THE ONLY WAY YOU LEARN IF AN INSURANCE COMPANY IS GOOD OR BAD, IS WHEN YOU MAKE A CLAIM!!
I had an accident in 2001. I was stationary, when an on-coming car scraped the side of my car. He admitted liability. I asked to see his insurance documents, he said it was in his house. I WENT BACK TO HIS HOUSE WITH HIM. However, he told me HIS insurance certificate was locked with his father's papers and that he was out. However, I was satisfied given that I had been to his home.
Some weeks later, Churchill told me the other party were denying any knowledge, they were claiming the car had been sold prior to the accident. They provided the address of the "alleged" buyer; this address was found to be "boarded up". The DVLA had no record of change of owners!
The car was not registered in the young driver's name, but someone else at the same house (probably his uncle /father). However, the Uncle was abroad at the time of the accident.
Churchill told me they could do nothing, unless I could identify the driver!?.
I went to their house AGAIN, but they claimed they did not know the young driver and told me THEIR brother no longer lived there!! I could they tell me this even though I had been there only a few weeks before!!!.
I really don't know what more I could have done. I gave the insurance company, the young driver's mobile number and the land line number of the house.
This young driver, had put the car insurance in his father/uncle's name because insurance is cheaper for older drivers.
Anyways, I could do nothing, since I had no way of finding where the young driver now lived!. I contacted the Police who told me it is a CIVIL MATTER. And the insurance company told me they cannot do anything more!
The only way to get my car repaired was to claim on MY insurance.
I faced the prospect of a bill of £250 (policy excess), plus an extra £600-800 in the future because of loosing my No Claims Bonus (NCB)!!
IN MY VIEW CHURCHILL HAD LEFT ME DOWN. THEY DID NOT PURSUE THE CLAIM AGRRESIVELY. CHURCHILL STAFF ARE JUST TOO LAID BACK AND THEY WANT AN EASY LIFE!. IF IT WAS THEIR OWN CAR THAT HAD BEEN HIT, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE LIKE A ROCKWEILLER!!
I think it is grossly unfair, it their claims department cannot fight for my why should I loose my NCB and Policy Excess?
In the end I gave up, it was was going to cost me too much to claim on my insurance. I would be out of pocket of £1000!
The damage is still on my car.....
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I must admit the one time I've had to claim off Churchill they were spot on and my whole claim was finalised within 6 days of the accident.
marcellep 27.05.2005 19:31
Helen has said it all. You will be amazed how people try and get out of a claim. I was hit whilst stopped at traffic lights, the driver admitted straight away that he was at fault. I thought great, When I contacted NU to advise of claim I told them the TP admitted his fault. Within days I had a letter stating that I over shot the white line then reversed in to the TP. As I have a sound understanding of the insuarnce industry I was able to place the blame on him without to much of a fight. I always say to anyone that I spoke to regarding claims try not blame the insurer they can only do so much. Rob
helencbradshaw 27.05.2005 18:10
I guess the point of insurance is to keep you on the road, it wasnt necessarily the company's fault if the driver lacked integrity and there is no TP to recover from. The lengths some people will go to to avoid a claim are amzing though - a guy once hit me when i was stationary at a light and had been for a couple of minutes. Later on his claim he said I reversed into him! It was settled in my favour nevertheless as his claim was not credible.
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May 27th, 2005
somewhat helpful by (100%):
