Insurance claim question
Discussion
I had an accident a couple of months ago, totally my fault (not a phrase you hear often on PH) I drove into the back of a car waiting to turn right, low speed and quite minor damage.
I offered to pay for the repair directly as it appeared not worth bothering with a claim. I guesstimated about £500 for both cars, having a trade policy my excess is £500.
The damage to the third parties car (Ford Focus) is very slight and only appears to the rear bumper only. After chatting to the lady at scene she agreed a smart repair would be best to save getting quotes and being without her car for any length of time. I organised a smart repairer the same day to contact the lady to arrange to repair it.
Anyway it seemed to take weeks to hear anything back, and but in the end she changed her mind and wanted to go to a bodyshop. Fair enough. During which time I had repaired my car which turned out to be a bit more complicated than it appeared and came out to nearly £900 which made me think perhaps I should have gone through the insurance.
Another few later and she has now come back to me with quotes all in the £600 region, (bodyshops taking the pee IMO) and she is now becoming very unpleasant so I'd rather not deal with her any more .
Now I want to start a claim, but don't want to have it knocked back a long way into the process.
Before I contact my insurers, will any of the following affect my claim?
Insurers ask to be notified ASAP about any accident.
I no longer own the car I was in.
I have already repaired one car (I have the invoice for this of course).
I offered to pay for the repair directly as it appeared not worth bothering with a claim. I guesstimated about £500 for both cars, having a trade policy my excess is £500.
The damage to the third parties car (Ford Focus) is very slight and only appears to the rear bumper only. After chatting to the lady at scene she agreed a smart repair would be best to save getting quotes and being without her car for any length of time. I organised a smart repairer the same day to contact the lady to arrange to repair it.
Anyway it seemed to take weeks to hear anything back, and but in the end she changed her mind and wanted to go to a bodyshop. Fair enough. During which time I had repaired my car which turned out to be a bit more complicated than it appeared and came out to nearly £900 which made me think perhaps I should have gone through the insurance.
Another few later and she has now come back to me with quotes all in the £600 region, (bodyshops taking the pee IMO) and she is now becoming very unpleasant so I'd rather not deal with her any more .
Now I want to start a claim, but don't want to have it knocked back a long way into the process.
Before I contact my insurers, will any of the following affect my claim?
Insurers ask to be notified ASAP about any accident.
I no longer own the car I was in.
I have already repaired one car (I have the invoice for this of course).
If your a trader speak to your broker and ask them the likely impact on renewal. Then you can cost it accurately.
Do you have all sections excess in which case, if third party claims will you still have to pay the excess? Most private policies the excess is only payable if you are claiming for you own damage.
If claiming then the repair work you have done to your car should be quantifiable ie parts / labour. Coupled with that the damage to the Third party vehicle being rear and your front end then the repair work would unlikely mean a rear light cluster would be part of the claim but a new front bumper/lights would be.
Do you have all sections excess in which case, if third party claims will you still have to pay the excess? Most private policies the excess is only payable if you are claiming for you own damage.
If claiming then the repair work you have done to your car should be quantifiable ie parts / labour. Coupled with that the damage to the Third party vehicle being rear and your front end then the repair work would unlikely mean a rear light cluster would be part of the claim but a new front bumper/lights would be.
Baron Von Alders said:
If your repair cost £900 you'll only get £400 of this back though, less your £500 excess?
Yes but if I pay for it all myself I'm looking at a total outlay of £1,500. If I claim I'll get (as you say) £400 back plus the third party will be dealt with and I won't have to get involved or pay out another £600.
Explain the situation to your broker - the insurer should understand that at first you intended to deal outside insurance, hence the delay in reporting.
Depending on the size of your trade policy, a relatively small claim of £1,000 may make no difference at all at renewal.
Your broker is there to advise in these situations.
Depending on the size of your trade policy, a relatively small claim of £1,000 may make no difference at all at renewal.
Your broker is there to advise in these situations.
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