Insurance Repair Query

[thecoopertrooper]

An old woman clipped my rear wheel at a junction last week. Adds up to over a grand repair bill! so going through insurance.

They are replacing wheel, tyre, shocker and two control arms.

My query is, I want the other side shocker replaced also as I feel these should be replaced in pairs? They are refusing to do this as it would 'put me in a better position' than before the bump.

Where do I stand on this?

Any advise appreciated!

[hollinshead]

Your right, shockers MUST be replaced in pairs.

Who are you insured with and where is doing the repair?

[Mosposco]

that's a piece of nonsense, what they are effectively saying is that they are prepared to put your life in jeopardy for the sake of a low cost item like a shock absorber.

Try the above with them and mention that if they on't want to play fair then you're sure it would make a great newspaper story

If you are a member of the AA/RAC or have legal expenses cover you could also hand the matter over to them to deal with on your behalf.

[thecoopertrooper]

thanks for the input guys

insurer is esure, who arent being the most helpful considering im not at fault.

They are refusing point blank to replace the other side shock too - they say NO insurance company will ever do this??

Also, they are making things difficult because Im taking the car to bmw, and not their 'approved repair centre' and making me wait 2 weeks before they will approve the work . . . . . hassle

[Martin F]

You are entitled to be put back as nearly as possible in the position that you were in before the accident. If you can find a suitably respected person eg a motor engineer to confirm that your shock absorbers should be replaced in pairs, then you are entitled to insist on it with the other party.

Neither is the other parties insurer entitled to refuse you the right to use any reasonable repairer. If they delay your repair they will incur additional car hire costs in providing you with a temporary replacement vehicle.

In summary, you suffered a loss as a result of the action of another driver who has accepted liability. Whilst the other driver may ask her insurers to settle the matter on her behalf, you have no contractual or tortious relationship with that insurer. Your legal relationship is with the other driver and her insurers are in no position to impose unreasonable conditions in settling the claim. The position would be entirely different if you were claiming on your own insurance.

[thecoopertrooper]

Martin,

As usual the woman isnt admitting liability although clearly at fault. she refused to give me her details as in her words 'its only a scratched wheel' despite it sitting an inch further in than it should. So i had to write her regy down and report to police etc etc. Should still be a non fault claim though I am being told by my insurance.

tbh, I dont have the time or energy for a another fight on top of the one i'm going to have getting my excess back. thanks for all your help anyways!

[Mosposco]

Ahh...esure, that explains a lot. I've had to put in two (non-fault claims) with them in the last 4 years and both times it was torture dealing with them. They'll try every trick in the book to get out of doing anything to help.

First time round for me they even asked to see my driving licence before they would handle the claim. When I asked why they needed to do that their response was that they needed to check to see if I had ever had a parking ticket (eh?).

Second one was just a couple of months ago. neighbour ran into my car when it was parked (not the MINI) and rang the doorbell and admitted liability.

Like a mug I phoned esure to report the crash and they tried to force me to take a "courtesy" car from their approved company on a credit agreement (again, eh?) which would have ended up costing me something like £200 (non-reclaimable) for the period my car was away.

What I usually do in the event of an accident is call the police, regardless of whether their are any injuries or not. That way not only does the other driver get a hortie (a form to produce your documents at a police station for those of you not from my part of the world) but the also get the embarrassment of being breath-tested as an added bonus.

Oh, and refusing to furnish your details to the other party in a road traffic accident is a criminal offence, as is leaving the scene of an accident. I think I'd be mentioning that to the woman if esure continue to quibble over replacing the other shock absorber