Insurance claim Farce

[HaydnH]

doesn't prove contact was made, only that he was on my side of the road

 

Surely if no contact was made then there isn't even a claim to be 50/50?

[Randy_Baton]

My tail of Woe

 

Had a new rear bumper and dent (from someone driving into me) fitted by RT in October last year. The whole car was looking pretty good, job done….

 

Got home parked up on the street, next day found some had reversed into me and taken a small chip out the bottom of the diffuser!!!

Fast forward to January, got to my car to find some had driven into it and left a scrape down the rear quarter and bumper…

A week later I was parked next to a lamppost and found a long scratch along the rear quarter next to the lamppost (presume someone had drunkenly swung round the lamppost or something)

Two days later got to my car to find some had driven into it and cracked the front bumper and dented the front quarter. I did actually find a note with this one, but they guy answered one phone call with a text and then wouldn’t return my calls

5 days later got to my car to find deep key scratches along the OS rear and front quarters the NS door 2 places on the bonnet the spoiler and the boot!!!!!

 

Safe to say I now have the blackview 650 and power magic pro… No more damage since but I’ve stopped parking on my road and park in a quitter area 5 minutes’ walk away.

 

One issue I’ve found with the rear camera is that at night the small light on the camera lights up the rear brace so when its dark all I see is the reflection of the brace in the rear window.

[coldel]

I am finding insurance just a minefield now with all these stories, feel for you mate, it seems people do just lie and cheat their way through the system. We had the same thing with Asda, when their delivery guy smashed into our parked Focus and wrote it off, there were witnesses who confronted him and he took off. They left us a note and I contacted Asda who denied any delivery driver was in the area at the time it happened and that they wouldn't be covering it. Unfortunately for them the same driver had to deliver to one of the witnesses a week later and she took his name etc and said she would happily go to court to nail him. I contacted Asda who again couldn't be bothered, so I then put on Twitter @Asda what had happened and within 3 days they were paying out in full. It really is a joke how people just play the game to rip people off.

[HaydnH]

I am finding insurance just a minefield now with all these stories, feel for you mate, it seems people do just lie and cheat their way through the system. We had the same thing with Asda, when their delivery guy smashed into our parked Focus and wrote it off, there were witnesses who confronted him and he took off. They left us a note and I contacted Asda who denied any delivery driver was in the area at the time it happened and that they wouldn't be covering it. Unfortunately for them the same driver had to deliver to one of the witnesses a week later and she took his name etc and said she would happily go to court to nail him. I contacted Asda who again couldn't be bothered, so I then put on Twitter @Asda what had happened and within 3 days they were paying out in full. It really is a joke how people just play the game to rip people off.

 

Unfortunately it feeds itself, if insurance was cheaper and you didn't get hammered so much for having an accident most people wouldn't bother trying to get out of it. The more people that do try and get out of it the higher the prices get and even more people try to avoid it. Perhaps insurance companies need to work with the police more to clamp down on "minor" insurance fraud?

[rtbiscuit]

the woman i spoke to yesterday at the accident management company said she learnt to drive when she started working for the company, the first thing she fitted after she passed was a dash cam after dealing with this stuff on a daily basis.

 

my top 3 choices are

 

Blackvue 650

Mi Witness HD

Road hawk HD2

 

although review sites show that the blackvue has had issues it also seems to be a brand that all insurance companies recognise as reliable same with the other 2

[rtbiscuit]

doesn't prove contact was made, only that he was on my side of the road

 

Surely if no contact was made then there isn't even a claim to be 50/50?

 

I've hit a wall at this point as the AMC has already settled on it and written off the rest of their costs and my own underwriter is about to do the same. unless i say i want to go to court but they look unwilling to argue it.

[HaydnH]

I've hit a wall at this point as the AMC has already settled on it and written off the rest of their costs and my own underwriter is about to do the same. unless i say i want to go to court but they look unwilling to argue it.

 

Insurance companies never want to argue as the cost of the staff/legal time is usually more than paying out so they take the easy route. If the other insurer is accepting 50/50 then there must have been contact, otherwise there's no accident and they wouldn't even pay their 50%. I assume the photo (can't see it above, maybe post it here?) shows you both stopped after the accident with him on your side of the road half around the corner? The damage to your car would be inline with that (i.e: front offside damage) I presume?

 

Who would pay the court costs if it went to court? I'd be tempted to do it anyway purely out of principle.

[Ekona]

You don't get the choice to go to court or not, your contract with your insurer gives them the right to settle as they see fit. You can push, or you can go it alone, but you can't make them take it to court if they don't want to.

