Car Insurance

A question about : Car Insurance

Is it possible to get fully comp car insurance without DRIVE ASSIST being involved! This is a company that appears to get itself involved with non fault insurance cases. By way of explanation of what they do and why I want no more dealings with them...

We have a Vauxhall Zafira for which we arranged fully comp insurance with ZURICH UK, with a £150 excess.

A few months ago, after my wife had parked in a road, a car went into it, causing some panel damage. There was no problem with obtaining the details or an admission of fault. We thought, with our insurance cover, it ought to be quite straightforward, and advised them of the details accordingly.

We were somewhat surprised to be told however that we would have to pay our £150 excess to the panel beaters. Apparently, the company ZURICH UK appointed, DRIVE ASSIST, were in charge of arranging a courtesy car for us and claiming back our excess payment. Our car ended up off the road for a week.

We were told the car we would have would be a similar make and model. Instead we had a Land Rover automatic (ours is manual) which my wife found uncomfortable and a bit overpowering to drive. It certainly guzzled petrol at a lot faster rate than our own car did.

When the hire car was picked up again, a man looked it over, made no more comment other to say it was a lot cleaner then the ones he usually picked up, and got my wife to sign for its return on a hand held device.

We then got a letter dated 2nd July attaching a copy of a form for our records. Attached was the form signed by my wife (who only actualy signed a hand held device ) and, among the list of many OKs was one for the LHR quarter which said scratch. My wife was totally unaware of there being such a scratch, had not been asked to initial this and had not even been told about it. But since the letter stated if there is any new damage shown you may be charged for this in due course, we assumed nothing further would happen.

At the beginning of August we had a letter from them stating that they had been in contact with the insurers of the owners of the other vehicle, to claim back the hire charges and our excess, who had denied being in such an accident. The vehicle registration number they quoted for the other owner was one letter away from our own registration number! Sensing a mistake I rang them. They rang me back and advised that although the letter did have the incorrect registration number on it, they did have the right ones in their records and the owner was still denying liability. Since the owner was the name of a company that seemed to be based in Glasgow (we are in Herts), I again sensed that something was amiss. Having no luck with my phone calls to the girl whose name was on the letter who kept insisting their details were correct, I finally got to talk to her manager. I was curious as to where they had got the details from in the first place. It was Zurich, my insurance company, and so I wondered why they weren't taking this up with them directly. Anyway...finally....finally it transpired that yet again they were one letter out on their registration number and, having got the right number from ZURICH UK, they were finally able to sort it out.

So...just over a week ago, more than two months after we had paid it out, we finally got back our excess.

I vowed at that time that I would not renew my insurance with Zurich. If I have fully comp insurance I expect to deal with one company and one company only, and certainly not a company whom Zurich appoint to deal with me without my say so, especially when they appear so incompetent.

But today, we got the coup de grace. Well over two month since they returned the paperwork too us showing the courtesy car to have had a scratch, we had another letter from DRIVE ASSIST today advising us that £160 would be debited from us within two weeks for damage to the car!!!!!

Apparently we have 14 days to send our queries in writing to avoid the debit being processed.

Well, it can be guaranteed that we will query this bill.

And it can be guaranteed that we will send a copy of that query to ZURICH UK with a note explaining why we won't be renewing our car insurance with them.

Sorry this has been so long, but I'm wondering two things. Has anybody else had experiences of DRIVE ASSIST?

And which Insurance Companies out there do fully comp the way it really ought to be done? I understand why and don't mind other companies are used. But I want my insurers to deal with the other companies leaving me to deal with the company I signed a contract with. For example, for the type of no fault accident we were involved with, I can't see why it shouldn't be my insurance company paying out in full and reclaiming from heir appointed company instead of me.

Best answers:

