Admiral insurance indemnity form

[kernal211313]

Hi. I was recently involved in a car accident when driving to pick my boyfriend. I was then planning on taking him to his place of work before returning him. I informed Admiral immediately.

 

The third party has put in a personal injury claim. Admiral are now asking me to sign an indemnity form as the car was for social use only. Should I dispute this or ask for additional assurances.  

 

Is it likely they will allow me to agree a repayment plan?

[AndyOrch]

Hi and Welcome to CAG

 

I have moved your topic to the relevant forum ...Car Insurance...Financial Legal Issues is for court claims re credit cards/ loans/overdrafts etc

 

Please continue to post here to your topic.

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

[AndyOrch]

https://www.admiral.com/policyDocs/ADM.pdf

[kernal211313]

Sorry I should clarify. They are asking me to sign a form of consent and indemnity. They refused the third party claim stating I was using the vehicle to commute when I was going to pick my boyfriend up.

[unclebulgaria67]

Do not sign the indemnity form, as it is giving a blank cheque.

 

This reply presumes you are the policyholder.

 

So you were not commuting to your work, but were simply driving someone from your address to another address ?

 

So you could argue social use, as you were not driving to your workplace. 

 

I will have a more detailed look later and reply further. But please clarify.

 

If your policy, Is your boyfriend on the policy, as a named driver ?

[kernal211313]

My boyfriend is not on the policy as a named driver. They contacted me around three weeks after the accident to ask what I was doing at the time and that they believed I was commuting. I told them exactly what I was doing, driving from A to B to get my boyfriend who I was then going to drive to his place of work before returning home. 

Edited March 10, 2020 by kernal211313

[unclebulgaria67]

Read your documents. Does it state anywhere that you are not covered if you drive a friend or neighbour to their workplace ?

 

Commuting exclusion is about you and you driving to your workplace to work ?

 

Do you work at the same place as boyfriend ?

 

If so, can you ask employers to confirm you were not working on the date/time ?

[kernal211313]

It doesn't state anything about driving my friends or partner to work and we don't work at the same workplace.

 

As I have flexible working hours I catch the train to work later on in the day. Unfortunately, as it's flexible hours it's difficult to prove what time I started work.

 

A few things worth noting. They haven't canceled my insurance as it's still active. Also, they recently sent me my renewal letter with a slightly increased premium so seem to be fine with insuring me in the future.

 

The letter states that they may be required to deal with the county court claim that would be issued against me as an Article 75 insurer. They would only do this after a CCJ was placed against me. They would then seek to reclaim the costs from me. Surely they are responsible for paying the third party before I am taken to court? They state that if I sign this form that will avoid me having a CCJ placed against me.

 

This is turning into a complete nightmare for me as I am on a low income and I was only using the car for a ten minute round trip when the accident happened

Edited March 10, 2020 by kernal211313

[unclebulgaria67]

I think you need to write a letter to Admiral head of claims, complaining about one of their claims handlers getting the wrong end of the stick, causing them to make assumptions were are totally incorrect.

 

Something  like this.  Send urgently by recorded delivery.

 

 I wish to complain about the way my claim is being handled and the misunderstanding by one of your claims handlers.

 

On x date/time I was driving to pick up my boyfriend and to take him home. With the plan to later drive him to his work place on this occasion.   The accident did not occur during any journey which involved commuting to any work place.

 

As such on the date/time in question, I was using my vehicle for social purposes and not for commuting to my place of work or to any place of work. Therefore any exclusion for commuting to my workplace is totally irrelevant.  I understand that my cover is for social use and I do not use my vehicle to commute to my workplace. I use the train to get to work.

 

I will therefore not be completing any indemnity form and it is up to Admiral to settle any claim, in line with the terms and condition of cover that I have paid for.  If this matter is not dealt with correctly, I will have no alternative but to ask Admiral for their final response and continue the complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service,

 

I look forward to your swift response, with a suitable apology.

 

Yours Faithfully

 

Admiral have no choice but to deal with the third party claim under Road Traffic act, so any claim you receive,  please come back for advice.

[kernal211313]

Thanks for the help. I feel better already. :) 

 

I am correct in thinking it's weird that they seem perfectly happy to carry on insuring me and sending renewal letters, while at the same time saying I have used my car for purposes not covered by my insurance? Or is this common?

 

Also, is it just bluster to say they will let the third party get a ccj against me before paying out as they are an article 75 insurer? 

 

Thanks again for the help :)

[kernal211313]

Sorry for asking lots of questions  

[AndyOrch]

When you completed the details for insurance did you state that the vehicle was for social and commuting use or social only  ? 

