Can I get some advice on what do to here?
On March 16th last, my father was driving towards home along a main road. Another car came out of a housing estate and hit the passenger side of my father’s car. My Dad is not someone who would be speeding – he has been driving over 50 years without a claim. At the time the other driver accepted 100% responsibility and asked for guards not to be called and said she would not go through her insurance. Names and phone numbers etc were exchanged.
The following day my father brought his car to the garage, (where he had only purchased the car a month earlier) to get a quote for repairs. He called the other party with the quote (€2,600) to be told she was now going through her insurance company. The said insurance company contacted my father and in turn made arrangements to go and see the damage caused by the accident, and then gave my father’s garage the approval to go ahead and repair.
My father had a replacement car for the duration of the repairs – approx. 2 weeks (took a few days for the assessor to actually go and see the damage). Car was returned to my father and everything seemed ok. Then last week my father received a letter from the other party’s insurance company saying the following:
“We fail to understand how you can hold our client responsible for this accident”.
My father rang this insurance company and explained the accident to them. He also told them the other party had accepted responsibility for the accident at the scene. They are denying this and say her story is very different to my father’s.
Luckily there is a witness to the accident – who 100% agrees with my father’s version of events. Following my father’s phone call, this person filed a report with this insurance company. This may/may not resolve the issue. Even if it does, the amount of stress it has caused my father seems totally unfair. In the last 2 years he has had serious health problems and this is not helping in any way.
Should I ring this other insurance company myself and read the riot act? Should I get a solicitor to handle it? Even if the witness’ report settles it – which I have no guarantee it will, I feel very angry that the insurance company in question would issue this letter. Why would their assessor give the approval for my father’s car to be repaired if they were not liable.
Any advice?
tnx
valc
On March 16th last, my father was driving towards home along a main road. Another car came out of a housing estate and hit the passenger side of my father’s car. My Dad is not someone who would be speeding – he has been driving over 50 years without a claim. At the time the other driver accepted 100% responsibility and asked for guards not to be called and said she would not go through her insurance. Names and phone numbers etc were exchanged.
The following day my father brought his car to the garage, (where he had only purchased the car a month earlier) to get a quote for repairs. He called the other party with the quote (€2,600) to be told she was now going through her insurance company. The said insurance company contacted my father and in turn made arrangements to go and see the damage caused by the accident, and then gave my father’s garage the approval to go ahead and repair.
My father had a replacement car for the duration of the repairs – approx. 2 weeks (took a few days for the assessor to actually go and see the damage). Car was returned to my father and everything seemed ok. Then last week my father received a letter from the other party’s insurance company saying the following:
“We fail to understand how you can hold our client responsible for this accident”.
My father rang this insurance company and explained the accident to them. He also told them the other party had accepted responsibility for the accident at the scene. They are denying this and say her story is very different to my father’s.
Luckily there is a witness to the accident – who 100% agrees with my father’s version of events. Following my father’s phone call, this person filed a report with this insurance company. This may/may not resolve the issue. Even if it does, the amount of stress it has caused my father seems totally unfair. In the last 2 years he has had serious health problems and this is not helping in any way.
Should I ring this other insurance company myself and read the riot act? Should I get a solicitor to handle it? Even if the witness’ report settles it – which I have no guarantee it will, I feel very angry that the insurance company in question would issue this letter. Why would their assessor give the approval for my father’s car to be repaired if they were not liable.
Any advice?
tnx
valc