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[timg]

Hi All,
Help/ advice or pass experience (luckily never had to claim before )
I'm helping a family member with a car insurance claim, 
His car has been hit by an uninsured driver last weekend without going into to much detail (only car damaged and he is fully comprehensive ).
The car looks a write off  (drivers wing,alloy wheel ,bonnet, door,door post, rear door and air  bags inside )
I called the insurance company tonight the claim won't be looked at until next Monday at the earliest  (not happy )

My  questions are:

How long should we expect it to take ?

Although the car his only 6 months old it was pre registered  ,meaning he's the 2nd owner although you get a new car a bit cheaper,  so we're not sure if they will just replace the car (probably not)

If they do offer cash do you have to except the offer? Will they increase it if we say it's not enough to get the same car?

Any advice will be helpful

Spud

[tigertiger]

The first offer will always be low. It is worth arguing about.
If your policy says, full market value, then you do not need to accept less. Unless you were in some part to blame, for example being illegally parked.

[roycv]

Hi I have helped with car insurance claims before and if the amount offered is not enough then challenge the insurance company to find you an equivalent  replacement with the amount they have offered.
Photographs help a lot I am sure you will have a few recent ones.
Remember that insurance is like an up market betting shop.  They will try and settle for the least amount they can
Good luck,
regards Roy

[Brian60]

It could be worth contacting the MIB, Motor Insurers Bureau ( not Men in Black ) they have a scheme that covers accidents caused by uninsured drivers, so you may get some vital information from them. Your insurer won't pay out, well they will, but the cash won't come from them it will come from the MIB who they make the claim against because of there being no third party.

[Shipmate60]

If the car is only 6 months old it should be repaired or alternatively most companies have a 12 month clause whereby if car is written off in first 12 months it will be replaced by a new car.
Get him to check his policy.



Bob

[g6swj]

Perhaps some useful info/stats here

http://www.gocompare.com/car-insurance/new-car-replacement-cover/

[timg]

Hi All
Thanks for your replies

I have called the main dealer for a new price/availability,  they don't make that spec of car now ,    on auto trader Nearest car >100 miles away and more or less the same price as what he paid..

I went to pick them up after the incident  (we don't believe it's an accident when someone is driving an uninsured car, probably stolen because there car was only a few years old and worth more than ours) I did  take some pics of the damage, I wish I had taken a few of the good side... We asked the police if he was insured they said that they didn't know,  and the main thing is that your ok , then said you will probably be fully comprehensive (which we are ) and if they don't pay we go to the motor insurers Bureau   then we knew he wasn't insured. .

We paid for the legal assistance with the policy,  there not interested because of no injury on our side


Sorry I should have posted this bit 1st
The incident was the third parties fault, they hit our car coming towards us ,they tried to overtake someone on their side of the road ,came on to our side of the road hit the side of our car  the front tyre wheel badly damaged, airbags went off,Luckily the wheel  left a 10 meter groove in the road which stayed on our side of the road  (probably 1 meter from the centre white line) , also hit a few other cars

I don't want to sound mad /bitter  but been the innocent party we are struggling to sort this out.

Thanks again

spud

[Colin Bishop]

Most of the information you need should be in the small print of your relative's motor policy. In most cases, if the car is less than one year old you will get a new replacement to the closest current spec.

However, not all policies are the same. A lot of people go for the cheapest quote without checking to see why it might be the cheapest which may be because it offers less in the way of benefits such as courtesy car, foreign comprehensive cover and other things. So the place to start is the policy document (not the insurance certificate) which will spell out just what is and what is not covered. This might raise some other questions which you can resolve with the insurance company.

Colin

[timg]

Hi Colin

I will be reading the small print over the weekend,
 I would also say that it's one of the big 3 insurance companies

I wish I hadn't Googled the driver's name  (luckily family member hasn't the internet)

Cheers
Spud

[Colin Bishop]

Whoever the other driver was should not affect the claim itself but some companies class being hit by uninsured drivers in the same category as own fault as they cannot claim off them and this can result in your own subsequent premiums going up or a loss of no claims bonus. It isn't fair of course but it seems to be common practice.

