Hi All

I recently got hit from behind in a RTA and sustained a whiplash injury. The TP has admitted liability and I received a call from their insurers (Churchill) offering me the chance to deal with them directly. I do realise that their main priority will be to mitigate their losses, so I am a little bit reluctant to go down this route (at least for the personal injury component of the claim - I have instructed them to carry out the repairs to my vehicle).

The difficulty is that under the auspices of my Legal Protection Cover I am being 'represented' by Minster Law... and having read a couple of the threads on this forum about this lot (for which many thanks to all posters - isn't the internet wonderful!!!?) I am beginning to wonder whether I would be better off dealing with Churchill for the personal injury claim as well.

Could anyone advise me of the best course of action, and, if I do deal with the TP insurers directly, whether there are any pitfalls to be aware of?

Thanks in advance

H

My friend has also had a whiplash injury and months later, is still seeing an osteopath for the pain. The other driver's insurers are paying for this. He told me recently that he has been advised not to settle too early, because he doesn't know what the long-term outcome of the injury will be. Obviously, they have already paid for the car repairs.

Regards.

Hi,

First of all I had better ask if you have fully comp insurance or TPF&T? In any event, you will need to inform your own insurers and perhaps see what they have to say. Churchill do this mainly (and very clever of them) to 'reel you in' as a new client. From my experience with Churchill, I would say that they will deal with your claim quite well so I don't see any reason not to allow them to deal with your injury claim as well unless you get PROFESSIONAL advice which tells you otherwise.

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Hi

I have Fully Comprehensive insurance with Legal Protection Cover. I did ask Minster Law, and they advised me not to deal with Churchill, but they would say that, wouldn't they?!!!

I'm just trying to get some impartial advice really :o)

Cheers

H

The problem here (if you can call it a problem) is that Churchill seem to have allready established liability so going through them directly may mean you get the claim sorted out faster. They will also no doubt want to repair your car themselves as they have their own body shops but that's not a problem. You should also have a courtesy car although your own insurers should be providing that for you but will not if you deal directly with Churchill.

Personally speaking, from a TP point of view I see no reason why you don't go through Churchill providing you get the following assurances;

They will sort out you injury claim satisfactorly (by not settling too early as pointed out by Honeybee)

They will provide you with a courtesy car for the duration of your repair

Your no claims bonus/excess will not be affected.

You may find they will bend over backwards because their main objective is to tempt you to re-new with them in the future. That however, does not mean I recommend that you do so! I have also had problems with them!

I'm sure Insuranceguy and Mossycat will come in and give their opinions on this soon.

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Thanks SS and Honeybee

One thing that I don't understand though - why should I be concerned about my NCB and excess being affected if the TP has admitted liability?

Thanks SS and Honeybee

 

One thing that I don't understand though - why should I be concerned about my NCB and excess being affected if the TP has admitted liability?

Who has said that you should be? If you go through your own insurers, you may be expected to pay the repairer the excess on your policy and then your insurers should recover it from Churchill. Your NCB should still be intact when all is settled. However, if you choose to accept Churchill's offer, its worth clarifying that you won't have to pay them anything at all and that they will sort out your injury claim adequately.

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I would think very carefully about dealing with this direct with Churchill because of the personal injury aspect.

The repairs to your car are easy to sort out, either let your own insurers deal with that (If you do that your NCB will be affected UNTIL such time as Churchill refund the repair cost to your own insurers, but from what you have said in your OP that won't be for very long). If you have an excess you will have to pay that and then YOU recover that from Churchill along with all your other uninsured losses (hire car, out of pocket expenses, etc).

However, if you let Churchill deal with it directly your NCB will not be affected and you won't have to pay an excess, plus they will probably arrange a courtesy car for you.

The personal injury side is more complex and you should find a local solicitor who specialises in injury claims. I've read a lot of threads about how bad Minster Law are, and I've had personal dealings with them when a friend had an accident (another horror story), so I personally wouldn't use them again!

