Accident Exchange

[FH1977]

This is my first post on this site. I hope someone has some good advice for me.

 

My wife was parked on the side of the road, stationary, when a van passed by and hit her, scraping 2 panels. It was a commercial vehicle. She was 8 months pregnant but luckily there were only scratches to the paintwork. The van driver stopped, came over and apologised. He wrote his name and number and told my wife to call him if we needed repairs. I took the car to my local BMW dealer for a quote. They asked if the 3rd party was at fault and I said they were and had pretty much admitted it. BMW offered to 'take care' of the whole thing and told me not to even contact the 3rd party and not speak to any of their representatives under any circumstances as it would damage the case. They had a whole team waiting to deal with it and it's all part of their repair service to take the strain off their customers.

I trusted BMW and agreed.

 

They then passed my details to accident Exchange without explaining who this company is. Accident Exchange then offered me a replacement car they told me the other insurance would pay. They also told me not to worry, that they will investigate and handle the claim, that we're not at fault and that I should not speak to anyone from the 3rd party or accept anything they might offer.

 

I was not explained the process or the risks of going with them or even who they are and their relationship to BMW. I was not given a quote for repair or the car hire or an idea of what the total claim would be. I was just told that it would be covered by the other side. In fact the estimated time for repairs was extended by BMW twice while I had the hire vehicle. I had to call to find this out, and I was then told not to worry about the additional days of car hire, that this was normal and that the other insurance would still pay. It was within acceptable limits for this kind of repair job.

 

2 months after the accident and over a month after the repairs had been completed we receive a call from Accident Exchange. They could not recover their full costs from the other insurance and it turns out the other party is not accepting liability. Instead he is claiming my wife reversed out of the parking spot into him as he passed. This is not the case at all, she was stationary the whole entire time.

 

First, Accident Exchange tried to put words in my wife's mouth and suggest she had inconsistencies in her story and that she was at fault. Then on a call they implied I would be liable for costs if they can't recover them. They backed down when I referred to terms that had been clearly read to me earlier on. When I asked them why they didn't even investigate the claim and establish liability before going ahead and incurring costs, they said that is how the insurance business works- they have hundreds of claims and don't have time to investigate, especially if it takes 2 months for the other party to make their statement. That's the way they work and there is nothing wrong with doing it that way.

 

In the end Accident Exchange agreed a 50/50 liability with the other insurers and have 'on my behalf' recorded a 'fault' incident against my wife in the insurance database. I told them I don't agree and do not give consent to do this, but they said they were going to do it anyway because they can't prove who's version is true. As a result my insurance premium will go up £250 this year.

 

It seems there is not a lot I can do about this, but I thought I would ask for suggestions on here:

Who should I be most angry with? BMW, Accident Exchange or the 3rd party who is lying?

Can Accident Exchange just enter whatever they like into the insurance records without my consent? It's not my fault they did not investigate or build a bullet proof case before incurring costs and contacting the other party.

How can they tell people not to speak to the 3rd party and then not contact them themselves until the very end of the process?

How can BMW breach the trust of their customers so fundamentally and pass them to a third party that does not follow any BMW service standards or do due diligence before incurring costs?

How can someone drive into another car and apologise and then take 2 months to write a statement that denies any responsibility and get away with it so easily? Can I take them to court?

 

My insurance is up for renewal in the next week and I don't know if I should just pay the extra and be done with it or fight to have the 'fault' record overturned.

 

Please help.

[Slimm]

Apologies, not much help I can offer after the fact, however:-

 

 

1) Be angry with yourself, you allowed BMW/AE to take advantage of you

2) Accident exchange are not an insurer, they cant add anything to your insurance records themselves. There is no such thing as the 'insurance database'.

3) They told you not to contact the TP (third party) because if you had they might have just offered to pay for the repairs themselves (again), denying AE the chance to make a profit

4) BMW can do what they like within the bounds of the law, they're not a charity. It sounds like they've used you, be sure to tell this story to anyone you know who even thinks of buying a BMW.

5) The TP probably took 2 months to write a statement because they were expecting a call from your wife, not accident exchange. It's not especially difficult for an intelligent person to deny responsibility if no witnesses/cameras are present. You might want to consider front/rear cameras for the future, you can get good ones quite cheaply that constantly record then save footage if a collision occurs. You certainly can't take the TP to court anymore, you have no accident related losses to recover, AE took care of that.

