VERY UNHAPPY with Greenlight and Highway
16 November 2005, 01:45 PM
#1
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VERY UNHAPPY with Greenlight and Highway
I don't care that Greenlight sponsor this forum, I am still going to let everyone know what the service has been like through them since having a minor accident over a week ago.
To sum it up its been a diabolical service and this is why:
I have the accident on the Friday night. I exchange details etc and then look into getting it all sorted on the Saturday morning. So I open up my Greenlight Insurance pack first thing Saturday morning and see the claims number. I call it and it goes to a company called Angel. They take all my details in great depth and I think great all is in hand.
By Wednesday I have heard nothing, no phone calls or nothing in the post. So I call Greenlight. They know nothing of my accident. They call Angel. They know nothing of my accident. For whatever reason Angel didn't actually log any of my details on the Saturday morning and had no history of what I had told them.
So then while at work I have to call Angel again and go through the whole process again. They then transfer me to Highway my insurance company and I have to go through exactly the same process with them even though I have just told Angel everything. This all takes a very long time when I had already been through this on the Saturday.
Then I find out that Highway wont repair my car with manufacturers parts but only with QRP parts which in my opinion will be inferior cheap copies of parts
I have demended my car be repaired by a dealer but before they agree to that I have to get a quote from my dealership and fax it to them and if they think its too expensive then they will only repair it at one of their 'approved' garages, ie with cheap sh!tty parts
So now I am having to deal with both Highway directly and Angel and double up on all my conversations and never know which one should be dealing with what
Where is the service by where you make one phone call and deal with one company and everything is taken care of for you? I have had to deal with the approved car repair company instead of the broker/insurance company/angel assistance dealing with them. I have to get quotes done if I want it repaired properly.
In my opinion its the worst experience I have ever had with dealing with insurance companies When a company provides me with a good quote I don't expect that to mean that if my car needs repairing it will be repaired with non manufacturers parts and cheap copies instead
Anyone else had similar experiences?
Anyone had an accident whereby their insurance company has been excellent and dealt with everything efficiently and provided an excellent service and if so who were they as I will be looking around come renewal time as I never want to have to go through this ridiculous mess again?!
Oh and to top it off I have to pay the £350 excess to get my car repaired even though I am claiming against the other driver and then apparently Angel will try and claim that back for me Well hello I don't want to claim on my insurance as I want to claim against the other side yet I still have to pay my excess Total rip off and just as well I had my no claims discount protected. Wonder how much the premium will go up by anyway just because they are making me pay the excess and claim through them until its sorted out?!
To sum it up its been a diabolical service and this is why:
I have the accident on the Friday night. I exchange details etc and then look into getting it all sorted on the Saturday morning. So I open up my Greenlight Insurance pack first thing Saturday morning and see the claims number. I call it and it goes to a company called Angel. They take all my details in great depth and I think great all is in hand.
By Wednesday I have heard nothing, no phone calls or nothing in the post. So I call Greenlight. They know nothing of my accident. They call Angel. They know nothing of my accident. For whatever reason Angel didn't actually log any of my details on the Saturday morning and had no history of what I had told them.
So then while at work I have to call Angel again and go through the whole process again. They then transfer me to Highway my insurance company and I have to go through exactly the same process with them even though I have just told Angel everything. This all takes a very long time when I had already been through this on the Saturday.
Then I find out that Highway wont repair my car with manufacturers parts but only with QRP parts which in my opinion will be inferior cheap copies of parts
I have demended my car be repaired by a dealer but before they agree to that I have to get a quote from my dealership and fax it to them and if they think its too expensive then they will only repair it at one of their 'approved' garages, ie with cheap sh!tty parts So now I am having to deal with both Highway directly and Angel and double up on all my conversations and never know which one should be dealing with what
Where is the service by where you make one phone call and deal with one company and everything is taken care of for you? I have had to deal with the approved car repair company instead of the broker/insurance company/angel assistance dealing with them. I have to get quotes done if I want it repaired properly.
In my opinion its the worst experience I have ever had with dealing with insurance companies
When a company provides me with a good quote I don't expect that to mean that if my car needs repairing it will be repaired with non manufacturers parts and cheap copies instead Anyone else had similar experiences?
Anyone had an accident whereby their insurance company has been excellent and dealt with everything efficiently and provided an excellent service and if so who were they as I will be looking around come renewal time as I never want to have to go through this ridiculous mess again?!
Oh and to top it off I have to pay the £350 excess to get my car repaired even though I am claiming against the other driver and then apparently Angel will try and claim that back for me
Well hello I don't want to claim on my insurance as I want to claim against the other side yet I still have to pay my excess Total rip off and just as well I had my no claims discount protected. Wonder how much the premium will go up by anyway just because they are making me pay the excess and claim through them until its sorted out?!
Last edited by Bravo2zero_sps; 16 November 2005 at 01:57 PM.
16 November 2005, 05:35 PM
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Dear Bravo2zero,
Seeing as you wish to discuss your business in an online public forum, as opposed to contacting us to advise you have experienced difficulties we will also comment here upon the issues you have raised.
Firstly, our forum sponsorship is irrelevant. Whether we are a sponsor or not, this does not impact upon any aspect of our service or that of our Insurer.
By using the number in the document folder and contacting Angel assistance, the accident management and legal expenses company that we employ to oversee the handling of our claims you were doing exactly what you should in terms of reporting the claim.
Our first involvement with you was when you contacted our office for a status report this Wednesday, following your accident on the prior Friday.
We immediately viewed the online link that we have with Angel assistance, which did not show your claim upon their live system. So we then contacted Angel assistance for a status update.
They could not trace the record so we felt it prudent to check with your Insurer (Highway Insurance) to see as to whether after taking brief details Angel had diverted you directly to your Insurer.
Neither Angel or Highway had a record, which we reported to you and sympathised as to the failure of the Angel assistance “one call” service in this instance.
