Accident management company

[rickos]

Just entered the murky world of accident management company after having a non fault accident, my own inexperience and what I feel was sharp practice by insurer.

 

I am now in the position of having to deal/use with one of these companies, my position is after repair garage one supplied (credit repair)valued my damage at unstripped £7589.12 this deemed 66%. Having been led to believe this would be a total loss by the advisors, I looked at the book price and retail price of my car retail £8000 max for age mileage, this is not 66% damage but 90%+, to my surprise this was authorised for repair to a max of £8097

 

I questioned this with accident management company to no joy(told these are experts). Now entering the 4th week apparently there are some extras after stripping to add to cost so still in limbo as the status of my car, communication is made only when I chase things up. This all adds up to be suspect to me and dragging on, very grey area as to my rights on this.

 

I know this is purposely being dragged on as have hire car from them this will rack up costs for them to pursue from 3rd party . I am in deep at this point and not wanting to muddy the water as this is ongoing hence company name omitted and ultimately I don't want to be at loss so am tied to what these people do.

 

I`ve Read all the horror stories but ultimately very very grey area anyone else been through this and experienced similar??????.

Edited January 31, 2016 by maroondevo52
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[unclebulgaria67]

Remember that where you have signed up to any credit repair or credit hire arrangement, that if they cannot get the third party Insurers to agree to the amount of money, they will come after you for the difference. I think you know this, but many people don't.

 

Personally, i would want to inspect the car, to see what is happening with it. I would want a full breakdown of the repairs being done and the cost. I would want to know what other costs are being included e.g recovery, storage.

 

You need to get on top of this asap, otherwise in a few months, you may receive a bill from the accident management company for quite a lot of money, that the third party insurers would not pay.

 

Suggest a formal written complaint by recorded delivery to your Insurers head of claims/claims director, that you feel that you are in the process of being stitched up. That you want to enquire what is happening to the car and a full report/breakdown of the costs, plus details of where the car is for inspection.

[rickos]

Just confirmed now that vehicle is total loss and that I will be advised by total loss team of my options to go through my insurance, to stay with them, or to pursue through third party??? will give me and breakdown of repair costs etc, Will have to look into this as agreements have been signed so do I really have options??took 3 weeks to get to this stage there are obvious costs now. Not exactly straight forward or hassle free as they would have you believe.

[unclebulgaria67]

Your Insurers have a legal responsiblity to rectify the situation, if they put you in touch with this accident management company. They would have earned a commission, by you using them. They can simply inform them of the situation and sort out what needs to be done. Perhaps the accident management company can still help negotiate write off value with third party insurers and settlement of your uninsured costs e.g hire car. The acc management company will be dealing with the third party insurers re your hire car anyway.

 

If you go through your own Insurers for write off, they will deduct excess and remaining policy premium if you have being paying monthly. If you make a claim during the year, they are entitled to full years premium and some will cancel policy, meaning you can't use it for another car. The benefit of using your own Insurers is that you can use the FOS, if you failed to agree write off value.

 

If you go direct to third parties Insurers, they might not easily agree write off value and if you fail to agree, you can't use FOS. They might also kick up a fuss regarding hire car, given time to find out car us a write off.

 

Not an easy choice. Speak to your Insurers about the options. It might be easier to use your own Insurers, given how things have gine so far. Perhaps they now owe it to you, to ensure the claim now goes smoothly without further delays.

 

Have the third party insurers admitted liability ? Are they interested in settling your claim directly ? Is it worth speaking to them to sound them out ?

[rickos]

Just rang my insurer they are great at playing dumb they said they don't know what or how the accident management company will explain my options so would need to speak to them, (great) she did admit had taken rather long though, oh and I paid full 12mnth upfront and have only 250 xcess. Problem is with 3rd party is 10 days after accident received a letter no liability admitted but offering me a car physio etc. Noticed then that the car reg on letter and the one obtained at scene by police didn`t match, the reg on 3rd party car was a private reg, so contacted accident management company, They said its not the 3rd party insurance company and looked into it. It was apparently 3rd party insurance they had acquired this company and now there was a 3 way communication!!! and registration issue was there problem. At ths point I had credit hire car for 7 days. This Is without a doubt a learning curve feel like on a treadmill going nowhere. Will go back to using insurer if possible they have been paid and time for them to earn what they have taken!!!!. Thanks unclebulgaria 67 for advice.

[unclebulgaria67]

Some insurance companies don't deal with their own claims and have outsourced the work. They might answer the phone as x company, but actually work for an outsourced supply company, who might even have a relationship with the acc management company.

