Any insurance gurus around? Not at fault claim

After a bit of advice. I was hit from behind on Saturday. Bike is unrideable. I called my insurance to make them aware of the accident and liable parties details. They said they would deal with the claim against the 3rd party.

I have just had a call from Albany Assistance asking me to call them back about my claim. This is the firm that will be dealing with my courtesy vehicle and the repair or valuation of my bike.

I have looked online and the reviews are awful.

I don’t really know what to do from here. Would it be advisable to contact the 3rd party insurers or go back to my insurers (Hastings).

It appears some people have been stuck with the hire costs themselves as Albany have quoted unreasonable hire prices to the 3rd party and they have refused to pay it. You have to sign a credit agreement with Albany incase the 3rd party don’t pay out.

Any advice would be greatly received.

[timwilky]

Never agree a credit hire, daughter works in a solicitors specialising in recovering on behalf of motor insurance companies and curses credit hire as a scam.

I'll have a word with her when she gets home.

Thank you Tim, much appreciated.

I agree, dont sign no credit agreement, if they arnt trying their best to offer you a bike with no strings then dont touch it. They should as they get to recover the costs for the hire bike from the 3rd party.

Look at it quite basically, you were hit so in no way should you have to pay for anything.

I got hit (in a car) in April last year and everything I get offered I ask "Who is paying for it?" If the insurance company can not let me know in "black and white" it is the 3rd party or them, I'm not having it

[TamSV]

Albany did have a bit of a reputation for taking the p with their hire charges, leading to disputes with third party insurers. I think they might have got that sorted out as I haven't heard many stories lately - although I should stress I have no personal involvement with them. Check the dates on the reviews you've read.

Just so you know what's happening...

Albany are giving your insurer or broker a kickback for referring the claim to them. This reduces your insurers claims workload and also gives them an earning stream from claims. Albany arrange your replacement bike with a hire firm at a higher than market rate and receive a kick-back from the hire company. They fund the hire by effectively lending you the money to pay for it. This lets them add on interest and an admin fee - they need a credit hire agreement with you as evidence of this in order to be able to recover those costs from the third party.

They pass your bike on to their friendly repairer who charges a bit more than they need to for repair and gives another kick-back to Albany. Same goes for any transportation or storage companies that get involved.

Leaving aside whether the above is morally defensible, there isn't necessarily a problem for you with a credit agreement, although it's worth being wary. This is how most people get a replacement vehicle after a non-fault accident and the vast majority never have a problem. There is often an additional insurance that sits behind this to protect you from the credit charges if the accident management company cannot recover their outlay for any reason.

Read the T's & C's and ask the question "How will this come back to me?". The only correct answer should be if you are uncooperative or dishonest.

You have a few options, depending on whether you actually need a replacement bike and what your own financial situation is.

1. Make a claim against your own insurance if you have Comp cover and let them recover their outlay from the third party. You'll need to pay the excess initially and probably won't get a replacement vehicle (unless the repairer offers one). If your insurance is due soon, bear in mind your No Claims Bonus will be affected until the claim is resolved.

2. Make contact yourself with the third party insurer. They should have an interest in reducing their costs by dealing with you direct and might arrange repairs and give you a replacement bike for the duration (with no credit agreement). Some insurers are very good at this and some are dreadful - if they were all good there wouldn't be any need for accident management companies. Keep control of the situation - they're not really on your side.

3. Use an accident management company like Albany or one of the many others. Check how they're funding the replacement vehicle and what come back there may be on you. Ignore what you are told and read what you are asked to sign.

Try these people


http://www.ridersupport.co.uk/

Thanks a lot for everyone with your advice. After reading all the small print I am at the shame train of thought as you TamSV.

Albany are not repairing my bike, my insurers are using a different company to value the repair as they believe it to be a total loss (wait for the rant about lower than market value offer in the next week or two). They're just organising a courtesy bike.

I called Zenith who are underwriters for the 3rd party and they weren't interested in supplying me with a vehicle unless I used one of their repair agents to repair/value my bike. Obviously its in their best interest to get things done as cheap as possible.

Albany also supply you with an insurance policy FOC which states that as long as you are truthful and assist in any court case where the 3rd parties refuses to pay for the hire, you don't have to pay anything even if the other insurers don't pay out. Which may be why no one has complained in a while about their service. It seems a lot of the main insurers use them so I guess it works.

I cant see this being disputed as there is not many ways to try and cover up a rear end collision. He gave me all his details and even emailed me his policy on the spot.

One thing that does concern me is that he hasn't told his insurer about the accident yet. I ended up having to give them my version of events.

Hey, my dad is currently dealing with a insurance claim (non fault, 3rd party taken full responsiblity) Albany Assistance are dealing with the hire car & the organising what garage it gets repaired at. Like you I took to the Internet to see what people were saying about Albany & I read the same bad reviews! It made me very nervous about him signing any paperwork which could possibly land him footing the Bill for the claim when it's all supposedly covered by his insurance company! So far things are moving in the right direction, they were very informative about what their involvement is in the whole process & the courtesy car was arranged & his damaged vehicle picked up with no problems, phone calls & text messages have been received updating us as to what stage things are at. Currently can't complain about their involvement! Let's hope there's still no need to update my post with any negative news when the repair is complete & the claim fully resolved!
Hope this helps!?!? Claims are always a pain! The uncertainty of it all is a nightmare even when it obvious who is at fault!

Thanks Kanga. Its good to hear its not all bad reviews. To be fair, who comes on the internet to comment on an expected service? People normally come on to complain so straight away you get unbalanced reviews.

I hope your Dads is sorted in full!