Non fault car insurance claim

[BoyMom24]

I'm not sure where to post it his but if anyone could offer any night I would be so grateful I'm at the end of my tether.

Last June I was involved in a car accident, a car rear ended me at traffic lights at around 30mph, causing me to hit the car in front. No one was injured, and the driver that hit us said he just didn't see us. (Young lad so not sure he didn't just not see us).

Anyway, I called my insurers and explained everything and they said because it was non fault there policy is to transfer me to a credit management company who would provide me with a hire car and deal with the claim on my behalf. I said ok.
Basically we are NINE months later. The claims management company is saying that the third party are basically just ignoring them. The third party has inspected car but not provided the inspection report. The car was inspected in November. The claims management company is basically saying there is nothing we can do except wait for the third party to make moves. The smashed up car is on finance. I'm still paying for it even though I don't have it. It's been sat there 9 months smashed up doing nothing so even if eventually it's seemed repairable (doubt it, it's crushed front to back) it will most likely have seized up, rotted etc). My question is does anyone know what my options are? Th y are saying if I'm unhappy with the wait then I can claim on my own policy but I'll be liable for excess and for the credit hire charges up until now. Apparently even if I claim on my own policy the challenge of claiming from the third party still stands. They may not pay out and I'll be asked to front costs. I'm in limbo. I don't understand what happens now or legally where we are at. I'm worried they will seek charges from me. Hire charges at £100 a day, recovery and storage charges etc. I'm losing sleep because I don't know what to do and I'm worried.

The claims management company is basically saying there is nothing we can do except wait for the third party to make moves

They can seek legal redress, like anyone can, they’re just being too bone idle to pursue it. I suspect they know that once a certain time passes they can just claim all their expenses from the original insurer and do less work. That shouldn’t affect your standing or non fault status though.

Look at Motor Insurance Guru and ask him for advise. I was rear ended at a roundabout in 2019. Someone on here actually recommended him to me. My insurance were trying to go 50/50 and write off my car. He got involved and sorted it all out for me. I got my car back repaired and the excess scrapped.

You could be held responsible for these costs, you will have signed something to say that you understand that it's your duty to mitigate your losses - the vehicle needs to be out of storage as soon as possible so someone needs to pay you/the finance co the pre accident value, whether it's the credit hire company or your insurance company who stumps up. Have they told you what the delay is?

You could also approach the insurance company for the vehicle that hit you and ask what the problem is.

The longer it's in storage/hire, the more money the credit company stands to make so they will be in no hurry to get you out of it. The credit hire and storage can easily run into tens of thousands of £s for a vehicle worth £1k. (That's why all our bloody premiums are going up! It sounds like they are already approaching £30k) So you need to do something now to show you're trying to mitigate your losses - make a complaint to the credit hire co, contact your insurance, or contact the other guys insurance.

OP - did you tick the legal box on your insurance policy? If you did, call them ASAP & take some advice. (This doesn’t count as a claim on the policy) if not, check the same on your home policy in case you are covered there.

Failing that, your car will be owned by the Finance company, not you, they should be your next call and you should have some protection there. I’m not sure to what extent and if is is the same as credit card protection, but you should check.

I've been there OP, hopefully I can give you some pointers.

You were passed to a claims management company who will deal with your case. These are (as I found out) a bit like insurance debt collectors, middle men who effectively buy an easy claim with the intention of recovering costs from the at fault party. However there are a few issues with using them. I was sold the "you won't pay any excess" line, and I fell for it. I was also rear ended by a kid at a roundabout, nobody else involved though.

Because I had a like for like replacment car, and mine was a 4X4 auto, the only similar spec car Enterprise had was a huge Mercedes 4X4, at £109 a day. I signed the forms and all was well, I thought. My car was in the garage for seven weeks, the hire car bill was £5k by this point.

I got my car back eventually and thought that was the end of it. Wrong.

14 months later I got a letter from the the management company asking for £6.5k, they couldn't recoup the cost of the claim because the kid driving had been deemed to not have valid cover. And they referenced the T&C's I had signed on the hire agreement.

Long story short, I did contest it and they did back down, but only after I had my solicitor get involved. It was stressful and protracted. My advice to anyone who is offered a claim managment firm is to say no.

Anyway, your case will be complicated because there is another car involved which will (if my insurance guy was right) try to claim off YOU as you technically rear ended them! Then you will have to claim additional loss from the kid person who rear ended you. Complicated.

I suspect that's why there is such a mess in your case. Be preemptive and get legal advice, this could get very expensive as you also have an "open claim" on your policy and will get crucified come renewal. Be prepared for 4X your pre-claim annual premium.

DO NOT respond to any letters from any other company involved except your managment/insurance company. They will be sneaky and send you "questionnaires" about your opinion on who was at fault. This is to use against you in court. I had about four of them.

Good luck.

Contact the insurance ombudsman and raise a complaint against the evasive insurer that will get things moving

In April 2021 I had an accident that sounds almost identical.
except the car behind was going about 50.
i was 8 weeks pregnant
I also hit the person infront of me. I don’t think their car was a write off but I actually don’t know.
my car was a write off, decided within about a week. My insurance claimed off of his for a hire car, plus physio as I got whiplash, worse cos of the pregnancy HCG. I got a little compo payout plus the money for my car.
the police ended up in touch and he got 5 points for driving without due care and attention.
im baffled that yours hasn’t been treated the same way.

HOW is this non fault?

re the finance, I think this sort of thing is only covered for the finance to be paid off (once it’s been deemed a write off) if you have GAP insurance but don’t quote me

I have asked and asked tim and again and th credit hire have said they cannot ask me for any money unless they find me to be dishonest or misleading them. I've read all the fine print but in terrified it's going to come back on me especially if I claim on m own policy. It's all very confusing.

The driver at th scene admitted liability that he didn't see us? I was waiting in traffic next minute he hits us? So I would class that as a non fault accident? The finance is not actual context hire, I took out a personal loan an to buy the car.

My car is not is not ownd by the finance company, I took it a personal bank loan to purchase th car. They can't help m and basically said I have to keep.up.the repayments else it will default. Regardless whether I have the car or not.

They said the delay is literally ally waiting on the third party insurers as they have "delays" but in general this third party insurers is renowned for being slow and messing around.

They also told me that if they can't recoup th costs then they would accept th case as a loss b cause they chose to take my case based on it being non fault. Not sure this it true but hey. Not sure what to believe now.

Oh i must have misunderstood sorry.
i thought they were trying to say like ‘no one is at fault’ when it’s obvious it’s the person who hit you’s fault to me

’i didn’t see you’ didn’t count in my instance. I was on a straight road, although he did try using that line

Yes I was also on a straight road, waiting in traffic. The claims company said it's cut and dry it wasn't my fault and that's why they chose to take my case. They said that because they chose to take my case that if they can't recoup costs then they would accept it as a loss but I find this to be too good to be true.