Aviva are my car insurer and I thought they were supposed to be on my side!

A young girl ran into the back of my car in March 2016.

I was turning left at a roundabout and pulled up and stopped to let a car pass.

At this point there are road humps and an island and there is not room for two cars to be alongside each other but she thought otherwise and ploughed ahead and damaged the offside rear corner of my car.

She drove straight onto the roundabout and I got out to beckon her to come back which she did.

She admitted it was her fault and we exchanged insurance details.

My car was scraped and the bumper was cracked but as it was so old I decided not to make a claim as it would have been written off as uneconomical for repair and I was looking for a new car anyway.

I thought I was doing her a favour by not making a claim but at the end of April I got a letter from Aviva asking about the accident as she had obviously reported it.

after many phone calls to Aviva each taking about 40 minutes to get through and having to explain everything over and over to each new person, I gave up trying.

I'd sent pictures of the damage to my car and said I did not want to claim against her as the car wasn't worth it and was probably only worth around £100 trade-in value.

It is now 15 months since this started and Aviva have only ever contacted me to threaten that it may involve a reduction in my no claims bonus.

I have no idea what is happening and, as I said, I gave up trying to get through to them as it was a fruitless waste of time.

I have done everything they asked but their only contact has been these threatening emails about my no claims bonus - sent from an unattended email address that I can't even reply to.

My insurance is coming up for renewal again in August and I feel trapped with Aviva like I was last year because I can't genuinely say I have not been involved in an accident and yet I am the innocent party but am in limbo.

How long does it take to finalise something like this?

I'd be grateful if I could get some help to finally bring this to a conclusion.

You should have inforned Aviva straightaway after the accident in accordance with the policy terms. Leaving it until the third party makes a claim has put you in a situation, where Aviva are making a judgement about you not reporting it earlier. It might be that Aviva are considering noting a fault claim on your policy record and paying the third party.

Suggest you write to Aviva by recorded post fully explaining your position hoping that Aviva don't pay the third party, otherwise your future Insurance will be a lot more expensive with a fault accident

You should have inforned Aviva straightaway after the accident

I realise that now but since I was the injured party it never occurred to me that she would report it herself. I thought I was doing us both a favour from having all the hassle.

I have already explained to Aviva all the circumstances and sent emails, letters and pictures and have requested updates but I have had nothing back, not even an acknowledgement. The last real contact I had from Aviva was July 2016 when they said:

"I can confirm that liability for this claim is in dispute, and we are awaiting a reply from the third party insurer. I will chase this up with the primary handler of this case."

Needless to say, nothing happened. I was hoping to be able to contact someone from Aviva on here to beg their help.

Not seen an Aviva rep on CAG for a long time.

Do Aviva have an online complaints system ?

It might be the third party has given incorrect information about the accident making it look like you were at fault.

You can ask Aviva for copies of what the third party has said, to see whether they have provided false information.

Not seen an Aviva rep on CAG for a long time.

Oh that's disappointing. That's why I signed up here as I thought I stood more chance of getting through to someone in this country who could understand my problem but it looks like I've hit another brick wall.

I'll have to try and find a complaints process on the Aviva site again but I'm sure I tried that months ago and gave up without success.

I did ask Aviva for copies of what the third party had said but of course nothing was ever sent although it was promised.

This is just a nightmare.

I am sure if you contacted their head office with a complaint, you will gain a response.

Email [email protected]

Telephone 020 7283 2000

Thanks Uncle Bulgaria, I may well do just that. I have never signed in to my Aviva account since I renewed my insurance last August but I think I will take a look shortly.

I usually change my insurer every year to whoever is cheapest/best value and last year felt obliged to stay with Aviva and this year I think I'd rather pay extra than stay with them after this fiasco. They make it impossible to contact them. Maybe that's their plan so people just put up and shut up.

Hello there.

I've sent a message to the Aviva rep asking them to have a look at your thread. They may not be here over the weekend of course.

HB

Oh thank you very much Honeybee, that's great!

I have found an online complaints process on the Aviva site which I will try but I'd like to see if Honeybee's Aviva rep replies first.

I have signed into my Aviva account but there is no mention of any ongoing claim. As the whole policy is based online I find this rather odd but, given my experience so far, I'm not surprised.

