Advice on Insurance Claim please..

[purrfect]

Having just had a dreadful month (another story) a lady accidentally drove her car into mine yesterday. Ouch! And bit of a shock seeing her car hurtle towards the poor little MX5! I reported to my insurance company (& they told me which bodyshop to go to for estimate) and then this morning, her insurance company rang and said they confirmed their insured driver was indeed at fault. Her company advised me it was better to directly go through them and also advised a bodyshop to go to for estimate and advised me to inform my insurance company for notification purposes only and no need to pursue claim through my company. They said consequently it would then not affect cost of renewal premium. So question is - is it still better to go through my insurance company for claim or directly through hers? Also, as car is quite old 1999 - V plate, would it be more likely that my company would say it is write-off? Damage is to front bumper and arch over wheel. Any advice appreciated. Thanks

[nsmith1180]

First, learn how to use punctuation and paragraphs, that was a horrible post, very difficult to read.

YOU get the choice where your car goes, not your insurer, not their insurer. Dont worry about a write off until that come up.

[missdiane]

I read it fine

I would go through your company, they are acting for you- what choices will you have using her insurance co, their client is the other party,

If it is her fault and you have proof it won't affect no claims unless she pulls the 'not my fault' one
However, you will always have to declare it to insurance companies now as it'd still an accident, claim or not

We still have one coming up from 2008, we reported as an accident, decided not to claim and it still comes up on our history with the insurance company, it doesn't affect the prices luckily- supposedly

Edited for the grammar police

Edited by missdiane on Saturday 18th September 15:44

[EK993]

As they have already admitted liability I would without question let the third parties Insurance company deal with the matter directly with you. Notify your insurer for information purposes only.

[Gruber]

It reads fine.

Sorry to hear you're having a hard time and sorry to hear about the prang.

If her insurance co is admitting fault, then no need to go through yours. It will only add delay. But I'd recommend you try to get their admission of liability in writing, as soon as possible, just in case someone tries something funny later down the line.

Take the car to a body shop you trust. Also take it to the one they recommend. Hopefully the prices will be about the same, so you can insist that you'll take it to your preferred place and get it sorted there.

And there's no point worrying about the write off at this moment in time. Get the quotes and see what the insurers say. One step at a time. If you want to spend a little time checking out prices for similar spec / age / condition cars, then this will help you to argue the toss if the need arises.

Good luck getting it sorted.

Edited by Gruber on Saturday 18th September 16:10

[bazking69]

GO throught your insurers, not the third parties.

Also, whatever way you do it, you will have to declare it for the next 5 years, even as the party not at fault.

[EK993]

bazking69 said:

GO throught your insurers, not the third parties.

Why would you suggest this course of action?

[R1 Loon]

EK993 said:

As they have already admitted liability I would without question let the third parties Insurance company deal with the matter directly with you. Notify your insurer for information purposes only.

This would be my route.

It's interesting to see the mix of answers on here.

For info, if you use her insurers, they will treat you as a customer, repair / write off your vehicle as necessary. However the big plus is that you won;t hve to worry about your excess as they will pay the full amount, reather than the net amount after excess deducted.

There are loads of technical reasons / arguments to use either side. Howevr, the TP insurers primary goal will be to mitgate any cost of a future injury claim (and credit hire claim), the car repair is incidental to their potential outlay.

You should always declare the accident on any future proposal and report it to your insurers as Info Only as has already been written.

[hazzel_frazzel]

Although the insurance companies are reluctant to admit it, they HAVE to let you take it to your bodyshop, so take it to one that comes highly recommended, that you trust to repair your pride and joy properly. The bodyshops that the insurance companies tell you to use have agreements with the ins co, and as such MAY be more likely to do poor quality work.

[pinkorstink]

Consider letting the insurer choose the repairer unless you are 100% confident that your chosen one is stable. My car was in a repair centre that went bust. KPMG acted as creditors to the company and declared my car as an assett of the closure. Had I chosen this repairer myself I would have been on my own (not that Direct Line were any use). It took a visit with the police to get my car back.

[R1 Loon]

hazzel_frazzel said:

Although the insurance companies are reluctant to admit it, they HAVE to let you take it to your bodyshop, so take it to one that comes highly recommended, that you trust to repair your pride and joy properly. The bodyshops that the insurance companies tell you to use have agreements with the ins co, and as such MAY be more likely to do poor quality work.

Not true they HAVE to put you back in the position you were prior to the accident. Discounts are arranged with most dealers & independent bodyshops based on volume of throughput, so discounts don't guarantee poor workmanship. By the same token, I accept they don't guarantee good workmanship either.

[purrfect]

Thank you all very much for your advice. But as there is conflicting advice, I am still slightly confused as to best course of action.

Can I ask - are any of you actually involved directly in insurance (or have been in past)?

One thing that did slightly amuse me (but only just) was when their hire company rang this morning about lending me car, they told me it would be "like for like". I said, oh great, a MX5 then? He said "no, no, a Ford Focus....with same size angine, but if you had been at fault, it would only have been something like a Ford Ka".... !!!

Oh dear, silly but this has affected me - took until 7pm today to go out for milk and all time I was briefly in car, felt sure someone (else) would hit me! Another lady hit same car last year (when I went to TVR Chatsworth - in wrong car!!)

Think I will have to change my name to... FarlessthanPurrfect

Edited by purrfect on Saturday 18th September 21:04

[EK993]

I worked in the Insurance industry for many years.

There is little advantage to running the claim through your own insurer. They will pay for the repairs and your no claims bonus will be affected until they make a full recovery on their money. You would go to your insurers if the other party is disputing liability and you need your car repaired straight away.

Go to the third party insurers approved repairers and let them look at it, they will carry out the work and the Insurer will pay the garage directly. If you don't like the look of the approved repairer, go to your own garage and get a quote, submit it for their approval.

As I mentioned previously in a case where liability is already admitted I don't see any advantage for your insurers pay for the claim and then make a recovery from the other insurer.

[purrfect]

Ok EK993, thank you for that.

[SC7]

nsmith1180 said:

First, learn how to use punctuation and paragraphs, that was a horrible post, very difficult to read.

Those in glass houses...

[R1 Loon]

purrfect said:

Thank you all very much for your advice. But as there is conflicting advice, I am still slightly confused as to best course of action.

Can I ask - are any of you actually involved directly in insurance (or have been in past)?

One thing that did slightly amuse me (but only just) was when their hire company rang this morning about lending me car, they told me it would be "like for like". I said, oh great, a MX5 then? He said "no, no, a Ford Focus....with same size angine, but if you had been at fault, it would only have been something like a Ford Ka".... !!!

Oh dear, silly but this has affected me - took until 7pm today to go out for milk and all time I was briefly in car, felt sure someone (else) would hit me! Another lady hit same car last year (when I went to TVR Chatsworth - in wrong car!!)

Think I will have to change my name to... FarlessthanPurrfect

Edited by purrfect on Saturday 18th September 21:04

I work in insurance in claims in a reasonably well paid role, although I'm not massively technical, I do have a few hundred teccies at my disposal.

Read my post and take this as the best course of action.

Also, "like-for-like" is exactly that, not "exact-for-exact" it's a term used to describe cars based on basic grouping for the mainstream market e.g. crash a Focus and get an Astra or similar hatchback. More niche type cars are harder to replace with an overly similar car.

You'll find the groupings and "silly hire rates" that are charged to TP insurers when a Credit Hire Company (Accident Management Company) offer you a free car.

Click the link entitled "New maximum car hire settlement rates w.e.f 1 July 2010 updated 17 August 2010" on the page that opens on the link below

http://apps.abi.org.uk/tphire/