I leased a car from AMAG and returned it at the end of the lease in March. With spectacularly bad timing, there was a heavy hailstorm the day before the car was returned and the car sustained some minor hail damage.
AMAG informed me by email on 23rd April that they had sent the bill (2600 CHF) directly to the insurer and enclosed a copy for my records.
I‘ve just received a letter per post from AMAG saying this bill is now overdue and they expect me to pay it within 10 days. I did not hear anything from either AMAG or the insurer during the intervening time.
What‘s the best way to handle this situation? I’ve written to my contact at the insurer to ask what’s going on, but pending a response I would love some advise in case it does not come back quickly with a response of „sorry, we’ll pay that right away“!
I do not want to end up with a betreibung against me but neither do I want to have to pay it directly.
Thanks very much for any experience or suggestions. I do not have legal insurance.
There are two contracts: One between you and AMAG, and one between you and the Insurer.
You need to reach out to your insurer and ensure that a) they received your claim and b) confirm they have accepted the claim. I am guessing you also need to pay a certain amount yourself.
If they have received and accepted your claim, ask them to advise you on how to proceed with the overdue bill. Proceed then as advised.
If they dispute the claim, then I’m afraid you had best pay AMAG and take up the dispute with your Insurer.
Thanks for your reply. They‘ve definitely received the claim, I had initial discussions with them about it when I submitted it. Not sure how to tell if they‘ve accepted it. Certainly they didn‘t tell me that they didn‘t. I was informed by AMAG (and this is also stated in the contract) that hail damage does not have an associated excess, so I wasn‘t expecting to have to pay anything.
I have already written to the insurer to ask what‘s going on from their side.
Thanks for the advice. I‘m of the generation that hates phone calls
I did just call them, and they told me it has been approved but that they never received the bill from AMAG. If AMAG send them the bill, they will pay it.
So now I‘ve written to AMAG asking them to urgently re-send the bill. Unfortunately the insurer will only accept it if it comes directly from AMAG, a copy from me is not acceptable.
I am quite annoyed that AMAG waited so long to tell me this is a problem. I feel like the 10 day deadline may now be difficult to meet
What i would do is send amag a registered letter, starting:
your insurance will pay AmAG directly.
your insurance needs the bill directly from AMAG, which includes payment details.
that you have discussed this urgent matter with your insurance and they are willing to expedite payment.
ask who in Amag is responsible, so your insurance or you can get in contact with them.
Include your insurance claim in the letter.
State that since insurance is waiting on amag itself, the ‘10 day to pay’ demand needs to be waived, as this matter moves forward.
Chances are that amag may not realize your insurance nor have any rights to your insurance, unless you authorize and clarify. They can only hold you responsible.
Your insurance needs to verify the claim, do paperwork, etc. Only amag can provide those.
Oh god, me too. Especially in German. Why can we not just communicate by email and text? I avoid the phone as much as possible and video calling is even worse.
Thanks a lot for the advice, I’ll do the registered letter thing.
The insurance company were already in contact with AMAG by email (I was copied) and it does seem like everyone has agreed to everything, it’s just that somehow the bill went missing. If the insurers are being truthful, then apparently AMAG didn’t even follow up with them, just waited till it was time-critical then passed it on to me to pay. This is frustrating because now if I do pay it, the insurance might pay it too!
Email is the best (for this kind of thing). Because on the phone you have to think instantly. Email you can think about what you want to say, go over it to get the tone right and 100% make sure the other person has all the details. The phone is stressful, you have to respond fast, and you can never be sure the other person has taken on everything you said. And in German it’s even worse - if I can’t think of how to say something in German on the phone I’m screwed, with an email I can easily get it right before sending.
It’s my understanding that hail damage, in Canton Zurich anyway, is somehow covered by the Canton. A few years ago our car was parked at the dealer’s for a service and theyleft it outside in a hailstorm. The dealer needed our insurance details to get it repaired, but we had no deduction or penalty to pay. (Zurich Insurance).
I think it is paid by the “Teilkasko” if you have one. I am 46 years driving without anything than the mandatory insurance, could buy a few cars with the savings by now…
You may or not may have deductible, depending on your policy. No mandatory insurance from government, not even for farmers.
Leased cars usually have “Vollkasko” so it should be covered. Once I had to ask 3 times for an insurance payment from Basler, paid 9 months too late after a certified letter. I had to advance the money and they did not pay any interest. But at least at the end I got the money.
Zurich insurance is a private company that is located in Zürich city. Otherwise no association with the government of canton Zürich. Or were you kidding?
