Car Insurance - Kindertons

[rippedoff15]

Morning, on friday night my wife was waiting at the traffic lights on red with another car behind her also waiting.

 

With any notice a car driven by gentleman aged 85 hit the car behind my wife and that car hit our car.

 

it has minor damaged to the drivers rear bumper and rear light as well.

 

The police attended and confirmed nobody was drunk and the old chap had a medical issue when driving so no action will be taken.

 

I have contacted my car insurance have have appointed Kinderson to mange the claim.

 

They have confirmed the other party in fully insured and i do not have to pay anything even the excess.

 

They have arrange a hire car and collection of my car for repairs.

 

However today a company called Copart salvage have called saying they are collecting the car ?

 

but according to the Kinderton portal they repairs will be completed by KC auto in Winsford.

 

The amount of damaged is very little and very concerned my car is going to salvage firm.

 

I have taken lots of photos confirm the condition inside and outside

but sill worried when the car is taken as i still have outstanding finance on the car.

 

Can they sell the car without my consent

[sgtbush]

Contact your insurer and repair company and confirm what company are collecting your car

[rippedoff15]

I have called kindertons this morning about my concern,

however they are calling me back as the claim handler was on the phone.

 

It seems strange my car is going to salvage scrap firm instead of the auto repair center.

 

I have taken photos which clearly shown the car has no damage anywhere

in fact the car is mint not a marks apart from the rear bumper,

 

just concerned as you here horror stories about salvage firms not looking after cars.

[BankFodder]

As you have been here since 2008, you are obviously well aware that you should be recording all calls and so you have got recordings of all the conversations you have had with this insurer including their commitment to carrying out repairs rather than any more drastic action.

 

On that basis you should be fully protected

[sgtbush]

The company that is picking up your car may do contract work for the repair garage to move vehicles around for them. Might have nothing to do with salvage.

Ring the repair company and ask them who is picking up your car

[rippedoff15]

I uderstand but never had to deal with car insurance claim before its all new to me, i have listed every detail and photos just want my car fixed and returned ASAP, since the car accident both myself and my wife who had the rear end bump are getting calling about claiming for whip lash

[SuperVillain]

Copart do accident recovery and storage as well as salvage.

 

What Kindertons do is let Copart take your car. They'll get an engineer out to copart to inspect it and say it's unroadworthy. They may keep it in storage, then send it off to the garage for the repairs to start.

 

Out of curiosity OP, what kind of car do you have and how old is it?

[rippedoff15]

Its Ford fiesta Zetec S on 2009 reg so not new car but its mint 1 owner from from new full service history.

[SuperVillain]

Ok well it unlikely to be a write off (even borderline) with the damage you describe. Expect the vehicle to be inspected and declared unroadworthy in the coming few days, and then transported to the garage for repairs.

 

Your credit hire charges from Kindertons will be about £55-75 per day including VAT, whilst all this is going on.

 

I don't think you have anything to worry about but for your own peace of mind, it would be worth speaking to Kindertons to clarify the procedure of how they're going about things.

[ericsbrother]

salvage=big tow truck

[rippedoff15]

Yes copart said its large lorry collecting the car, i have seen the lorry and how they strap and secure the cars not with any care or attention.

 

Well Copart confirmed my car going to them for storage and work to be confirmed which is strange as they are not the place completing the job.

 

Costing so far

 

Car collection £300.00

Storage £28.00 per day

Car hire charged at £73.58 per day

 

i asked when the job be completed or even started but they have refused to confirmed any timescales, find it strange the salvage firm can confirm the work then move the car to body shop 20 miles away, sounds like big insurance rip off.

[dx100uk]

you could well find the other parties ins Co. solicitors kick off about the cost of all this.

is it being done as cheaply as it can be?

[rippedoff15]

Confused as my insurance firm appointed Kindertons to deal with the claim, i do think the costings charged is high, it seems the longer i have the hire car its just going to push the bill higher, will just have t wait and see how long the repair will take to complete.

[SuperVillain]

Hah, I called it with the credit hire price! I changed my post at #9 before I posted - I'd originally written that copart would store your car for a bit to rack up some costs, but then I changed it to 'they'll take it to the garage but ask kindertons what is happening' in case it would cause unneccesary worry to you, and at that point it wasn't confirmed where copart were taking it.