[unclebulgaria67]

You have not been dishonest.  Had you been driving to your work place, you would simply be a policyholder that had not read your Insurance documents.   So no reason not to issue a renewal.

 

If you take out a social cover with no commuting, you have to be very careful. The reason for the exclusion, is that people who drive their vehicles to work are a higher risk, as they will park their car for hours in allsorts of places and they can get damaged.  Also driving while commuting in traffic you are more likely to have an accident.

 

If you say it is social only, then it presumes that the car is mostly  sat on your driveway or in a garage and therefore it is a safer risk with a lower premium as a result.

[kernal211313]

Andyorch, I took out social only. I work in the city so commuting to work in the car isnt going to happen!

 

[unclebulgaria67]

https://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/car-insurance/which-class-of-use

 

So you as the policyholder and only driver named on the Insurance, cannot use social cover to commute.  Which is why i asked you to check the policy to see if it also extended the commuting exclusion to other people.   I have not come across an Insurers excluding a driver occasionally giving a lift to a friend.   Say for example your neighbour was a vicar and could not get to their Church, so you gave them a lift.  Are Admiral saying that you would not be covered ?  I do not think so.

Social Domestic and Pleasure

The class of use described as Social, Domestic and Pleasure covers the drivers named on the policy for normal day to day driving. Shopping, visiting friends or family and pleasure driving such as going to the park or on holiday. However, it doesn't include commuting to work.

Commuting

Commuting is the next class up, and covers everything included in Social, Domestic and Pleasure, plus driving to and from a permanent place of work. Driving your car to the train station and leaving it there while you go to work counts as commuting. So does giving someone a lift to their place of work; it's best to check when you get your quote.

[kernal211313]

"So does giving someone a lift to their place of work; it's best to check when you get your quote."

 

Surely that is why they are saying I was using the car for purposes not covered by my level of insurance then?

Edited March 10, 2020 by kernal211313

[unclebulgaria67]

So does giving someone a lift to their place of work; it's best to check when you get your quote

 

So where is this stated in your policy document ?  

 

Have a really good read of your documents and come back before you send the letter or do anything.

 

The limit of the social cover is normally noted on the certificate of Insurance.

[AndyOrch]

Quote

 I was recently involved in a car accident when driving to pick my boyfriend. I was then planning on taking him to his place of work before returning him

 

Its a pity you didn't stop after stating " when driving to pick up my boyfriend "  you had an accident so the second part never happened " I was then planning on taking him to his place of work before returning him "

 

Therfore you didn't use the vehicle to commute......picking up boyfriend is social use......the commute use part never happened...but you have told them now your intended journey and so they have a get out.

[unclebulgaria67]

Andy, that is a valid point, as the purpose of the journey was to eventually drive to a place of work.

 

Still think it is an arguable point. 

 

But I cannot see the certificate of insurance and are relying on what they are reading.  If Admiral exclude all commuting even driving a friend, neighbour etc to work, then it is very limiting.  I think such an exclusion would be designed to limit risk of one of a couple regularly driving their partner to work.

[kernal211313]

The only reference I can find is social, domestic and pleasure only.

 

I feared by being open and honest I have given them the get out they were looking for

 

I guess this means I have to sign the indemnity and pray they will accept a payment plan?

[unclebulgaria67]

Can you upload a copy of the certificate of Insurance with all of the personal info removed ?

[AndyOrch]

The vehicle was involved in an accident under social use......picking up boyfriend...the rest never happened as the car had halted....really does not matter what was intended...it never happened....but you will learn from this moving forward and ditch that outfit...your paying for their nauseating TV advert budget

[kernal211313]

Okay, so I should push back and say at the time of the accident I was head from A to B with B being my partner's location?

[unclebulgaria67]

Don't give in yet.  

 

You really must read the documents and upload a copy of the certificate to this thread if possible.  Looking for exclusion which says you are not covered if driving someone to their place of work.

 

You could say that you misspoke and that you were simply picking up your boyfriend from A to B and the accident was not connected to any commuting to work purpose.  

 

But don't tell porkies, if you normally pick him up and then drive to and back from his work. The call would have been recorded and during the call they should have read back the information you were providing them and asked you to confirm it was accurate.  So if they listen back and you have changed your story, they will most likely go with what you told them originally, unless you can provide evidence to the contrary.  

 

 

[kernal211313]

It's not a regular trip and I never told them it was. Looking back now the claim handler was acting in an underhanded way but I was just trying to be honest and helpful. Certificate of motor insurance makes no reference to dropping others at a place of work.