Angel assistance are employed as an incident management company to ensure the smooth running of a claim and to oversee progress. They offer a ‘claim direct’ service involving credit repair and vehicle hire in the event that the incident is non-fault and you wish to claim directly from the responsible party. Which by claiming directly from the other party’s Insurer avoids your claiming under your own policy and having to pay the resultant excess.
To take advantage of Angel assistance’s claim direct facility the repair would need to be via one of Angel’s approved repairers. Details of the available local repairers will be available from Angel when reporting the claim.
If you do not wish to utilise the Angel repair network your details are passed to your Insurer by Angel to present a claim under the accidental damage section of your Comprehensive policy.
This is where the policy excess payment comes in. Basically, any claim made under your own comprehensive policy (regardless of the Insurer) where an excess is apparent it will be applied when presenting a claim under the policy.
Excesses are applied for all claims presented under your policy regardless of blame, but in the event of a non-fault incident they can usually be recovered from the responsible party or their Insurer. Again, by reporting via Angel, they will be primed and armed with all information required to recover is from the responsible party.
If you claim through your Insurer rather than directly from the responsible party due to either disputed liability, or your desire to use your own garage I’m afraid the policy excess would be due regardless of blame. This is always a bitter pill, but is ultimately recoverable from the responsible party or their Insurer.
All Insurers also have their own repairer networks, which provide an approved structure in terms of managing your repair and usually guarantees the repair carried out for at least 2 years.
The crucial factor when presenting a claim to your own Insurer is that you DO NOT have to use their suggested repairer and can choose your own repairer. By choosing your own repairer your Insurer will require details of the garage (preferably an estimate), at which point your Insurer will employ an MIMA qualified engineer to inspect your vehicle, oversee and manage your claim.
With all Insurers, if you choose to use your own garage you do often forfeit a courtesy car. But in a non-fault instance any expenses such as hire cars, excesses and out of pocket expenses are recoverable from the responsible party’s Insurer.
Angel assistance in their capacity of legal expenses Insurer would handle the recovery of any out of pocket expenses listed above. They may also be able to provide a credit hire (hire car) for the duration of the repair without your having to fund yourself and subsequently recover.
As a broker, Greenlight have utilised the services of Angel assistance for some 8 years now and they have performed well over the years. They are part of the Helphire group, which incorporates Countrywide assistance, their turnover is in excess of £100m per year, they deal with over 3,000 agents and are utilised by both Greenlight and A-Plan Insurance.
The service that we avail from Angel is that of legal expenses & full claims management and you will probably have noticed from our documentation that their service is called "One Call", for the very reason that you only need to do simply do that. We do however recognise that their initial processing has failed in this instance, as do they. This has been taken up with Angel at the highest level to ensure that the cause of the error is traced and eradicated.
The welfare of our customers is paramount to us and we are here to assist wherever or whenever possible, but in order to intervene and do this we do need to be made aware that there is a problem and the extent of their predicament.
When we spoke on Wednesday following our contacting the relevant parties (angel & Highway) for a status update and having discovered that your details were not present, the course of action we immediately agreed between us was that we transfer you to Angel using our call recording system in order to retain the details provided by you and prevent any future errors in relation to reporting to Angel. We advised that should things not progress in an acceptable and efficient manner for you not to hesitate to contact us to step in on your behalf – to date we have not heard from you since this conversation.
Whilst it is your prerogative to explain your experiences that you have had with the processing of your Skoda Octavia’s claim that occurred last Friday. Our personal view is that had we been made aware that you were unhappy and been afforded the opportunity to act, we could have acted in our capacity as your Broker and intervened to resolve the problems experienced.
With this in mind it would probably be prudent for you to contact us, as following the conversation we had on Wednesday there was no reason for us to doubt that things were back on track and moving forward as intended in an acceptable manner to you.
Seeing as you wish to discuss your business in an online public forum, as opposed to contacting us to advise you have experienced difficulties we will also comment here upon the issues you have raised.
Firstly, our forum sponsorship is irrelevant. Whether we are a sponsor or not, this does not impact upon any aspect of our service or that of our Insurer.
By using the number in the document folder and contacting Angel assistance, the accident management and legal expenses company that we employ to oversee the handling of our claims you were doing exactly what you should in terms of reporting the claim.
Our first involvement with you was when you contacted our office for a status report this Wednesday, following your accident on the prior Friday.
We immediately viewed the online link that we have with Angel assistance, which did not show your claim upon their live system. So we then contacted Angel assistance for a status update.
They could not trace the record so we felt it prudent to check with your Insurer (Highway Insurance) to see as to whether after taking brief details Angel had diverted you directly to your Insurer.
Neither Angel or Highway had a record, which we reported to you and sympathised as to the failure of the Angel assistance “one call” service in this instance.
Angel assistance are employed as an incident management company to ensure the smooth running of a claim and to oversee progress. They offer a ‘claim direct’ service involving credit repair and vehicle hire in the event that the incident is non-fault and you wish to claim directly from the responsible party. Which by claiming directly from the other party’s Insurer avoids your claiming under your own policy and having to pay the resultant excess.
To take advantage of Angel assistance’s claim direct facility the repair would need to be via one of Angel’s approved repairers. Details of the available local repairers will be available from Angel when reporting the claim.
If you do not wish to utilise the Angel repair network your details are passed to your Insurer by Angel to present a claim under the accidental damage section of your Comprehensive policy.
This is where the policy excess payment comes in. Basically, any claim made under your own comprehensive policy (regardless of the Insurer) where an excess is apparent it will be applied when presenting a claim under the policy.
Excesses are applied for all claims presented under your policy regardless of blame, but in the event of a non-fault incident they can usually be recovered from the responsible party or their Insurer. Again, by reporting via Angel, they will be primed and armed with all information required to recover is from the responsible party.
If you claim through your Insurer rather than directly from the responsible party due to either disputed liability, or your desire to use your own garage I’m afraid the policy excess would be due regardless of blame. This is always a bitter pill, but is ultimately recoverable from the responsible party or their Insurer.
