Insurance issue

Bryn

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Not me.. but my eldest daughter…

2009 Qashqai parked unattended outside house ( no parking restrictions)
council bin lorry reverses out of cul de sac and hits her car.

she contacted insurance, someone calls her back, and says she’s entitled to a courtesy car…. No mention in the call about how big a car she is covered for….

218 BMW is delivered, which she has for a month , and is then returned when she gets her qashqai back from repair ( council liability)

a month later she gets letters stating that the full cost of the courtesy car is not being covered by the insurance company

Then she gets phone calls from a debt recovery solicitors stating that they needed her permission to pursue for the cost , and that there was no evidence forthcoming that she was offered a cheaper car and Daughter says she has texts offering the BMW and no other car was offered.

she has a text from Ageas insurance saying ‘thankyou for your claim’

providing a claim number


anyway…. She gave permission for the debt recovery firm to pursue the issue for full payment ( I understand it was about £50 a day for a month or so that they were arguing about.)

shes now had another letter saying it’s going to court and she needs to provide bank statements and bills to prove she did not have the means to pay the extra for the BMW :confused:

I can’t see what difference it makes if she had funds or not….it was not her fault and it should be immaterial if she could afford to pay….

she insists she did not turn down the offer of a cheaper car . Aparrently the insurance company are saying she was offered a cheaper car and she refused it ….she says this did not happen., and no other car was offered … they would not provide any proof that she was indeed offered a cheaper car.

I don’t know what to suggest to her other than speak to a solicitor ?

I get the impression she’s being screwed over by someone

has anyone got a useful input that could assist :thumb2
 
Not sure how much help this will be.

A friend was in a similar situation when a car parked on a hill rolled across a main road and into his car.

He appeared at court to argue his point about the car he was provided with, and the opposing solicitor was a no show, so he was awarded full costs etc.
 
Not sure how much help this will be.

A friend was in a similar situation when a car parked on a hill rolled across a main road and into his car.

He appeared at court to argue his point about the car he was provided with, and the opposing solicitor was a no show, so he was awarded full costs etc.

I thinks she’s going to have to go to court , and hopefully the same will happen :thumb2
 
Just had some great advice off a fellow GSer :thumb Seems the issue is the differences between a courtesy car and a hire car …. there are obligations concerning paperwork that may not have been met by the hirer..
I’m going to pass the info on to her :beerjug:
 
About 7 years I got hit by a HGV who decided to jump a red light. Two independent witnesses, HGV company admitted full liability and at the time I was using a Vauxhall Signum which I needed for the dogs to be carried in the back. My insurance company offered me a courtesy car, they didn't mention any specific models however after I told them I needed an estate car (for the dogs) they provided me with a brand new VW Passat estate which I had for over a month while my Signum was repaired. From reading the above posts it sounds like this was probably a hire car rather than a courtesy car, the other side covered all costs of the replacement car without any issues so I see no reason why your daughter should either be asked to pay the difference or indeed have to go to Court to explain anything!
 
We had this shit several years ago when some myopic ran into my old Merc in Tescos. Repair took way longer than anticipated due to Easter Bank hols.

Thankfully legal cover provided me with a solicitor who, with one call & confirmatory letter, put the matter to rest in an instant, but it was an annoying stunt for sure.
 
If your daughter claimed off her insurance company, they in turn will claim off whoever insured the bin lorry. Your daughter is entitled to put in the same position as if the accident had not happened, ie have the use of a comparable car while her car was being repaired, is a BNW 218 comparable to the Qashqai?

And which insurance company is saying no, her own insurer, or the bin wagon insurer?

The only reason I can see why anyone might want bank statements is to see if it's worth suing someone, the ability for her to pay seems to be of no relevance, but it sounds to me like someone is aiming to get a court order for repayment from your daughter and will use the bank statements as evidence of what she can reasonably afford. I would suggest not giving anyone any information like that, and particularly where sneaky bastards like debt recovery solicitors are involved, because it does sound like they are trying to stitch her up with the hire charges.

The only people should be in communication with is is her own insurance company, and correspondence from anyone else should be sent to her insurance company and not responded to, this is often a condition of the insurance, that you not talk to anyone else.
 
The wife had someone reverse into her BMW218 in Aldi's car park. Fortunately she had a dashcam so the other side admitted liability. She was supplied with an E series merc via Enterprise as the replacement while hers got fixed which was a considerable upgrade and she didn't have to pay a penny though as her car was driveable she only had it while the car was being repaired. TBH the car your daughter was given doesn't sound like betterment to me and she shouldn't have to put up with something less than she 's got just to save the other insurer money?
 
