Car insurance company treatment after accident

hi !

Have you noticed a change in attitude now you have notified your car insurance company about PD ?  Like "you are guilty,   Don't bother telling us the facts."

last week a motorbike coming from my left failed to stop at junction with the main road I was driving along at 30 mph.  I hit the side of the bike - but having seen the motorcycle fail to stop at  the junction I had done emergency stop so travelling at about 5 mph at impact.   Motorbike rider unbalanced but did not fall.   At time of accident motorcyclist did not have any injury he knew about.  My car .....  Plastic radiator grill cracked in 2 places,  proximity sensor dislodged.

Loads of witnesses,  I got details of two.

OK so as far as I can see and my brief chat to the two witnesses I spoke to, confirmed,  it was straight forward. 

 

But my insurance company !!!

Called to report accident when  I got home.   "So you are accepting liability".  "You need independent witnesses,  can you prove  these two people are independent ?" "motorbikes are sometimes difficult to see,  were you using your mirrors"  were typical questions

A week later I called to see what progress was being made.  "you are liable for the repair",  "how serious imjured was the cyclist"  "it will be difficult to get the cyclist to accept liability and will take a long time, and you may well loose case and incur additional costs".    I asked if they had contacted the two witnesses I had provided contact details of. "No" was their reply,  "Was there any need to.?"

To me it seems that insurance co. are on a mission to get my driving license withdrawn and  not with the incident in question.

Has anyone had similar experience ?

Westby

 

Hi Westby

I dont have any experiences of claims but i was diagnosed with PD last year at the time i did not have a car but i have recently bought a car , now i know there are claims that  insurance companys  should not penalise people for having a medical condition but out of interest when i was looking for quotes for insurance i ran two quotes one with a dvla notified medical condition and one without and there was quite a considerable difference between the quotes some where in the region of £200,so in effect they do penalise , such is life we pay in all ways

sorry to hear about your experience with your insurance company they like taking our money but not so quick to settle claims , i hope you get things sorted soon

Hi Westby, may I offer some advice (forgive me if you've already sorted this issue)

Be firm with your insurers, point out any form of junction control eg give way signs and markings or even better a stop sign. Photographs of the site are always helpful.Are you in a position to ask your witnesses to put pen to paper stating their independent position and what they saw.I am concerned by the comments suggesting that if you don't admit liability then it may cost you more. Write to the company and ask them to explain what they mean by this it sounds to me like someone is trying to write the case off in the shortest possible time.

 

hi

  thanks for advise and interest.     I have had the police check out the motorcyclist - trased by registration,  and the insurance company contacting the witnesses.

I feel insurance company took one look at my 1 year license and jumped to conclusions.  Based on not reading the situation but hell bent on getting my license withdrawn.

Lesson is get witnesses,  make police report and as drifflad says  get photos. I had camera in the car, but did I used it !!

 

westby

 

Insurance companies cannot and do not discriminate against PWP as long as the DVLA has been informed.

OH has had  Parkinsons for 16 years, has driven on many 3 year and latterly 1 year full licences, but recently decided that he would no longer drive. Never has there been any extra premium added for his Parkinsons.

As insurance companies, and maybe even online quotes, share information, maybe you were penalised with an extra premium for non disclosure of facts on the increased premium quote.

Hi westby glad to see you are making progress. There are too many companies out there who think their responsibility ends when they have taken your money.

quite agree. In the end it has worked out well for me,  but taken 17 months some of which was unpaid

Glad to hear that you've got things to a conclusion.