All Insurers also have their own repairer networks, which provide an approved structure in terms of managing your repair and usually guarantees the repair carried out for at least 2 years.
The crucial factor when presenting a claim to your own Insurer is that you DO NOT have to use their suggested repairer and can choose your own repairer. By choosing your own repairer your Insurer will require details of the garage (preferably an estimate), at which point your Insurer will employ an MIMA qualified engineer to inspect your vehicle, oversee and manage your claim.
With all Insurers, if you choose to use your own garage you do often forfeit a courtesy car. But in a non-fault instance any expenses such as hire cars, excesses and out of pocket expenses are recoverable from the responsible party’s Insurer.
Angel assistance in their capacity of legal expenses Insurer would handle the recovery of any out of pocket expenses listed above. They may also be able to provide a credit hire (hire car) for the duration of the repair without your having to fund yourself and subsequently recover.
As a broker, Greenlight have utilised the services of Angel assistance for some 8 years now and they have performed well over the years. They are part of the Helphire group, which incorporates Countrywide assistance, their turnover is in excess of £100m per year, they deal with over 3,000 agents and are utilised by both Greenlight and A-Plan Insurance.
The service that we avail from Angel is that of legal expenses & full claims management and you will probably have noticed from our documentation that their service is called "One Call", for the very reason that you only need to do simply do that. We do however recognise that their initial processing has failed in this instance, as do they. This has been taken up with Angel at the highest level to ensure that the cause of the error is traced and eradicated.
The welfare of our customers is paramount to us and we are here to assist wherever or whenever possible, but in order to intervene and do this we do need to be made aware that there is a problem and the extent of their predicament.
When we spoke on Wednesday following our contacting the relevant parties (angel & Highway) for a status update and having discovered that your details were not present, the course of action we immediately agreed between us was that we transfer you to Angel using our call recording system in order to retain the details provided by you and prevent any future errors in relation to reporting to Angel. We advised that should things not progress in an acceptable and efficient manner for you not to hesitate to contact us to step in on your behalf – to date we have not heard from you since this conversation.
Whilst it is your prerogative to explain your experiences that you have had with the processing of your Skoda Octavia’s claim that occurred last Friday. Our personal view is that had we been made aware that you were unhappy and been afforded the opportunity to act, we could have acted in our capacity as your Broker and intervened to resolve the problems experienced.
With this in mind it would probably be prudent for you to contact us, as following the conversation we had on Wednesday there was no reason for us to doubt that things were back on track and moving forward as intended in an acceptable manner to you.
Last edited by Tony@Greenlight; 16 November 2005 at 06:02 PM.
16 November 2005, 05:58 PM
#4
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Tony thank you for your reply and accompanying private message. I am about to leave work and will reply when I get home.
One thing I will add now though is that the reason I haven't called you again is because I have had to spend so much time on the phone to Angel and to Highway trying to find out what is happening that the last thing I wanted to do was make any more phonecalls repeating all the stuff I had to explain to Highway and Angel. I have had to spend a lot of time at work in front of colleagues making calls that I really shouldn't be doing at work and my grievance here is that if Angel took all the responsibility then good but they haven't, I have had to tell Highway exactly what I have had to tell Angel and wonder what the point of Angel is as I might as well just have told Highway directly in the first place and saved myself a lot of time.
Also I am interested in the point you make about the fact I don't have to have the repairs done by who Highway tell me I have to have them done by. They have made it sound otherwise by telling me that they don't use manufacturers parts for repairs and that if I want that done then it will depend on the quote from the dealership. This I appreciate is not your fault that they made it sound this way but it certainly got my back right up before I posted this today. I have also spoken to some garages today and they said that Highway have got to be the tightest and pushiest insurance company they have experienced in how they try and get repairs done using QRP parts and not manufacturers parts and it seems they also push this attitude with their customers like they did with me today.
Anyway off home now and will respond to your PM later this evening and to any points here that you feel I have made unfairly and justify/explain my opinions.
One thing I will add now though is that the reason I haven't called you again is because I have had to spend so much time on the phone to Angel and to Highway trying to find out what is happening that the last thing I wanted to do was make any more phonecalls repeating all the stuff I had to explain to Highway and Angel. I have had to spend a lot of time at work in front of colleagues making calls that I really shouldn't be doing at work and my grievance here is that if Angel took all the responsibility then good but they haven't, I have had to tell Highway exactly what I have had to tell Angel and wonder what the point of Angel is as I might as well just have told Highway directly in the first place and saved myself a lot of time.
Also I am interested in the point you make about the fact I don't have to have the repairs done by who Highway tell me I have to have them done by. They have made it sound otherwise by telling me that they don't use manufacturers parts for repairs and that if I want that done then it will depend on the quote from the dealership. This I appreciate is not your fault that they made it sound this way but it certainly got my back right up before I posted this today. I have also spoken to some garages today and they said that Highway have got to be the tightest and pushiest insurance company they have experienced in how they try and get repairs done using QRP parts and not manufacturers parts and it seems they also push this attitude with their customers like they did with me today.
Anyway off home now and will respond to your PM later this evening and to any points here that you feel I have made unfairly and justify/explain my opinions.
Last edited by Bravo2zero_sps; 16 November 2005 at 06:08 PM.
16 November 2005, 06:30 PM
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Bravo,
I totally sympathise with your predicament and your frustration in the manner that things have progressed. I do not feel that you have been unfair and do not require you to justify your position or comments in the post made. I just want to get on with the job as your broker and resolve any outstanding problem you're experiencing with the processing of your claim.
Over the last 18 months, Highway Insurance have employed an accident management company called Auto Indemnity to assist with the progression of claims, which includes Highway utilising the Auto-Indemnity approved repairer network.
Several of our clients have advised that Auto-indemnity do not always make it clear that you are free to choose your own repairer, but to reiterate my earlier statement you DO NOT have to use their (or Angel's) suggested repairer.
