Insurance claim - non-fault accident

Looking for a bit of advice please. My mum spends most of her time in Spain but comes back here a few times a year and keeps a flat near me, and I keep a Nissan Micra for her to use when she's here (she pays for it, but it's registered to me and insured by me with her as a named driver).

She was in an accident on Saturday where she pulled out from the side of the road onto a normal 2-lane road, 30mph limit, and immediately afterwards someone pulled out straight into the side of her. His car has front end damage, my Micra has damaged to the wing, both doors and rear arch, and the A-pillar is properly bent, front wheel has quite a bit of negative camber so suspension is bent, front door has a gap of 4" to the roof so letting in water. It's an 05 reg and otherwise a nice car, but will be write-off for sure. No injuries to anyone. Other driver admitted fault there and then, and between him and his passenger they decided it was his passenger's fault for telling him it was safe to go.

I tried to phone my insurance company (AXA) to report it just after it happened on sat evening. Spent an hour on hold before my phone died. Called back Sunday morning, got an out of hours call centre who said they could take the details and pass them onto AXA on Wednesday! Or I could wait til Monday to report it to AXA directly.

So I called AXA on Monday to report it, and the claims handler took all the details, then said because the car is insured TPF+T the claim is closed. I explained I'm not trying to claim my own insurance, already explained my mum wasn't at fault and the other driver admitted fault, so I want them to pursue the 3rd party's insurer to make a claim. He said they don't do that, and I would need to pursue them to make a claim. So I asked if he could tell me who the other driver is insured with (driver thought it was co-op) and he said it turns out he's insured with AXA too! So I said aren't you able to put two and two together...? So he put me on hold and then came back on to tell me he's passed on all the details and they'd need to speak to the third party to get his account of the accident before they can continue.

So I called back 24 hours later and didn't mention I'm insured with AXA right away, just explained I wanted to claim against the 3rd party for crashing into my car and after being on hold for half an hour managed to get told that the 3rd party reported the accident to the out-of-hours service at the weekend and they've got the details. So I asked what happens now? She told me they need to wait for the 3rd party to get in contact to give them his account of the accident. I asked what happens if he doesn't get in touch? She said they'll contact him. WHEN??? I explained my car is stuck on my driveway, undeiveable, letting in water etc. She basically just shrugged it off. It's now 5 days since the accident and still have had no contact from AXA.

Am I being thick in expecting things to happen rather more quickly and expect some contact from them? What would happen if the car couldn't be driven home after the accident? Judging by AXA's customer service it would still be lying at the side of the road and they would just say it's my responsibility. Starting to think I should just go straight to one of these ambulance-chaser accident management companies and let them deal with it to save me the bother. I know they're only really interested in making cash from courtesy cars and injuries though, and I don't need a courtesy car.

I'd threaten them with going non fault and see if they pull their finger out, if they don't, then just go non fault any way. Insurance companies are generally very slow at doing anything except taking your money

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Originally Posted by Mike41288

I'd threaten them with going non fault and see if they pull their finger out, if they don't, then just go non fault any way. Insurance companies are generally very slow at doing anything except taking your money

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When you say non-fault do you mean one of these accident management companies? We've got one that my company use but they're only interested if you've been rear-ended.

If you have gone TPFT then I doubt you took the legal assist. :(

If you have legal assistance, then you should contact whoever you have the legal assistance from and ask them to pursue the claim for you.

You might be able to get AXA to be more cooperative by pointing out that you have, as yet, not got anyone else involved and telling them that both parties are insured through AXA. As a blind bluff, this might work.

Sadly, all you have achieved so far is to tell AXA to increase your future premiums as a non-fault claim increases your risk rating meaning your insurance will go up on renewal even though it was a non-fault claim.

Thanks for the advice :)

I don’t think I took out legal cover. TBH it’s a £1000 car that gets used a few times a year by me or the missus, and for a few weeks of the year by my mum & dad so just wanted the insurance to be as cheap as possible, same with the running costs (£30 per year road tax, 60+mpg) so it can sit doing nothing most of the year and not really cost anything. Will know better next time.

Still hadn’t heard anything yesterday afternoon so tried to phone them on my work phone and my mobile (just in case they answered one quicker than the other) and gave up at 5pm after 90 mins on hold. Their service is a disgrace. I posted a complaint to their FB page and got a response within half an hour. Someone from customer services is looking into it for me and was very apologetic, and said he’ll get someone from the claims team to get back to me with an update within 2 working days but hopefully sooner he said.

This is the first time I’ve ever had to make a claim and I just assumed it would be so much easier than this. I’m used to dealing with RSA to raise non-fault claims on our rental fleet at work and it’s always been so much more straight-forward, and they actually get back to you same day or next day to give an update. Will never use AXA again after this.

first of all take a load of pictures if you haven't already. even the scene and the other guys car.

I think you should just go and see an accident management company. a good portion of them will just buy your claim off you then chase the insurance company.
they will recover your car and put it in their yard and it will incur storage charges which will make AXA pull their finger out.
its not an overnight process, an engineer will have to see your cars damage either in person or via digital images to assess the damage and the accident circumstances then value/write your car off.

I used to deal with axa when I was in this game and they were pretty useless. I think if they are the insurers for both partys then they will be looking to mitigate their costs so will low ball you for sure. they will also take their time as its not in their interests to give money out.

I don't know any management company's that far up north to suggest sadly.

Finally got a call back from a claims handler today who was very apologetic, but to be fair it is within 2 working days so not complaining. He said since the 3rd party reported the accident they haven’t been able to get hold of him, and unfortunately he’s provided them with a conflicting version of events! He said the 3rd party is saying it was more 50/50, but also his statement isn’t clear. So he sent me a claim form, asked for photos, sketches of the accident scene etc, and he said they’re able to make a decision on liability even if they’re not able to speak to him. So fingers crossed it’s dealt with fairly speedily now, or they at least keep me informed with what’s happening.

Also from speaking to my mum to work out exactly on the road this took place, it turns out she pulled out from the side of the road, drove past a junction and carried for about another 50 yards before this chap ran into the side of her, so to me and hopefully AXA it sounds like it was 100% the 3rd party’s fault.

After chasing up AXA again I finally got a call and an email to say the 3rd party’s insurer has admitted liability so it’s now been passed to a company called Action365 who have been in contact to make arrangement to recover the car and deliver a courtesy car. Only took 3 weeks!

Why are they sending a courtesy car?

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Originally Posted by R3K1355

Why are they sending a courtesy car?

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Because the 3rd party was liable, so offered a courtesy car while mine is being “repaired”, but in reality it’ll be written off so I’ll probably only have the car for a couple of weeks. I don’t desperately need a courtesy car but my mum might need to come back shortly, in which case she’ll need wheels. Micra was recovered today, Enterprise giving me a car tomorrow.