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[Stark]

I would use another company

Try Accident Exchange.....they will have nothing to do with your insurers either. They have a clause saying they will only accept your instruction once they are sure they get liability admission.....they can't come back to you for anything

[simonlpearce]

Seems you are at least on the right track now, and hope it gets resolved without issue

[dr_john]

I was with Admiral a few years ago, I didn't like their underhand ways of extra 'service' charges, plus they weren't cheap either. This story only enforces my opinion of them, I'm glad I didn't have to make a claim when I was with them.

[Mr_Magoo]

Thanks for all the feedback and helpful thoughts folks.

After an initially painful start with Admiral - who directed me towards a company called Albany Assistance to handle no fault claims (More on this in a moment) they so far seem amenable to me using my choice of garage (not a main dealer, but a specialist BMW indy I've used many times before and rate more highly than the main dealers)

Basically the process from here is that Admiral will chase down the other side's insurance company for admission of liability (which they think is straightforward given the amount of evidence I've presented and the circumstances of being stationary at a red when hit). Once this is in place, I will not need to pay the £350 excess, nor will my no-claims bonus be affected I am told.

Helpfully, they are chasing down the admission of liability before I need to formally decide if I wish to make a claim. Given that the bumper alone appears to be c.£500 for a genuine BMW one it makes sense to claim. Spraying it in the correct colour and fitting will be extra, and then we can add VAT onto the whole lot for good measure.

Regarding Albany Assistance, a quick warning for anyone on here that ends up making a no-fault claim through any of the Admiral group insurance companies. You are initially told on the phone that there are two options:

1) Make a claim under your own policy, which will see you paying your excess and losing your no claims bonus, or

2) go through their third party no fault claims handler (Albany) for which you will not need to pay any excess nor will your no-claims be effected.

... a no brainer for option 2 right? Well not so fast.....

When you read the small print, what Albany seek to do is have you enter into a 'repair finance agreement'. This basically means that that they front the cost of repair work, and then chase down the recovery of that cost from the other sides insurers, so far so good right?.... again not so fast.../

If Albany then fail to recover the cost from the other side within 49 weeks, the finance agreement comes back to bite you, and they recover the cost direct from you instead . That cost can be a multiple of the actual repair work, as it can also encompass the cost of a hire car + interest at very high APRs while they do all of this.

Luckilly alarm bells starting ringing and I said I wanted to think about this before agreeing and to read the small print - a quick dig around the internet and you'll find horror stories of people being on the hook for tens of thousands of pounds from these guys after they failed to recover the repair and hire car costs from the other side. There's a complete conflict of interest in how this whole arrangement is set up, because Albany's profits increase for every day they spend delaying the process and b) there doesn't appear to be any incentive to recover the cost from the other side, as they know i'm on the hook if they dont.

To my mind at least this is an aggressive finance provider masquerading as a vehicle repair / care hire / claims handler and this type of arrangement should be avoided at all costs.

What I wasn't told, but found out after challenging admiral is that there is actually an 'Option 3' - where Admiral will first contact the other sides insurer and seek to establish liability. Once this is in place, you can proceed with a claim under your own policy, dodging Albany and all that nonsense entirely, safe in the knowledge that the no-claims will be ok, and that the excess will be waived.

they're actually being very helpful now - but it is annoying that you have to jump through so many (potentially costly) hoops and find all of this out for yourself. It's the first time I've ever had to make a claim, so hopefully I'll be more knowledgeable now if ever something like this happens again.

I am so thankful I read this, I have just cancelled Albany Assistance involvement after reading this in my claim from Saturday (Fiat Punto into gap between my car and another does not fit, shame the other driver thought it did when I was parked!) I just called admiral and they admitted they could handle this and are now doing so.

Thanks for the heads up!!!

[Bubble1982]

I am so thankful I read this, I have just cancelled Albany Assistance involvement after reading this in my claim from Saturday (Fiat Punto into gap between my car and another does not fit, shame the other driver thought it did when I was parked!) I just called admiral and they admitted they could handle this and are now doing so.

Thanks for the heads up!!!

Glad to be of some help!

[jan_tekin]

I would use another company

Try Accident Exchange.....they will have nothing to do with your insurers either. They have a clause saying they will only accept your instruction once they are sure they get liability admission.....they can't come back to you for anything

X2

Had my car repaired at a BMW garage all done through Accident Exchange as my own insurance AXA wanted to use there own repairers who were not BMW approved.
My insurance renewal also went down this year so it wasn't affected by my non-fault claim