The only circumstance in which an Insurer can enforce a repairer upon you is if you have been advised of this and signed up in agreement of this condition at the start of your annual contract, which as your broker we are not advocates of this process and as your broker I can assure you that you certainly did not do.
With regards to the comments you have received from garages, most Insurers do look for a decent deal in respect of repair costs. It's well known that garages often ask if it's an Insurance job before pricing a repair and offer a "cash" price or "Insurer repair" rate, which is usually considerably more.
Ultimately Insurers do not like being ripped off, as their premiums are driven by their expenses and to remain competitive and maintain competitive advantage they do employ motor engineers to negotiate a fairer deal wherever possible. They will negotiate but never sacrifice the welfare of their customer in doing so.
We're youre broker, we work for you and feel as strongly as you do when things fall over. If you PM me with the best time/number to contact you tommorow i'll contact you to sort out every concern that you have.
I can assure you that now we are aware of your predicament we will act for you to resolve things tomorrow.
Kindest regards
Tony Fehily
Senior Partner
I totally sympathise with your predicament and your frustration in the manner that things have progressed. I do not feel that you have been unfair and do not require you to justify your position or comments in the post made. I just want to get on with the job as your broker and resolve any outstanding problem you're experiencing with the processing of your claim.
Over the last 18 months, Highway Insurance have employed an accident management company called Auto Indemnity to assist with the progression of claims, which includes Highway utilising the Auto-Indemnity approved repairer network.
Several of our clients have advised that Auto-indemnity do not always make it clear that you are free to choose your own repairer, but to reiterate my earlier statement you DO NOT have to use their (or Angel's) suggested repairer.
The only circumstance in which an Insurer can enforce a repairer upon you is if you have been advised of this and signed up in agreement of this condition at the start of your annual contract, which as your broker we are not advocates of this process and as your broker I can assure you that you certainly did not do.
With regards to the comments you have received from garages, most Insurers do look for a decent deal in respect of repair costs. It's well known that garages often ask if it's an Insurance job before pricing a repair and offer a "cash" price or "Insurer repair" rate, which is usually considerably more.
Ultimately Insurers do not like being ripped off, as their premiums are driven by their expenses and to remain competitive and maintain competitive advantage they do employ motor engineers to negotiate a fairer deal wherever possible. They will negotiate but never sacrifice the welfare of their customer in doing so.
We're youre broker, we work for you and feel as strongly as you do when things fall over. If you PM me with the best time/number to contact you tommorow i'll contact you to sort out every concern that you have.
I can assure you that now we are aware of your predicament we will act for you to resolve things tomorrow.
Kindest regards
Tony Fehily
Senior Partner
Last edited by Tony@Greenlight; 16 November 2005 at 06:32 PM.
16 November 2005, 06:45 PM
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please correct me if im wrong but this person smashed into your car(his/her fault) and you have to pay out, ive just had my car smashed into and i never had to pay out any excess..infact its got nowt to do with my insurance ??????
why are you not claiming off this persons insurance??? they pay for your car to be fixed and you shouldnt even need to go through your insurance just theres. please correct me if im wrong but it wasnt your fault. :s
thanks
why are you not claiming off this persons insurance??? they pay for your car to be fixed and you shouldnt even need to go through your insurance just theres. please correct me if im wrong but it wasnt your fault. :s
thanks
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16 November 2005, 07:01 PM
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Originally Posted by **************
Then I find out that Highway wont repair my car with manufacturers parts but only with QRP parts which in my opinion will be inferior cheap copies of parts
I'm with Keith Michaels and they use Highway as well. Hope it works out OK for you.
Allan
16 November 2005, 07:58 PM
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What do they always say 'You only know how good or bad any insurance company is until you make a claim'
I like the way Tony has publicly defended himself as a broker and assured you of his intention in getting your particular issue sorted out.
You cant fault him for that, but i'm in agreement that you should push for approved parts to be fitted in place of the damaged ones, on another point what would happen with your manufacturers warranty on the car overall, if they fitted non approved parts in place of the original items ?
Zippy
I like the way Tony has publicly defended himself as a broker and assured you of his intention in getting your particular issue sorted out.
You cant fault him for that, but i'm in agreement that you should push for approved parts to be fitted in place of the damaged ones, on another point what would happen with your manufacturers warranty on the car overall, if they fitted non approved parts in place of the original items ?
Zippy
16 November 2005, 08:30 PM
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Thank you Tony from seeing it from my side as well as your own. I will clarify one thing though and that is that I have complained about Greenlight only because you are the broker who sold me the services of Highway and Angel and therefore rightly or wrongly I have taken out my anger at their treatment of me on you as the broker and not for any other reason. Quotes have always been excellent, renewal time easy and always easy to talk to someone on the phone. Unfortunately as the broker who sold me the services though of Highway and Angel my anger was vented at you because of the way they had treated me when its come to the crunch time of doing business when claiming for an accident.
The biggest problem has been Angel, from what I have experienced so far they have just seemed a complete waste of time because of the direct dealings I have had with Highway. I expected Angel to be a one call service in that they took ownership of the claim and sorted everything out for you and were the one point of contact. This most certainly has not been the case.
Also as for Auto Imdemnity again I have had little contact from them, it was Highway who told me they didn't authorise the repair with manufacturer parts when I called them today as the garage who were going to do the repairs told me they weren't allowed to use manufacturer parts and are made by Highway to use QRP parts as part of their contract. I had asked them this because I wanted Skoda parts used so have had to cancel them repairing my car and sort out a quote from Skoda garage for this weekend.
I think the problem here is that the way in which you/I believe Angel/Highway to work actually isn't how they are working.
I can fully understand the insurance company not wanting to be ripped off by garages but at the same time the insurance company really should be allowing customers to have their cars fixed with officially manufactured parts for their car and not cheap imitations if thats what they want.
