# Lengthy claim process



## DWills (Jun 12, 2012)

Recently I was hit by a driver changing lanes, damaging the RH rear door, arch and sill trim. I informed my insurers who passed the claim to a third party to handle the claim, repairs and hire car, they operate by getting admission of liability and then proceeding, this saves the aggrieved the pain of forking out the excess so great...... ish.
The other driver failed to notify their insurer and had to be chased down, so two weeks later and finally admission of liability. My car would then be repaired and booking that resulted in collection next Thursday for return the following week, so three weeks from the accident before its even started. By this point I was furious at the delays when I shove a hefty chunk their way every year so I made a call to the other parties insurers and the result has jumped all of that forward with these questions:

1. Has the accident been reported to you?
2. Has your customer admitted liability?
With a "yes" to the above
3. Are you willing to repair my car and provide a suitable replacement in the mean time?

So mine is being collected tomorrow morning for repair at a BMW approved repairer and a BMW 325 is being dropped off at the same time. With the key being to save money they were more than willing to take it on rather than pay the extra that my insurers are sure to pile on them.
My insurers and the claim handlers were no bother and apologised for the protracted time lines which they said that they would review and inform me of the result as they accepted the change of claim as a loss of business and recorded it as a customer complaint.
I know this still seems quick compared to some of the horror stories I've heard but I/we expect excellent service, not just good enough. If you are unfortunate enough to find this happens to you then it's got to be worth a shot.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

When you say your Insurers passed it on, do you mean your agents?

If you had Comprehensive cover and claimed initially under your own policy, your car would have been booked in straight away on your own Insurers repair network. This does of course mean that you will have to pay and then recover your excess.

If you are using a "credit repair" facility provided by a loss recovery firm, then one of the pitfalls is that you won't get your car repaired until there is an admission of liability, which may take some time. 

The third party insurers are now jumping at the chance to repair your car as now they won't be faced with additional costs such as credit hire and so on. This is why they have agreed to repair your car. The recovery firm that was instructed wouldn't be looking for this option, as they won't make any money this way.

Hope that explains things a little.


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## GAZLOZ (Jun 28, 2007)

If the third party don't report the claim for 2 weeks then delays are going to be un-avoidable.


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## DWills (Jun 12, 2012)

Your both right and I'm happy with the process which was a bonus when you've just piled out cash to the tune of £2k, so avoiding initial excess issues is a bonus.
My main points are that NO ONE should be able to get away with failing to report an accident for more than 24hrs unless medical reasons won't allow, no excuses. It comes in line with the first thing she did which was drive off, another way of failing to take responsibility and piling the issue onto some other poor sod. Only after 21 days would they be prepared to repair without established liability.
The shame of it is that her insurer are willing to offer me better service than my own (well paid on my policy) bunch, due to the incentive to save the cash.


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## GAZLOZ (Jun 28, 2007)

I agree that people should report accidents straight away, I work in insurance and it hinders the claim process if the TP hasnt reported the claim. 

As for the service I can only comment on the company I work for. However the other persons insurance may be quick to offer services, from experience they arn't to great if something goes wrong.


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