frustrating dilemma.......it's a long one.

[poppa smurf]

driving along the road at 100 KPH, minding my own business, 8 tonne gravel truck with spreader on rear approaching from other direction.

we pass and I am showered with a load of gravel spilling from his vehicle, some as large as 3/4 of an inch.

my windscreen is shattered, my bonnet, roof and boot are all chipped with small dents.

I chase the truck down and find there is no rear numberplate.......I report the "incident" to police who are very loathe to do anything about it as there was "no accident".....it is a matter for insurance".

I get the car home and inspect the damage, stone chip's and small dents, annoying but I can live with them, I'll just get the windscreen repaired, insurance owes me one a year.

so I give them a ring,

insurance rep..."no problem's, windscreen will be there in the morning, was there any other damage".

me...."well there are a few stone chip's and small dents but I'm not worrying about the dents, just the windscreen".

rep..."all right Erin from claims will give you a phone call to confirm".

so I get a phone call from Erin and we have a yak.

Erin..."just confirming your incident, and to state we will be replacing the windscreen at no cost, is there any other damage?".

me..."well, yes but I'm not going to get that fixed as I don't want to pay the $400 excess and we are about to go away so don't want to lose the car just now".

Erin..."just so you understand that now that you have declared preexisting damage the amount your motor vehicle is to be insured for will be decreased and may even be rejected at renewal time".

this was a boot in the freckle.......my insurance reduced or even rejected because I don't want to have the small stone chips repaired and repainted.

the main reason i don't want a repair and respray are two fold,

one the $400 excess and

two the cost of the respray may write the car off.........

after all the grief and money I have thrown at this vehicle to have it written off because of a few stone chip's.

Erin..."well, if you don't we will have no alternative but to reduce the value of the vehicle or refuse to insure the vehicle".

me..."I'll ask the repair shop about a fix tomorrow."

Erin...."please advise of repairs so I can remove the previous damage constraint on your premium".

NOT HAPPY JAN...................

[naddis01]

What is the car worth and what is it insured for?

[buggo]

How extensive are the stone chips?

It sounds like she's just trying to do her job right but is taking it as worse than it is. The value of your car was based on nil damage, she's told by her supervisor that 'any damage lowers value and we can deny them come renewal'.

The way damage is defined by your insurer will be in your PDS, and will most likely be a lot more than a few stone chips. They mean if you've been rear ended and let it go without notifying them. That is cause for devalue/ non-renewal.

Give them a call tomorrow and ask to speak with someone with a bit more experience, try to get the supervisor or manager if you can. Explain it to them and it'll (most likely) be sweet.


Hope everything goes well Poppa smurf.

[Vesper Martini]

Sometimes Honesty is not the best policy..

Send them a pic of a very small stone chip, & ask what the Vehicle value has decreased by.

[Peter B - CV8]

Having turned around & caught up with the truck, I don't understand why you didn't get him to pull over & exchange details ??

[Fiesta God]

Unfortunately you've spoken to someone who has misunderstood the context of what you are talking about. You are being 100% upfront and honest and this person has not applied the product guidelines properly.

Insurance policies make allowances for stone chips and ordinary wear and tear. You are not expected to lodge a claim or pay for private repair every single time you get a stone chip. Imagine how ridiculous this would be! 99% of cars on the road would be uninsurable…

Check your PDS - there will be a relevant exception for this scenario that has been missed by the person you've spoken to.

Under the decisions made by the Financial Services Ombudsman and courts in Australia, the worst thing that an insurer can do if you have unrepaired paint chips and scratches is to ask you to contribute to the cost of repairs.
This may occur if (for example) your bonnet is covered in stone chips, and then you hit a pole and bend your bonnet and it requires replacement. The insurer has the right to ask for a contribution towards the repair costs (above your excess) if the repairs leave your car (with its shiny new bonnet) in a significantly better condition than it was in prior.

In practice, insurers rarely do this as it is difficult to enforce.

An insurer would be prohibited from denying a claim based on your failure to repair stone chips.

