No blame claim on third party only insurance.

My daughter passed her test 18 months ago and bought a 1.3cdi Vauxhall Corsa. Because of her age it was insured third party only as it was low value and fully comp added nearly as much to the cost of insurance as the value of the car.

Last week as she stopped at a crossing, a car stopped behind her and then a young lad in a 4 x 4 pick up (bloody builder: probably texting on his phone ) hit the car behind her, ramming the car into the back of hers: writing her car off.

As she is insured 3rd Party only can anyone advise on how she should claim: Should she approach the 4 x 4 driver's insurance or the insurers of the car that got rammed into the back of her car?

Someone mentioned employing a Credit Hire company to get a car while hers is sorted and sort the claim but she can still drive her car, even though the rear bumper and boot is damaged (good old duct tape) so it's probably not worth getting a hire car and then working out who pays for it.

Also I picked the car up for her from auction, it's an ex-police civilian 2012 Corsa 1.3cdi EcoFlex with 80k on it. I got it for £1600 but I see the price of the same model and mileage have doubled and are nearer £4k now to replace like for like. From my previous experience I am expecting a low value offer for her car that we can refuse and provide adverts for similar cars requesting a like for like payment.

Finally she did get some whiplash from the impact and the older woman who was travelling in the car hurt her back and neck enough to visit the doctor who confirmed whiplash and gave her pain killers.

Where to start? Who to ask? Her insurers don't seem very interested in helping.

insurance company don't want to help , f*** 'em with a big stick . as much as i dislike "claim management companies" , get one involved .

i used one when the other party in an RTA , thought he would give a false address. i used McAms , but there must be others. i got paid out for bike , helmet , and injury . they did it all. DESPITE me having no MOT at the time.

pretty sure she goes to car that hit her , eventually it all ends up on the driver that caused it.

https://directaccident.co.uk/

^^^ these seem to be the car side of McAms .

Pretty much what he said

your daughter claims against the person who hit her, and they in turn claim against the car that hit them.

If the dots join, they may be able to transfer all of the blame back to the 4x4 driver

its been a long time i had a TPFT claim, but from experience, and the low value it will more than likley be a write off.

Cost of repairs exceeding xx% of the cars value.

plus she might get a loan car via the claim company . for me it was all very painless and easy. they tried to give me a loan bike , which i declined as i have multiple bikes. even the doctor that i had to see was very local to me.

Devon said:

Last week as she stopped at a crossing, a car stopped behind her and then a young lad in a 4 x 4 pick up (bloody builder: probably texting on his phone ) hit the car behind her, ramming the car into the back of hers: writing her car off.

Someone mentioned employing a Credit Hire company to get a car while hers is sorted and sort the claim but she can still drive her car, even though the rear bumper and boot is damaged (good old duct tape) so it's probably not worth getting a hire car and then working out who pays for it.

Click to expand...

Bold added by me. Not clear if it's written off or not

'Written off' is probably not applicable here because your daughter's car isn't insured for damage (being TPFT) so her own insurers don't care if it's beyond economical repair because they aren't paying out anyway.

Does your daughter have legal expenses cover? Unlikely (a) if she was economising at all cost and (b) because her insurers would have mentioned it (you would think) but worth a check. If so, phone them and get some initial guidance.

Otherwise, your daughter is in the driving seat so to speak. Generally speaking you can't lose if you suffer a rear end shunt. She can claim against both drivers behind and leave them to argue it out among themselves. They are likely to want to settle.

Your daughter's passenger is in an even better position (although I'm sure she'd rather it never happened) in that she can claim against your daughter AND against the other two drivers behind your daughter so can't really lose (provided she has something to claim). Note your daughter IS insured for that anyway.

Your daughter could contact either or both of the drivers behind (or more likely their insurers) who will probably be keen to offer a deal. They might short change her though. She'd be better with some legal advice even though according to many on here every lawyer under the sun is a baby eating paedo at best . Chances are it won't cost her anything and the lawyers will get their costs from the driver(s) behind but she should check up front. She could try CAB but they often have loooong waiting lists.

Good luck to her and her passenger

If she got the other partys details, you can deal with their insurer directly.

Thanks for the replies. After consideration we have decided to hand the whole lot over to a claim management company. Auxillis have mixed reviews but as the claim is clearly no fault we shouldn't have to worry about costs which will be claimed off the 4x4 driver who caused the crash.
Also the passenger in my daughter's car did receive quite a big hit (the airbags went off in the 4x4 so it must have been a big impact to all the car involved) and that requires professional advice and guidance though hopefully the passenger will suffer no long term problems.

Good luck Andy, hope your daughter and her friend suffer no long term effects.

More than likely a write off but doesn’t mean you need to replace
Happened to me a few yrs ago, creased the boot floor but still ran it for another 2yrs and past mot fine

Just to conclude this thread, my daughter used Auxillis (a Credit Hire Company) who sorted her a new VW Polo replacement car for 5 weeks while her car was assessed as a write off. The insurance company of the driver who went into the back of her offered a fair valuation and she kept the replacement car until the cheque arrived for her car plus a further week for her to find another car. The insurance on her new car wasn't loaded and was actually £100 cheaper than her Corsa insurance.
All in all, quite painless and no complaints and I wouldn't hesitate to use Auxillis again in the future, although hopefully we wont have to. The personal injury claim is ongoing and being dealt with by an online government group, the group was created to stop excessive whiplash claims I believe.

Upshot of this thread is:

Claims management companies are shite, oft said on this forum - Apparently not

Insurers are shite, oft said on this forum - Apparently not

Your premium will go up, even for a no fault claim, oft said on this forum - Apparently not

Funny old world.