 

It might be less complicated to involve your own Insurers, even if outsourcing company handling it. If you have received anything from third party insurers, it might be worth sending a copy to your Insurers, as they seem to have made an offer, which might be accepting liability.

 

Is there any doubt who was at fault for the accident ? What hapeened ?

[rickos]

Sent copy of letter to acc management company as may be used as admitting liability, have 3 witnesses, car camera footage, and police report, 3rd party pulled out of a car park across 40mph dual carriageway this been in front of me as I'm travelling along carriage no warning no chance to avoid. so no way really to wriggle out.

[dacouc]

Your Insurers have a legal responsiblity to rectify the situation, if they put you in touch with this accident management company. They would have earned a commission, by you using them. They can simply inform them of the situation and sort out what needs to be done. Perhaps the accident management company can still help negotiate write off value with third party insurers and settlement of your uninsured costs e.g hire car. The acc management company will be dealing with the third party insurers re your hire car anyway.

 

I think his own Insurers did not refer him to the accident management company, it reads to me that the repair garage put him onto the AMC which may also explain why the AMC initially wanted to repair the car

[rickos]

Insurance gave option as non fault accident, when asked which would be best to use was steered in direction of AMC company, car initially went to compound through insurance as was a Friday evening car started but lights were smashed police advised against driving, then through AMC was taken to repairer. This was and is new territory to me sharp learning curve.

[rickos]

Just to update on this, the AMC advised independent valuers the ones they use to value if car repairable or not, Will contact me regards value of my car (cat c) they tell me if I do not agree with there price I can go back to my insurance to see what they can do on offer they will also discuss what I want to do with the car?? don't quite understand why I am dealing with this independent valuation company??? obvious I will not take first offer and go back to insurance. Although this is the company who authorised up to max £8097 of repairs!!!! so called experts.

[unclebulgaria67]

Just to update on this, the AMC advised independent valuers the ones they use to value if car repairable or not, Will contact me regards value of my car (cat c) they tell me if I do not agree with there price I can go back to my insurance to see what they can do on offer they will also discuss what I want to do with the car?? don't quite understand why I am dealing with this independent valuation company??? obvious I will not take first offer and go back to insurance. Although this is the company who authorised up to max £8097 of repairs!!!! so called experts.

 

Give these people benefit of doubt that until the car was taken apart, they did not realise extent of the damage and repair cost.

 

These valuation companies should check the car details against industry guides such as Glass.co.uk and see what they are selling for in dealers. You should do some research and start getting some info together just in case. They won't give you the current garage forecourts full sale price, as buyers normally negotiate a small discount. But the offer should allow you to replace the car with similar. The excess would be deducted and you would need to claim back from third parties insurers. The AMC might help with the excess when claiming back the hire car charges.

 

If the repair was about £8k, this might indicate the market value was higher.

[rickos]

Okay got this far given independent valuation was pleasantly surprised no haggling required near retail price for car, car moved to salvage, now the engineers reports valuation etc. passed to 3rd party insurance for consideration, when enquired to AMC told liability not yet established??? so if this the case 4weeks in how can we put forward anything for consideration?????. just when things look like there moving forward more time wasting will have own car 4/5 days time so hire car can go do think this is the main reason time is being wasted so think only way is to over stretch to funding another car before pay out not ideal solution. No option to go back to insurance though only if didn't agree with independent valuation this was only to to see what they could do????. One thing for sure will pay excess and use insurers next time no more AMC for me, don't think they are wholly truthful on what they tell you even wife thinks odd, asked them for reserve figure for insurance quotes figure given was 10k wasn't asking just for there costs must think I banged head in crash.

[dacouc]

What hire car are you in as the daily costs are published on line so it's easy to look up

[rickos]

ford c-max 15 plate this been cred hire so there will be £80 or so mark up on hire, longer you have price drops down by two tiers had for 26 days so 1-14 days is £111 pd, 14-28n days £92 pd, 28+ £52 pd.

[unclebulgaria67]

Just make sure the AMC has all the details which assist them in getting the third parties insurers to admit 100% fault.

 

Given what you said about the accident, i would be surprised if the third parties insurers did not admit fault straightaway, if they had all the info. BUT they may be in process of getting the third party drivers side of the story and won't admit fault until they have their info.

[rickos]

Not too sure how system works on liability I would of thought by now 4th week this would have

been admitted, but hey its insurance damage limitation, just received letter little out of date 2nd but states here once valuation accepted we will approach responsible party`s insurers to request payment of this sum. (Good) but does say last paragraph that I will receive a check from salvage agents for the salvage value??? in due course and once received fill in v5, already done this as spoke to AMC 4th and they gave me company name to put on v5 did this on DVLA website 4th, no mention of check on phone though?????. E-mail response seems tamer than hard copy probably done by two different people. All depends now on quality of 3rd party insures if they want to delay or be difficult I suppose. I could stay in credit hire car till settled but at this point better for me if can get back on road in own vehicle.

