It be pissed off at being £500 out of pocket thanks to other driver?

[FairfaxAikman]

Someone hit my car in a multi-storey car park last week before driving off without leaving his details.

My car needs a new wing and respray of bumper and door.
I also had to replace DSs car seat.

Despite me having an independent witness, being in a car park with CCTV and having dashcam footage of the car and driver responsible, his insurance is yet to admit liability, which means I've got to pay out my excess in order to get my car back and get a new car seat.

It's money we can ill afford, especially as we've recently had to claim on the house insurance as well.

I just feel so angry that this guy feels my property isn't important, nor is my finances. I also feel that as my insurance company has the dashcam footage to prove I'm not at fault, they should be waiving the excess.

Unfortunately its the way insurance works. Happened to me about 2 years ago. Was hit by a lorry, he admitted fault at the scene but no witnesses. Low and behold, they denied fault when it went through insurers so I had to pay my £400 excess. Took 18 months to resolve, right up until 2 weeks before it was due in court when they finally caved in and admitted fault. I didnt get my excess back until that point, 18 months down the line. Very frustrating so I feel your pain.

Get on the phone and request they put the excess on the other party’s side

I had this and the adjuster said they’d repay my excess and claim it off the other side. You have proof of what happened

I had a similar experience in a supermarket car park. Witness saw large old car drive into the door and wing of my car. Drove straight to local police station to report (police were not happy to deal with this minor offence) we insisted and contacted my insurance.

Police tracked down the other driver and said it was a very elderly and frail old person and they needed the car to get about!

Our insurers were less than useless said old persons insurers would not reply to letters.

I was persistent and insisted my insurance pursued my claim it took 3 years before my no claim was reinstated.

Look at the small print in your insurance policy and keep hassling them.

It's shit yes, you will possibly get it sorted out, but initially it is crap to have to pay out. You can protect yourself in the future by reducing that excess. Lots of people go for a high excess in prefer to save a couple of quid a month, but when they need to claim it bites them on the arse.

Lower it ASAP.

I was told to expect it be a few weeks before they admit liability, so you're only a week in.
However I have heard of 3rd party insurers accepting liability, but then your insurance not bothering to tell you that. I guess it's better for them to get the money upfront from you, rather than waiting to claim it.

You will get that money back eventually, with all your evidence, it'll just take time. You can also call the 3rd party insurance and ask them what's going on, if you know who they are.

Had this two years ago. I bet they don’t even know about the dash cam footage and the cctv yet.

I was stationary when my car was hit yet still had to fight my insurance company as they wanted to 50/50 it. In the end I put it in writing that I in no way accepted liability. 2 years later just a month or so before the actual court date there was a phone conversation where it became clear they hadn’t even looked at my statement and footage. Funnily enough when presented with it the other side accepted liability.

So personally I would be haranguing your insurance company checking the other side had been presented with the evidence

My sister got hit by a car, one witness. Driver denied liability and despite chasing it up, and a statement from the witness it still took 3 years to resolve. Ridiculous.

Get on the phone and request they put the excess on the other party’s side

I had this and the adjuster said they’d repay my excess and claim it off the other side. You have proof of what happened

Yes, this is what to do. I had the same thing happen to me. You have to keep fighting and pushing for it though. DO NOT BACK DOWN.

Do your insurers know you have the hit on dashcam and have an independent witness?

I think you need to phone them up. When someone hit my car last year I also had loads of evidence showing the other driver was clearly at fault, and they waived my excess, and paid out nearly straight away. However it's been over a year and they still haven't re-cooped the money from the other guy's insurance company (but I think it's nearly resolved now).

Ugh, I feel your pain. I had a similar situation (rear-ended by driver who raced off, had CCTV footage, witness statements and photos) where my insurers (Aviva) said, sorry, excess is an uninsured loss, and the other side will 'usually' pay when they admit liability. Which I thought would be a straightforward matter, given all the evidence against the other driver. Who also became the subject of a police investigation for the same incident and was required to pay for and attend a safe drivers course.

Despite all this, his insurers claimed that it was a case of mistaken identity and the licence plates on the vehicle were cloned! Quite apart from this being really unbelievable (why would he go to a safe drivers course and accept the outcome of the police investigation?), the insurance companies between them really handled the correspondence badly. So I complained to Aviva and they compensated me to the tune, effectively, of what the excess was and some extra on top.

It did take ages, and it was stressful, but it might be worth complaining formally in the light of all the evidence you have.

Lower it ASAP.

The excess is actually only £250 of the £500. The other £250 is because I had to buy another car seat for DS (same model is £250) but was promised that will be refunded through the insurance.

Oh, and they did reinstate my no-claims discount and inform my new insurance company, so that my premium was reduced. But yes, I did have to pay out excess and a higher premium initially and chase them to get it sorted. And in the end, it was (I think) the fact that they had been so slow to pass all the evidence to the other side that swung it, rather than the quality or extent of the evidence (although that did help).

I think the problem is partly that the call centres are just hard-pressed and things fall through the cracks. So sitting on that bloody phone, documenting everything and using their complaints procedure is the only way of getting some sort of justice!

Phone them now and tell them what you’re telling us! They will be able to do something

Sorry my mistake re the excess

They are absolute sods these days insurance outfits. Make sure at renewal time you hunt around for the cheapest deal as their customer service is pretty shite throughtout the industry!.

Can you use a claims management company OP?

Why are you not chasing your own insurance company OP?

I read something once that the actual dispute side of the insurance industry is handled dreadfully. In the sense that even if you provide a mountain of detailed evidence, it costs more for them to process all that properly and do their job, than to just pay out without question and charge you for something you’re not at fault on.

So guess who bears the costs... you, with your excess, because it keeps down the costs of them doing an actual investigation and their job.

So, sit on them OP and don’t budge until they do what they are meant to be doing