Kind of legal advice wanted

[Dr Frigo]

Back in Feb I brushed my car on the side of a London bus. Was my fault and I stopped. We both looked at our damage, my car's door and wing were scraped, but the driver said he had no damage (I didn't check). He asked if I still wanted his details for a possible insurance claim, and I gave him mine.

A month later I received a letter from the bus company's insurance, asking me to get in touch with my insurers regarding damage to the bus.

I wrote back to them explaining the situation, ie that the driver verbally acknowledged on the day that he had no damage, and that I didn't file an insurance claim as damage to my car was minimal. I also wrote to the bus company to tell them I couldn't know for sure that the damage to the bus, if any, was done on the day, as the driver had said he had none.

Now three months letter I get another letter from the bus insurers, including a bill for repair of £400+, asking me to either contact my insurers or repay it myself.

Not to sure where I stand now (having never had an accident in 15 years). Go back and re-state what I said the first time? Get it settled via my comprehensive insurance scheme (what's the repercussion on future insurance costs?). Else?

Thanks

[Dominic]

The easiest thing to do is to pass the bill to your insurance company now. Send it under a covering letter explaining the details of the accident and the part about the lack of damage. Once you have done that if there is any further correspondence from the insurance compay refer the bus company to them.

You have comprehensive insurance and are probably paying a hefty price for it in London so let them, the insurance company do the work for you, that is in effect what you are paying them for. Insurance companies as we all know don't like paying money out so will fight it all the way. If they pay I wouldn't thing a claim of £400 would add much to your premium but it is worth asking them just to check.

The only other suggestion would be either pay the bill or contest it in a court neither of which is a very palatable option in the circumtances that you have described.

[Dr Frigo]

Cheers for that Dominic, that was my feeling too.

[Andrew G]

With most fully comp insurance, or if you have full no claims discount, you will have a protected NCB (no claims bonus). Check your cover note, or with insurers, if this is so. If that is the case you can normally have up to 2 full claims in a 3 year spell without losing your NCB. This means that any penalty to your premium will be negligable. You will probably have an excess on your policy so check what this is. e.g. if it's £100 you will only get £300 from the insurers and have to foot £100 yourself. When phoning the insurers make sure that if you are not happy with what the explanation, or what you are being told by them, that you ask to speak to the claims adjuster. This way you'll speak to somebody who knows what they are talking about (and handling your claim) rather than just any telesales operator.

You could also ask for proof of damage, i.e. photos and/or repair quote. If you go through your insurers they should do this for you.

Always protect your NCB as the premium addition for this is quite small for the benefit.

Good luck,
Andrew.

[Dr Frigo]

Thanks for that, do indeed need to check what my excess is.

[Paul H]

You will be lucky if your premium does not go up even with NCB. I had an accident which was not my fault and paid for by the other insurer and my premium went up as I was classed as a higher risk eventhough I had NCB.

Have you admitted liability? I would make sure the bill is for damage that you caused and ask for proof etc and generally make things hard for them before handing other money or insurance details.

Paul

[Alan M]

It seems to me that in the absence of any damage to the bus you should advise your insurance company that there was none and to act on your behalf to secure your NCB and to maintain the price of your premium. That is, unless they can provide evidence of the damage and its connection to the incident. Unless you have already admitted liability there is also no reason to do so - you could simply take the position in your report that the 2 vehicles colided and it was difficult to determine fault, in which case the bus co will need to refer to its own insurers unless they can find independent witnesses.

[Andrew G]

Your premium shouldn't go up for a no fault claim, and your risk status shouldn't alter, unless other conditions do. Premium rates have been steadily climbing for the last few years so everyones premium has tended to go up, or reduce by less. More or less every insurer in the world has got hit somewhere down the line with claims resulting from September 11th or Hurricane Katrina etc, so all premiums for all insurance has tended to go up to cover the bills.

Often with car insurance you get a good introductory deal, then the 2nd year they'll match it to keep you. 3rd year they tend to think you can't be bothered phoning around and cancelling direct debits so the premium goes up, often by a lot to cover the previous inducements. Unfortunately the only way to avoid it is change every 2 years.

Also we have to pay more to cover all the 18 year olds taking out huge loans so they can buzz us on bikes in their Subarus

[Alex P]

Sylvain, I agree with Alan and fight it. If bus / transport companies are anything like the one I work for then a huge element of vehicle cost goes on 'undue wear and tear' to the extent before any of our lorries goes out of the depot they are inspected and a scratch sheet completed by the driver and signed off by the transport supervisor.

If any new damage to the bodywork is identified the driver either has to produce an insurance claim (preferably somebody elses fault) or they get 'nailed'

[Dr Frigo]

Thanks all, my excess is a hefty £350 (does that seem average or abnormally high? I only have one year NCB), so hardly worth going through my insurance (Elephant). I'll have another go at contesting the damage.