Insurance question

fordman302 · 07-03-2011, 10:20 PM

I am not sure on whether or not i have a leg to stand on with this one, almost 12 months ago to the day my next door neighbour decided he would rearrange the front of my xr8 with his prado, in the process he manged to push my car backwards about 1-2 foot in the gutter whilst it was in park, once the cosmetic damage was repaired and i got the car back i noticed the diff had developed a clunk which seemed to be coming from the left hand carrier bearing, at this point i contacted the insurance company who told me to take the car to an racv repairer to get it looked at. The mechanic at the time told me they couldnt find anything wrong with it and maybe if i changed the fluid it might get better, i took the advice and changed the fluid including the friction modifyer and it shut it up for a while, however now the problem has come back. In the meantime due to the very poor service i recieved from the racv i have switched to shannons, so now i am unsure whether i can claim on the lifetime guarantee of repairs or that i can connect the problem to the accident, otherwise i can see this costing me allot, any thoughts would be appreciated

xisled · 07-03-2011, 10:53 PM

OK if the damage is related to the accident you will still be covered. The reason why you would be is that you had paid your money to be covered at the time and you had a policy with RACV. Just because your policy is void and you are not with them still means nothing.

Now what you do is take your car to a mechanic, get them to do a report on what is the cause of the clunk. If they can relate it back to the accident or repairs not carried out correctly they should cover it under the accident claim.
If they do not accept it and you have proof from your mechanic, take it to there internal dispute resolution service and if no success from them, take it further to the ombudsman.

LTDHO · 07-03-2011, 10:55 PM

Claim on your warrenty, simple.

Yellow_Festiva · 08-03-2011, 09:11 PM

I claimed a dodgy radiator on insurance 12 months after the accident and by that time I had changed insurance companies as well.

It can be done. Proving that it was a direct result of the accident will be the hurdle.