Car Insurance Claim Help

laurentian
laurentian Posts: 2,388
edited August 2015 in The cake stop
Hopefully someone here may be able to offer me some advice.

Back in April, my daughter's partner was driving around a roundabout when someone came straight on to the roundabout hitting his car in the side.

The car was a second hand Golf (probably about £2k worth) and was written off due to the extent of the damage.

The driver of the other car has admitted liability and was insured.

My daughter and her partner are still trying to resolve this and seem to be being sent around in circles by their insurance company with regard to getting any kind of recompense.

I have said that I will have a look at this with her on Saturday with a view to sending an e-mail to their insurance company that will give them no wriggle room in terms of going forward and, ultimately, getting some money so that they can replace the written off car.

The way I see it (perhaps naively) is that they have lost their means of transport through no fault of their own and that they should be able to replace like for like with the payout.

I should add that, when filling out the application for their insurance, they (ie my daughter and partner) ticked a box saying that the car had no modifications but it had, in fact, been lowered (neither of them are "car people" and this was a genuine error on their part). Nevertheless, I don't see how this would affect a claim on the other party's insurance(?)

Are there some definitive questions that we should be asking or information that we should be giving in order to expedite this seemingly endless process?

Any help appreciated.
Wilier Izoard XP

Comments

  • wrote:

    I should add that, when filling out the application for their insurance, they (ie my daughter and partner) ticked a box saying that the car had no modifications but it had, in fact, been lowered (neither of them are "car people" and this was a genuine error on their part). Nevertheless, I don't see how this would affect a claim on the other party's insurance(?)

    As I understand it, that's correct. If you're claiming off the other drivers insurance then the status of your own insurance is of no relevance. The only way it would be is if the car being lowered was somehow contributory to the accident, which I'm doubting from the sounds of it.

    If you were claiming through your own insurance, e.g. for damage which was your own fault, then that's a different matter.
  • reds99
    reds99 Posts: 46
    Sounds to me the other persons insurance are obviously playing hard ball, probably using the car being lowered and not declared as the excuse.
    What about claiming off their own insurance, and then getting their own insurance to win back the claim from the 3rd party. As it is their insurance is just sitting there waiting with no interest to themselves.
  • dj58
    dj58 Posts: 2,217
    "My daughter and her partner are still trying to resolve this and seem to be being sent around in circles by their insurance company with regard to getting any kind of recompense."

    Do you mean your daughter and partners insurance company are giving them the run around, or the others drivers insurance company, if the latter why aren't your daughter and her partners insurance company expediting their claim against the other drivers insurance company?
  • laurentian
    laurentian Posts: 2,388
    "My daughter and her partner are still trying to resolve this and seem to be being sent around in circles by their insurance company with regard to getting any kind of recompense."

    Do you mean your daughter and partners insurance company are giving them the run around, or the others drivers insurance company, if the latter why aren't your daughter and her partners insurance company expediting their claim against the other drivers insurance company?

    This is exactly what I find puzzling! I would have thought they would be fighting my daughters corner with he insurance company of the person that drove into them.

    Thanks for the help so far
    Wilier Izoard XP
  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 15,921
    As I have always understood it, following an accident you inform your insurance company and they arrange repairs or settle any damages. They then pursue the other party for recompense either fully or in part, depending on the circumstances of the accident. If they are successful, you do not lose any NCB entitlement.
    The fact that you have to then try to claim back uninsured losses does suggest that you are indeed initially making a claim under your own insurance doesn't it? ie the limit of your loss is initially confined to the scope of your own insurance policy.
  • laurentian
    laurentian Posts: 2,388
    As I have always understood it, following an accident you inform your insurance company and they arrange repairs or settle any damages. They then pursue the other party for recompense either fully or in part, depending on the circumstances of the accident. If they are successful, you do not lose any NCB entitlement.
    The fact that you have to then try to claim back uninsured losses does suggest that you are indeed initially making a claim under your own insurance doesn't it? ie the limit of your loss is initially confined to the scope of your own insurance policy.

    I have zero experience with this and so the above is very useful - thank you.
    Wilier Izoard XP