Advice required
i am an 82 year old caravanner, I've been towing vans around europe and the uk for over forty years and I have just recently had my first bump. My own fault, no one else was involved, and no one was injured(only my pride).
However, when i submitted my claim to my insurer, they passed me to a claims handling company, this is new to me. They asked me to get a quote for the repairs, which I have done. when I sent it off to them they instructed a firm of loss assessors to handle the claim. They in turn are to instruct a "local independent loss assessor" to look at my van.
As I said, all this is new to me but it seems that my " local independent loss assessor" can only have one function, which is to try to reduce the cost of the repairs by an amount equal to the sum of his fees plus the cost of his employers fees and the cost of the claim handling company's fees.Plus making a profit for my insurer. The repairers will not want to accept this which means that I will be the one who pays it all in the end.
Have I got this wrong , does anyone have experience in these matters, can anyone tell me what expect
Comments
-
I suggest you contact the cc legal department who may be able to assist you.
0 -
Its the way the insurance industry works. They stand the financial liability and then there is whole layer of assessors, claims management, and loss assessors who shop around to try and get the best outcome for all concerned.
You do not necessarily have to agree with their assessment of the repairs needed or indeed the nominated company to carry out the repair. I can only speak from experience of a car claim but they were approachable and reasonable.
Its a competitive business where time is money so they want a swift acceptable outcome. The handling companies are rated by the insurance companies and they want you to be satisfied with the service.
0 -
I have worked in insurance claims for many years. It sounds as though the handling is being done in an inefficient way by the insurer but you should not worry about the appointment of an assessor as it is standard practice.
Basically the insurer has an estimate, which may or may not be correct, what the insurer is doing is getting an expert (or so you would hope) to examine the damage and check that what is on the estimate is correct, and the price for the work is reasonable. If they did not do this unscrupulous repairers would hike up the estimate to inflate their profits so you have to be able to check these..
I had an accident last year and an assessor was appointed. The estimate I had was very reasonable and the estimate was accepted and the work authorised at the estimate level.
It is very rare that the assessor will not come to an agreement on the cost of the repair but if that happens he will have to justify his figures and the insurer will need to find someone else to do it for them.
Some companies do use claims handling firms to process their claims rather than running a claims department of their own but it should make no difference to you.
Why they use assessors in the wrong area and rely on them to find one in the correct area beats me, as it possibly adds cost and delay, but it makes no difference to you beyond that.
1 -
thanks for your advice everyone.I admit that I still have reservations about the appointment of a loss assessor in Essex when I live in South Yorkshire, and apparently my "local independent loss assessor" is in fact about a hundred miles away on the North York Moors. But thanks anyway.
0 -
Top tip.........if you have any receipts, service records etc..... then get these ready. Not a bump, but a theft in our case. We had receipts for everything to do with our theft, got every single penny back, plus extras for some repairs to smashed garage doors! Baffle 'em with efficiency and honesty, they're not used to it, and it pays dividends.
1
