On the 31 September 2022, my family were traveling from Tunbridge Wells to Derby, at roughly 7pm and were involved in an accident on the M1 at Luton, where a lorry side swiped us on the left-hand side of our vehicle and fortunately, I managed to control the vehicle and not swerve into the other cars on the motorway. We were dragged along the motorway by the lorry, and then crashed into the left-hand side barrier, where the car shut off, due to the impact. The lorry driver jumped out to see if we were ok and called the police and we swapped insurance and driving licenses and other necessary information. We had to push the car off the road as it did not start due to the damage and fortunately there was no injuries, apart from some small bruises.
I immediately called through to my insurance [Marshmallow – one for expats as I returned from South Africa] and I specifically ensured I had roadside assistance, as well as recovery and hotel and a rental car on my insurance as I did not ever want to be stranded anywhere if anything happened.
Marshmallow doesn’t have a direct line, but I was able to register the claim, and arrange for my vehicle to be recovered from the motorway at Luton. Then I requested for the family to also be recovered to be assisted and taken to a place of safety for the evening as we were nowhere close to home.
I was told that by the agent on the call that they don’t do this recovery, as they only deal with car recovery and there were no other numbers available on the Marshmallow app. I tried all options, and even called the AA, who never even answered their calls, after 30 minutes of sitting on hold. After 2 and a half hours, we had the tow truck arrive and they were going to take the car and leave us, however, thank goodness for the angel of a driver that night he couldn’t leave us in the rain and assisted to take us to a Travel Lodge, close by.
My 83-year mother who struggles with walking had to try and get into a flatbed tow truck and it was excruciating painful, and she was in tears, but it was our only option, and we had to book ourselves into the Travel Lodge (who were amazing with my mother).
My brother who lives in Tonbridge had to drive through the next morning to collect us and bring us home.
With the complaint in hand, and confirming that all my cover, as I thought, was in place. Marshmallow confirmed that I do have breakdown cover on my policy, and they will indeed recover and take us (the family) to a hotel and cover the costs up to £250 for the evening and help with a rental car … in the event of a breakdown.
However, in the event of an accident, when the car is damaged or in my case a complete write off, then basically I don’t have this cover and I can find my own way. In their response to my claim (I have this mail), they confirmed they will pay for any reimbursement of costs, but in terms of actually getting my family off the motorway to safety, how was I supposed to do this? Call a taxi or Uber? Have you ever tried this?
With the added stress of dealing with being hit by a lorry twice, and checking that my family is ok, and now I have to try and find a way to get off the motorway because my insurance company that I expect to help me in this situation let me down and left us stranded on the motorway for over 2 hours. Zero accountability.