Minster Law will send you some paperwork that you sign to give them authority to deal with it on your behalf, if you haven't signed this then I would think twice and seek out a local specialist.

As has been said before don't expect a quick payout on personal injuries because they need to be assessed properly just in case of long term injury etc. It is entirely acceptable to let the solicitor you appoint to deal with all your other items of claim (car repair, excess, etc etc ), but that would slow it down.

My advice is let Churchill repair your car, do not sign anything that mentions FULL and FINAL settlement and also appoint a local solicitor who specialises in personal injury claims.

Post back if you have any specific questions

Mossy

Who has said that you should be?

Concerned about the possible impact on my NCB and excess?...errr you did!

 

Personally speaking, from a TP point of view I see no reason why you don't go through Churchill providing you get the following assurances;

 

They will sort out you injury claim satisfactorly (by not settling too early as pointed out by Honeybee)

They will provide you with a courtesy car for the duration of your repair

Your no claims bonus/excess will not be affected.

Sorry was a bit confused by that!

Thanks to all posters and thank you Mossycat for some excellent advice - I really appreciate it :o)

I will henceforth ditch the Munsters without any further ado!

Will also keep you posted...injuries do not appear to be too severe at present (we were in a Jeep Cherokee which is built like a tank) but you never know with whiplash do you?!!!

Cheers guys

H

Sorry but I was merely suggesting that you obtain clarification from Churchill that your NCB/excess will not be affected. I did not say that you should be concerned about it. If Churchill have made you this offer then they clearly consider their policy holder is at fault in which case there should be no reason for concern but its nice to get clarification isn't it?

Sorry but I was merely suggesting that you obtain clarification from Churchill that your NCB/excess will not be affected. I did not say that you should be concerned about it. If Churchill have made you this offer then they clearly consider their policy holder is at fault in which case there should be no reason for concern but its nice to get clarification isn't it?

Churchill are in NO POSITION to comment on the NCB, they are the insurers of the third party. Only the insurers of Harrystottle can decide that.

Churchill are however in a position to comment on the excess, they can say whether or not they will refund it if Harrystottle chooses to use his own Fully Comp policy to have his vehicle repaired.

Mossy

Churchill are in NO POSITION to comment on the NCB, they are the insurers of the third party. Only the insurers of Harrystottle can decide that.

 

Churchill are however in a position to comment on the excess, they can say whether or not they will refund it if Harrystottle chooses to use his own Fully Comp policy to have his vehicle repaired.

 

Mossy

(Here we go again!)

IF Churchill have conceeded liability then they can indicate that they will settle the claim in the OP's favour. Otherwise, they would not offer to deal with the OPs claim directly.

It then follows that the OPs NCB should remain intact as his own insurers will not have to pay out. I would of thought therefore that Churchill are in a position to make an opinion on this as it is they who are offering to take on the OPs repairs ect. OK, obviously the OP can ask the question to his own insurers about his NCB but never the less Mossy, would you not agree that the OP should be able to clarify before making a decission?

The only comment that is salient to the OP with regard to their NCB is the one from their own insurers.

If the OP asks Churchill about his own NCB then they will get the standard response of 'We are not in a position to comment about your NCB because we are not your insurers', so your earlier suggestion to the OP to ask Churchill would not have helped them.

Personally I wouldn't bother seeking clarification of the NCB because from what was said in the OP it's clear that Churchill are accepting liability.

Mossy

Thanks again to all posters - as I said I am instructing Churchill to deal with repairs and I will take Mossycat's advice and find a local firm specialising in PI claims to deal with everything else

Cheers

H

Ask Churchill if they will arrange a courtesy car, if they can't do this then if you hire one you can recover that cost from them.

You will also have other uninsured losses, ie anything that you have spent because of this accident (postage, telephone costs, general inconvenience, out of pocket expenses etc) so detail all of those. If you are unsure of what is acceptable then PM me and I'll give you some guideline figures.

Post back if you have any specific questions, but I would think this is a straight forward claim.

Mossy

Thanks to all for your replies :0)