Car insurance conundrum- can any offer any advice please?

[mckenzie]

Mum’s Policy, bought for the RAC, with Aviva.
Mum’s husband driving the car and is hit by a driver of a stolen vehicle.

RAC incorrectly give the claim to enterprise. Enterprise realise they won’t be able to claim anything back as third party Car is uninsured, so they return the claim to the RAC for the RAC to give to Aviva.
Aviva say they need confirmation from the RAC that there have been no charges against the claim.

I genuinely have spent hours on Mum‘s behalf (Mum‘s elderly and extremely stressed about all this) trying to get this sorted. This incident was over one month ago and we are still waiting for the claim to be processed.

The RAC tell us that they have contacted Aviva and confirmed to them that there are no charges against the claim. Aviva tell us they have not received that confirmation and therefore cannot process it.

I feel like I’m bashing my head up against a brick wall. We have the added issue now that the car is coming up for its MOT which it will fail because of the damage to the vehicle that hasn’t been repaired.

can you please offer me any advice or guidance?
What can I do?

TIA

Assuming it’s insured “fully comprehensive” why haven’t Aviva just told you to get it repaired? They won’t (can’t!) reclaim the cost but that’s not your mum’s issue! She’s paid for insurance to cover all eventualities.

The RAC is just the broker here. Aviva might send it to a claims handler but you need to get assertive with Aviva but do make sure your DMs husband was covered “fully comp” and that he was allowed to drive on the policy, especially if he’s older. Otherwise it should be straightforward to get it approved. How much is the repair likely to be?

Is he a named driver on your DMs policy?

If not it's likely he's just 3 rd party so he will have to pay for the repairs for the car.

DM's husband is fully insured on her car. That's not the issue.

The issue is getting Aviva to actually start to process the claim. They today told me that the e mail they received from the RAC, to confirm that Enterprise do not have any 'charges' relating to the claim, was password protected but the password not provided.

So I spent another 45 mins on the phone to Aviva finding that out and then on the phone to the RAC to ask them to provide said password.

As it seems that the RAC and Aviva don't actually talk to each other much
😡
And so it goes on. 5 and a half weeks since the accident and NOTHING has been done at all. There must be someone we can take this to, to go above the call handlers we are speaking to and get some action.

We're not being unreasonable are we? This should have been sorted ages ago.

You will have to make nuisance of yourself op. Keep ringing, ask for the persons name and then ask to speak to their supervisor, refuse to get off the phone until you get higher up the chain. Someone needs to override this ridiculous need for confirmation...which they have but can't confirm. Ask repeatedly for names and what their complaints procedure is. Eventually someone will listen.

This should be straightforward. Too
many people are involved. The RAC is, effectively, a broker. They are not an insurance company. The policy is presumably from Aviva. What is Enterprise? I thought they were a rental car company! Raise a complaint and speak to the complaints department. What is the policy excess? Look at the policy for how to complain.

Thanks for your posts. I’ve been on the phone 4 times today: twice to RAC and twice to Aviva.
Most times, the call handler sympathised with the situation but insisted they could do nothing except e mail the team above them /their manager and that the turn around for a response was 48 hours.
One Aviva call handler was most dismissive as “Aviva have done no wrong” and purely repeated the current situation while offering no suggestions as to how it could be resolved.

I've been on Twitter with no response.
I’m trying Facebook now and when DH gets home I’m going to use his LinkedIn account to try and track a name at RAC or Aviva to message.
Poor mum is getting stressed about this and I’m mightily fed up.

Stress to them that your Mum is vulnerable and that this is causing her a lot of stress. These should be buzz words in financial services and should help. Say that you want to complain about the way it is being dealt with and don't let the call handler deal with the complaint - that way it should get escalated and someone senior will look.

Thanks ZoeyB and I tried that approach this evening (it's actually true. Mum is in poor health anyway and easily stressed these days and this is making her extremely anxious).

The RAC person on Facebook said "I have emailed the Insurance Team for you and your mother. The Team will look into this and contact your mother accordingly".
So another dead end probably. But let's hope not.

I have found with quite a few companies, that a stinking one star review on their Trustpilot page seems miraculously to oil the seized ,rusty workings and sometimes gets things moving again-Currys being an example. It may achieve nothing but it might make you feel better OP just to articulate your sheer fury and exasperation.

Make sure you say same to Aviva(who are usually good) and say you want to make a complaint.

Make official complaints and threaten the ombudsman

Update.

Last night, DH and I tracked down the names of about 8 senior management people at Aviva and RAC and I sent an e mail to them. I'm pleased to say that Aviva acted swiftly (I had a reply before 7am this morning) and things are starting to happen. So far, I've had e mails keeping me up to date of the situation and a phone call from a Team Leader apologising and explaining what will happen now re the claim being settled.

After the phone call had ended, I burst into tears. I don't think I'd realised quite how much it's taken its toll on me as well as my dear mum. The Aviva guy did say that, after investigating, it would appear that I had been stone walled at every turn.

Fingers crossed that things progress swiftly and correctly now.