Car insurance claim

[Mottie]

Last week, a youngster bumped into the back of our A3 when Mrs Mottie was stopped and waiting to turn right. The kid admitted liability and wanted to pay for the damage himself rather than go through his insurance. It didn't look too much at first so I got a quote from a firm that came highly recommended to me from a mate in the trade. Turned out it needed a new upper and lower bumper, a few brackets, a crash bar, a couple of lights - slightly chipped but had already started getting condensation inside them and spraying. The total was just under £2k. Spoke to his dad and he said that due to the damage to his car, he was going to have to go through his insurance. No problem, I would prefer that anyway and the body shop reckoned that would be the best option too.

Going through my insurance I have to pay the first £250 and claim it back plus another £200 for not using one of their authorised repairers.

Just had a call tonight from his insurance company and they said they would deal with my body shop directly plus arrange a hire car or pay me a one-off payment of £250 if I didn't want a hire car. We wont need a hire car. Only negative I can see is that they said they won't guarantee that body repair as it's not one of their authorised repairers. I've not even got round to notifying my insurance company yet.

His insurance company said getting it done through them would mean that it won't affect my no-claims bonus (it's protected anyway).

What would you do - go ahead with his insurance company's offer or get in touch with your own and go through them?

 

[Stivino]

I would use my own insurer. I would also use my own repairer, as I have done in the past. My own repairer also gave me the excess back for not using their recommended repair place

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Why haven't you informed your insurance company?

 

[jj4091]

In a similar situation the repairer offered the warranty not the insurance company. As fmt says tell your insurers even though you are not making a claim ( I think it says you have to in the small print anyway) in order to ensure it goes down as being not your fault on the register they all use these days.

 

[Mottie]

Why haven't you informed your insurance company?

As I said, initially he wanted to pay for the damage himself. I wasn't too keen but Mrs Mottie felt sorry for him and wanted to give him a chance because he was a young driver. When it was much more than he expected, he had no choice but to go through his insurance. We were waiting for the kid to send his insurance details through to us. We had sent ours to him. He finally sent his details to us last night about 5.00. I assume he sent ours to his insurance company yesterday because they phoned us about 8.00 last night. I'll let them know today.

 

[Diver Fred]

Do tell your insurance company - especially as the other driver is now going to his. The insurance data base is shared across all companies so your company will know and not informing them will be held against you. It just isn't worth the hassle of not telling them.

 

[Mottie]

Do tell your insurance company - especially as the other driver is now going to his. The insurance data base is shared across all companies so your company will know and not informing them will be held against you. It just isn't worth the hassle of not telling them.

Thanks. Already reported. My insurance company gave me a reference number in case I need to get back in touch with them. They said they'd waive the £250 excess if I went with them as the other company have admitted liability but not the £200 for using a repairer not on their books. As this repairer comes highly recommended from a friend in the trade (his company is a Lotus specialist and they use them all the time), I'll go with the other persons insurance who are paying the total bill plus £250 to us in lieu of a hire car. It'll only be in overnight and we have another car to use while its in anyway.

 

[The Samaritan]

Why haven't you informed your insurance company?

Exactly as I thought as it is a requirement. he first part reads that there was a good chance the insurance was not going to be informed. FACT

https://www.beckettandco.co.uk/notifying-motor-insurers/

https://www.beckettandco.co.uk/notifying-motor-insurers/

FACT

 

[Avocet]

Not really an answer to Mottie's question, but when I had a non-fault accident, the other party made good and my no-claims wasn't affected. All well and good. (Or so I thought)! However, on renewal, my premium went up a bit (even though it was non-fault)! Might be worth factoring into your calculations?

 

[Mottie]

Not really an answer to Mottie's question, but when I had a non-fault accident, the other party made good and my no-claims wasn't affected. All well and good. (Or so I thought)! However, on renewal, my premium went up a bit (even though it was non-fault)! Might be worth factoring into your calculations?

As my repairs are being taken care of by the other parties insurance company, my no claims won't be affected (wouldn't have been affected anyway as they are protected). Like yours, it just goes down as a no fault accident. We'll see whether my insurance goes up a little on renewal but so far this year my motorbike and home insurances have both gone down by a considerable percentage. In any case, the £250 cash payment from his insurance company should more than cover any small increases.

 

[johnny2007]

As my repairs are being taken care of by the other parties insurance company, my no claims won't be affected (wouldn't have been affected anyway as they are protected). Like yours, it just goes down as a no fault accident. We'll see whether my insurance goes up a little on renewal but so far this year my motorbike and home insurances have both gone down by a considerable percentage. In any case, the £250 cash payment from his insurance company should more than cover any small increases.

Accordingly to the great people who run insurance companies, if you have a no fault accident you're a worse risk, so they put the premium up (although by just a little).
Many times I found my car scratched, dented and on one occasion with the bumper a few yards down the road while parked.
I swallowed the loss and fixed it myself.
I now have dashcams in both cars and already caught a woman scratching my mirror and casually walk away.
The other car had several identical dents on the door, so same car.
I moved the dashcam and caught a woman who would park very close to my car and then open her door against mine.
She paid up when faced with videos £280.
The most annoying thing is that I park in a very large opening with plenty of space for dozens of cars, but this woman said that she could only park next to another car or she wouldn't have a clue where the car was...
Scary...

 

[The Samaritan]

This is why the insurance co's ask if you have been "involved in any accidents" - see above posts. You must report aLL acidents to insurance co, fact!!

 

[Mottie]

Well, I took it in on Thursday and picked it up this morning. They've made a cracking job of it, as I would expect, but they've gone that little bit further by mopping and polishing the whole car, taking all the little scratches and scuffs out of the paintwork plus the interior has been given a full valet - not even a speck of dust anywhere. Well pleased with it - it's like a brand new car!

 

[jj4091]

A full valet has always been done in the limited experiences I have had, I think they have to do the outside because the vehicles get so dirty in their workshops..

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Yea I got a full outside clean when I had the wheels refurbished.