Would the call from the insurance company be recorded? They seem to record everything else!
 
BMW?.. Mercedes’ ? All I got was a fiat punto!!!! same shit. My insurance company sorted it. Send everything to them. It’s why you pay insurance
 
Thanks for all the replies… It seems like this is not uncommon…A colleague at work had an ambulance run into her car at traffic lights, Full liability accepted and she was just asked to sign on the line for the car that she was given which turns out to be a hire car there was no mention of daily charges or that it was a hire car just sign on this bottom line…..
She had the car for over three months while her car was Repaired and now she has to go to court because she has been threatened with the cost of the hire over three months at £180 a day :mad:

I’ll pass on all comments above to her :beerjug:
 
Thanks for all the replies… It seems like this is not uncommon…A colleague at work had an ambulance run into her car at traffic lights, Full liability accepted and she was just asked to sign on the line for the car that she was given which turns out to be a hire car there was no mention of daily charges or that it was a hire car just sign on this bottom line…..
She had the car for over three months while her car was Repaired and now she has to go to court because she has been threatened with the cost of the hire over three months at £180 a day :mad:

I’ll pass on all comments above to her :beerjug:

it's standard practice to make someone liable for the costs, if an agreement has not yet been made. Best advise is to accept a courtesy car offered by the 'guilty' party's insurance as they will (generally) foot the bill and you're not liable. They have a set day rate they're happy to pay, and will provide a suitable vehicle. Not the same one at a jumped up rate because insurance companies try to rip each other off.

advice is always read the paperwork about the charges and who is liable.
 
it's standard practice to make someone liable for the costs, if an agreement has not yet been made. Best advise is to accept a courtesy car offered by the 'guilty' party's insurance as they will (generally) foot the bill and you're not liable. They have a set day rate they're happy to pay, and will provide a suitable vehicle. Not the same one at a jumped up rate because insurance companies try to rip each other off.

advice is always read the paperwork about the charges and who is liable.


Thanks for that… I’ve just had an update… she’s spoken to the solicitors who requested her availability etc. they are working to recover the hire costs from the council , who have stated that they will not pay the £6000 bill for 46 days of hire.

The council have intimated that they would have offered a car at a cheaper rate… but they never did. They have been asked to provide evidence that a cheaper rate car was offered to her, and no evidence has been provided…

The solicitors are trying to reach a settlement with the worse case scenario being court.

The only vehicle she was ever offered was the 218 BMW and she was under the impression that this was organised by her insurance, which clearly was not the case …
 
It is possible that the Council do not have conventional motor insurance but have instead lodged a bond with HMG, leaving them free to ‘negotiate’ whatever settlements they can screw out of anyone unfortunate enough to come (through no fault of their own) into over close proximity to one of the Council’s fleet.

Or alternatively, the Council might have bought conventional motor liability insurance but, through a financial arrangement with the insurer, has accepted back some low level risks (bumping into a car with a dustbin lorry for instance) to settle themselves.

Either way, just gather up all the correspondence relating to the loan car (or hire car or whatever it’s called) along with any contemporaneous phone notes of conversations and send them to whatever chimp is dealing with it in the Council’s offices. If necessary, attach the paperwork to a brick and post it, with no stamps. I might even suggest chucking it through the mayoral window but that, whilst satisfying, might not be the best tactic on day one. It will though guarantee you’ll make the local news and feature in the ‘Bods looking miserable’ section of UKGSer.

:beerjug:
 
It is possible that the Council do not have conventional motor insurance but have instead lodged a bond with HMG, leaving them free to ‘negotiate’ whatever settlements they can screw out of anyone unfortunate enough to come (through no fault of their own) into over close proximity to one of the Council’s fleet.

Or alternatively, the Council might have bought conventional motor liability insurance but, through a financial arrangement with the insurer, has accepted back some low level risks (bumping into a car with a dustbin lorry for instance) to settle themselves.

Either way, just gather up all the correspondence relating to the loan car (or hire car or whatever it’s called) along with any contemporaneous phone notes of conversations and send them to whatever chimp is dealing with it in the Council’s offices. If necessary, attach the paperwork to a brick and post it, with no stamps. I might even suggest chucking it through the mayoral window but that, whilst satisfying, might not be the best tactic on day one. It will though guarantee you’ll make the local news and feature in the ‘Bods looking miserable’ section of UKGSer.

:beerjug:

Passed that on to her :) :thumb2

She’s already prepared a statement and she’ll have to go through the motions in the hope it will go away ..hopefully sooner rather than later
 


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