I will PM you later as got to go out now.
Bobthebodger the reason I am having to pay the excess is becuase its a disputed claim. I just worrry that it goes down as a claim on my insurance even if its proved the other side was at fault.
Zippy thanks for that and I do agree Tony can't be faulted for his reply to me. Like I said above rightly or wrongly I took my anger out on the broker as opposed to the other companies involved because my business was with the broker. Greenlight individually have not been at fault, I have just been very disappointed with the way the system used by Greenlight hasn't worked out very well for me and its that system that needs to be looked at.
Cheers
Bob
The biggest problem has been Angel, from what I have experienced so far they have just seemed a complete waste of time because of the direct dealings I have had with Highway. I expected Angel to be a one call service in that they took ownership of the claim and sorted everything out for you and were the one point of contact. This most certainly has not been the case.
Also as for Auto Imdemnity again I have had little contact from them, it was Highway who told me they didn't authorise the repair with manufacturer parts when I called them today as the garage who were going to do the repairs told me they weren't allowed to use manufacturer parts and are made by Highway to use QRP parts as part of their contract. I had asked them this because I wanted Skoda parts used so have had to cancel them repairing my car and sort out a quote from Skoda garage for this weekend.
I think the problem here is that the way in which you/I believe Angel/Highway to work actually isn't how they are working.
I can fully understand the insurance company not wanting to be ripped off by garages but at the same time the insurance company really should be allowing customers to have their cars fixed with officially manufactured parts for their car and not cheap imitations if thats what they want.
I will PM you later as got to go out now.
Bobthebodger the reason I am having to pay the excess is becuase its a disputed claim. I just worrry that it goes down as a claim on my insurance even if its proved the other side was at fault.
Zippy thanks for that and I do agree Tony can't be faulted for his reply to me. Like I said above rightly or wrongly I took my anger out on the broker as opposed to the other companies involved because my business was with the broker. Greenlight individually have not been at fault, I have just been very disappointed with the way the system used by Greenlight hasn't worked out very well for me and its that system that needs to be looked at.
Cheers
Bob
Originally Posted by Tony@Greenlight
Bravo,
I totally sympathise with your predicament and your frustration in the manner that things have progressed. I do not feel that you have been unfair and do not require you to justify your position or comments in the post made. I just want to get on with the job as your broker and resolve any outstanding problem you're experiencing with the processing of your claim.
Over the last 18 months, Highway Insurance have employed an accident management company called Auto Indemnity to assist with the progression of claims, which includes Highway utilising the Auto-Indemnity approved repairer network.
Several of our clients have advised that Auto-indemnity do not always make it clear that you are free to choose your own repairer, but to reiterate my earlier statement you DO NOT have to use their (or Angel's) suggested repairer.
The only circumstance in which an Insurer can enforce a repairer upon you is if you have been advised of this and signed up in agreement of this condition at the start of your annual contract, which as your broker we are not advocates of this process and as your broker I can assure you that you certainly did not do.
With regards to the comments you have received from garages, most Insurers do look for a decent deal in respect of repair costs. It's well known that garages often ask if it's an Insurance job before pricing a repair and offer a "cash" price or "Insurer repair" rate, which is usually considerably more.
Ultimately Insurers do not like being ripped off, as their premiums are driven by their expenses and to remain competitive and maintain competitive advantage they do employ motor engineers to negotiate a fairer deal wherever possible. They will negotiate but never sacrifice the welfare of their customer in doing so.
We're youre broker, we work for you and feel as strongly as you do when things fall over. If you PM me with the best time/number to contact you tommorow i'll contact you to sort out every concern that you have.
I can assure you that now we are aware of your predicament we will act for you to resolve things tomorrow.
Kindest regards
Tony Fehily
Senior Partner
I totally sympathise with your predicament and your frustration in the manner that things have progressed. I do not feel that you have been unfair and do not require you to justify your position or comments in the post made. I just want to get on with the job as your broker and resolve any outstanding problem you're experiencing with the processing of your claim.
Over the last 18 months, Highway Insurance have employed an accident management company called Auto Indemnity to assist with the progression of claims, which includes Highway utilising the Auto-Indemnity approved repairer network.
Several of our clients have advised that Auto-indemnity do not always make it clear that you are free to choose your own repairer, but to reiterate my earlier statement you DO NOT have to use their (or Angel's) suggested repairer.
The only circumstance in which an Insurer can enforce a repairer upon you is if you have been advised of this and signed up in agreement of this condition at the start of your annual contract, which as your broker we are not advocates of this process and as your broker I can assure you that you certainly did not do.
With regards to the comments you have received from garages, most Insurers do look for a decent deal in respect of repair costs. It's well known that garages often ask if it's an Insurance job before pricing a repair and offer a "cash" price or "Insurer repair" rate, which is usually considerably more.
Ultimately Insurers do not like being ripped off, as their premiums are driven by their expenses and to remain competitive and maintain competitive advantage they do employ motor engineers to negotiate a fairer deal wherever possible. They will negotiate but never sacrifice the welfare of their customer in doing so.
We're youre broker, we work for you and feel as strongly as you do when things fall over. If you PM me with the best time/number to contact you tommorow i'll contact you to sort out every concern that you have.
I can assure you that now we are aware of your predicament we will act for you to resolve things tomorrow.
Kindest regards
Tony Fehily
Senior Partner
17 November 2005, 09:40 AM
#11
Originally Posted by AllanP
I'm with Keith Michaels and they use Highway as well. Hope it works out OK for you.
Allan
The problem in the above claim seems to be a breakdown in communication between the respective claims departments.
I would recommend that if anyone else is ever in a similar position they should contact the broker who deals with the policy....that is what we are here for!!!!
I can understand where Bravo is coming from, but if he'd just phoned Greenlight directly and said he was having problems i am sure they would have made the phone calls on his behalf and it would have all been sorted.
Us brokers are not just here to sell you policies, we are also here to look after you if you have any problem at all!!!!!