In fact many insurance PDS's (such as the RAA PDS) actually exclude stone chips from their coverage. In other words, they consider stone chips to be normal wear and tear that occurs as a result of driving, and will refuse to lodge a claim for accumulated damage, instead asking you to pay for it yourself (if you want it fixed).

Obviously your situation is slightly different - as all the damage occurred in one incident.

My advice would be to call back up, explain that the person you spoke to previously misunderstood, and confirm that there is no damage to your car apart from normal stone chips.

If you end up needing to make a claim in the future for another reason, your insurer may ask for a contribution for repairs or may ask you (at that point) to lodge a claim for this incident with the gravel truck, to fix the stone chips. But there's no need to worry about it until then.

Source: legal qualifications, 5+ years' experience working in the motor insurance industry

[poppa smurf]

car value somewhere, roughly, in the region of $7 -$8000........a respray and the dent removal could wipe that out. (crash repair statement, not mine)

I took my life, and my wifes, in my hands just to catch the truck in order to get a rego number but I was doing 110 plus and only just holding ground with the tipper.......he was low flying, being a sunday and all,......the rear number plate was not on display or was covered up by the spreader......I wasn't going to pull out at an even greater speed with a shattered windscreen which was already showering glass everywhere.

I get my windscreen replaced tomorrow (in for service and a couple rear end bush replacements plus a thermostat today) so I will have a yak with the fellers in the smash shop to see if there is a "cover up" that can be applied.

I intend to sell the vehicle next year (I want to get a bit of use out of it after all the money it has swallowed plus the grief it has given me.)

I've spoken to an RAA lawyer this morning who simply stated "tell them that I fixed the faults myself".......this is another option.

I just didn't realise that, through no fault of my own, I could be up for all sorts of drama's, including loss of insurance.

[Maka]

Misunderstanding somewhere on their side Poppa, Erin has not registered / or mis interpreted the fact the stone chips & dents happening at the same time as the windscreen getting shattered. It sounds like she just jumped to her own conclusions imo! A phone call to the relevant & appropriate person / s should reveal a little mistake on their side & a nice little apology for any stress incurred. Good luck Poppa!

cheers, Maka

[naddis01]

I would probably just pay the 400 bucks and get a nice fresh paint job for when you sell it next year. You will just be giving all the lowballers plenty of ammo otherwise when you go to sell. Assuming it's not written off.

What value is it insured for?

[Itsme]

To be honest I agree with the insurer since you vehicle is damaged with stone chips & small dents this does actually devalues your vehicle, they are perfectly in their rights to re-access the value of the car.

Either put your claim in & have it repaired, pay to have it repaired privately or have the Insurance company to revalue it.
You will know they will now require proof of repair, unfortunately you have made the mistake of of notifying them.
You know you can put in claim & have car repaired after your planned trip.

Best of luck

[minheim]

It really stinks when another party's negligence leaves one out of pocket or inconvenienced. Is there any scope to have the truck held liable via your insurance for the damage. Can you argue they have failed to properly secure their load or been negligent? Hope you can get a satisfactory outcome.

Edit just realised your subsequent post above where you explain why you stopped pursuit. Did you get the company name at least.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by minheim

It really stinks when another party's negligence leaves one out of pocket or inconvenienced. Is there any scope to have the truck held liable via your insurance for the damage. Can you argue they have failed to properly secure their load or been negligent? Hope you can get a satisfactory outcome.

Edit just realised your subsequent post above where you explain why you stopped pursuit. Did you get the company name at least.

police reckon I have no recourse but CGU are very interested to recoup their input, we know the company the truck belongs to, as do the police so he will pay.

Originally Posted by naddis01

I would probably just pay the 400 bucks and get a nice fresh paint job for when you sell it next year. You will just be giving all the lowballers plenty of ammo otherwise when you go to sell. Assuming it's not written off.

What value is it insured for?

"market value" so I guess around the $8,000, but after all the money I've put into it then it owes me a lot more than that.

Originally Posted by trublu

To be honest I agree with the insurer since you vehicle is damaged with stone chips & small dents this does actually devalues your vehicle, they are perfectly in their rights to re-access the value of the car.

