
