17 November 2005, 11:17 AM
#13
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Originally Posted by jons
who do a plan use for their claims?
Angel are a proven market leader and part of the Helphire group, they are an established incident management and legal expenses provider within the Insurance, fleet and motor dealer areas.
They are a proven provider with a decent pedigree and we have used them successfully for some 8 years now. It just seems that they have had a dose of "big company" syndrome in this particular instance.
Kind regards
Tony
17 November 2005, 01:19 PM
#14
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Originally Posted by Moley_WRX
As Tony says there really should be no problem having a claim with Highway.
The problem in the above claim seems to be a breakdown in communication between the respective claims departments.
I would recommend that if anyone else is ever in a similar position they should contact the broker who deals with the policy....that is what we are here for!!!!
I can understand where Bravo is coming from, but if he'd just phoned Greenlight directly and said he was having problems i am sure they would have made the phone calls on his behalf and it would have all been sorted.
Us brokers are not just here to sell you policies, we are also here to look after you if you have any problem at all!!!!!
The problem in the above claim seems to be a breakdown in communication between the respective claims departments.
I would recommend that if anyone else is ever in a similar position they should contact the broker who deals with the policy....that is what we are here for!!!!
I can understand where Bravo is coming from, but if he'd just phoned Greenlight directly and said he was having problems i am sure they would have made the phone calls on his behalf and it would have all been sorted.
Us brokers are not just here to sell you policies, we are also here to look after you if you have any problem at all!!!!!
Thanks
Allan
17 November 2005, 01:39 PM
#15
Originally Posted by AllanP
Gary, if I made a claim would you repair my car with OE parts ?
Thanks
Allan
Thanks
Allan
As Tony said if you do have a claim you do have the option to take the vehicle to a Subaru approved repairer. However, as with all insurance companies, if the garage you take the car to isn't an approved repairer of your insurer then they will not guarantee any of the work done, and you wouldn't be entitled to a courtesy car.
Please note, that as above, although Highway have been singled out in this occasion, this applies to almost every insurer in the UK.
Another thing to bear in mind is that certain insurers (none of whom i deal with) do not always replace damaged bits with new parts, they may use second hand or reconditioned parts!!!!
17 November 2005, 05:27 PM
#16
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Originally Posted by Moley_WRX
Hi mate
As Tony said if you do have a claim you do have the option to take the vehicle to a Subaru approved repairer. However, as with all insurance companies, if the garage you take the car to isn't an approved repairer of your insurer then they will not guarantee any of the work done, and you wouldn't be entitled to a courtesy car.
Please note, that as above, although Highway have been singled out in this occasion, this applies to almost every insurer in the UK.
Another thing to bear in mind is that certain insurers (none of whom i deal with) do not always replace damaged bits with new parts, they may use second hand or reconditioned parts!!!!
As Tony said if you do have a claim you do have the option to take the vehicle to a Subaru approved repairer. However, as with all insurance companies, if the garage you take the car to isn't an approved repairer of your insurer then they will not guarantee any of the work done, and you wouldn't be entitled to a courtesy car.
Please note, that as above, although Highway have been singled out in this occasion, this applies to almost every insurer in the UK.
Another thing to bear in mind is that certain insurers (none of whom i deal with) do not always replace damaged bits with new parts, they may use second hand or reconditioned parts!!!!
BTW I'm very impressed that both Tony and yourself are prepared to take questions on this. As you have said it's an important part of building a relationship with your Scoobynet customers.
Allan
17 November 2005, 05:39 PM
#17
Originally Posted by AllanP
Thanks Gary, I was a little worried by the statement from B2Z that if Highway won't approve the estimate from a main dealer, then they would insist on a non approved garage which may use non OE parts. (If I’ve read it right)
BTW I'm very impressed that both Tony and yourself are prepared to take questions on this. As you have said it's an important part of building a relationship with your Scoobynet customers.
Allan
BTW I'm very impressed that both Tony and yourself are prepared to take questions on this. As you have said it's an important part of building a relationship with your Scoobynet customers.
Allan
I am on both sides.....yeah i am a broker, but i am also a scooby owner, so know exactly how hard it can be to insure the things!!!!
18 November 2005, 12:44 AM
#18
Question for Tony/Moley/Brokers et al. Following on from Bravo's case but using a hypothetical substitute so we don't compromise his position, if a claim is made through one's own insurers where its a no-fault claim but one has to pay the excess anyway, as indicated, does that claim go down on the record as a claim or is it qualified in the notes somewhere?
I would feel aggrieved if a no-fault claim, where all costs were eventually recovered from the 3rd party, still got marked up on my record as a claim, thereby affecting my premium and record status at renewal time.
Please clarify.
Thanks
WB
PS One more thing - if 3rd party parts are used by the Insurers to ensure a repair how does that impact one's car manufacturers warranty? I would have thought that this industry practice would have huge negative implications and open up a serious legal minefield.
I can't see Subaru accepting a claim under warranty where previous damage, claimed under one's vehicle insurance, was undertaken using non-Subaru/ manufacturer parts. Once again a view here from Tony/Moley would be much appreciated.
I would feel aggrieved if a no-fault claim, where all costs were eventually recovered from the 3rd party, still got marked up on my record as a claim, thereby affecting my premium and record status at renewal time.
Please clarify.
Thanks
WB
PS One more thing - if 3rd party parts are used by the Insurers to ensure a repair how does that impact one's car manufacturers warranty? I would have thought that this industry practice would have huge negative implications and open up a serious legal minefield.
I can't see Subaru accepting a claim under warranty where previous damage, claimed under one's vehicle insurance, was undertaken using non-Subaru/ manufacturer parts. Once again a view here from Tony/Moley would be much appreciated.
Last edited by wacky.banana; 18 November 2005 at 12:54 AM.
18 November 2005, 09:31 AM
#19
All claims (fault or non-fault) will be on your record for 3-5 years (depending on the insurer).