Colin

[TheLongBuild]

I Would have pushed the police to check as they can and quite quickly..

have you checked on line for their  insurance details

[Plastic - RIP]

Has a courtesy car been issued from the insurance company to get around in? If you're going to have to claim, may as well use the option and make it easier to travel.

[The Wizard]

if you want to know the probable pay out figure go on line and look up used cars of the same model with similar km on the clock. delete the top "try it on" prices and the bottom "it's a wreck" prices and you will have a range of prices that the insurance assessor will work from.

[tigertiger]

Has a courtesy car been issued from the insurance company to get around in? If you're going to have to claim, may as well use the option and make it easier to travel.

Be careful with this one. As it may be your insurance premium that is bumped to reflect this cost. There was a recent (in the last month) news story about people being ripped off on the cost of courtesy cars.


Drivers are being dragged through the courts and left with huge legal bills after being given courtesy cars to which they believed they were entitled.
These drivers have been hit by another vehicle and then hired a car while theirs is being repaired.
But, increasingly, these are leased by third-party accident management firms who rent vehicles at a vastly inflated cost - and then charge the other driver's insurer.
If the car hire firm fails to recover all the costs, then it charges the driver who hired the car. They discover they have to pay up because they have signed a credit agreement.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-1692116/Beware-the-car-insurance-courtesy-car-trap.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/honestjohn/7844204/Another-episode-of-courtesy-car-scam-Honest-John.html

[mook]

Sorry to hear about the accident hope nobody was hurt. Even if it was not his fault it will cost him money as he is having to claim on his own insurance (not fair I know) also if the car is written off he may lose all his no claims bonus.

[timg]

Hi all ,

Just a quick update,

no courtesy car...

Called insurance company this morning,  after speaking to a couple of them they did say that they had arranged for the car to be picked up from the recovery depot , but the police said that no one can touch it until they have checked it to see if it is road worthy / faulty. .
Next call
The police,  said we can't have it back until they have finished their enquiries, would give a time frame

Called MIB  who can't believe the police haven't touched it for 8 days and counting,  they did say to  point out to the police that it is still our car (how would that go down ??)


Thanks for all the post's 


Not sure what to do now

Spud

[mook]

I was hit by an uninsured driver 14 years ago they took a statement from me the AA transported the car the Police didn't want my car they had the offenders car not the offender who had run off, can't see why they want your car

[Geoff]

I can't see why they would want your car either, suggest you just ask them politely why. There could be some reason about the uninsured driver that you are not aware of and they need evidence, but it does seem odd.


In my experience even with minor bumps these days insurers want to check over the car to see if the tires are in good condition, MOT valid that sort of thing, nothing to be concerned about its just the way it works.


Whilst clearly not your fault, this is one of the reasons we buy insurance to protect us from a large financial loss and indeed if the insurer can't recover their costs from somebody else (and you don't have NCB protection) then your insurance premium will increase next year. Even if you have NCB protection it will probably go up as I found out because whilst the NCB percentage is protected the base premium isn't so you may still have your 60% NCB but its based on a higher base premium because there has been a claim.


The insurance contract isn't a "no blame" deal its a "no claim" deal and many people don't realise this but as above this is why we buy insurance.


Also people don't really appreciate how much it costs to fix a car and even a relatively small bump can cost thousands to fix, again its why we all buy insurance.


Good luck with this and I'm sure it will all be sorted out. Chances are if your car is less that 12 months old it will readily be repairable.


G

[timg]

Hi
After a few calls to the police they said that our car should be released next Monday , they said that they when to plug something into the car ,
At least we know what's going on now

I will keep updating as things start to progress  (hopefully )

Thanks
Spud

[timg]

Hi All,
update

Well it has taken Just over 4 weeks by the time the cheque has cleared (early next week ) from the insurance company,  to be fair the police had the car for 2 weeks
Endless amount of phone calls emails, mostly not answered /returned

But the end result is



The full cost of the car returned,  no deductions .... or loss of no claims

The best out come for us , which is a bit hard to believe but a great relief. .


Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply and give advice /experience it has been very helpful 

Spud

[Fastfaz]

    Yo Spud,
           Great news! so glad that you dug your heels and and didn't let them bully you. The way forward.
                   Cheers,
                         Faz.