Aviva are my car insurer and I thought they were supposed to be on my side!

 

A young girl ran into the back of my car in March 2016.

I was turning left at a roundabout and pulled up and stopped to let a car pass.

 

At this point there are road humps and an island and there is not room for two cars to be alongside each other but she thought otherwise and ploughed ahead and damaged the offside rear corner of my car.

 

She drove straight onto the roundabout and I got out to beckon her to come back which she did.

She admitted it was her fault and we exchanged insurance details.

 

My car was scraped and the bumper was cracked but as it was so old I decided not to make a claim as it would have been written off as uneconomical for repair and I was looking for a new car anyway.

 

I thought I was doing her a favour by not making a claim but at the end of April I got a letter from Aviva asking about the accident as she had obviously reported it.

 

after many phone calls to Aviva each taking about 40 minutes to get through and having to explain everything over and over to each new person, I gave up trying.

 

I'd sent pictures of the damage to my car and said I did not want to claim against her as the car wasn't worth it and was probably only worth around £100 trade-in value.

 

It is now 15 months since this started and Aviva have only ever contacted me to threaten that it may involve a reduction in my no claims bonus.

 

I have no idea what is happening and, as I said, I gave up trying to get through to them as it was a fruitless waste of time.

 

I have done everything they asked but their only contact has been these threatening emails about my no claims bonus - sent from an unattended email address that I can't even reply to.

 

My insurance is coming up for renewal again in August and I feel trapped with Aviva like I was last year because I can't genuinely say I have not been involved in an accident and yet I am the innocent party but am in limbo.

 

How long does it take to finalise something like this?

I'd be grateful if I could get some help to finally bring this to a conclusion.

Hi Doppa,

I'm sorry to see that you have not received the usual high level of service from our claims team.

So I can look in to this for you, please could you send us an email to [email protected] with your full name, DOB, postcode, contact and policy number? We will then be able to liaise with the claims team who are looking after your claim to investigate and arrange a callback.

Kind regards ~ Mike

Hello Mike,

Thank you so much for responding to my dilemma and also thanks to Honeybee for her help.

I have emailed you with the details you requested and hope you can finally help me sort this out.

Hi Doppa.

I've checked our mailbox and unfortunately cannot see an email from you.

Please make sure it is input correctly ([email protected]).

I'll keep an eye out for your email & help you to the best of my ability.

Kind regards, ~ Tasha

Hello Tasha,

I have sent another email with the details but the addresses are correct so I'm hoping you will get it this time.

Thank you.

Hello Mike/Tasha,

I'm hoping that you have received the second email but just in case you haven't I have sent a third using another email address.

I hope you can let me know if you now have it.

Thank you.

I am totally disgusted with Aviva.

This morning I received a letter dated 5th July saying that the third party insurer have offered to resolve the matter on a 50:50 liability basis and if I wish to dispute liability I need to provide more evidence or an independent witness.

It would seem that I have no protection from Aviva at all. What evidence can I provide without webcam footage or witnesses? The only thing I have is a picture of the junction concerned where it makes it obvious that there is not room for two cars to pass side by side. I did call a no-fault solicitor the day after the accident but even they said my car would be written off and their focus was on sustained injuries.

According to this thread, http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?470365-Insurance-company-accepting-50-50-liability-against-my-will!! - I may as well give up now!

Now I know why Mike and Tasha have not responded. I have 14 days to respond to the letter. What a joke! I've only been waiting for 15 months! This letter appears to be from the same faceless call centre so I feel totally ignored again.

Can anyone advise me what to do?

as we have an Aviva forum

I've moved you there .

dx

I am totally disgusted with Aviva.

 

This morning I received a letter dated 5th July saying that the third party insurer have offered to resolve the matter on a 50:50 liability basis and if I wish to dispute liability I need to provide more evidence or an independent witness.

 

It would seem that I have no protection from Aviva at all. What evidence can I provide without webcam footage or witnesses? The only thing I have is a picture of the junction concerned where it makes it obvious that there is not room for two cars to pass side by side. I did call a no-fault solicitor the day after the accident but even they said my car would be written off and their focus was on sustained injuries.

 

According to this thread, http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?470365-Insurance-company-accepting-50-50-liability-against-my-will!! - I may as well give up now!