 

 

If your insurance has gone up its because of your insurers, not AE. It's probably too late to do anything about it now, I imagine the decision has been made. I'd suggest you call them tomorrow, advise your wife denies reversing and ask if they have any flexibility. I suspect they'll tell you it's now a done deal but it's worth a try. Since you didn't mention your insurers until right at the end is it possible they don't even know about this incident? If so your renewal premium will not increase (beyond inflation etc).

[FH1977]

Apologies, not much help I can offer after the fact, however:-

 

 

1) Be angry with yourself, you allowed BMW/AE to take advantage of you

2) Accident exchange are not an insurer, they cant add anything to your insurance records themselves. There is no such thing as the 'insurance database'.

3) They told you not to contact the TP (third party) because if you had they might have just offered to pay for the repairs themselves (again), denying AE the chance to make a profit

4) BMW can do what they like within the bounds of the law, they're not a charity. It sounds like they've used you, be sure to tell this story to anyone you know who even thinks of buying a BMW.

5) The TP probably took 2 months to write a statement because they were expecting a call from your wife, not accident exchange. It's not especially difficult for an intelligent person to deny responsibility if no witnesses/cameras are present. You might want to consider front/rear cameras for the future, you can get good ones quite cheaply that constantly record then save footage if a collision occurs. You certainly can't take the TP to court anymore, you have no accident related losses to recover, AE took care of that.

 

Thanks!

1) I am angry with myself, but at the same time I would have expected more from BMW. Had their brand not been there I wouldn't have been so trusting.

2) I think they just agreed it with the 3rd party insurer and the insurers must have done it. I'm assuming this anyway as I've no way of checking.

3) It appears so. But they should have contacted them right away and verified who was liable right from the start, right? Are they not bound by due diligence? Who is this Financial Conduct Authority who supposedly regulates AE?

4) Well, it does make me happy that this forum is very visible in Google results! Hopefully it may prevent others being duped.

5) I consider my increased insurance premium to be a direct loss associated with his false statement. I need to overturn it so I'm not paying more for someone else's lies and malpractices.

 

My insurance is up for renewal. I compared the prices with and without the incident detailed. That's how I know it will go up. Essentially I have to declare an 'at fault' claim to comply with the law, even though I'm not at fault and do not accept any liability what so ever. I tried calling the insurers to explain- both mine and the cheapest alternative. Both said they can see my frustration but they can only go on what AE/ the 3rd part insurance puts on there. If I have an issue with it I need to go to AE- I've had a call with them to no avail and I'll try a letter next. Interestingly because no claim was made against me or my insurance, I still have my no claims bonus and my insurance is treating it as 'no fault' at the moment - and they know about the incident, it just doesn't concern them.

[Slimm]

If you are certain no claim was made on your policy then you can safely answer 'no' to the question 'have you made a claim on your policy in the last x years'. The fact that a profit making organisation were unwilling to go to court for 100% of their inflated charges is not your responsibility - they made the decision to incur costs, probably on the basis that even on a 50:50 they still at least break even. Provided your own insurers didn't pay a penny you're in the clear. I take it you didn't receive an auto-renewal quote from your own insurers?

[Conniff]

If you fear you haven't been given all the information, you can send a subject access request to both BMW and Accident Exchange (£10 each) and get back everything to do with you.

[SuperVillain]

Ahh the credit hire scorpion strikes again...

 

Ignoring the credit hire for a moment, hypothetically if this found its way into a County Court how would you prove:

 

a) Your wife's version of events is the only possible way the damage could have occurred

b) The other driver's version of events was impossible or highly unlikely

c) The other driver is making a false statement

 

This is a case of your wife's word against the van driver's. If it went to Court both your wife and the other driver would give evidence and ultimately without an independent witness or CCTV/in car camera footage, that's all the Judge will have to go on. In all likelihood he/she will find the evidence is inconclusive and therefore liability is split 50% with both parties to bear their own costs... This is why AE haven't gone to Court.

 

They might have done if the other side didn't agree to 50/50.

 

The risks of the process are basically one clause in the credit hire agreement you signed. I've got one of AE's agreements in front of me and if yours is the same then it's clause 5.4.