[MEGA]

Guys if I didn't make it clear he was oncoming and hit my rear quarter as we were passing eachother

djgandy yes Albany. What do I need to know?

Too late to get another company involved now I think.. Sigh..

[MEGA]

Given what I've just read I am now considering closing the claim with Albany down now before any work is authorised. Where would I stand in getting someone else to pick up the claim?

This is a nightmare. I really could do with someone who is an expert in this shit picking it up.

[IanS100]

Having recently spent 6 months fighting a claim for an accident in which I wasn't even involved, & have my doubts that it even took place, you have my sympathy. It's hard enough going through all the grief when you're at fault but when you're not, it's a nightmare, Good Luck

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by MEGA

Given what I've just read I am now considering closing the claim with Albany down now before any work is authorised. Where would I stand in getting someone else to pick up the claim?

This is a nightmare. I really could do with someone who is an expert in this shit picking it up.

Try ringing the third party insurer. I ditched Albany and was so glad I did. A guy at work spent months dealing with them. His car totaled by a van (tiny Toyota town car) whilst parked. It should be clear cut in that case, but it wasn't. They gave him a hire car for months, then took it back as the costs were getting too high. Then he got another hire car, more credit agreements etc. I don't know what the end result was, maybe I can ask for you, but he spent every day phoning this company, often not even getting the phoned picked up once he'd signed the agreement.

People on MSE will give you a better explanation but here is my basic understanding.
What Albany want you to do is get a hire car and sign some credit agreement that says you will help them pursue all costs for that hire car in court. They'll then try and invoice the third party at like £100/day for the hire car costs. The third party then says that is absurd and you end up in court and crap fighting costs well beyond anything you imagined and well beyond what the repairs are.

At the time of my accident I did a bit of research. They are a part of the help hire group (https://www.google.com/finance?q=LON%3AHHR). Their share price at the time was around 0.80p and if you look at that chart you'll see they are well past their best. Having read stories and seen a chart that shows a company that looks bankrupt I figured I could probably look after myself better.

In my situation the first thing I did was ring the third party. They offered me legal assistance and everything. I then realised that I had to notify my own insurer, Admiral. I rang them, they asked me if I had been "offered legal assistance" . I said "no" on the basis that I thought maybe I should go through my own insurer, they'll look after me (haha). They then passed me on to Albany. Now they have to ask that question, as if you have already been offered legal assistance and you have accepted I don't think they can hand you off to Albany. Albany got in touch and I got suspicious, they did not seem interested in the details of what happened, they just wanted to push paper work my way and give me a hire car. All I had was front bumper damage and the car was perfectly drive able, why would I need a hire car? I actually did get a quote for work from someone Albany told me to use. That is as far as I went with them. They will try and scare you, but you don't have to use them.

[F31-340i]

i had an incident some time ago, and it was clearly the other driver at fault.

they admitted at the time, then denied once insurance company involved.

i did a step by step powerpoint of tye incident, emailed it to my insurer and said:

1. this is what happened
2. it is therefore their fault
3. which bit exactly are they denying?

heard nothing for a bit and then they caved in. it seems that the prospect of having to lie and contradict the facts put them off. worth a try.

keep calm, stick to facts - if they have a different version, get them to put it in writing - if they do this and its balls then you can tear their story to bits with facts.

[Dave_3]

Sorry to hear this. Scumbag trying to wriggle out of his mistakes. Far too much of it these days.

Also, Insurance companies boil my piss, primarily looking after themselves - the fact you want your car actually protected seems to be a small nuisance to them.

Hope you get a favourable outcome.

D.

[F31-340i]

The other thing you can do is ask for the name of the witness if they insist there is one.

if they refuse you can state that this is because there isn't one. you need to play it carefully, but if they insist you can request an independent mobile phone signal check on the individuals phone - as you are so confident they were not there / were miles away. if its true it will prove their story, so why not?

[AlanYoro35i]

Think it's a good time to invest in for a blackvue. as you stated it's your words against his.

Did you take photo from afar? how the car was position etc?

[mob17]

Sorry to hear this Dave. I hope it all works out for you.

[335DPOWER]

Originally Posted by mob17

Sorry to hear this Dave. I hope it all works out for you.

This

Nightmare ! Hope it all goes in your favour,,

[makkan00]

Originally Posted by willhollin

Anyone in this situation you must get them to sign a written admission of liability or if they don't co-operate, phone the Police and tell them that they are fleeing the scene of an accident.

As it stands you haven't really got a choice, with no witnesses you are screwed and the best you can hope for is really a 50/50.

Would you sign something on the scene of accident? Nobody is dumb these days and would not sign anything on the scene.
Police simply shrug their shoulders by saying that insurance companies will decide the liability. Insurance / claim mgx companies can request for detailed police report to see if officer has made any comment on the report, if & when all the other methods exhaust. That is the only benefit of calling the Police out.

Originally Posted by Raj59

Any chance of there being any CCTV that could have recorded the accident?

Hope you get it all sorted.

Mega, Sorry to hear. I'd work on the above as suggested. Depending on the area, try to find a CCTV camera and then video.

Unfortunately, cliam management companies do not do much in your favour and you have to do a lot.

[gangzoom]

Even if the case is settled at 50/50 you wouldn't loss all your no-claims, only half. This happened to me when I had 5 years NCB and Admiral halved it to 2.5 years, and than rounded it down to 2 years.

