Wondering af anyone has any experience of a similar situation to the following.
The other day my mother was stationary in traffic when a van driving too fast came round the corner and hit the back of her car. The impact of it pushed her into a parked car, so there is damage to the rear of her car, the front of her car and the parked car.
Police were called and the owners of the van were a respectable local plumbing firm whose owners are friends of the family. No problem at all, they accept their driver was entirely to blame.
The car was collected by a local garage whose first reaction was that it would be a write-off. However it was taken to the insurer's body shop and they have decided to order tuliploads of parts and attempt to fix the damage.
It turns out the plumber's insurer is also my mother's insurer (Norwich Union) which I think creates a conflict of interest in terms of the repairs. I am concerned that pressure has been put on the repair shop not to declare it a write off as this would cost the insurer more in terms of a pay-out. If it were two independent insurers this conflict would not exist but as it is, NU have a vested interest in keeping the cost of repairs down, rather than making sure of the best outcome for their customer who was entirely the victim.
I am worried that the repairs will be done but the car will never be the same again. Also if my mother then attempts to sell the car this incident will show up on its history and any buyer would try to reduce the price because the car had been involved in an accident.
Anyone got any ideas? Is it worth inisiting on the insurer getting an independent garage to assess the damage and status of the car as a write-off or not. Can the car just be sold immediately for whatever price can be agreed and an amount of cash paid out based on the value of the car before it was hit?
I don't trust Norwich Union as far as I could throw them after watching documentary about their Insurance Assessors who on occassions seemed to turn down perfectly valid claims for spurious reasons.
The other day my mother was stationary in traffic when a van driving too fast came round the corner and hit the back of her car. The impact of it pushed her into a parked car, so there is damage to the rear of her car, the front of her car and the parked car.
Police were called and the owners of the van were a respectable local plumbing firm whose owners are friends of the family. No problem at all, they accept their driver was entirely to blame.
The car was collected by a local garage whose first reaction was that it would be a write-off. However it was taken to the insurer's body shop and they have decided to order tuliploads of parts and attempt to fix the damage.
It turns out the plumber's insurer is also my mother's insurer (Norwich Union) which I think creates a conflict of interest in terms of the repairs. I am concerned that pressure has been put on the repair shop not to declare it a write off as this would cost the insurer more in terms of a pay-out. If it were two independent insurers this conflict would not exist but as it is, NU have a vested interest in keeping the cost of repairs down, rather than making sure of the best outcome for their customer who was entirely the victim.
I am worried that the repairs will be done but the car will never be the same again. Also if my mother then attempts to sell the car this incident will show up on its history and any buyer would try to reduce the price because the car had been involved in an accident.
Anyone got any ideas? Is it worth inisiting on the insurer getting an independent garage to assess the damage and status of the car as a write-off or not. Can the car just be sold immediately for whatever price can be agreed and an amount of cash paid out based on the value of the car before it was hit?
I don't trust Norwich Union as far as I could throw them after watching documentary about their Insurance Assessors who on occassions seemed to turn down perfectly valid claims for spurious reasons.
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