Third Party Claim Advice

[douglasgdmw]

Folks,

Looking for some advice on a matter on Insurance.

There was an accident outside my house and a third party hit my wall and damaged it. The actual accident was caused by another vehicle so the they can recover damages from them.

However there insurance company has passed the information across to a recovery adjuster company to deal with the claim. I have provided the company with pictures and 2 separate quotes from 2 companies for the damage. Total cost for the repair to the wall is £3400 due to the fact that my property is Grade B listed.

The insurance company have said they would pay £2900 but after chatting to the phone to show my disgust they upped this to £3000. They have cited the following:
Given that your claim is being pursued as a “Third Party” against the responsible party this is considered based on common law and settlement is payable on an indemnity basis. This means that we are entitled to make adjustments to reflect pre-existing wear and tear suffered to the damaged property. I should add that under your own home insurance policy it is very likely cover will be arranged on a reinstatement basis i.e. new for old.

The wall can be seen to be suffering from pre existing damage with bricks damaged and mortar missing and the gate shows some corrosion. In our opinion an adjustment of 15% against the presented costs is realistic.


So do I have a leg to stand on with this or is it just scare tactics. Admit that I could go through my own insurance and get it repaired to the full costs but that would affect future premiums due to making a claim even though its not my fault?

Or should I go back to them insisting that that pay more or less the full amount or otherwise I will go through my own insurance company and their total settlement will be even more due to further administration costs and requesting provision for future increases of premiums due to a non fault accident?

George

[j2 lot]

If your property is listed you could ask if Building Control. / Historic Scotlsnd or similar could influence the standard of repair. That might add weight to your case for full restoration to a measured standard.
Otherwise I would get your own insurer to handle it and pursue the 3rd party for any losses.

[Dominic]

Just a thought - I have no experience of using one - but,.. would an independent claims handling company be worth using to sort it all out? Anyone had any experience of one of them?

[kerryxeg]

I would maintain you need payment in full on the following basis-

It is a Wall not an item of furniture, was in good condition prior to the incident and was not in need of repair.
Secondly you cannot rebuild a wall to a worn condition at a lower cost so their argument not sound.

You might need a bit of legal help to make your case, do you have any legal cover under your home insurance to help.

[douglasgdmw]

You might need a bit of legal help to make your case, do you have any legal cover under your home insurance to help.

Do have legal cover with my home insurance but I was trying to avoid involving them as I want to keep my NCB at its maximum.

May have a look at my Amex I may have independent legal cover under my card?

George

[robin]

Tell them that they are welcome to rebuild the wall to its pre-existing condition - no need to make it "new" - in fact "new" is not what you want as it will not blend in with the rest of the property.

For your house insurance it might be worth checking whether you need to declare this damage & subsequent claim anyway. You might argue they have no way of knowing (known as "The Tut"). If you do disclose it your premiums might go up much the same as if you had actually claimed from them.

Cheers,
Robin

[pete]

I went through something similar with a car claim.

I called the AA legal advice line who were rubbish. So I had a think and phoned them back, got someone else who dictated me a letter over the phone ad was ace...

You are being left out of pocket through no fault of your own, in fact the loss was insured and they are trying to make you pay! you've got to admire them...

[j2 lot]

After my bike accident my insurer - Bennetts (supposedly one of the better insurers) really weren't interested in anything other than walking away. I have since been dealing with:
'Motorcycle Law Scotland is a trading style of Road Traffic Accident Law (Scotland) LLP'
and would recommend going to them if your not getting any joy from your own company.
In general I would now always avoid the Legal Cover that comes with insurance policies and in the event of needing any legal work go to an independent.

[Broon]

I had a similar situation a few years ago. Car hit our wall and it was in their best interests (for the cost of future car insurance) for the repair cost to be as low as possible. They got some local cowboys to come round and quote for the job whereas we got our own proper quote. Their insurance company started dragging their feet and there were three way telephone conversations between them, their insurers and me (all very stressful). This dragged on for months until I lost it and called my home insurer who told me to just get it fixed and they would sue the third party's insurer. In the end the threat of legal action sorted it all out.

I don't believe the financial impact of making a claim on your house insurance is all that great. I had to declare a claim from 4.5 years ago recently and the premium for the year was still pretty good - I guess it all depends on the company.

You have my sympathy as it all ends up in you getting stressed out trying to sort it when none of it is your fault.

[BigD]

I didn't think that using your Home Insurance legal cover would have any effect on your premiums. It's usually a separate policy and you haven't claimed on your home insurance as such.

[Corranga]

In general I would now always avoid the Legal Cover that comes with insurance policies and in the event of needing any legal work go to an independent.

This is interesting. I have 3 motor policies, and was wondering if I could simply get a policy for legal cover elsewhere so I could refuse the 3x £15-20 charged on these policies.
I ended up bottling it and still have legal protection on all 3 policies.
As for not having it, if you end up in a fault accident, isn't that risky?

[j2 lot]

Doesn't mean you don't have cover, just means you don't have a legal expert 'to hand' to deal with your claim. I had legal cover for the motorbike accident but was knocked off the bike by a cyclist who ( potentially) didn't have insurance. Legal cover with my policy would only instigate a claim if 'I could provide proof of his insurance'.
I got independent legal representation and the new company now have claim in progress as they established insurance was in force and got an immediate admission of fault.
Interestingly the Legal protection I took out with my insurance is a separate policy anyway and is only linked to the actual policy in that it appears on my policy schedule

The company now representing me recently won over £300k for a young guy who lost his lower leg in what was deemed a partial fault incident. Before going to the independent company his own insurer advised he should accept an offer of £9000.

Sorry for thread drift George.