• Insurance claims are often frustrating and just because you think blame is obvious it isnt always
  Personally think you are overreacting and basically you wont find what you want as insurance companies will always have a company do the stuff for them or their own department and the approaches will always be similar
  yes they made a few errrors but they done their job and a lot quicker than a lot do
• Sorry to hear about your problems, however my recent accident (see my thread "Car Accident Liability") also led to Drive Assist being the hire car and uninsured claims people.
  I can relate to your wife signing a handheld device - I had to do this. However, I was also asked to inspect the hire vehicle inside and outside for any damage (it had a small dent on the rear) which was then noted on a drawing and I signed that. I was advised that should the vehicle be collected with any additional damage to that I had noted, I would be charged. Did the Drive Assist driver go through this process with your wife? If not, it maybe you can protest on the basis that the procedure was not followed by the delivery driver and that the scratch may have been there on delivery.
  I've found Drive Assist to be very helpful so far - they went through 3 depots to find a like for like vehicle (I have a convertible) and delivered at my convenience and co-ordinated very quickly with the insurance company (Axa) and the repairs - my car was in the garage being inspected 1 day after the accident (though roadworthy/driveable) and being repaired 4 days after the accident. Although the repairers quoted 1 week for work, Drive Assist booked the hire car for 2 weeks "just in case" and to call them if my car was returned earlier. Couldn't have asked for better service in my case.
  It's 8 weeks since my accident and I haven't got my excess back, but that's down to the third party's statement being completely different to mine!
  Good luck on sorting it out.
• I have just come across the same problem with Drive assist as mentioned by sunday morning. I was in a crash a few months ago someone drove into the back of me. I was offered a courtesy car by Drive assist as part of my insurance. the hire car was fine and when the man came to collect it he had a look around and I asked him if all was ok he said yes and asked me to sign the pad.I didn't have to put my name in by keypad as i had done when i had received the car.
  anyway not wanting to repeat what has already been explained above i got a letter two months later saying i owed drive assist 230 quid for two scratches i queried the letter but received my reply this morning saying the same thing as the first letter only adding a frequently asked questions to it.
  I wished i had taken photos but in the letter they say they do not recognise photos only what is in the PDA and I can go and have a look at the car at a depot if i ring them up. 230 quid for two scratches that aren't even there. will try and query it further as i know there was no damage on the car.
  on the vehicle conditon report as I said before under my signature is someone elses name can this be used to void the report what is the legality of an electronic signature?
• Not the same issue but...
  I had a courtesy car supplied by Drive Assist in late 2006.
  They agreed to deliver the car to me by a certain time but they were well over an hour late.
  The rear passenger side indicator worked only about 50% of the time and the driver's window didn't open easily.
  Was glad to be rid of it.
• I was searching the net for any help with the Drive Assist "problem came across this may be interested not the first time this has happened.
  https://money.guardian.co.uk/weekly/s...131130,00.html
  interesting read i have sent them an email to see how they dealt with Drive assist.
• hi SM ,
  was going to start thread about drive assist , but hope u dont mind me posting in yours
  similar problem to yourself, recieved letter out of blue from them stating they will be taking £170 from my account for damages - scratch on back bumper and wheel trim damage, although no damage was incurred whilst vehicle was in my posssession.
  scratch on back was already there as badge (car make) was also missing, although person who came to collect it couldnt even find it, it was so minimal.
  slight scratch to wheel trim may have been caused by me (but really cannot recall). however person who came to collect said that did not matter as they do not take wheel trim damages into consideration.
  will be disputing their letter and see what happens.
  although it seems that they are trying to make their money up, because i returned their vehicle after 7 days instead of 14 days , which i was allowed to have on my insurance policy.
• rabialiones....the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned with this company. With other posts in here and the link to the Guardian story that and78 so kindly provided, it seems to me like they are not so much an honest company but one that's found a niche in which to operate a profitable scam.
  I sent back a reply to them today...
  Quote:
• thanks for your support, i will also send them a similar letter
  having another look at their letter,stating petrol as empty (when it was not as i put it in before they collected)
  also my signature is on the sheet, which i did not put there,
  i signed on the electronic pad ,( which i assumed was for collection of the car and did not state condition of car.)and it seems like my sig. has been transferred onto the sheet, which i did not sign, nor was shown or asked to sign.
  i am really mad!
  seems like they are trying to con me
• I've had no acknowledgement of the email I sent them so far.
  Their letter stated that if they did not hear from me within 14 days they would process the debit.
  What's the legal perspective on this? I can't see how it gives them any legal rights to state this, but if they go ahead and process the debit anyway despite my email, and I refuse to pay because I think they have no right to the money, do they end up with the "power" of getting me a bad name on credit history?
• Another thought just occured to me.
