question regarding a collision, and insurance, help please.

[valman]

hello, two weeks ago someone crashed into me after pushing past traffic on a single lane entry to a roundabout while i was on it. after exchanging details and taking witnesses numbersand details, it was decided to go through insurance. now the third party didnt contact my insurance for a week,at which point i called mine and made the claim through my provider. i was told that there would be contact within an hour provided the guy at fault admitted liability - offduty policeman witnessed it and obviously he was 100% at fault. (the guy even cut the cop up on his way to the roundabout) my car is being taken by my insurers tomorrow for damage assessment, now this has never happened before. having done a bit of reading today it would seem that i should have contacted his insurance, not mine. is it too late now?
another weird thing was that the claim was closed when i called my provider a few days after a claim was made,due to me not hearing back within a few days,let alone the quoted hour!. somehting doesnt seem right,
any suggestions? should i go ahead and contact his provider and see if they have heard anything?

thanks in advance!

[wayjay]

Once you have told your insurance co they should handle everything,thats what there paid for.

[composimmonite]

You only need to contact / communicate with your own insurer. Other party should do the same and then insurance companies sort it out between themselves.

Paul h

[valman]

thanks for the reassurance guys, think I'm just stressing out. i hope whatever they do when they take my mazda away it will come back to me as it was! spent far too much time and money on it, even if it does look a bit run down on the outside its got the lowest mileage ive seen in a while and immaculate mechanicals. its still got a large sentimental value to me!

[stevecrx]

Your not obliged to let them take your car, but be aware that if they do you might never see it again.

[valman]

that is why i have just removed a fresh set of oem mazda springs and dampers! told them it would be on the old ones that were cut to be removed and salvage lot said its fine as long as its rolling. hoping this wont cause issues too

[willowandmikey]

Even if they write it off the majority of the time you can buy it back off them

[woodenspatulas]

They went to write off my Mums octy 4x4 after a rear ender. Said it would cost 140% of the value.

She bought it back and got a payout. fixed the damage and its as good as new, paid a few hundred quid for the work, pocketed the rest.

[composimmonite]

Don't let anyone take your car away unless you have a guarantee it's going to be repaired. If it's going to be assessed or into storage then there is a chance you will never see it again if deemed a write off. Far easier to buy back the salvage, if written off, if it's still sitting in your drive.

Paul H

[ChasR]

Sept 26, 2013 15:05:15 GMT composimmonite said:

Don't let anyone take your car away unless you have a guarantee it's going to be repaired. If it's going to be assessed or into storage then there is a chance you will never see it again if deemed a write off. Far easier to buy back the salvage, if written off, if it's still sitting in your drive.

Paul H

This.

This happened to me with a car years ago. Is the car drivable at all, or is there no chance? If it is not drivable, get the assesors to come to you if possible. If in storage (and if bought back as salvage) I would not bank on the car being in the same state as it was when you left it to them (it is surprising what these yards will 'cherry pick' for their own cars...).

In my case, the car was still drivable. I drove it up to an accident centre where they made their assesement and said they would contact me in due course. Naturally they were trying to get their salvage trucks to try and pick the car up but that did not occur. In the end (with the car sitting on my drive for almost a month) I bought the car back off the insurance (after it had been written off). At the same time I updated the car a little (It was a Focus Mk1: I got a 'Collection' Bumper (desirable at the time) and bonnet in a perfect match for my car) along with going new on other panels (crash bar, slam panel etc.), and walked away with a small sum of cash to boot. Truth be told, the car was in a better state post accident than it was pre (At the time, I overlooked just how 'small' the previous damage was (crash bar was already dented, a headlight was not perfect either).

Alot of the bits were sourced through either Ford if I went new or via the forums in the case of the headlights, bonnet, and bumper .

[mk14dr]

Pretty much as has already been said, if the car has ANY sort of intrinsic value to you, you should strive to keep hold of it at all costs.
Do not let it be recovered for assessment or storage, I'm not suggesting that anything will happen to your car, but if you have the space at home the piece of mind of having the car sat outside is priceless.

[valman]

well theres wasnt really any option of them coming to look at it! they just said thats what happens (I'm with priviledge) i think its too late now as the arrangement is for it to be picked up tomorrow while I'm at work but the car was drivable, untill all the lights started blowing fuses! now as i removed the new set of springs and dampers its deffo not drivable-pierced dampers and bits of spring in place of what was there. I'm sure it will be ok, i have their address after all haha

[mk14dr]

If you simply must let it go to an assessor you need to photograph the heck out of it before it goes anywhere. EscRot got battered about whilst it spent 2days in the police approved compound, smashed reversing light lens and a couple of other marks on the bodywork, but then it has taken such a shunt at the front that a couple of other blemishes are niether here nor there.

I hope you have a reasonable resolution.

[8tee8]

I'm not sure if all companies provide this option but I'd recommend pushing for a payment in lieu. This means the insurance company gives you a cash sum to repair the car yourself without taking it away or writing it off. My merc got crashed into a few weeks ago and the price if new parts would've written it off so we went down that route

[dodgerover]

If they look at it with knackered shocks, springs cut to bits etc they're likely to get upset about it and poss say your insurance is invalid, same way they used to for bikes that got involved in a crash with a race can instead of a standard can. You will have a hard job convincing them that was standard or whatever it was declared as at the time of the incident.
Better bet would have been to refuse to release the car and tell them to come and inspect it, they can pass all the costs on to the 3rd party anyway so it doesn't matter to them, its just easier for them to get someone to drag it to their yard and then charge them storage....

[valman]

Well I made it clear on thr phone why I removed the parts and left a letter in the car to warn about the car not being driven as it currently stood due to it not being safe (or even being able to move only in a straight line) I have pictures which show the car before this. If they get the hump I'd be surprised as its my property and as said above its unlikely it would be seen again in one piece so its illogical to leave something on the car which cost hundreds of pounds! But hey, will see what comes of it. I did at the time ask why there isn't an assessor coming to see it and apparently its not something my insurance do.
Thanks again for the insightful responses

[Deleted]

tampering with the car could make your insurance invalid, no matter what you say or do.
they will wriggle out of it any way they can.

think i'd have left it as was, sorry but imo its gonna bite you on the ar5e very hard.

[fred]

Sept 27, 2013 11:05:04 GMT @oldspice said:

tampering with the car could make your insurance invalid, no matter what you say or do.
they will wriggle out of it any way they can.

think I'd have left it as was, sorry but imo its gonna bite you on the ar5e very hard.

I have to concur
Insurance companies will use every excuse and every bit of their cunning to avoid paying out
and having taking bits off after collision is akin with tampering with evidence
I wish you the best of luck anyhow

[justanotherhigh]

I refused to let them take my car away, seemed to work a treat... it's still here!
100% not my fault, still took three months to get a payout though. Best of luck.
Keep pestering them and don't let them fob you off with another department or subsidiary... ask for a freephone number of someone important.

[ChasR]

I would still push for an assesor coming to look at the car, even if you are changing fuses for to it to go to the repair centre!

Getting it back off the salvage yard in the same state will be interesting IMHO.