Car Written Off By Drunk Driver

TheClubMan

Hi folks,

Looking for advice please. My mother's car was written off 10 days ago by a drunk driver, who was driving while serving a driving ban and obviously uninsured. They were subsequently arrested and charged. My mother has full comprehensive insurance. She doesn't have open drive on her policy. My partner was driving the car at the time of the accident. She has a third-party, fire and theft policy and is insured to drive other cars. An assessor was out to inspect my mother's car last week and they reported it as a category C write off. They undervalued the worth of the car and also knocked a further 20% off the pre crash value as it had been a category S write off in the UK previously (unbeknown to my mother). My mothers car is the highest spec model of her 171 car. She was sure she had the car insured for €15k on her policy but the company say it's only insured for €12.5k. If she wants to buy the same car again in the morning from a garage, she will have to fork out another €5K-€7K along with the insurance money. The insurance company are proving very unhelpful and are ignoring her request of a courtesy car which she's entitled to in her policy for 14 days. We have also yet to hear back from MIBI who are apparently handling the case and are going to pay out as the other driver was at fault. The gardai can confirm this. My mother and partner are very stressed out about the situation. My mother is still without a car. Any advice on how to proceed and how to get the best financial result for my mother so that she can buy another car? She works hard for what she has and doesn't deserve to be this position.

Any help appreciated.

Eggs For Dinner

Very complicated situation. Firstly, the approach the insurer is taking on the valuation relating to the previous write off status sounds reasonable. The fact that it is under insured shouldn't be applied in this insurance. The insurer is acting on behalf of the MIBI and the agreement is that, if the policyholder has comprehensive insurance, they will assess and compensate for the loss. There will be no effect on NCB or premium. She should be entitled to the correct market value.

As far courtesy vehicle, that is a benefit under the policy as part of a claim under your mother's cover and this is not happening, as explained above. In addition, your partner was driving with 3rd party only cover, so the benefit of a courtesy vehicle as an add on to an own damage claim is not triggered. Your mother should be entitled to be reimbursed for vehicle hire, but it is likely she will have to bear the cost first and claim it back later

TheClubMan

So I was looking up similar cars to my mother's in dealerships around the country. I found three cars with similar mileage as my mother's for sale at €13,950. They are a spec lower than my mother's model of car (there are no premium models available) but she will still have to pay an extra €3,450 on top of the insurance money.

My mothers insurance company are washing there hands with it because my mother wasn't driving during the accident so they believe they don't have responsibility, including offering my mother a courtesy car. It took them almost two weeks to inform us of this. They then told us to contact my partners insurance company. We did that, and they did confirm that my partner was covered to drive my mother's car. However, they are saying they cannot help us as it was not my partner at fault, but the drunk driver. So, they cannot help us either. They have now said to make a claim to the MIBI but it could be a long drawn out process.

So what should we do from here? Ring MIBI ask how to go about making a claim, provided we are entitled to one? Do they come out and make their own assessment on how much money my mother's car is worth? Do we keep asking the insurance company for a courtesy car?

Eggs For Dinner

The MIBI should appoint your insurer to act on their behalf to sort out the own damage/write off of your mother's vehicle. As you are not dealing with a claim under your policy, you cannot make any demands of your insurer under the benefits ,terms and conditions of the policy. First port of call is to contact the MIBI and get confirmation the 3rd party was uninsured and take it from there

cml387

Surely it would be wise for your mother not to make any claim off her own insurance in order to maintain her NCB, after all none of this was her fault?

Eggs For Dinner

She's not making a claim under her policy (the driver was driving with 3rd party only anyway). He insurers would be acting as agents for the MIBI, handling it on their behalf