Worton

i need to vent somewhere and get a second oppinion.

so at the start of december last year someone hit the back of my S on a snowy dual carriageway. As ive been to the local body repair shop before with a different car i know what they are like and dont want them touching the S. So out of recommendation from someone on here i wanted to go to shorade accident centre in Cannock.

So its taken until now for them to send someone out from Direct Line to assess the damage (and only since ive had to chase them). He came along today and said that some of the damage they will agree with but the main part of the damage they cant agree on. I obviously contested this and said that i have photos from the accident, he said he would take a look however he still disagrees that the damage was done at the accident.

Here are photos of the day after the accident:



The night of the accident


The other car



Now basically what happened is that he tried to overtake me however must have spun (as it was very snowy) and gone side on into the back of me. iwas doing about 20mph as i was about to turn into a road (this is on a 60mph dual carriageway) and in between me and him a van managed to overtake me fine.

Anyway i reported the damage the next day, i said that the boot was damaged along with the bumper and it caused my car to hit the curb therefore damaging the wheels and probably knocking the alignment off.

So the assessor comes along today from the insurance company and tells me that they'll pay for the damage to the bumper to be repaired but not the wheels or the boot as the wheels look like the damage was more than a month old (which i told him it had been 2 months since the accident) and the boot looks like someone has tried to break into it. I told him that the boot damage was definitly done from the accident however he says it was round the same time but it was definitely vandal damage not accident damage.

I told him i disagree with him and from putting stuff in my boot before the journey there was no damage but obviously he doesnt believe me. i didnt even consider arguing about the wheels and consiquently the geo being out of alignment probably, as my main concern is with the boot.

I decided to go through my company (Direct Line) as they were to deal with shorade but the other guys insurance (swift) wouldnt cover them.. Im thinking of ringing swift and seeing what they say? im really really annoyed that the majority of the damage caused they are trying to get away with not paying

Ultra_Nexus

The guy is having a laugh! Vandelism? Breaking into the boot? He has no proof of this, but you have clear proof that someone has bashed into the back of your car. As for your Geo, don't let them get away with it.

If you have to, take them to small claims court. You'll win.

lovegroova

A couple of questions:

I presume you are claiming damages from the insurers of the silver car.

Was the assessor sent by the silver car's insurers or from yours? It sounds to me like the was from the silver car's insurers and is trying to reduce his claim costs.

Direct Line probably have some sort of legal team who will recover your costs for you. That's who you need to get in touch with.

Get an estimate for the repairs from Shorade and submit it as a claim to Direct Line.

Juicy Steve

This is what the insurance ombudsman is for, contact them and citizens advice, then ring your insurers with what you have been told. They will know you mean business then, its all free and it amazes me how many people don't bother.

integra_man

One of the reasons I kicked DL into touch a long, long time ago, and will never go back.

They simply don't bat for you on occasions like this.

jonybravo78

It is the job of the assessor to get their costs down as much as possible, which includes bull -sh1t like saying the damage was not done as a result of the accident.

You have done well to take photos of the event, but do you have any photos taken at the same time of the wheel damage you want to claim for? If not, it might be a long shot to claim for that as well, but you should definately be claiming for any damage done to the rear of the vehicle.

Judging by the damage done to the other car, it's clear to see this other person was traveling with enough velocity to seriously dent the side of their motor, so it is not unfeasbile for you to insist the damage done to yours was a direct result of the collision.

A similar thing happened to my brother when he had a V6 clio, the assessor said the damge to his bodykit could be repaired on the cheap, but an independent garage argued on his behalf to say it needed replacing. He kicked up a stink with both insurers, and they ended up replacing the whole kit.

Ball is in your court, if I were you I would put a case together in terms of writing to both insurers, attach copies of the photos, and insist that the pay out / repairs covers all rear end damage

Let us know how you get on mate, good luck

Worton

Thanks for your responses. Just to clarify the assessor is from my insurance company as apparently I can't use shorade if I go through swift cover as they're a premium garage (this was told to me by the guy at the garage).

After I've calmed down a bit I agree with the fact that the amount of damage to the guys car couldn't simply because he hit my bumper (which only has a few cracks in it) and where he says vandals tried to pry their way in there is not even a scratch to the plastic around the light cluster in which they would have to have been used as leverage.

So you're saying I should hold off on going to the other guys insurance and seeing what they say there?

I'll definitly contact the insurance ombudsman though thankyou, Ive never had to claim before so it's all new to me.

I have no photos of the wheels though as I didn't really think about it at the time. I understand that could be a problem and if they don't do the wheels I can live with that, but I can't live with the boot. Why's it even worth having insurance if you can't even claim that wasn't your fault!

What I don't get is that I'm sure my insurance won't be footing the bill yet they're still trying to mess me about

I honestly thought direct line were a good company as I've never had anyproblems before. Guess not

lovegroova

Just to clarify - the other guy is insured with Swiftcover, correct?

As I say, get an estimate from Shorade, as well as a couple of other garages (ask Direct Line for their recommended repairers) and see what the difference in cost is. then send those estimates to Direct Line, and then they should negotiate with Swiftcover on your behalf.

You are entitled to have the car repaired where you like (provided the cost is reasonable).

The vandalism is a load of BS that can be dealt with later if necessary, but getting those estimates and submitting them to DL is the first thing you need to do.

lower

You will also need to exhaust DL's complaints process before referring to the insurance ombudsman.

You have a complaint, DL has a procedure. Use it.

Hopefully it will resolve the issue.


I have to say the damage to your boot lid does look odd and unlikely to have occurred in the accident so i can see why the assessor has come to the conclusion he has.

No damage to the adjacent light cluster and the fact that the boot lid is bent outwards does make it look odd.

LTB

Indeed and this was the case when somebody banged into my Lotus a few months ago.

Insurance wanted me to go to the approved repairer, but I insisted it go to a Lotus approved repairer.

It made the process a little longer as an independent assessor had to be brought it, but there weren't any problems.

Are DL providing legal assistance ? If the other party is at fault and has admitted this then DL should be throwing everything at them to fight your corner.

If you are unsatisfied with DL it maybe time to talk to a solicitor.