Accident Timescales

[Mac]

We have just had a car accident.The car has been taken to the garage. Tomorrow I will go to our insurers with the paperwork. What I want to know is what are the timescales involved in dealing with claims? I think our car may be a right-off (getting hit by a lorry does that) and we need a car ASAP.Has anyone had to deal with the insurance system here (AXA are our insurers) and give me any idea.

[Sunday Driver]

The insurance company will appoint an expert to examine the car and provide an estimate of the cost of repairs.  If the cost is acceptable, the insurer will instruct the repairer to proceed with the repair.

If the cost of the repair exceeds the Argus value of the vehicle, the insurer will write it off.  If so, then they must make you a total loss offer within fifteen days of receiving the expert's report.  You then have thirty days in which to accept or reject the insurer's offer.

The variable in this time scale is the time it takes for the expert to organise his visit to the repairer to examine the car.

Note that if you have any recent high value receipts for work done on the car, then if you pass them to the expert, he will adjust his valuation upwards to take the 'improvements' into account.  In the case of my own accident, I had recent receipts for a new set of tyres and a replacement turbo and the repairer's receptionist told me to drop them in to her and she'd make sure the expert got them.

 

[Poppy]

Hello Mac, I had an accident on 14 September I am insured with AXA and car is a write off. The offer came from the Expert on the 29th September. We tried to contest offer but received letter dated 3rd October with same offer, we signed car over to insurance yesterday 7th October.

One of our problems was no transport so we bought an old banger. Axa said that if we rented a car they might be able to claim costs from other drivers insurance, but we couldn't risk the loss. It might be worth asking your agent if Axa will reimburse car hire.