In January this year I had a minor car accident, which was not my fault. The other party was reversing the wrong way up a one-way street and collided with me as I attempted to cross a junction. I informed my insurers, Elephant, part of the Admiral Group, and at first everything seemed fairly smooth. The collection of my vehicle was arranged and I was to contact Albany Assistance, the legal services arm of Admiral, to arrange vehicle hire. Albany informed me that it was a no-fault situation and that my excess would not be payable and I would have a replacement vehicle within a week.
For reasons I'm still unsure about, I could not be provided with a courtesy car and was left without a car for three weeks, incurring train and bus fare costs of at least £200. I was then informed by Albany that my car had been written off because the damage was so extensive. It was only then that I was provided with a hire car.
Then, sometime later, I was informed that my car had been repaired and was ready for me to collect. The adviser informed me that the write-off had been a mistake and that they had repaired my car.
Elephant is now requesting I pay my excess in order to retrieve my vehicle from the garage. I refuse to. Firstly, they informed me my car was a write-off and did not tell me of an intention to fix the vehicle and, secondly, they assured me I would not have to pay my £600 excess.
I am hoping you will be able to assist me in my claim to get my insurer to give me my car and compensate me accordingly for the time, energy and money. IR, Hereford
Your claim was complicated because, unbeknown to you, Albany was having difficulty contacting the other driver's insurance company. Admiral had since issued legal proceedings against the other insurer because it is continuing to deny liability. Albany should have told you this straight away, rather than leaving you wondering why you had been refused a hire car and subsequently leaving you with a lot of hassle and travel costs. Admiral has apologised on Albany's behalf.
Because Albany could not get an acceptance of liability from the other insurer you then agreed to claim under your comprehensive policy and pay the excess on completion of the repairs. This is standard practice, with the insurer claiming this money back once (if) an admission of liability is received. It has a recording of a conversation in which you acknowledged you understood this was the case.
The waters were then muddied further because Admiral disagreed with the company repairing your vehicle that your car was a write-off. Its in-house engineer decided the car could be repaired. Admiral should have told you this straight away but, due to a "slight backlog", didn't get in touch with you for another week, so you were oblivious to the change of heart. Admiral messed you about by changing its mind about the repair of your car but, as it says, whether the car was repaired or not you would have still had to pay the excess.
In the meantime it debited the renewal fee for your policy – £1,500 – from your account. You were not happy as you did not want to renew and cancelled the policy but it retained £156.87, which covered the time you were on cover with Admiral after the renewal date.
You still have to pay your excess, as explained, but, since we became involved, Admiral has agreed to waive the £156.87 and will also pay you £200 by way of apology as it obviously hasn't handled your claim very well. It also says it will reimburse you the cost of the calls you have had to make chasing your claim. We have since learned that the other party has now accepted liability, so you will get your £600 excess back too.
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