Hi

I had a non fault accident in september 2010 the third party admitted liability so I thought it was straightforward. I paid my excess and had my vehicle repaired and just assumed that I would get my excess back. I did not claim any extra for injury or loss of earnings or anything else. The cost of the repair to my vehicle was not more than my excess. I have not been refunded my excess still 9 months later as the third party insurer raised a dispute about the repair bill. It turned out that AW repair services who are an approved repairer for Endsleigh insurance had charged me the full amount of excess (£475)instead of the actual cost of the repair (£453). I was refunded the difference around 3 weeks ago but I would never have found out if the third party insurer had not raised it. Anyway still no sign of me recieving the rest of the excess I have paid. Since then I have had another non fault accident but I could not afford to pay out the excess again to get my vehicle repaired so I settled privately with the other driver outside of the insurance. However I have had injuries this time and have not been able to claim as I settled privately. Could I try to get compensation from the repairer who caused these difficulties through overcharging me? Is there anything else I can do about this situation please.

Kindest regards lena x

Hi

 

I had a non fault accident in september 2010 the third party admitted liability so I thought it was straightforward. I paid my excess and had my vehicle repaired and just assumed that I would get my excess back. I did not claim any extra for injury or loss of earnings or anything else. The cost of the repair to my vehicle was not more than my excess. I have not been refunded my excess still 9 months later as the third party insurer raised a dispute about the repair bill. It turned out that AW repair services who are an approved repairer for Endsleigh insurance had charged me the full amount of excess (£475)instead of the actual cost of the repair (£453). I was refunded the difference around 3 weeks ago but I would never have found out if the third party insurer had not raised it. Anyway still no sign of me recieving the rest of the excess I have paid. Since then I have had another non fault accident but I could not afford to pay out the excess again to get my vehicle repaired so I settled privately with the other driver outside of the insurance. However I have had injuries this time and have not been able to claim as I settled privately. Could I try to get compensation from the repairer who caused these difficulties through overcharging me? Is there anything else I can do about this situation please.

 

Kindest regards lena x

Raise an official complaint with Endsleigh insurance, as their mistake is the cause of this problem. Get them to sort this out with the third party Insurers, so you can receive your excess back.

http://www.endsleigh.co.uk/About/Pages/complaint.aspx

did you have legal cover, get them to sort it out.

You can claim compensation from the garage, potentially the insurer. But we're only looking at a little amount.

If they have overcharged you, they need to pay this back, and potentially any interest, a small nominal amount for the inconvenience (you have only been inconvenienced by paying £22.00 more. You would be lucky to get £50.00.

Endsleigh should also do some addressing, but as this fell outside the policy as it was under the excess, all they did was recommend the garage, so again we would be looking at nominal figures, if anything.

The issue that it took 9 months to recover is not the garage's problem, this was between your (presuming) legal expenses insurer and the third party insurer battling it out over £22.00. The garage may have caused the error, but not the delay.

The fact the excess was not recovered and stopped you paying to make another claim for injuries is irrelevant. There is no way you can blame the mess up of claim 1 for affecting claim 2. Regarding claim 2 you may have settled privately, but that doesn't mean you can't still make a claim for your injuries.

As recommended speak to your legal expenses or contact a personal injuries solicitor if you have genuine injuries to claim.