 

Kindertons are an independent accident management company and are nothing to do with your insurers, other than there may be a nice little fee paid to your insurers by them for the referral. They are one of the worst accident management co's for inflating costs.

 

Now an engineer (most likely someone from JP Morriss assessors) will come out and I'm 99% sure the car will be declared unroadworthy.

Kindertons will take their time to get it moved to the garage.

They may also charge a further fee to move the car from Copart back to the garage.

Together with £74/day hire.

Have they added on that £24+VAT /day collision damage waiver to the hire costs too?

And also if your hire vehicle is automatic, that'll be another £12 + VAT/day.

 

Any inflated charges will be disputed as said by DX above.

It's the game they all play and unfortunately you'll be caught in the middle until it settles.

 

But there's little you can do about it now to be honest.

 

Getting the car repaired asap is the priority so keep badgering kindertons and let them know at every opportunity that you're concerned about the costs of all this and whether they'll be paid by the other side.

[rippedoff15]

I have checked and Copart are storing the car and completing the inspection,

i have checked and the rear bumper including lights need replacing and the inner side of the wing ( looks like plastic ) apart from the bumper there is no damaged anywhere the inner steel bumper is fine no damage.

And all other parts such as wheel, alloys perfect.

If i removed the plastic inner from behind the rear wheel the car drives prefect.

 

According to kindertons they were appointed by my insurance broker to handle the claim,

i have already been chasing them requesting timescales for my car to be repaired and returned but nothing as yet.

There is no way an engineer can say its right off / declared roadworthy as the damage in minor.

I do get a feeling they will drag this along to bump up the claim.

 

My insurance company have confirmed that all costs will be claimed from the other persons insurance due to the type of accident.

[MaxxPower]

I'd be worried about the third party insurer refusing to pay the exorbitant credit hire costs, as in this thread - https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?483974-ADVICE-required-Defendant-insurer-refusing-to-pay-for-credit-hire-vehicle

[rippedoff15]

Thats got me thinking in returning the car hire ASAP to avoid issues in getting my car repaired.

[BazzaS]

Hah, I called it with the credit hire price! I changed my post at #9 before I posted - I'd originally written that copart would store your car for a bit to rack up some costs, but then I changed it to 'they'll take it to the garage but ask kindertons what is happening' in case it would cause unneccesary worry to you, and at that point it wasn't confirmed where copart were taking it.

 

Kindertons are an independent accident management company and are nothing to do with your insurers, other than there may be a nice little fee paid to your insurers by them for the referral. They are one of the worst accident management co's for inflating costs.

 

Now an engineer (most likely someone from JP Morriss assessors) will come out and I'm 99% sure the car will be declared unroadworthy.

Kindertons will take their time to get it moved to the garage.

They may also charge a further fee to move the car from Copart back to the garage.

Together with £74/day hire.

Have they added on that £24+VAT /day collision damage waiver to the hire costs too?

And also if your hire vehicle is automatic, that'll be another £12 + VAT/day.

 

Any inflated charges will be disputed as said by DX above.

It's the game they all play and unfortunately you'll be caught in the middle until it settles.

 

But there's little you can do about it now to be honest.

 

Getting the car repaired asap is the priority so keep badgering kindertons and let them know at every opportunity that you're concerned about the costs of all this and whether they'll be paid by the other side.

 

Sounds like a pattern you’ve seen before?

Not just “the voice of experience” but “the voice of bitter experience”?

 

Can the OP source their own (cheaper) hire car? Any upside or downside for the OP if they can, and do, do so?

[MaxxPower]

As far as my (very limited) understanding is,

if the OP hired their own cheaper car then they can be shown to be mitigating their losses and so the third party insurer would have far less of an argument against paying out the hire car costs.

 

The (significant) downside is that the OP would have to pay all of the hire costs for an unknown amount of time from their own pocket until their car is repaired/returned and then claim back that money after the fact.

[rippedoff15]

Well according to kindertons the car will be inspected and the reported ready for Monday 15th Jan.

 

they said the engineer will confirm if the car will be repaired or right off.

