Insurance - cost of claim

Fey!

18 months ago I had a single vehicle crash where I came off a roundabout, skidded, turned 180 degress, dropped down a 2 metre embankment and went through a wall at the bottom.

My Surf was written off, and I left a 2-3 metre gap in the wall.

AXAs engineers told me that they'd replace my vehicle, only to turn around 4 months later to tell me that they couldn't; apparently they onle replace cars worth over €5,000, and mine was only insured for €3,000 (which was about right for it). As I had a commercial insurance policy I didn't have any replacement car, and towing from the accident site was done by the AA.

I got a quote of €750 to repair the damaged wall, and got €2,750 for my car after 4 months (for which time I had no car). So the whole quote should have been €3,500 + administration fees.

It's now the end of my insurance year, so I'm looking to renew with AXA. They asked the usual any accidents question and asked how much my claim was for. I gave them my figures, only for them to tell me that the claim was actually for €5,541.

The administration fee was €364.52, which is fine. However, the wall for which we had a quote of €750 to repair had €2,400 paid for it (and it's still in bits on the ground!!). This figure was approved by their in house engineer/adjuster, who would have had a copy of the quotation to repair.

Is it any wonder that our premiums are so high (I'm just thankful that I had my no claims bonus protected).

thebiglad

Fey! wrote: »

18 months ago I had a single vehicle crash where I came off a roundabout, skidded, turned 180 degress, dropped down a 2 metre embankment and went through a wall at the bottom.

My Surf was written off, and I left a 2-3 metre gap in the wall.

AXAs engineers told me that they'd replace my vehicle, only to turn around 4 months later to tell me that they couldn't; apparently they onle replace cars worth over €5,000, and mine was only insured for €3,000 (which was about right for it). As I had a commercial insurance policy I didn't have any replacement car, and towing from the accident site was done by the AA.

I got a quote of €750 to repair the damaged wall, and got €2,750 for my car after 4 months (for which time I had no car). So the whole quote should have been €3,500 + administration fees.

It's now the end of my insurance year, so I'm looking to renew with AXA. They asked the usual any accidents question and asked how much my claim was for. I gave them my figures, only for them to tell me that the claim was actually for €5,541.

The administration fee was €364.52, which is fine. However, the wall for which we had a quote of €750 to repair had €2,400 paid for it (and it's still in bits on the ground!!). This figure was approved by their in house engineer/adjuster, who would have had a copy of the quotation to repair.

Is it any wonder that our premiums are so high (I'm just thankful that I had my no claims bonus protected).

Your NCB may be protected but the base premium may still have had a claims loading applied to it! Also, if you move insurers you will have to notify that you had an at fault accident in which case you no longer have full NCB. It is only protected with AXA.

The repair estimate you saw for the wall obviously inflated after it went to the insurer - they are not in the business of paying 3 x estimate to settle a claim. There must have been a claim for emotional distress, loss of amenity or even a revised estimate but it is probably fully justified.

Ask AXA to explain the costs to you - they may not go into great detail but at least may give a general overview of what types of things they paid. Also ask them did the cost of the claim have any effect on your premium.

Don't understand what the administration fee is all about - if Axa managed this claim themselves where are the costs?

Fey!

AXA used an external assessor to look at the road and the vehicle, and I understood that they were also using external engineers to assess the vehicle value, which would explain the administration fees.

As for the wall costs, it was a 1 metre high block wall with steel through the top (which opened the side of the car like a can opener; I don't know how this can bu used in a wall in an high accident location adjacent to a roadway). The wall was to an empty field, and we had blocked the gap so that the field could be used for livestock if they wanted to, with no fear of the animals escaping.

When it comes to changing insurers you are right about having to tell the new insurer about any accidents. However, if you had your no claims protected you had it insured, so you can still avail of your full no claims with the new insurer. The old insurer will give you a letter stating that you had an accident, but the letter should show that you have a full no claims (or partial if you had step-back protection).

I went through this several years ago moving from FBD to AXA.

Fey!

A quick update to this is that the construction company who owned the wall attempted to charge €4,313 for the repair, which is nearly 6 time what a "normal" builder quoted!!!

scoobymunster

I'd say the owners probably claimed to knock the whole thing down and rebuild. Whether they will use the money to actually rebuild is another thing. I'm not saying it's true in this case, but I have come across a few cases where the owner has submitted mental amounts in "damages" just for the sake of a claim. There was a write up in a local paper last year where the judged laughed when the homeowner was claiming for 10K in damage for a partially smashed brick wall.