Not at Fault Dealing with Other Party's Insurer

KangaBanga on 29/04/2024 - 04:02
Last edited 29/04/2024 - 11:06 by 1 other user

Hi guys, wife recently driving my car on family trip down to Gold Coast M1 from Brissy earlier this month. Truck from innermost lane suddenly switched lane into our second lane trying to overtake another truck in front of it and rear end scrapped front side of my car badly and smashed the side mirror. Driver didn't even notice, we followed for a good 5-10 mins and finally managed to hail driver and exchange details. I only have 3rd party car insurance, thought 9 year old car was only worth $10-$12k (but recent check it's still $20-$22k on Carsales).

Other party admitted fault and asked for quote. Quote came in high $4.4k (their excess was 5k) and driver decided to settle claim via their insurer. After waiting couple weeks and chasing, finally the claim has been lodged by other party and sent by their broker for claims processing. My car can still be driven but left front bumper/guard/door/mirror need replacement and repaint.

Just wondering, if their insurer were to accept the claim as their client's fault and call me, what the usual process after that?

1) Do I just get the claim number and submit to my repairer to start ordering parts and prep for repair?

2) How would I calculate the cost of hire car for roughly one week repairs would take? Would I get them to verbally agree to cover hire car first or do I also have to get a quote for car hire first and add that into the settlement?

Automotive Car Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • HamBoi69 on 29/04/2024 - 07:01
    +2

    Damn 3 hours ago this forum topic was published and no comments yet???? Weird……

    • Nillionaire on 29/04/2024 - 07:19
      +3

      i m sleping

    • JimmyF on 29/04/2024 - 10:43

      SSDD Post about not having full comp insurance.

  • HamBoi69 on 29/04/2024 - 07:01
    +1

    3) Where's the MS Paint diagram OP????

  • brendanm on 29/04/2024 - 07:18

    They have to cover a hire car, they don't have a choice.

    • JimmyF on 29/04/2024 - 10:43
      +1

      Says who?

      • apple2016 on 29/04/2024 - 10:44

        Exactly! where is this law?

      • brendanm on 29/04/2024 - 11:31

        Says anyone who knows about insurance claims. They have to put you in the same position you were in before the accident. This means you will not be out hire car fees. I've done it myself, and there have been legal cases on it as well if you wish to look.

        • JimmyF on 29/04/2024 - 12:28
          +1

          They have to put you in the same position you were in before the accident

          Correct, but doesn't mean the OP can go out and a hire car at this point and then claim it back. The OP could end up with a loan car from the repairer instead when they send theirs in.

          • brendanm on 29/04/2024 - 13:18
            -2

            @JimmyF: That's still the insurer covering a hire car either way. Repairer won't be giving out cars for free. Even if they did, and it wasn't the an "equivalent vehicle" as OP has, OP could get a hire car that is the equivalent of theirs, and the insurer will pay it.

    • simplystu on 29/04/2024 - 15:38

      Insurance companies can also refuse to pay costs of hire car … If they don't believe it is an accurate account of hire car costs

      Then OP will need to chase down person through courts privately to get money … All the while they've paid expense out of their own pocket.

      There is a certain hire car company here in WA (specificlly targetting car accident claims) … that charges at 4x the going rate per day.

      One of the major car insurance companies outright refuses to pay the overstated costs +++ actively pushes back - until said rental car company comes in at a lower (more accurate) price per day.

      Issue has been going on for last 8-10 years … And it's the people in the middle that get caught up in this legal stouch.

      • brendanm on 29/04/2024 - 16:54

        If I rent a spaceship or a container ship they won't pay that either. If you do it like a normal person, get a car similar to yours, and get it from a normal place like Hertz etc, you will get paid. Feel free to continue to make up bizarre fringe cases though.

        • simplystu on 29/04/2024 - 17:21

          These aren't fringe cases …
          Best you do some research and google R2D + RAC.

          Car that ppl were renting from R2D was exact same model of car in accident … Just that R2D charging upto 4x amount for daily rental cost, as to other rental providers.

          When RAC refused to pay such high rental car costs … It meant (person utilising a rental/hire car) having to chase privately through the courts.

          I have 1st hand knowledge of this … As was asked by my insurance provider to testify in court.

          • brendanm on 29/04/2024 - 17:29

            @simplystu: Why would I possibly care about this? I'm not suggesting OP get a car from one of those dodgy places, I'm suggesting to get one from a standard hire car company.

            • simplystu on 29/04/2024 - 18:28

              @brendanm: Yet you stated in reply to my post - that these were merely "fringe cases".

              As I have proven, that is not the case - and actually involved a major car insurance company in WA ….

              Anyway, slightly getting off point from OP's issue.

              • brendanm on 29/04/2024 - 18:38

                @simplystu: It is a fringe case from what I said just above, which is to hire a normal car from a normal car hire company. Yes way off track, which is why I only have advice that has to do with OP.

  • Muzeeb on 29/04/2024 - 07:57
    +5

    OP is nearly a founding ozbargain member and still doesn't know how it works so I'm not going to waste my time.

