Car accident - other drivers fault

[shesellsshesellsbytheseashore]

My dad was in a pretty nasty accident the other day, other driver admitted total liability, got straight onto his insurers and told them he was at fault.

I then helped my parents fill in the forms for their insurance company - but they've come back and written the vehicle off and won't give him anywhere near what its worth they wont take into account the low mileage and the fact it was serviced every year with the main dealer - they are just going by the age and the model.

The other issue is my dad has no vehicle and is self employed so can't work.
They've also told him he has an excess to pay.

Now I've never been in this situation before thankfully - but I was under the naive impression that if the other driver admits fault then you just go straight to their insurance company and claim off them, you don't need to go via your own insurance company?

Why are my parents insurers asking him to pay excess for something that wasn't his fault?

So now he has no vehicle and as he is self employed he can't earn anything either

I'm obviously just being really thick and don't understand insurance at all!

I thought the whole point of the other person admitting the liability is so that you can claim off their insurance to put you back in the position you were before the accident, but it seems like they are having to go through their own insurance and be in a much worse position than they were before the accident.

I just want to make sure they aren't getting swindled but i don't understand it enough to help.

I don't really know all the ins and outs but when some idiot drove into me and wrote off my car, I did initially have to pay the excess (think they knocked it off the paltry sum they gave me for the car) and then months later when it was all sorted and confirmed to be the other party's fault, I was repaid the excess.

I dealt solely with my own insurer throughout, they did all the dealings with the other insurer. I can tell you that you really don't end up in the same position though... I ended up out of pocket as the write off value of my car didn't cover like for like replacement and then my bloody premiums went up because apparently even if you have an accident that's not remotely your fault, you're still considered more of a risk and have to pay more!

I don't know the answer but you can haggle over the value. Find some adverts or put it into "we buy any car" for an idea of what is reasonable. The servicing etc won't make any difference but the mileage might.

The other person doesn't state they are responsible, the insurance companies work between themselves.....

You can only claim for "uninsured losses" eg the excess. So call your insurance company and tell them to put that on the claim.

Does your dad have insurance via his work if he is unable to work? I would think this should be standard practice?

He needs to call his insurance and ask for a courtesy car. I think it depends on which level of cover he took out but he may be entitled to one The costs are claimed back from the other persons insurance so hire car and excess will all be paid by them. If he pays the excess he will get it back once the claim has been settled

Are you definitely using insurance and not an accident management company?

Cars have a book value and this is used for insurance claim. There may be amendments based on condition but there is a standard price documented for all cars at all mileages. It isn't relevant what you think the car is worth. That being said, you must provide 3 examples of identical cars listed for sale (same spec, fuel, mileage and age as a minimum) if you feel there should be an uplift.

It doesn't matter who said they were at fault, that is for the insurance to determine. If he is not at fault, there should be no excess and the courtesy car provided by the at fault insurance co.

There are some very good Facebook pages with knowledgeable experienced people who would give you great advice on your fathers situation.

In my case I joined a page for the type of vehicle (eg VW) - could you try joining something similar?

The chaps on there have solved every one of my problems.

Hi op I work in insurance . The excess is what you pay regardless of blame , if it's a non fault claim the third party insurers reimburse this to you .you can claim direct from the third party insurers yes but without a broker to navigate this for you this could take longer than claiming off your own insurance . Check if your dad has legal cover, if he has they will claim back the excess and any other out of pocket expenses /injury . Also ask your insurer if there is a courtesy vehicle available under the policy . Some insurers say no when a vehicle is a write off as the courtesy vehicles are provided from the repairing garages other policies will give a vehicle out as standard . Any other problems come back to me if you want

Had a no fault accident recently too…but of a minefield. My experience of the 2 ways you can claim:

Through their insurance: no excess due and their insurance company will organise repairs etc. Cons: you don’t have control over where it goes and not easy to contact them.

Through your insurance: you usually pay excess, but if you have legal cover you’ll be given a solicitor who will claim that back for you and pursue any loss of earnings/injury claims for you too. You get to choose the repairer and easier to contact them. I also
got a like for like courtesy car.

In both cases you need to let your insurer know anyway.

In terms of the value of the car, I think you can appeal the value but it’s not usually that helpful. It’s always worthwhile having gap/VSI insurance to cover the shortfall, especially if you have outstanding finance. Doesn’t help much no though. Sorry.

Also worked in insurance. What I see is that the excess of a non fault claim is covered by the claim and not therefore asked for as an upfront payment to be reclaimed. Interested to hear your standard procedure here.

@KendrickLamaze I work in a brokers so generally see insurers wanting the excess thou Aviva are very good at waiving it in a non fault incident .

When a brain-dead neighbour wrote off my stationery/parked car, I claimed directly on her insurance - they provided a hire car for around a month during the period they "processed" the claim and negotiated the write off settlement. I haggled and got a 25% uplift in their first offer as I'd already taken screen shots of similar cars on Auto Trader and local garage websites to argue my point re it's value, and I haggled them up due to low mileage, immaculate state of car and full service history. All in all, a pretty simple and pain free process - the only problem was their 60-90 minute phone queues. I obviously informed my own insurance but didn't claim anything directly with them.

The other issue is my dad has no vehicle and is self employed so can't work.

Was it actually insured for use in trade ? If so the insurance should supply a courtesy car until the claim is settled.

Any chance your dad had gap insurance?

The write of thing is a horrible sting in the tail, as this happened to me. We looked at local garages offering the same car and presented the insurance company with these findings (higher prices) and they upped the compensation. Worth a try. Doesn't his own insurance offer a curtesy car?

This is why you need gap insurance as well. Insurance will only pay what car is technically worth, then gap insurance akes up the difference between that and what you paid.

The excess is paid to your insurers regardless of fault but then can be claimed back from the at fault insurers your Dad's loss of earnings claim can be included in this, if you have uninsured loss cover via your insurers they will handle this for you.

Alternatively you can claim direct from the other insurers if they have admitted liability they normally write to you to offer their services or give them a call.

With regards to the valuation as a PP said get on auto trader look for same model, age mileage cars and use them to show your insurers you can't replace your car for what they've offered 3 or 4 adverts would be ideal.

You can claim from the other drivers insurers then the xs won't be payable. They'll also provide a hire car for the period it takes for them to pay. Usually you Leto the hire car for 7 days after payment is issued.
If your dad prefers to use his own insurer do your research into the pre accident value and dispute the offer if you find evidence to support a higher valuation. Your insurer may waive the xs if the other insurer has admitted liability.
You can claim for loss of earnings too. Check if your dad has legal cover as this saves the leg work. If he was injured he can also claim using official injury claim.org.uk