  If I ran into another car, there's no way on earth my insurance company would just accept at face value the third party's assessment of the damage caused and the cost incurred as a result.
  So what legal right have DRIVE ASSIST got to do that to me?
• i have also not as yet had a reply to email i sent them.
  can they just take payment from the credit card details they first took?
• I am assuming that you do not have legal cover and that is why you are getting involved with all of this yourself. Drive Assist were appointed to provide me with a courtesy car at one time (another time it was Enterprise) but I was never asked to give them any money. When they came I had to be there while they inspected the car and had to agree with them on the condition of it and they gave me a copy of the paperwork. It did have alloy wheels and I had to agree to give them Ј200 if they were damaged but no money up front. When I gave the car back I had the copy of the original form to hand and had the driver sign that the car was in the same condition it was delivered in just 400 odd miles more on the clock.
  Lots of people use them because they are such a big firm but if I were you I would make sure to get legal cover then you could just report it all to the solicitor handling the case.
• I had somebody open a door onto my wing a few years back.
  I was working 50 miles from home at the time.
  On trying to claim, I thought the process was: tell insurance, get quotes, they would ascertain whose fault it was, if all OK to go ahead at no cost to me get the work done.
  But Drive Assist got involved. They wanted me to take the car to a garage 20 miles from my house, 35 from where I work. To be fixed.
  But I wanted to know first that the driver whose details I had DID exist and he DID have insurance and he wasn't denying it before I had any work done. Couldn't get these assurances.
  And so with the geographical complexities I never bothered to pursue it. Just lived with the dent.
  I had ideas that if I'd taken it to the garage, had it fixed, then there'd be some "Problem" and I'd end up paying for it. Probably something ridiculous like Ј500-600. When I'd rather have the dent in the wing than in my wallet.
• Well, a month after my email, without any interim acknowledgement on their part of receiving my email and just when I thought the matter had been forgotten about, , I got a letter from Drive Assist advising that they are continue to pursue the claim and will debit the card for which they have the details this coming friday, 2nd November. The basis of their argument appears to be the signatures on the before and after dockets. But the signatures were made on a hand held device and presented as being no more than to acknowledge the receipt and return of the car. their dockets are an electonic representation of something which we were never shown, nor verbally informed about. This surely represents "mis- selling" at its worst.
  Here's what I have sent, in letter and email form, in return....
  Quote:
• Well well well!
  Today I received a letter through the post dated 6th November...
  "We confirm that having investigated our files further we will no longer be pursuing payment of the above invoice and have therefore closed our files.
  Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused"
  That's good news. But it does make me wonder. Why did it take two letters from me to make them investigate their files "Further". Before looking to deduct money from someone who's credit card details they happened to have on their files, shouldn't they have done a thorough investigation in the first place?
  This smacks to me like they charge at their convenience, to try it on. What would have been fascinating to see is the receipt that the next person using the same car signed. I wonder if it included the scratch at all, or if it seemed to mysteriously appear when they returned it as well.
  With companies like this, we have no way of knowing how many times that can claim for a one bit of "damage". It could be quite a lucrative business for them. And I can quite imagine that many people would just pay up quietly to avoid the hassle. We certainly thought about doing that at times.
  I'm glad they are no longer pursuing their claim with us. Of course I wonder if that had been the case had we not gone to the lengths of cancelling the credit card for which they had the details. But these companies should be subject to extensive audits by whoever licences them and the insurance companies that use them.
  My opinion of the firm certainly hasn't changed. I don't want them anywhere near the renewal of my insurance. And my opinion of them reflects on Zurich UK, my insurers, who appointed them to the task of handling the hire car. They outsourced both the hiring of the car and the recovery of my excess. Fine, I don't mind them doing that, but I didn't appoint them and don't feel that I should have been dealing with them. (I'm not sure whether the company dealing with my excess, DAS, are linked with Drive Assist, but they kept making a mess of things sending letters off to the wrong people, wrong insurance companies using the wrong registration...at one point telling us that the other party had denied they were in an accident with us)
  Furthermore I want an insurance company that will pay out the loss and then reclaim the amount in full from whoever is liable. That means if its my fault, they get the excess from me, if it's patently not, they at least try and get it from the party at fault. And I want an insurance company that deals with a hire company on my behalf, not one that shunts me off to deal with a company like DRIVE ASSIST.
  It's clear to me that Zurich UK is not the company for me next time. I'd be grateful for any suggestions for insurance companies that actually do what they say they do on the tin all by themselves!
• i had problems with drive assist in 2000. due to my age they were the only ones that would provide me with the courtesy car. they were slow in collecting it once i had my own car back and about 1 year later started to persue me for the bill. they eventually backed down (i may have got a solicitor involved tho i cant remember) but i still have all the paperwork 7 years later incase it all kicks off again.