[rtbiscuit]

i pushed the case for the last year out of principle, i have neither the time nor the energy to push it further on my own

 

I do however have his name address and telephone number and the company he works for

[Juggalo]

Can't see the point in paying 300 quid on a camera (that's attractive to thieves), to save you from not getting the blame, and being penalised maybe a 100 quid or so.

I've been driving nearly 30 years without so much as a scratch. I guess if you're pretty useless on the road, they're handy to prove it

[HaydnH]

i pushed the case for the last year out of principle, i have neither the time nor the energy to push it further on my own

 

I do however have his name address and telephone number and the company he works for

 

It might be worth one last call to the insurance company stating that you're not happy with the 50/50 decision as a) there was definitely an accident as the other insurer has accepted a 50/50 decision, b ) you can prove via photographic evidence that the other vehicle came around the corner on the wrong side of the road causing the accident c) if they don't pay out in full you'll contact the ombudsman to investigate the issue. If they don't budge refer it to the ombudsman and see if they can do anything.

 

EDIT: Someone should really change the code for the smiley.

Edited April 27, 2016 by HaydnH

[rtbiscuit]

Can't see the point in paying 300 quid on a camera (that's attractive to thieves), to save you from not getting the blame, and being penalised maybe a 100 quid or so.

I've been driving nearly 30 years without so much as a scratch. I guess if you're pretty useless on the road, they're handy to prove it

 

Maybe you're the one that causes all the accidents; have you tried looking in your rear-view mirror. i remember being in the car with my gran her car was fine but the carnage behind

 

in all seriousness the thought of it being nicked has been in the back of my mind, but that's why I've ruled out all that look like satnavs. if fitted behind the rear-view they aren't too noticeable.

 

if it nails idiots like the guy in the lorry in future it will be money well spent

[rtbiscuit]

i am yet to speak to my main insurance provider to have the final discussion, i've spoken to the accident management company who supplied the courtesy car. they've cut their loses and walked away, but the main thing is the cost from them isn't coming back to me.

 

I will be discussing the 50:50 with the insurer to get their side of the argument, not sure if they got the images i sent the AMC

[HaydnH]

i am yet to speak to my main insurance provider to have the final discussion, i've spoken to the accident management company who supplied the courtesy car. they've cut their loses and walked away, but the main thing is the cost from them isn't coming back to me.

 

I will be discussing the 50:50 with the insurer to get their side of the argument, not sure if they got the images i sent the AMC

 

Read this before you speak to them:

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-insurance-fault-claims.html

 

Need to Know

• - We often need to explain that when an insurer accepts liability, it doesn’t necessarily mean they think their customer is to blame. It usually means they’ve looked at the evidence about the accident – decided they wouldn’t be able to defend the claim in court – and chosen to pay out rather than spend money fighting it.
  
• - Some people are upset that their insurer didn’t ask their permission first. In fact, nearly every motor insurance policy says insurers can make their own decision about accepting liability. But we often find they didn’t explain what was happening. We think some complaints
  could be avoided with better communication.
  
• - It’s not our role to investigate the accident and decide who’s responsible. But we’ll make sure that the insurer’s decision was reasonable – given all the evidence they had. This may include accounts from the drivers involved, witness statements, engineers’ reports and CCTV footage.
  
• - If we decide it wasn’t reasonable for an insurer to accept liability, we’ll tell them to change the way the claim’s been recorded. The customer’s current insurer can then recalculate their premium.
  

[rtbiscuit]

thanks haydn

[Husky]

Can't see the point in paying 300 quid on a camera (that's attractive to thieves), to save you from not getting the blame, and being penalised maybe a 100 quid or so.

I've been driving nearly 30 years without so much as a scratch. I guess if you're pretty useless on the road, they're handy to prove it

 

[KosmiK]

Sorry to hear you're having a bad time with insurance. Not had a great experience recently myself.

 

My renewal's due next month, and I found out the claim cost on a bump I had this year was £1,470. For all this damage.

 

[AliveBoy]

Sorry to hear you're having a bad time with insurance. Not had a great experience recently myself.

 

My renewal's due next month, and I found out the claim cost on a bump I had this year was £1,470. For all this damage.

 

 

 

and a picture of under the flexible plastic which springs back in to place please...

[Jetpilot]

Unfortunately it feeds itself, if insurance was cheaper and you didn't get hammered so much for having an accident most people wouldn't bother trying to get out of it

 

Nail and head

 

It would also actually help if insurance companies were not too quick to cat c and d cars and allow use of quality 2nd hand panels/headlights etc etc

[Ekona]

Amen!