Hello, I wonder if anyone can help this owner driver please regarding his insurance claim. I have copied and pasted it over from the Money Saving Expert Forum. I though someone on here might have some knowledge and be able to help. I can copy and past replies back if you are not registered with the MSE Forum. If you are and can reply direct, this is the link to the post. Please help if you can. Thank you. Ilona ex Lady Trucker. forums.moneysavingexpert.com/sho … ?t=4493325
Insurance help, please.
I wonder if anyone can help. My hubby is an owner/driver of an HGV. 4 weeks ago he was asleep in his cab when an DHL driver backed into him and severly damaged his passenger door. The DHL driver apologised, took details etc. My hubby contacted his insurance. He was parked (and asleep in bunk!) - clear cut case. However, 4 weeks on and hubby is still in lorry where passenger door doesn’t open and leaks in bad weather. My hubby’s lorry insurance is ‘waiting’ for DHL to accept liability. Today, they have given him a choice - continue waiting for DHL to admit liability or to go ahead and have work done claiming on his own insurance (then they pursue DHL) but this means that hubby has effectively claimed on his own insurance and therefore premiums will be affected next year. Is this right? My hubby was asleep in a legal parking area and someone backed into him …it seems so unfair that this is going to cost him/us. We are really struggling to make ends meet what with rising petrol costs etc and it’s a headache we could have really done without. Can anyone advise, please? Thanking you in advance.
Hi one thing to remember is nothing is simple where insurance company’s are concerned
Iv been in a similar situation before like yours
If the claim has been reported to your insurance company weather you get the truck repaired on your insurance or wait for them to cough up until its settled either way it still gies against you
My advise is get it repaired on your insurance then your insurance will chase the third party for there money back
Bear in mind you will have to pay your excess normally 500 quid and the vat on the repairs of course this will all be re embersed to you if and when the claim goes in your favour
Wait it out and let the two insurances companies argue it out.
Get your own insurance company to pay for the damage and down time on the understanding that they persue payment from the other party.
Get a quote and pro former invoice for the work, Then claim directly from the other parties insurance company.
However, If you go down the route of number 3, Read your policy thoroughly, You could breach your conditions. I’m not saying you will, But it’s got to be looked at.
you could try sending DHL a solicitors letter stating that you will be taking them to court to recover the costs, this usually helps them decide to cough up
you will find that if you don’t keep pushing them, the bigger companies will let it drag on and on in the hope that you will drop it
If it’s only the door skin that has been damaged then I might be tempted to pay for the repairs myself and then send DHL a bill for costs of the repairs and my own costs, say £1,000, giving them 30 days to pay up, then I’d issue a Small Claims Court action against them. It would cost them more to defend it than to pay up.
i did 3k of damage to my own truck, claimed on my own insurance, as stated above i paid £350 excess and the Vat but i had protected NCB so my premium didnt change next year {well actually it went down by £210}
Harry Monk:
If it’s only the door skin that has been damaged then I might be tempted to pay for the repairs myself and then send DHL a bill for costs of the repairs and my own costs, say £1,000, giving them 30 days to pay up, then I’d issue a Small Claims Court action against them. It would cost them more to defend it than to pay up.
I think I’d favour this route and probably get the door from a breakers and do it as cheaply as possible in case it didn’t pan out.
Did you get photos of the incident? If you have, and as you say that you were parked legally and prove that with the tacho and photos, put it through your insurance straight away and let their solictors fight it because that’s what you pay them for. If you didn’t take photos then you’ve made a basic mistake that we’ve all done at some point .
Thank you all very much for posting. I have copied and posted all those above into the MSE Forum. The owner drivers wife has been back to read them, and has posted this message.
Can’t thank you all enough for the clear advise/explanations…especially to Ilona for posting on truckers forum for me. Unfortunately the damage is door, panel x 2 (I think), wing mirror…was really quite extensive.I am not really sure but two quotes were around £2500. We just don’t have the money to pay vat as well as excess. Like most owner drivers my hubby kept his truck really well - he lives in it 5 days a week so is his home.
Could someone clarify the ‘insurance claims company’ that has been mentioned? I take it this is the insurance equivalent of ‘no win no fee solicitor’ type thing? Again, no money to pay out in advance if required. My hubby is entitled to a hired lorry through own insurance but he told them he would play fair and stick with his own (really it’s because his truck is his home and has everything he needs in situ…microwave, tv etc). Of course they thanked him and said it would be sorted very quickly as was a clear case but now they don’t seem too interested in chasing DHL…or if they are chasing DHL, DHL don’t care. I suggested to hubby to park lorry up and start using hire lorry as his insurance probably would chase it up quicker as costs mount. Prob is, if DHL keep this up for any period of time and hubby has to pay VAT etc it could finish us…there is simply no extra money in the pot.
This whole saga gets me so down…it’s always the ‘little man’ who ends up paying even when the big companies are clearly at fault. Thanks again for all the replies…I will read them to hubby tomorrow.
They have the link to check back here.
Thanks again.
Ilona
Many insurance policies include a small amount- normally £25- for “legal protection”. Most folk just think of it as just some type of tax but it isn’t, it’s insurance which pays for you to get a solicitor in times such as this. If legal protection was paid with the premium, then I’d suggest going down this route.
If the vat is that much of a problem then time the repairs to fall in with the quarter end so you are only putting it up for a week or two
But tbh £500 shouldnt be too much of a struggle for someone running a truck, after all if you needed a couple of tyres you would have to find the money
I dont mean to sound negative but theres running a tight ship and theres knowing when enoughs enough
Having reflected on this a bit more, I think I would possibly take the hire lorry and cling on to it like grim death rather than wearing my own one out.
I would get on the phone to DHL and see if they will pay for the damage to be repaired and save any ballache with the insurance.
Tata damaged a trailer i was tipping at Northwich early this year and admitted liable they paid the 2 grand repair bill direct and i did’nt have to pay anything or claim on insurance.
On the other hand a DHL lorry reversed into me at about 1am. By 9am the van was en route to be repaired and a hire van was sitting there. All it took was one phone call to them to dot the t’s and cross the i’s.
Fair to say I was very happy with the swift and efficient way everything was handled.
An important point that may have been overlooked, is you may not be dealing with an Insurance company with DHL. They may have opted for self insurance.
It’s been a long time since i did my CPC, and I can’t remember the minimum that needs to be set aside - £15k rings a bell from my CPC days.
If it is self insurance. Then a claim through the small claims court, via moneyclaimonline may be the best route.
greendalef:
It’s been a long time since i did my CPC, and I can’t remember the minimum that needs to be set aside - £15k rings a bell from my CPC days.
A long time? When did you take it, 1895?
Self-insuring is an alternative to traditional vehicle insurance policies. It’s something to be taken up on a company-by-company basis, and involves lodging a £500,000 sum with the Government that works as a bond
greendalef:
It’s been a long time since i did my CPC, and I can’t remember the minimum that needs to be set aside - £15k rings a bell from my CPC days.
A long time? When did you take it, 1895?
Self-insuring is an alternative to traditional vehicle insurance policies. It’s something to be taken up on a company-by-company basis, and involves lodging a £500,000 sum with the Government that works as a bond
Just checked my certificate 1992 for national, 1993 for international - steam driven trucks then
£500k is still peanuts for a company like DHL to lodge.
.
Just checked my certificate 1992 for national, 1993 for international - steam driven trucks then