Went to the local Audi showroom for a simple MOT and unfortunately as I was backing out , heard the L front bumper scrape the 6 month old A5's L back door.
Stopped car , went inside , spoke to the salesman, who mentioned that this car was unfortunately a customers car and that he would come out and take some photos of both cars , which both of us did,also that he would contact the owner of the car and that he would get the other person to contact me with his insurance details.
However after 2 hours, I get a call from the manager of the showroom mentioning that my details have been passed to accidentexchange and wasnt very forthcoming about what it was although i did get the name, insurance company details and phone number of the other party, who was not at the showrooom at the time.
Looked up accidentexchange on the net and it seems to be a hit and run claims company?!
Does any one know if i should contact the insurance comany covering my car first or the other driver first.
Any idea about this accidentexchange from the forum members, wondering what the need is for a third party company to be involved in an insurance claim?
Edited by Pugugly on 14/08/2008 at 00:36
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accidentexchange is the dealers insurance company as it happened on their property they are merely covering themselves against claims by mediating though accident exchange
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accidentexchange is the dealers insurance company
I don't believe that's correct. They're a claims management company and the dealer will be on commission to refer claims to them.
What will happen is that they will try to handle the claim on behalf of the other owner and (the sting in the tail for the OP) is they will arrange a like for like hire car at huge expense.
This is all great if it's not your fault, but it bumps up small claims by vast amounts - the £500 door repair might now have £1000 hire car bill to go with it. Like I say, great if not your fault, but bear in mind that these inflated claims are affecting all of our premiums.
The OPs only hope is to contact the other driver and hope he's a very reasonable person - but it's mot likely to be very happy at having his new A5 damaged.
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Best of luck to the OP. And I mean that.
If this was me I'd accept accidents happen and if the hire car I got whilst mine was repaired was fair (so say a Mondeo for a few days vs. A5) I'd be okay. I'd not be accepting a super-mini. Well unless it was a FIAT 500 ;-)
Now there's a thought for body shops. Small/cheap cars so why not a 500 and it brings a smile to some people's faces instead of a low spec Micra.
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You will find in the small print of the Policy for your car that you have to inform your Insurance Co oF such incidents otherwise they may invalidate your Ins.
You pay Insurance let your Co sort it
dvd
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You pay Insurance let your Co sort it
I agree. I don't believe in having a dog and barking myself.
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Thanks for the replies.
Spoke to the A5 owner on the phone , he was incredibly gracious about it.Restores faith in human nature!
Any chance do you think that if i contacted the A5 driver asking to deal with his insurance company directly instead of the accidentexchange outfit , do you think that would be reasonable or perhaps not a right thing to do?
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JohnX,
To some extent in this day and age, you've been gracious too, as unfortunately many people wouldn't have owned up to what they'd done and would have driven off. Maybe Mr A5 has had a similar thought.
I see no reason why you shouldn't ask Mr A5 to repair his car at your cost, but not through the insurance. If it were me as long as the car was repaired through an Audi approved repairer to keep my paint warranty going, I wouldn't mind at all. If you don't ask....
Don't forget to tell your insurance co. what you've done though, as mentioned above.
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The A5 is a 2 door coupe. Perhaps it's an A6?
Georg Kacher the German CAR Magazine contributor has just used Audi's personalisation scheme to specify his A5 3 litre TDi Quattro. Some new colour from PPG called Boonard Biege after an artisit. And special wood and leather. It costs but you get a slight rebate from saving the cost of standard leather, wood and paint.
Grr......ambulance chasing legal types. What a shame the credit crunch won't crunch them!
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