Young driver insurance quandary

[jackstowers]

Sorry to hear about the car Darren. I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of the rest and Mrs Miggins will be brought to justice!!

[Darren C]

Not so much Mrs Miggins Pie Shop, more me dragging her down to Mrs Lovetts

[C3s]

Really sorry to you both on hearing this and is exactly why l hate (with a passion) the 'one way street' insurance companies. Can you buy another cheap car and 'hire' it to him in a way that fits all criteria? At 70/day you'll soon get your money back

[Darren C]

Thanks Paul,

They knew all too well he is 18 years old, they loaded the policy with all sorts of excesses but made a big deal on the "replacement" car in the event of an accident, repair or a breakdown (where it couldn't be fixed at roadside) when they sold us the policy.
They are a BIG mainstream classic car insurer (I'm sure a lot of DDK are insured with this company) and I wasn't expecting this battle to report a simple no fault claim and get a resolution.
My son at 18 ended up, angry and upset trying to report the accident and was palmed off numerous times (with the attitude "hey he's an 18 year old and won't know, so we'll try it on with him")
It makes me very cross and frustrated that I'm having to battle them on his behalf and being fed "read the small print" comments on a policy that was explained to the contrary when they sold it to us.
I've emailed them again tonight regarding the issue with the legal protection not being helpful if the other driver refused to give their details and drove off.
This simply isn't on. That's surely what the legal protection and insurance is fundamentally for. I don't see why I should have to do their job and make justifications all the way along this basic of basic claim.

[Darren C]

So another 24 hrs passes.....

After an exchange of grumpy emails the insurance company have finally agreed that it isn't my sons responsibility to chase the person, via a private prosecution, who hit his car and did a runner for their insurance details. The can apparently very simply look it up on an insurers data base in seconds that they have access to, based on the reg number

Now, they "promise" to pass the information on to the department that provides his legal cover to see if we are entitled to be reimbursed for travel expenses when the car eventually goes in for repair as he's too young for the stated courtesy or hire car.

They promised the legal department would get in touch earlier today.....

Hmmmm, lots of tumble weed around here.

Hey ho, thats another 24hrs added to 7 weeks time it takes to get a car fixed on a fully comprehensive classic policy.

Shall we run a sweepstake as to whether it'll be this year?

[Darren C]

Well no one called me back on Thursday from the insurance, so I waited until late morning Friday to see if they would call as promised.
No call so I ended up phoning them again. Having got through all the automated T & C’s and options I got a very nice lady who said all the operatives in the claims department were busy, but I could book a telephone appointment later that day at a given time for them to call me back. I explained that this was promised on Thursday and no one called me back. She said she would check to see what the next call back time was…….”er sorry, we’re fully booked this afternoon the next call back is Monday, do you want to make an appointment?”
“NO, I don’t want an appointment on Monday, I just want to speak to someone now who can sort out my sons insurance claim and give us a simple decision!”
The lady was very polite but explained again that they were busy and someone could call me back Monday.
Since this as been going on for a couple of months now without resolution I have just about had enough of this nonsense and told the lady I wanted to make another official complaint. She took the details and told me someone would ring me on Monday.

Guess what, no calls today, no emails, no messages, nothing!

So I get home tonight and have two letters in the post from the insurance company.

I opened them with anticipation….

Both identical acknowledgements of raising 2 complaints, and giving me the ombudsman’s address if I get no joy!

All we want is a person in authority to speak to when we phone or call back and tell us what is going on.

[mycar]

First world problem Darren C.

Why are you venting on an Early Porsche forum ?

[Darren C]

Because its a main stream Classic Car Specialist Insurer and after 7 weeks keeping it under my hat without resolution I feel that like minded classic car people should know whats going on and for the sake of my sanity

[gridgway]

You should tell us who it is, so we can avoid them.

Because its a main stream Classic Car Specialist Insurer and after 7 weeks keeping it under my hat without resolution I feel that like minded classic car people should know whats going on and for the sake of my sanity

[mycar]

Yep, tell us who it is, otherwise pointless winge.

[Dean.s]

Unfortunately both you and your son are finding out just how inefficient (useless) the claims process is.

Beware of splashing out over and above thinking you can claim it all back. Your son must mitigate his losses. I do sympathise with his age/hire car problems. However keep all receipts/photo's/phone bills as your son must provide evidence to prove his claim. He is the claimant and the burden of proof is on him.

My advice would be to break everyones balls to get the car back repaired asap. Then present your claim to the third party insurers in full.

At the same time as presenting your letter of claim and evidence, give them the legally required section 152 notice.

This gives them the required legal notice (7 days) that you intend to issue civil court proceedings to recover your losses.

Legal expenses cover will usually provide legal cover up to £100k as standard. Problem is the case handler will likely have 150/180 other claims to be dealing with. You will be in it for the long haul using them. Between them and the third party insurer's (& brokers if you're really unlucky) a claim could last anywhere from 3 months onwards.

The court system is nothing to be afraid of. They will help you, to a point but there is plenty of accurate advice available. I used to recover financial loss in rta so have first hand experience of dealing in these mattets.

Good luck and i hope it gets resolved asap.

[Dean.s]

Bit more of an update.

You can get the third party insurers details from the motor insurers bureau free of charge but you will not be able to get the owners/drivers details personally. Data protection act covers this.

You (your son) has right of redress against the third party insurer under section 4 you will however need them to confirm they insure the vehicle & driver or you may have to go through the MIB instead. The insurer must confirm cover.

Most people hate this stuff. I love it. Nothing like recovering what is rightfully recoverable.

On the point of finding it difficult to get people to deal with you, even if you paid the monies, are given authorised caller status (not everyone offers this) you are not the claimant your son is. Bear this in mind, bite your tongue and no matter how hard it is, be nice. The best way to get someone to talk to you is to be nice.

If i can be of any more specific help just ask.

[jeremyg]

Dean, it's great to see you helping Darren out like this with sound information and know how. That's what an early Porsche community can do for each other, Porsche related or not.

[jackstowers]

I would think classic car insurance woes are wholly relevant to all but everyone on here.
Dare I say even more so than watches, bicycles, alfas, hot rods, tits, tats, no tats, no tits, tours with a 20 hour window to sign up, daily drivers, wife's Polo for sale, felching, cameras, TV etc. etc.

These are all reasons we come here rather than the PCGB site

[Darren C]

Thanks Dean, that's great advice and very helpful. I've been biting my tongue for 7 weeks and its getting sore now
We are still waiting for the insurance to contact the repairing garage to authorise repairs. They've sent me an email to confirm the repair but the garage haven't received anything as of yesterday??? I forwarded them the email we'd got but they are a little apprehensive (understandably) as the authority came via us and not directly from the insurance, so we're in a stalemate on booking the car in to be repaired.
I'm kind of reserved to the fact it'll now be the wrong side of Christmas before we can get the car fixed, which is quite clearly the result of poor performance and lack of urgency by the Fully Comprehensive Classic Car Insurance provider.
Mycar, once this mess is sorted I will PM you who it is; if you still have the will to live