 

Personally is a repair as the only damage is the bumper.

 

If they say its written off there is an issue of outstanding finance can i challenge the report.

 

Just hope they repair the car ASAP and its a stress time playing the waiting game.

 

Kinderton stated all cost will be claim from the other party.

[SuperVillain]

Sounds like a pattern you’ve seen before?

Not just “the voice of experience” but “the voice of bitter experience”?

 

Can the OP source their own (cheaper) hire car? Any upside or downside for the OP if they can, and do, do so?

 

Indeed the whole credit hire industry is rotten to the core and unfortunately when it comes to the Govt talking about fraud increasing motor insurance costs they focus on dodgy whiplash claims (which aren't that common), whereas targeting this sector would be more productive in my view.

 

When it comes to credit hire I work solely on the Defendant side of the fence. You can have your suspicions but what you can prove (whilst keeping the litigation cost effective) is often very little.

 

By the time I tend to see a file, the repairs will have long finished and there will already be some back and forth dispute correspondence between the hire co and the defendant insurers regarding the charges and maybe even a payment/offer. When you analyse the timeline and papers retrospectively you see all the little tricks in play, and unfortunately it's the norm, rather than the exception.

 

With some of the credit hire issues you people raise on this forum the suspicions are somewhat confirmed.

 

In this situation for example - the OP is confused as to why his car is being sent to Copart. Well he's right to be confused. Does this need to happen? Is the vehicle dangerous (sharp protruding edges that could hurt someone) or insecure in any way? If not then why move it - it could be kept at the OP's home address and inspected there too...

 

The big one for me is 'Do people know what they're signing up for?'. Kindertons have told the OP all the costs will be recovered from the other side. Did Kindertons tell him that the hire and storage agreements say he is liable for those costs? He has to be personally liable for those costs in order for him to be able to claim from the Defendant.

 

The OP says the car will be inspected and a report ready for Monday 15 Jan - I wouldn't be at all surprised if that report isn't sent to the other side's insurers till Thursday or Friday that week - it just increases the chance that they won't look at it till the following Monday - that's an extra £200 odd quid of hire charges.

 

They may even ask the other side to authorise the repairs. Realistically there is no need for them to do this but insurers can be slow picking these things up and quite easily could add a week or two to the process - that's another £500-1000.

 

All of that being said however...

 

OP - for you, in my opinion the best you can do is stick with Kindertons as they are already dealing with things and if the matter doesn't settle, co-operate with them at their lawyers when the time comes.

 

You could do something like hire your own car, if you have the money but you'll have no help (other than us ) claiming that back from the other side. When it comes to 'mitigating your losses' that doesn't mean you are forced to take the cheapest options available to you - it just means that you won't be fully reimbursed if you don't. This is not a matter for you to worry about as Kindertons have made a commercial decision to deal with your claim without doing any checks as to whether you need a credit hire vehicle. That's on them and they will bear the losses if there are any. Just make sure you co-operate with them and do your best to ensure they are dealing with things promptly. If you do this you will not be criticised.

[rippedoff15]

Well I have read all the all print relating to the hire and storage and they have gave the wrong information as I am personally responsible for the costs but they are charged to the person's insurance firm.

 

what happens if they refuse to pay the hire bill Kindertons will charge me and request payment.

 

Therefore I have requested the hire car to be collected as I no longer need the car.

 

They ask why and my reply was I have access to my daughters car who is away on business for the next 6 weeks.

 

Still a little concerned about my car as it still has outstanding finance,

spoke to my local garage who did the MOT and they confirmed the amount of damage it's repairable and can be completed in 7 days.

 

So let's see how long Kindertoms take.

[dx100uk]

should you be informing the finance co?

what type of finance?

[rippedoff15]

I have read the finance agreement and it states, I have to report to them if the car is write off, but I will call them in the morning but at present unsure as they have no confirmed the report.

[rippedoff15]

Well contacted the help line this morning only to be told there has been a delay in obtaining the report.

 

I have detailed photos confirming damage but there's first comment was if it's written off they will discuss offers, now concerned as there is finance outstanding.

 

There is no way it's right off, once I have the report and they state it's right off can I dispute there finding and request them to return my car.