You will not pay any extra premium for non-fault claims.
However....if for example you had 3-4 non-fault claims in 3 years some underwriters will be reluctant to quote.
Reference the replacements parts, if the car is still under warranty i believe they will replace the parts with maunfacturers items.
You will not pay any extra premium for non-fault claims.
However....if for example you had 3-4 non-fault claims in 3 years some underwriters will be reluctant to quote.
Reference the replacements parts, if the car is still under warranty i believe they will replace the parts with maunfacturers items.
18 November 2005, 11:06 AM
#20
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Originally Posted by **************
I don't care that Greenlight sponsor this forum, I am still going to let everyone know what the service has been like through them since having a minor accident over a week ago.
To sum it up its been a diabolical service and this is why:
I have the accident on the Friday night. I exchange details etc and then look into getting it all sorted on the Saturday morning. So I open up my Greenlight Insurance pack first thing Saturday morning and see the claims number. I call it and it goes to a company called Angel. They take all my details in great depth and I think great all is in hand.
By Wednesday I have heard nothing, no phone calls or nothing in the post. So I call Greenlight. They know nothing of my accident. They call Angel. They know nothing of my accident. For whatever reason Angel didn't actually log any of my details on the Saturday morning and had no history of what I had told them.
So then while at work I have to call Angel again and go through the whole process again. They then transfer me to Highway my insurance company and I have to go through exactly the same process with them even though I have just told Angel everything. This all takes a very long time when I had already been through this on the Saturday.
Then I find out that Highway wont repair my car with manufacturers parts but only with QRP parts which in my opinion will be inferior cheap copies of parts I have demended my car be repaired by a dealer but before they agree to that I have to get a quote from my dealership and fax it to them and if they think its too expensive then they will only repair it at one of their 'approved' garages, ie with cheap sh!tty parts
So now I am having to deal with both Highway directly and Angel and double up on all my conversations and never know which one should be dealing with what
Where is the service by where you make one phone call and deal with one company and everything is taken care of for you? I have had to deal with the approved car repair company instead of the broker/insurance company/angel assistance dealing with them. I have to get quotes done if I want it repaired properly.
In my opinion its the worst experience I have ever had with dealing with insurance companies When a company provides me with a good quote I don't expect that to mean that if my car needs repairing it will be repaired with non manufacturers parts and cheap copies instead
Anyone else had similar experiences?
Anyone had an accident whereby their insurance company has been excellent and dealt with everything efficiently and provided an excellent service and if so who were they as I will be looking around come renewal time as I never want to have to go through this ridiculous mess again?!
Oh and to top it off I have to pay the £350 excess to get my car repaired even though I am claiming against the other driver and then apparently Angel will try and claim that back for me Well hello I don't want to claim on my insurance as I want to claim against the other side yet I still have to pay my excess Total rip off and just as well I had my no claims discount protected. Wonder how much the premium will go up by anyway just because they are making me pay the excess and claim through them until its sorted out?!
To sum it up its been a diabolical service and this is why:
I have the accident on the Friday night. I exchange details etc and then look into getting it all sorted on the Saturday morning. So I open up my Greenlight Insurance pack first thing Saturday morning and see the claims number. I call it and it goes to a company called Angel. They take all my details in great depth and I think great all is in hand.
By Wednesday I have heard nothing, no phone calls or nothing in the post. So I call Greenlight. They know nothing of my accident. They call Angel. They know nothing of my accident. For whatever reason Angel didn't actually log any of my details on the Saturday morning and had no history of what I had told them.
So then while at work I have to call Angel again and go through the whole process again. They then transfer me to Highway my insurance company and I have to go through exactly the same process with them even though I have just told Angel everything. This all takes a very long time when I had already been through this on the Saturday.
Then I find out that Highway wont repair my car with manufacturers parts but only with QRP parts which in my opinion will be inferior cheap copies of parts
I have demended my car be repaired by a dealer but before they agree to that I have to get a quote from my dealership and fax it to them and if they think its too expensive then they will only repair it at one of their 'approved' garages, ie with cheap sh!tty parts So now I am having to deal with both Highway directly and Angel and double up on all my conversations and never know which one should be dealing with what
Where is the service by where you make one phone call and deal with one company and everything is taken care of for you? I have had to deal with the approved car repair company instead of the broker/insurance company/angel assistance dealing with them. I have to get quotes done if I want it repaired properly.
In my opinion its the worst experience I have ever had with dealing with insurance companies
When a company provides me with a good quote I don't expect that to mean that if my car needs repairing it will be repaired with non manufacturers parts and cheap copies instead Anyone else had similar experiences?
Anyone had an accident whereby their insurance company has been excellent and dealt with everything efficiently and provided an excellent service and if so who were they as I will be looking around come renewal time as I never want to have to go through this ridiculous mess again?!
Oh and to top it off I have to pay the £350 excess to get my car repaired even though I am claiming against the other driver and then apparently Angel will try and claim that back for me
Well hello I don't want to claim on my insurance as I want to claim against the other side yet I still have to pay my excess Total rip off and just as well I had my no claims discount protected. Wonder how much the premium will go up by anyway just because they are making me pay the excess and claim through them until its sorted out?!
18 November 2005, 06:21 PM
#22
Originally Posted by Moley_WRX
All claims (fault or non-fault) will be on your record for 3-5 years (depending on the insurer).
You will not pay any extra premium for non-fault claims.
However....if for example you had 3-4 non-fault claims in 3 years some underwriters will be reluctant to quote.
Reference the replacements parts, if the car is still under warranty i believe they will replace the parts with maunfacturers items.
You will not pay any extra premium for non-fault claims.
However....if for example you had 3-4 non-fault claims in 3 years some underwriters will be reluctant to quote.
Reference the replacements parts, if the car is still under warranty i believe they will replace the parts with maunfacturers items.
Thanks Moley.