    • GordonD on 29/04/2024 - 09:54
      +1

      Good drivers have to deal with things like this so rarely, if ever, that they have a lot more useful and interesting things in their life to pay attention to and remember.

      • Muzeeb on 29/04/2024 - 10:01

        Source?

        There are plenty of good drivers on here that know the steps and are fully prepared in the event that they need to make a claim.

        Source: Mrs Muzeeb

      • KangaBanga on 29/04/2024 - 11:51

        thanks. yes i been ozbargaining many years, buying stuff and never had to deal with this as I drive most of the time and only had a few minor scrapes in parking lots.

  • solidussnake on 29/04/2024 - 08:03

    Here for the comments 🍿

  • cashless on 29/04/2024 - 08:09

    $22k car with 3rd party insurance.
    Plainly hasn't been paying attention to Ozbargain
    Also - how can you under value your car by more than 50% ?

    • jjjaar on 29/04/2024 - 08:43
      +2

      Also - how can you under value your car by more than 50%

      If they’re going off numbers they looked at pre-covid it was probably accurate. The delays in new cars have made the second hand market go crazy. People who haven’t needed to check on their car prices since before 2020 would be pleasantly surprised.

      • bargaino on 29/04/2024 - 09:14

        pleasantly? The main reason for checking is likely they want to upgrade.

    • KangaBanga on 29/04/2024 - 11:57

      yeah i bought my SUV for about 34.5k in mid 2015 so almost 9 years old now, with 80kms pretty good shape. thought i it would probably be worth around that if depreciated about 60+%. didnt know i was way off. will go back to comprehensive afte the repairs done.

      • Jono05 on 29/04/2024 - 12:18

        No way you’ll sell it for $22k. You’re dreaming if you think you will. Carsales prices are over inflated.

  • Dollar General on 29/04/2024 - 08:11

    Step 1 is to awalys post it on ozbargain

    Step 2 is to call their insurer and ask/demand what the next step is

    • KangaBanga on 29/04/2024 - 12:03

      yes done that 2 weeks ago and sent insurer all the details and info and pics. but insurer still had to wait for client to make a claim before they could do anything.

  • jjjaar on 29/04/2024 - 08:41

    Call their insurer and ask.

    If you get along with your repairer, you can always take it back to them, give them the claim number and ask them to handle it all.

  • Fredfloresjr on 29/04/2024 - 09:05

    Dear OP,

    Since I found that you do not have Comprehensive Insurance, I will be making it very hard for you to get anything from us.

    Your best option is to get sympathy from Ozbargain. Otherwise, goodluck.

    Regards,

    Truck Driver's Insurance Rep

    • KangaBanga on 29/04/2024 - 12:01

      insurance broker was quite helpful, emailed me sunday night to say claim form is in, so fingers crossed it gets processed soon and i can get a claim number which my repairer needs.

      • Jono05 on 29/04/2024 - 12:20

        You might not get a choice of repairers. They might send you to one of their preferred repairers.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 29/04/2024 - 09:30

    what the usual process after that?

    the times ive had to deal with it back in the day when i only had a super basic beater of a car worth maybe 1500 max, only had 3rd party.
    got rear ended twice and both times their insurer called me within 48 hours and arranged all the repairs etc.

    • KangaBanga on 29/04/2024 - 11:45

      thanks for the info, the struggle was to get the other party to file his claim with his insurer. His insurer was very efficient sending him email with claim form to print and fill out but i left it for a week and nothing happened so second week messaged a few times to finally get the claim form put in. was just about to send a letter of demand.this week but insurer emailed me last night to say they have received claim form and claims dept. processing.

    • KangaBanga on 08/05/2024 - 14:03

      Hi how did you get them to process the claim so quickly? did you send the other party a letter of demand? I am going on week 3 now of other party putting in claim form but seems incomplete and broker trying to email them for more info.

      decided to send in letter of demand today see what happens as other party not replying my messages on phone and not sent in information for claims over the long wekend..

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 08/05/2024 - 14:13

        no idea.
        both times the party at fault admitted fault straight up (it was obvious) and actually well before the times of dashcams being affordable.
        maybe people were just more honest back then.

        seems every week almost we here a story here about how an at fault driver just straight up tries to worm out of it.

  • apple2016 on 29/04/2024 - 10:44

    cost of hire car for roughly 1 week

    Your car is driveable and repairs should take only about 2-3 days max. why do you need a car for a week?

    • brendanm on 29/04/2024 - 11:32
      +2

      How do you know how long the repairs will take?

    • KangaBanga on 29/04/2024 - 11:48

      a repairer i got quote from said it would take about a month to get parts in and about 1 week to repair. Need to replace bumper/guard/door and mirror and repaint.

      • Jono05 on 29/04/2024 - 12:21

        Sounds about right. Don’t leave your car until all the parts are in.

        • KangaBanga on 03/05/2024 - 23:31

          another week of delay as other parties insurer is awaiting some reply from the client. Looks like the other party is taking their sweet time to reply their insurer with info, I might have to send in a letter of demand to the client to hurry him a bit.

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