 

Now I know why Mike and Tasha have not responded. I have 14 days to respond to the letter. What a joke! I've only been waiting for 15 months! This letter appears to be from the same faceless call centre so I feel totally ignored again.

 

Can anyone advise me what to do?

Hi Doppa,

My apologies for the delay in responding to you via this thread. I attempted to leave a response on this thread however for one reason or another, this does not seem to have come through.

I did respond to the email you sent to our mailbox ([email protected]) at 14:39 which you confirmed you had received my reply shortly after. Just in case you overlooked my message, your details have been passed on to the team looking after your claim to look in to your concerns and a member of the team will be in touch within 2 working days, which should be by the end of tomorrow (13/07/2017).

In the meantime if you have any more question or concerns that you'd like me to pass along, please feel free to send these over via email to the address above.

Kind regards ~ Mike

Thanks for your quick response Mike. I apologise if the letter I received today is a coincidence, but I assumed it was the response you mentioned in your email message that I'd be contacted within 2 days.

My questions and concerns are as in my previous post. How can I prove anything? What are the consequences of accepting a 50:50 liability? What other choices do I have if I dispute liability?

Thanks for your quick response Mike. I apologise if the letter I received today is a coincidence, but I assumed it was the response you mentioned in your email message that I'd be contacted within 2 days.

 

My questions and concerns are as in my previous post. How can I prove anything? What are the consequences of accepting a 50:50 liability? What other choices do I have if I dispute liability?

Hi Doppa,

No need to apologise, I can understand that you would have thought that the letter would have been in relation to your conversation with ourselves however, to have received a letter today, it would have been too quick if it was a reply to your message from yesterday. The team should be in touch with you by phone, that way you will be able to discuss your claim in more details and the claims handler will be able to answer all your questions.

I have passed on your recent comments to the team and they'll be in touch by the end of tomorrow.

Regards ~ Mike

I have just had Jason from Aviva on the phone. I am gobsmacked. Apparently this girl has made a claim against me for £1,350 for damages to her car! She claims I changed lanes at the last minute. As I was stationary that would have been rather difficult. But even if that were true she definitely would have crashed into the bollard in the middle of the road as that means there would have been even less room across the two lanes.

To top it all I can no longer make a counterclaim against her as I no longer have the car. I'm totally determined now to fight this and I'm not accepting a 50:50 claim.

What's the procedure for a court case?

What's the procedure for a court case?

From the perspective of you taking this to court, as you have no losses you cannot do this, only defend.

Without witness's this may very well end up 50/50 and if Aviva have taken a correct review of the situation and judged the reasonable prospects of success as less than 51% they would be correct. They have the right to insist on this, but the right exists with dealing with you fairly and handling the claim in a reasonable manner.

However........

Aviva have been pretty shocking in this matter so far, so prior to accepting liability (assuming there is no more evidence you can provide) , they need to at least put this in front of a solicitor to address the prospects.

Aside to this, Aviva have seemingly been useless, if they have only made 1 contact in 15 months, that is clear maladministration of the policy, they need to address that and compensate you for it.

The first thing Jason (Aviva) said when I told him I wasn't prepared to accept a 50:50 blame was would I be prepared to go to court? I said hang on, surely the next step is to go back and forth between parties and if no solution can be obtained then court would be the final option.

The first thing Jason (Aviva) said when I told him I wasn't prepared to accept a 50:50 blame was would I be prepared to go to court? I said hang on, surely the next step is to go back and forth between parties and if no solution can be obtained then court would be the final option.

It is a final option. From the perspective of the claims handler, they need to know are you committed to going that far. A lot of people will fight, but when court is mentioned they won't go that far.

Negotiation can only get you so far, and after this period of time and presumably inactivity from Aviva the otherside are now at the point of litigation.

If Aviva are looking to take this to court, pin them down, get them to confirm that they will be looking to defend this all the way, not just flip this on you and make it a simple resolve.

Negotiation can only get you so far, and after this period of time and presumably inactivity from Aviva the otherside are now at the point of litigation.

I don't understand why the other side have not been pushing for this to be resolved either. Surely they have been badgering Aviva for settlement? If not then they have been inactive too.