Either put your claim in & have it repaired, pay to have it repaired privately or have the Insurance company to revalue it.
You will know they will now require proof of repair, unfortunately you have made the mistake of of notifying them.
You know you can put in claim & have car repaired after your planned trip.

Best of luck

I'm not saying they are in the wrong I'm just putting my tale forward, I don't know what I will do, probably have it repaired at my expense just to have it back in "reasonable knick".

what really irks me is that I am out of pocket and got a boot in the freckle from CGU for a little sunday drive and a halfwit truckie.

[blackf6]

The bloke with the spreader box is in the wrong. Before driving down the road he is supposed to empty the shute at the bottom of the spreader box. But proving what happened to said company will be your problem. I used to work on a road gang. We used to open up the boxes on each other as a joke. And the Police mightn't care, but the Transport Department would be interested. They are supposed to display their number plates and have oversize signs on whilst the box is on. With beacons and limited to 90km's per hour.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

police reckon I have no recourse but CGU are very interested to recoup their input, we know the company the truck belongs to, as do the police so he will pay.

I would be visiting the police again to make an official statement since you can identify the company, sounds like your insurance can claim against the company as it will be a civil matter but insurance will need the report from police, talk to your insurance for advise.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by trublu

I would be visiting the police again to make an official statement since you can identify the company, sounds like your insurance can claim against the company as it will be a civil matter but insurance will need the report from police, talk to your insurance for advise.

I have the police report and I identified the truck, the officer took my statement and stated it would be placed through to highway patrol and were confident as the truck was readily identifiable.

I can't take action but CGU can and will........Erin has the report number and was going to contact the police.

[Silver Ghia]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

driving along the road at 100 KPH, minding my own business, 8 tonne gravel truck with spreader on rear approaching from other direction.

we pass and I am showered with a load of gravel spilling from his vehicle, some as large as 3/4 of an inch.

my windscreen is shattered, my bonnet, roof and boot are all chipped with small dents.

I chase the truck down and find there is no rear numberplate.......I report the "incident" to police who are very loathe to do anything about it as there was "no accident".....it is a matter for insurance".
.

Chasing after the truck which is spilling gravel.

How much damage was caused when chasing after the truck, assuming its still spilling gravel?

Something I would never do for that reason, unless it happens to stop.

[xisled]

One question you should be asking your insurance co is if they are so confident they can recover the money then why is the excess still being charged.

The only problem is that being an really identifiable truck will go against you. As the owner will say you could if seen the truck around anywhere.

[2011G6E]

They write off cars for very little nowadays. Even a new car can be written off for a small amount of hail damage for example...saw it happen out here when a huge hailstorm went through Blackwater a few years back.
A workmate had a new Hilux only a few months old, and it had been under a carport. It ended up with a single smashed rear passenger wide window (big hailstone ricocheted off a post) and a few small dents on the same door, and some other tiny ones along on the side of the body at the rear. He drove it to work for a week or so while insurance assessors were going nearly 24 hours a day catching up with all the cars and houses.
Then we saw his fourbie go past on the back of one of the many car transporters carrying write-offs, while we happened to be standing outside the station one morning. He said "There it goes", and he said it was a write off. He didn't care much as it was a lease car and a replacement was on it's way, but that's not the point.

No damn wonder we pay so much for insurance premiums...

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by xisled

One question you should be asking your insurance co is if they are so confident they can recover the money then why is the excess still being charged.

The only problem is that being an really identifiable truck will go against you. As the owner will say you could if seen the truck around anywhere.

All insurance companies will ask for excess money & if case is proven against the other driver excess money is refunded, this happened to me years ago.

Insurance companies will make sure they have their money first.

[pottery beige]

ride the stone chips like a champ

smack it up decent they'll be sorted out / touched up foc

cheers insurance ****s

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by xisled

One question you should be asking your insurance co is if they are so confident they can recover the money then why is the excess still being charged.

The only problem is that being an really identifiable truck will go against you. As the owner will say you could if seen the truck around anywhere.

funny you should say this as it was my thought when Erin said she could recover the cost's from the driver.......to me it is black and white.

if the truckie has an insecure load he/she should pay all fee's, fine's and cost's......why should it cost me anything never lone a possibility of losing the vehicle.