[unclebulgaria67]

This claim does seem about average in terms of timescales.

 

As soon as you don't need this credit hire car, you should give it back, as you are expected to try to minimise the claim value to any at fault third party.

 

Make sure you hand back the car in a clean condition and check for any signs of damage, which were not noted on the sheet, when they delivered the car. When they deliver these cars, they should hand you a sheet which might be part of the contract. This will note any damage to the car that was present on delivery. Before they take the car back, make sure they confirm in writing that there is no damage caused while you have had the car. I only mention this, as some hire companies were finding damage and wanting to charge. I have heard of people being charged for cleaning.

[rickos]

Not sure on timescales for claims others told me taking long but I`ve no experience of this situation unfortunately I am gaining some. Did go around car at point of delivery with del driver scratches were x 3 places noted, I have seen a tiny indentation near one of the scratches on drivers door as car was wet when delivered and the delivery guy as rubbing area this you couldn't see as small looks like ding from someone else`s door he marked scratch down but not very/small indentation, hire of cars abroad makes me wary of marks etc. That said is only thing I can see he didn't mark but easily missed and tiny, kept car clean and did wash once already will do again before I rebuke hire. And will go around car again when picked up, if no pickup condition report may print something for guy to sign for condition can`t be too careful. Will be glad to see back of hire car not a position I wanted to be in really but did need.

[dacouc]

ford c-max 15 plate this been cred hire so there will be £80 or so mark up on hire, longer you have price drops down by two tiers had for 26 days so 1-14 days is £111 pd, 14-28n days £92 pd, 28+ £52 pd.

 

You can check the maximum agreed credit hire rate on this link using the most upto date list

 

This is the Association of British Insurers agreed maximum rates, some CH companies will charge less, the given rates basically won't be argued by subscribing Insurers.

 

Not all CH companies are signed up and will invoice for higher prices but run the very real risk the Insurer will argue the cost

 

http://apps.abi.org.uk/tphire/

[rickos]

looking at agreement I have another insurance which is used if 3rd party don`t pay and they are unable to claim back, from what I have read as long as your claim is 100% non fault and you are not telling porkies 50/50 and dont have a second car or use of one, or have plenty spare cash and need a car, you then comply with AMC as to persueing 3rd party if neede then there will be no charge, I did question cost with AMC but they said if we wish to charge £1000 a day the 3rd party party will have to pay it??? Again this is learnig curve can only wait and see what outcome is, they are major AMC widely used by a lot of insurers.

[rickos]

looking at most recent 2014 get this as £69.6 incl vat not too far off given 2014 prices depends on 3rd party insurance they are all keen to shove you onto these ACM companies but complain when shoe goes on other foot.

[rickos]

Been a while since updated this thread, well bought a car on the 6th Feb and ended the credit hire as I thought was right thing to do, had to stretch my finances as not yet paid out but thought check will not be far behind "WRONG". Now entering my eighth week still no payment except scrap value of my car so still chasing AMC. Words cant describe the absence of any urgency from this company oh they are chasing there payment off 3rd party but seem to of forgot mine. Forwarded v5c,invoice,mot from old car week ago today was told that was last thing they needed payment should follow. So rang today and on my call have just sent documents to wherever they need to go, what a shambles they led me to believe 3rd party will be sending check looks as today that's not the case????? they really do spin webs this AMC instead of telling truth. Almost had my own car on road for a month, lesson learnt here never use a AMC especially if your insurance recommend/use.

[rickos]

Managed to get new info, apparently 3rd party solicitors are questioning engineers report as two submitted one unstripped repairable second was stripped total loss as once stripped pushed costs over there was a fine line of about £500 here, problem is took half a dozen calls to get this info, this is amounts to obvious stalling tactic on 3rd party side, total loss cheque sent to 3rd party solicitors who wont pay until they investigate. Now I wish I would of stayed in credit hire, tried to do right thing now getting stung all at my cost. looks like hitting 3 month mark think they have to make a move after this time frame told they have until 9th March to finalise makes 3 months as accident was on 8th Jan. I just might be able to finalise this thread at some point hopefully.

[liverpoolluke]

still no news ?

[rickos]

Pay-out on 8th march after 3rd party solicitors held onto check for 23 days so 3 calendar months to my pay-out, AMC still chasing there part so awaiting info on that part, so almost near closure, lowered my expectations of insurance in general but you live and learn.