SPEN555

Beginning of September my car got rear ended and so rang the number on the documents I have.

I am put through to a claims company which I thought strange (although not had to make a claim for about 10 years so no expert). I explain all details and basically a car behind me was shunted into me by a French car. Once they realised it was a foreign car at fault they said they can't deal with it but they can recover my excess. So they then put me through to another claims company called Greenlight Legal. So details taken and various forms filled in over the first week.

Last week I ring Greenlight Legal up after sending two e-mails with no response for an update. They advise they are awaiting a contact in the UK so they can liaise with the French insurance company. I state all I want to do is get my car fixed (rear bumper, spray and sort rear being shoved in, luckily all lights working fine so driveable). There is no whip lash bollocks to claim or such just a straight forward repair. Greenlight legal advise I can always go through my insurance! So it's like what the **** are you doing? Seven weeks now and from my point of view nothing has been done.

I just do not understand the process with all this? Can somebody enlighten me? I am thinking is it done like this so as to not effect my insurance going forward or is it just I am dealing with a bunch of incompetent muppets?

How can a light rear end collision be so complicated. It's no wonder insurance premiums have shot up!

Maz

iTrader: (34)

Keith Michaels are brokers so I'm not sure how/why you expect them to sort it out. You need to liaise with the company insuring you. With a foreign driver involved it is going to be quite difficult to get it sorted.

SPEN555

I never said I expect Keith Michaels to sort it out? I am looking for others experiences so I can fully understand the process which at the moment just seems utterly bonkers.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

It's the foreign driver element that's going to make it difficult. They may not even have insurance.

SPEN555

French car is a Nestle company car and covered by one of the biggest insurers so no problem there.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

This

French law is different to UK law regarding insurance, so things can get messy. (In France claims can stay open for up to 21 years)

If you have queries please feel free to contact us and we can have a manager from claims talk you through any issues.

SPEN555

Hi Moley,

Thanks for the response.

However, in scenario above what are the consequences going forward by just getting car repaired now through my insurance vs waiting to get cash from 3rd party whose fault it is? At the moment when I ask this I am not getting answers. If there are no consequences then why bother with all this claims business? However, if you are saying it could knock my premium up by say 50% as there is a claim against my record then it is better I wait it out.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Ideally you'd claim off the 3rd parties insurers and it won't effect you.
However, because the other insurer is a French company the claim will take much longer, resulting in repairs being delayed.

To get your car repaired quicker you have the option to claim off your own policy, pay the excess, and have your insurers reclaim the costs (including your excess).
This is far from ideal as you'll have an open claim against you untill the costs are reclaimed, and you'll have to wait for your excess. However.... the car will be repaired pretty much straight away.

Fortunately several of the insurers we use will use common sense at renewal time if the claim is still open, but that's something I will have to sort of for you at renewal, assuming it's not sorted by then.

Again, it's far from ideal, but something we can sort.

Feel free to ring me for advice, as I am writing this on an iPad that keeps freezing and is going to get chucked out of a window in a minute.

SPEN555

Thanks again Moley for replying.

I will see if I can give you a quick call to discuss tomorrow morning.

jpor

iTrader: (1)

I have, but that was with an accident I had in the UK. Unfortunately I did ring the claims line which took me to a claims line and solicitors. But As someone has pointed out Keith Michaels is a brokers. And found that the other party tried to contact the actual Insurers who said I hadn't notified them and they had no comms from the claims line via Keith Michaels and ended up giving both the same information twice.

SPEN555

Well what are the odds on this!

The body repair shop that I took my car into for a quote rang me today to advise they are repairing a car which looks to have been in the same accident. A quick check and sure enough it is. Further checking confirmed this.

I further found out this person has got this done through a claims company.

So I rang up for an update on my case. Same bull$hit trying to fob off French insurance being slow. At which point I was able to advise another person involved was progressing their repair as it was in the bodyshop now. I advised them it therefore showed an incompetence on their part in not getting anything done.

I said I want a phone call tomorrow to see what is being done to move this on.

I fully expect that not to happen.

Trouble with these claims companies is you sign contracts upfront and if they turn out to be useless you are stuck with them.

SPEN555

Finally got the car back repaired today.

It's taken over 5 months to sort!

I am very lucky as if the other person had not taken their car to the same place I would still be getting the same excuses.

Also, the bodyshop were fantastic as despite me telling Greenlight in early December they still did not progress it. The bodyshop bypassed Greenlight and spoke to the insurance company and he found out that I was down as a witness!! So WTF!! Also, in Greenlights communication with the insurance company why in five months have they not realised this?

So completely useless are Greenlight.

Having gone through this I now know going this route on a non-fault claim there is no excess to pay. So I had another claims company chasing me to re-claim my excess back once I had my car repaired, they gave up chasing months ago but now thinking back they are not so clever either.

If this happens to me again I am going straight to a bodyshop and speak to them as they will put me in touch with a claims company that actually do the job and do it in a professional and timely manner.

Maz

iTrader: (34)

Are you with Keith Michaels or Greenlight?

SPEN555

I am insured through Keith Michaels.

Greenlight Legal are the claims company I was unfortunate to be put through to.