20 November 2005, 02:08 PM
#23
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Originally Posted by Tony@Greenlight
This is where the policy excess payment comes in. Basically, any claim made under your own comprehensive policy (regardless of the Insurer) where an excess is apparent it will be applied when presenting a claim under the policy.
Excesses are applied for all claims presented under your policy regardless of blame, but in the event of a non-fault incident they can usually be recovered from the responsible party or their Insurer
Excesses are applied for all claims presented under your policy regardless of blame, but in the event of a non-fault incident they can usually be recovered from the responsible party or their Insurer
My parked car was hit by another vehicle this year. When I contacted the other party's insurance broker/company they refused point blank to offer any response as he had not yet reported the incident. They even refused to contact him to say his vehicle had been reported as being involved in an accident and could he confirm/deny this!
I therefore contacted my insurer (Direct Line) and arranged repair, through them, without payment of any excess. One phone call, no money changing hands, first class repair.
So you are incorrect to say an excess will always be payable.
21 November 2005, 02:19 PM
#24
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B2Z,
I had the same sort of problem with LV. Circumstances are that I was parked outside the other halves place, when her neighbours calls out and says that someone had reversed into the Pug. He'd witnessed the whole thing.
I go outside and the driver is out of their Freelander looking at the re-shaped hatchback door. We exchange names and addresses and I immediately get in touch with LV's 24 hour claims line (this is late on a Saturday afternoon). I explain the circumstances, that I wasn't even in the car, that the other party is accepting liability and that the whole thing was witnessed by an independant person. They state that it had been recorded and that I'd hear from them within a few days.
It gets to the following Thursday, I still haven't heard anything. So I call LV and speak to their claims department. They tell me that the claim is going through, I tell them that I'm impressed that the other drivers insurance company have acted quickly, to which they state 'What other party?. I tell them that I gave all the other drivers details to the 24hr claims line, they state the computer says 'no'!! I go through it all again. I ask if they have the witness details, you can guess the answer! 
It then dawns on me that they had started to process the claim. I ask how that can be possible without the other insurers details, they tell me that it would be paid out of MY policy beacuse I have full (protective) no claims. With that I do my nut, saying I was not responsible and that I will not be held to be accountable. They say they'll look into it
The bottom line is, that they contacted the other insurance company, it was all sorted out and the damage repaired. They claimed another £150 off the other company to cover my excess. I wrote a stinking letter to LV and received a £20.00 voucher off my next premium.
It was a pain, but it got sorted. Hope you do too
I had the same sort of problem with LV. Circumstances are that I was parked outside the other halves place, when her neighbours calls out and says that someone had reversed into the Pug. He'd witnessed the whole thing.
I go outside and the driver is out of their Freelander looking at the re-shaped hatchback door. We exchange names and addresses and I immediately get in touch with LV's 24 hour claims line (this is late on a Saturday afternoon). I explain the circumstances, that I wasn't even in the car, that the other party is accepting liability and that the whole thing was witnessed by an independant person. They state that it had been recorded and that I'd hear from them within a few days.
It gets to the following Thursday, I still haven't heard anything. So I call LV and speak to their claims department. They tell me that the claim is going through, I tell them that I'm impressed that the other drivers insurance company have acted quickly, to which they state 'What other party?
. I tell them that I gave all the other drivers details to the 24hr claims line, they state the computer says 'no'!! I go through it all again. I ask if they have the witness details, you can guess the answer! It then dawns on me that they had started to process the claim. I ask how that can be possible without the other insurers details, they tell me that it would be paid out of MY policy beacuse I have full (protective) no claims. With that I do my nut, saying I was not responsible and that I will not be held to be accountable. They say they'll look into it
The bottom line is, that they contacted the other insurance company, it was all sorted out and the damage repaired. They claimed another £150 off the other company to cover my excess. I wrote a stinking letter to LV and received a £20.00 voucher off my next premium.
It was a pain, but it got sorted. Hope you do too
22 November 2005, 10:04 AM
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Originally Posted by DocJock
Tony, whilst accepting that you seem to be representing your client very well, I must take issue with the highltighted part of your quote (above)
My parked car was hit by another vehicle this year. When I contacted the other party's insurance broker/company they refused point blank to offer any response as he had not yet reported the incident. They even refused to contact him to say his vehicle had been reported as being involved in an accident and could he confirm/deny this!
I therefore contacted my insurer (Direct Line) and arranged repair, through them, without payment of any excess. One phone call, no money changing hands, first class repair.
So you are incorrect to say an excess will always be payable.
My parked car was hit by another vehicle this year. When I contacted the other party's insurance broker/company they refused point blank to offer any response as he had not yet reported the incident. They even refused to contact him to say his vehicle had been reported as being involved in an accident and could he confirm/deny this!
I therefore contacted my insurer (Direct Line) and arranged repair, through them, without payment of any excess. One phone call, no money changing hands, first class repair.
So you are incorrect to say an excess will always be payable.
For non-fault (recoverable) instances Insurers sometimes bundle your excess with their own recovery rather than charging the excess, but that would have to be agreed on an individual basis when presenting a claim.
Claims are assessed on an individual merit basis and Insurers can be flexibile, which clearly direct line have in this instance.
They probably took the view that the circumstances were clearly in your favour and were confident of making a recovery as soon as the responsible party reported the claim to his Insurer.
Where claims are presented for clearly non-fault (recoverable) instances and we have established that the other party is definitely Insured we do operate a credit repair/hire option, which avoids payment of an excess and bundles the costs of the claim and does not involve your Insurer as the total costs are claimed directly from the responsible party's insurer.
The credit repair element would mean using an Approved repairer, but all options will be discussed with our client when presenting a claim.
As a broker we work for YOU, we are here to help and would encourage clients to contact us in respect of all options available in their own specific circumstances at the time of a claim. This keeps everyone up to speed and enables informed decisions to be made.
Kind regards
Tony
Last edited by Tony@Greenlight; 22 November 2005 at 10:23 AM.
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