Insurance hassles - any advice??

The 'how many cars' thread prompted me to post this one. TWO MONTHS ago, I had to stop in a hurry because some (stupid!) campervan driver pulled out right in front of me. I missed them, but the driver behind me was following quite close, and ran into the rear of my car. Our car was warrented at the time, but the warrent expired shortly afterwards, and so while the car is drivable, we can't get a new warrent until the damamge is fixed so I'm not able to drive it.

The driver of the car that hit me seems nice enough - but with one thing or another things have dragged oooooonnnnn and oooooonnnn. First she didnt understand the insurance claim forms, so had to get her lawyer to help fill them in (I do think they were confusing, I had to fill them in too and although I didn't need a lawyer (!) they were a bit of work). Then they took ages to get to the insurance company (or she didn't post them for ages, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt). Now, they need some further info from her (I dont know what it is) and it's been a week and a half and she hasnt supplied it. And we're still without a car!

Thankfully, it's a fairly clear-cut issue about who's in the wrong (she is), and her insurance company has told me that there shouldn't be a problem paying out once they get the info they need... but they seem at her mercy as to how long it takes her to get it to them, and to be honest don't seem to be chasing her much.

What can I do??? I can't afford the $3000 to fix the car myself (well, I could... but don't want to spend it just in case for some reason her insurance didn't cover it, I don't know what we'd do then but while we have $3000 in our savings we could use short-term, we can't afford it long-term and would probably have to look at writing off the car.

Edited by Hopes

No, sadly - we only have third party, and they won't chase them unless we have full insurance. I did try

Now that sounds helpful! I don't like my chances, but I'll try them.

Thanks for your advice. I did call them and ask about the rental car (the CAB gave me the same advice as you guys ). I got through to the manager this time, who was WAY more helpful than the people I'd talked to thus far. Turns out it's not as clear-cut as I thought... well, its clear-cut that she's in the wrong, but they suspect (and I suspect they might be right) that she was driving illegally at the time, hence the fact they're trying to establish she wasn't before paying. Dammit. Otherwise it'll be all up to me to get the full amount off her. They were very helpful, though, and are looking into getting me a rental while they sort it out at least.

ETA because it's the obvious solution, that sadly I only have third party. So my insurance company can't pay if they don't, even though it wasn't my fault. Sigh.

Edited by Hopes

Sorry for the late reply.

You should have some clause in your third party policy that protects you if the other parties insurance company do not cover her

ie. if you have third party insurance and you are 100% free of blame and the at fault party does not have insurance (or their claim is declined), your third party policy should have some sort of cover for you.

I work in insurance and our company's third party policy does this and I assume this is standard for other third party policies?

I would go back to your insurer and see if there is 'innocent party protection' under your policy. If so, I would complete a claim form in preparation in case the other persons claim does not go through. Your insurer should then be chasing the other insurer up and they may want to assess your car etc.

If she is still dragging her heels and not giving her insurer what she needs you may want to call her and threaten a Disputes Tribunal Hearing (small claims court). This is often enough to give someone the bums rush.

Either way, if her insurer pays or yours does, hopefully you won't have to pay for repairs your self.

Good luck!!

So glad it got sorted for you.

To make you feel better, her insurer would only be able to decline her claim if her illegal driving was "causative" in the accident. It is hard to prove especially considering the circumstances of the accident. For example, if she was driving with passengers on her restricted licence, it must be proven that having passengers in the car, or not having a supervisor in the car caused the accident. Seeing as it all happened so suddenly and largely due to the person who pulled out on you, a supervisor in the car probably wouldn't have made any difference.

But what am I going on about work for? I am on maternity leave .

So relieved it has all worked out. I hate it when people get mucked around. You may only have third party, but you weren't in the wrong, which is what TP insurance is all about really.

You should get back to work, Littlechop. Kidding, but Id have liked to talk to someone like you at the insurance agency; they were pleasant and helpful and all, but getting info like that was like getting blood out of a stone!

We looked into it, Jules, but at the time decided it wasn't worth it. I should price it out again.