Policy Excess, no fault claim.

[philshort]

I have made a no fault claim on my insurance, but I have a £150 voluntary excess on the ploicy. Seems I have to pay the excess to get my car back ... but the accident was not my fault, and the other party is 100% liable (I don't think they have even disputed this). No fault - i.e. I did nothing wrong here.

So why am I ending up £150 out of pocket, not to mention the inconvenience and hassle of it all? Surely all my expenses should be covered by the other party's insurance - even my excess?

Something don't seem right here!

[thub]

Do you have uninsured losses covered on your policy? This should cover your excess.

I had a no-fault claim a few years back where I had to pay my excess to the body repair shop. I did get it back, but why should I have paid it in the first place?

[cotty]

Why are you making a claim under your insurance if the other party is 100% at fault, you should be claiming under their policy where you dont have an excess.

Unless of course they are paying your claim and seeking subrigation against the third party, even if this is the case you would have thought they could stand being out of pocket to the tune of £150 until they get reimbursed by the third parties insurers.
Paul

[incorrigible]

More of the "insurance comanies ws" story

You have to pay, get a reciept and then claim on the other peoples insurance.

Why your ins co can't do it for you is beyond me.

However I had a problem like this a couple of years back and invoiced the co for my time spent dealing with this, and they paid up

Make sure you charge them for a no of different instances so you can justify charging them double-bubble for working Sunday

And if they query it charge them for the time you spend answering the phone, make it clear that a minimum chage applies for all correspondence

If it's red tape they want......

[M@H]

They're not all bad... Louise had one of these (her boss drove into her parked car in the carpark) and Churchill just politely said they'd deal with it, she didn't even have to fill in any forms.. kept her NCB, didn't pay any excesses, and it was all settled. She's still with Churchill now for obvious reasons.

Cheers
Matt.

[moreymach]

Its called an uninsured excess and like other out of pocket expenses hire car charges or injury compo its not covered by your policy.. but you can generally recover these from the guilty party's insurer, having said that I have come across some insurers who dont seem to make the client pay the excess on non fault claims and instead recover it from the T.Party company when their get their costs back.. think churchill may have been one, not sure on that though.. if they cant get it back though for whatever reason they'll come knocking on your door for at the end of the day

[philshort]

ok, its sorted (I think!). Thanks for the input.

Policy is with Norwich Union, and I pay the excess then their claims dept will recover it from the third party.

What a palaver though, surely the ins. cos. ought to sort this between themselves. Or maybe they just hope collectively that I pay up and don't try to recover it? Cynical, me?

[moreymach]

They may well recover it for you given time, may be worth your while sending a letter to the guilty partys insurer with a copy of your excess reciept asking for reimbursment if the liability isnt in dispute they might send a cheque back by return, we do that as a matter of course and its amzing how often it works and much quicker than waiting for the 12 year olds in the claims dept of N.U to get their arses in gear

[powelly]

It's taken me since April to get my excess back from a claim that was not my fault. Stalling tactics from the guilty party's company included:

1. reams of paperwork
2. loss of paperwork
3. refusal to accept responsibility (even though I wasn't in my car at the time)
4. 'ok, take us to court then' trick
5. cheque is in the post..

after all that I got my £500.. probably spent that in time chasing it up (sorry boss )

[simonelite501]

quote:
1. reams of paperwork
2. loss of paperwork
3. refusal to accept responsibility (even though I wasn't in my car at the time)
4. 'ok, take us to court then' trick
5. cheque is in the post..

So, it's a standard set of ploys then! I had all of the above tricks played on me and the end result was they refused to settled on anything but a 50/50 basis, due to the fact there were no witnesses, even though my cars damage began by the drivers door, and the other drivers front end was smashed in, I was stationary and the other car left 42ft skid marks (photographed!) My repair bill was estimated |at £2800.00 but I only recived £1400.00 and my insurance company kindly classed the car as "uneconomical to repair write off" therefore putting it on the HPI lists, making it impossilbe to sell! Bards!!!!!

[powelly]

Jees... I was lucky! That sounds a nightmare...

[funkihamsta]

Simon,
Who were you with?

Ted surely its not slanderous to say this is what happened to me, this is who l was insured with? Also l am under the impression that people are responsible for their own posts not Pistonheads.

[simonelite501]

I'm not sure about the legality of naming names, but due to my policy being TPFT, the insurers didn't want to know, they did however involve DAS who proved invaluable. My best advise to anyone buying insurance is to make sure the policy includes DAS cover, they really were great, and just beware of insurance companies, they are all WAKERS, and those that say their not are LIARS!