Minor accident, not at fault, what's the first step?

[UTH]

Got a message from Mrs UTH just now, on her way to work she's been involved in a fairly minor accident.

Long story short it sounds like she's not at fault, she's got the number of a person happy to be a witness, as well as it happening coming out of a petrol station so presumably CCTV available if needs be.

It sounds like the other woman involved might not be immediately keen to take the blame though

I've never been involved in anything like this so no idea what the first step is.....do we get in touch with our insurers? It's a multi car policy paid for by me, Mrs UTH driving a car that's in her name......

Just want to make sure we don't start the ball rolling with something that'll go down as a claim on our side when it's not her fault..?

[snotrag]

UTH said:

Got a message from Mrs UTH just now, on her way to work she's been involved in a fairly minor accident.

Long story short it sounds like she's not at fault, she's got the number of a person happy to be a witness, as well as it happening coming out of a petrol station so presumably CCTV available if needs be.

It sounds like the other woman involved might not be immediately keen to take the blame though

I've never been involved in anything like this so no idea what the first step is.....do we get in touch with our insurers? It's a multi car policy paid for by me, Mrs UTH driving a car that's in her name......

Just want to make sure we don't start the ball rolling with something that'll go down as a claim on our side when it's not her fault..?

Speak to your own insurer only, pass on the details of the witness, the petrol station, be very firm in that this is a non-fault accident, and let them do the work. This is literally what you pay them for.


Do not engage at all with the other party, the other parties insurers, any 'accident management' companies etc.

[sherman]

Phone your insurance with all the details of the other party that you have plus where and when, direction of travel etc.
Any mitigating factors like sun in her eyes etc.
The insurance company will talk you through the process.

Get her tobtake pics of damage in situ as well.

[UTH]

Cool thanks guys, just wanted to make sure that getting in touch with our insurer was the right thing to do. Will get on the case. She's taken lots of photos already and has been in touch with the petrol station who have already provided a case ID for access to the CCTV

[The_Nugget]

For reasons that have always been unclear to me, many people advise to get in touch with and deal with the Third parties insurance directly.

I wouldn’t, use your own insurer, you’ve paid for it and they need to represent you.

[ScoobyChris]

The_Nugget said:

For reasons that have always been unclear to me, many people advise to get in touch with and deal with the Third parties insurance directly.

The main reason is so you don't pay your insurance excess. Of course, the downside is you need to do all the chasing yourself.

Chris

[RedAndy]

ScoobyChris said:

The main reason is so you don't pay your insurance excess. Of course, the downside is you need to do all the chasing yourself.

depends on the event... but in this case the other party isnt keen to take blame... so just let your InsCo deal with it and save yourself a lot of aggro.

[mcdjl]

ScoobyChris said:

The main reason is so you don't pay your insurance excess. Of course, the downside is you need to do all the chasing yourself.

Chris

Do you ever pay your excess or is it just taken from your payout?

[leef44]

RedAndy said:

ScoobyChris said:

The main reason is so you don't pay your insurance excess. Of course, the downside is you need to do all the chasing yourself.

depends on the event... but in this case the other party isnt keen to take blame... so just let your InsCo deal with it and save yourself a lot of aggro.

The insurance policies I've had always say to contact them first or that it may invalidate the claim so I've always done this first.

Now I've joined this outfit for the legal cover, they say to contact them first and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. They make a commission from the solicitors who they tout. I guess it would be worth it if the other party denies fault.

https://www.freemotorlegal.co.uk/

[Donbot]

The_Nugget said:

For reasons that have always been unclear to me, many people advise to get in touch with and deal with the Third parties insurance directly.

I wouldn’t, use your own insurer, you’ve paid for it and they need to represent you.

I've dealt with the other insurer directly (after informing my own ins. company). If you can agree a value with the other insurer things get done a hell of a lot more quickly as it keeps their costs down.

[Sir Bagalot]

snotrag said:

Do not engage at all with the other party, the other parties insurers, any 'accident management' companies etc.

Why not?

A while back I was driving Lady B's vehicle, saw potential trouble coming my way, pulled over as much as possible and stopped. I was hit on the offside rear quarter.

I did report to her insurers as info' only. Shortly after the third party insurers called me and accepted blame. Booked in with a repairers I was happy with, hire car delivered (so no credit hire) and all fixed within a week

[Mr Tidy]

Happened to me a few months ago on a slip-road leaving a motorway.

I went straight to the insurer of the car that hit me - why should I pay an excess that I'd have to claim back later?

After working in general insurance claims for over 30 years I really didn't want the grief of having an outstanding claim with my insurer either!

Good luck anyway.

[UTH]

Just picking this up, we have submitted all the details through Admiral's online portal, and then yesterday Mrs UTH spent some time on the phone to someone at Admiral.

They told her that in order to progress with anything, we need to get a quote for the damage to our car, but in order for Admiral to actually get involved with working out if the other person WAS indeed at fault, we have to make an actual claim?
Does that sound right? What we don't want to happen is end up finding out that they can't attribute blame to the other person but we're already down the route of a claim being made?
Surely it's possible for them to work out who is actually to blame first before we decide to carry on making a claim? Or am I wrong?

Tempted to tell Mrs UTH to just get a quote and we'll just pay it!

[3GGy]

Yes you can open a claim and wait for a liability decision before actually having your car repaired, if that's your question.

From my experience in the industry, you need to open a claim to actually investigate liability.

These are perfectly good questions for your insurer though. You'd be better off asking them.

[UTH]

3GGy said:

Yes you can open a claim and wait for a liability decision before actually having your car repaired, if that's your question.

From my experience in the industry, you need to open a claim to actually investigate liability.

These are perfectly good questions for your insurer though. You'd be better off asking them.

Ok thank you. Dare I say it, some of the problem here is that Mrs UTH is doing most of the work here as she was the one involved in the incident, but maybe I need to find some time in the working day to take over. It does seem a fairly straight forward thing to find out from Admiral, but after 30 mins on the phone it was still very unclear!

[s94wht]

Admiral in "being crap on the phone" shocker.

[anonymous-user]

leef44 said:

The insurance policies I've had always say to contact them first or that it may invalidate the claim so I've always done this first.

Now I've joined this outfit for the legal cover, they say to contact them first and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. They make a commission from the solicitors who they tout. I guess it would be worth it if the other party denies fault.

https://www.freemotorlegal.co.uk/

That seems very good but is there any cover if you're prosecuted for motoring offences and need legal representation?

[leef44]

pocketspring said:

leef44 said:

The insurance policies I've had always say to contact them first or that it may invalidate the claim so I've always done this first.

Now I've joined this outfit for the legal cover, they say to contact them first and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. They make a commission from the solicitors who they tout. I guess it would be worth it if the other party denies fault.

https://www.freemotorlegal.co.uk/

That seems very good but is there any cover if you're prosecuted for motoring offences and need legal representation?

That's a good point. I would think so because you need to register with them first and they are trying to grab business by replacing your insurance company's legal team.