Pottery Beige, that thought jumped into my mind when I seen all the little dents and the landcruiser at the roundabout failed to yield to his right......would have been real easy to just be a fraction of a second slower on the brake.

I ponder the outcome.

[danzvtil]

..."well, yes but I'm not going to get that fixed as I don't want to pay the $400 excess and we are about to go away so don't want to lose the car just now".

You have admitted the vehicle is damaged, and told them you don't want to repair it, they will discontinue cover, this happened to me on my exes Honda, 2 small bumps on each end of the car, claimed at once was 2 excesses, we placed the claim but didn't have the funds to pay the excess, 6 weeks later Allianz cancelled the policy as they wont cover damaged cars.

[xisled]

Originally Posted by trublu

All insurance companies will ask for excess money & if case is proven against the other driver excess money is refunded, this happened to me years ago.

Insurance companies will make sure they have their money first.

If an insurance company is confident they can recover the excess can be removed at claims time. Strange they say they can recover bit still charge the excess.

If I was the claims officer, which I have been in the past for multiple years, I would not be saying we can recover the money until they have all the information, and was in the process of recovery.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by xisled

If an insurance company is confident they can recover the excess can be removed at claims time. Strange they say they can recover bit still charge the excess.

If I was the claims officer, which I have been in the past for multiple years, I would not be saying we can recover the money until they have all the information, and was in the process of recovery.

when Erin said this I think she may have had access to a little bit of information before contacting me........

Originally Posted by danzvtil

..."well, yes but I'm not going to get that fixed as I don't want to pay the $400 excess and we are about to go away so don't want to lose the car just now".

You have admitted the vehicle is damaged, and told them you don't want to repair it, they will discontinue cover, this happened to me on my exes Honda, 2 small bumps on each end of the car, claimed at once was 2 excesses, we placed the claim but didn't have the funds to pay the excess, 6 weeks later Allianz cancelled the policy as they wont cover damaged cars.

they won't deny cover but would simply decrease the value insured by the assessed damage cost, my neighbour went through this same thing with his rear bumper a few years ago.

I will be telling CGU when they ring that I fixed the chips and dents myself and there is no remaining damage.

then I think I will contact RAA about multiple policy discounts as advised by my crash repair shop owner this morning and cease CGU.......

just a bit wary now..........

[neptune blue]

If that happened in Victoria I would have reported them to Vic roads
Unsecured load
No rear rego plate
Speeding
And they would check the truck to see if its road worthy just for good measure

It would be the equivalent of inserting a pineapple rough end first to the driver and the truck owner

[hedgehobb]

Did you make sure you made backup copies of the dash cam video?

[1TUFFUTE]

Man that's a terrible run of annoying bad luck. Sucks when it drags out too. Hope it ends well bro.

Also most ins companies ask for the excess anyway,untill it's cleared up......unless it's a totally clear cut incident and not being your fault.

I see how chasing the truck would have been easier then when coming directly Into the rocks from the other direction.....I too would have followed.......and yes their company should cover all damage as they'll have time and job logs as too which truck was at the scene of the crime

The initial reaction of your insurance comp really sounds rough....not a fan of that at all

Good luck

[ebv8]

just pay the $400 excess and get your car fixed, or get the windscreen fixed and switch insurance companies and don't tell them about the chips, they would be classed as wear and tear when its time to claim if you ever have another claim
my mate bought a hail damaged kia rio for cheap thinking it would be a cheap run around, he didn't have full comp and another car wiped it out, their insurance paid out market value for a hail damaged kia rio ($500) he wasn't happy
also insurance companies are f'k d now, i got an 03 VY S off a mate for $2000 and my insurance company would not insure it for any more than $2000 as thats what my financial interest was, i change insurance and it was insured for market value of $8300

[Franco Cozzo]

If they write it off buy it back at the auctions cheap lol

[EgoFG]

My Dad once negotiated with the insurance co to have the writeoff delivered back to him at scrap cost.
Was a late 70s F150 4wd Cab/Chassis so definitely worth doing