Hope you get it sorted, its annoying enough dealing with just your own insurance company , but these days with all the middle men involved wanting to make a quick £££ its really hard to work out whats going on with your claim or whos actually on your side

[MEGA]

gangzoom - is that a rule or just something they did in your case for special reasons? That would be a godsend if it worked out like that worst case and a real weight off my mind.


Re: Albany. If I contact them and close the case down (No work has been authorised yet nor have I signed a contract or recieved a hire car) then Admiral will have to manage the case again, right?

Do I just phone Admiral and tell them I want nothing to do with Albany?

Humm.

Dave

[djgandy]

To further iterate my point on Albany read their parent company's aboutus http://www.helphire.co.uk/aboutus

It's extremely hire centric, even their name is Help Hire. They see their most important key financial is how many hires they managed too!

PHP Code:

Key Financials
Results for the 12 months ended 30 June 2012:
Number of hires    129,048    -0.1% year on year
Number of repairs    47,742    -4.4% year on year
Personal injury cases    28,070    -4.3% year on year
Turnover    224.3m    -4.5% year on year 


So what they will probably try and do is get you to take your car in, but delay the repair process for as long as possible so you can drive a hire car around for 20 days If you don't take a hire car, they are unlikely to have any interest in your case.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by MEGA

gangzoom - is that a rule or just something they did in your case for special reasons? That would be a godsend if it worked out like that worst case and a real weight off my mind.


Re: Albany. If I contact them and close the case down (No work has been authorised yet nor have I signed a contract or recieved a hire car) then Admiral will have to manage the case again, right?

Do I just phone Admiral and tell them I want nothing to do with Albany?

Humm.

Dave

You aren't obliged to work with Albany. I can't remember if Admiral are obliged to help you or not. Obviously Admiral get commission from Albany, hence why they palm you off to them.

Have Albany sent you a hire contract?

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by MEGA

gangzoom - is that a rule or just something they did in your case for special reasons? That would be a godsend if it worked out like that worst case and a real weight off my mind.

Not sure if its a general rule for the whole industry, but there certainly wasn't anything special about my case. Here is whats on Admrials website at the moment...



I've been involved in a few no-fault claims the last few years so I'm less stressed out about these thing now, but one thing I have learnt is NOT to go any where near the "accident management" companies. These guys are out to make a quick few £££s through things like "giving" you stupidly expensive and unnecessary hire cars. When my 335 needed a new bumper even the hire-car company tired to get me to "upgrade" to a stupidly expensive Merc and told me as long as I signed something they can than claim it back off some one...the sooner practices like that get banned the better.

Hope you get it sorted out quickly

[makkan00]

Dave
1st accident takes 2 years out of you NCB and second one takes additional 1 year. That was told by Admiral recently.
I have been involved in an accident where foreigner truck ran into my car and as there was no witnesses, it settled 50/50 after 2.5 years.
I did not go through Admiral and used accident management company. I paid for full repair of my car from my pocket and recovered 50% of it when it settled. The benefit was that my NCB was not touched.
I am not sure if that was a mistake or benefit but it cost me 1k for saving 2 years NCB.
If you have not signed anything, skip Albany and go through a good company.
Mind you most of them will take ages since third party is not admitting liability and lack of police report / witnesses make it really difficult.
None of them would like this to take to the court. Also each company is entitled to have 3 months for their internal investigation.
These three months starts from the date of them receiving letter from your accident management company. So all these twist make things tough.

[djgandy]

Do you have any pictures of the damage? Is it mainly cosmetic? How much was the quote for repair?

[MEGA]

I've had no communications back discussing courtesy car or repair of any kind as of yet, however the damage is minor. Deep scratch with slight imprint through to metal on wheel arch and a scratch through the paint just in front of it. However there's a long scratch on my PASSENGER side from where I had to dive into a hedge doing my best to avoid the twat. So in total it's 3 panels:

driver side rear quarter (wheel arch)
pass side sideskirt
pass side door.


I do have pics but not on my work machine (also, why? )

The reason I claimed is simply rear quarter repairs are expensive and it's 3 panels.

Mates rate best quote I had for private repair was 850. I imagine an insurance facing quote (which I don't have - as no one has told me to get one) could be four figures and maybe even with a 2 at the beginning.

[briers]

I dont know how this works but can you drop the claim without it being on record?

For a private repair of £850 it almost evens out as a personal expense. I think it would be cheaper to go through insurance but not cheaper on your stress.

I'm assuming your total excess is around £500 and you are likely to face higher premiums on renewal NCB protected or not. The higher premiums might be £50 - £200, who knows.

Plus they look down on you every renewal for what is it, 5 years? It will close doors to the cheapest companies as you get older.

[djgandy]

I was just asking to get an idea of what damage you have. It sounds similar to mine that was a £1k repair. Minor bumper damage, but 2/3 panels plus a little headlamp crack, so the bill of materials was already huge since BMW parts cost a fortune.

Have you called the other guys insurer yet? They might be far more helpful than you think.

Also briers, you cannot drop it without it on record. If you are involved in an accident you have to notify your insurer regardless of claim. Technically even if you crash into your garage door you still have to notify them!

Also your premiums are about to rise simply because you were involved in an accident

[Hotcoupe]

Originally Posted by briers

I dont know how this works but can you drop the claim without it being on record?

No you can't,sadly.

Once that initial call has been made and recorded,that's it,you're a statistic,and regardless of who was to blame in terms of the accident,you as the policy holder are regarded as a higher risk,even if you cancel the claim.
Complete & utter bollocks,but there you go!

Tough one Dave,I hope it's sorted,and in your favour.