Settling damage outside insurance
Discussion
Hello all. My niece just sent me this message and I'm not sure what the correct advice is. Any insights most welcome. Thanks.
"Hi, was wondering if you would give me your opinion on something.
10 days ago I reversed into another car. I was taking Diego to the vets and he was meowing so I was distracted! It’s the first accident I’ve had in over 15 years.
The damage to the other car seemed to be quite minor, so I agreed to pay for it to be repaired and not go through the insurance. The excess on my policy is £700 and I thought the repair to her car would be less than that. The other driver said she’d get some quotes for repair and get back to me. On Friday ( 8 days after the accident) she messaged and said she’d had a quote for £2000! Apparently the garage said she needs a new door. Another place told her she doesn’t need a new door and it can be repaired. I said that I can’t afford £2000 so if it’s that much we will need to go through the insurance. She didn’t want to do that either ( guessing because her insurance would also go up ) and she was meant to get back to me with another quote. She hasn’t so far.
I’ve just checked my policy terms and conditions and I’ve only got 7 days from the date of an accident to make a claim. So I can’t claim as it’s now been 10 days. Also, my insurance is due for renewal in 6 days. They ask have you made a claim when giving a quote and currently the answer is no.
I don’t know what to do."
"Hi, was wondering if you would give me your opinion on something.
10 days ago I reversed into another car. I was taking Diego to the vets and he was meowing so I was distracted! It’s the first accident I’ve had in over 15 years.
The damage to the other car seemed to be quite minor, so I agreed to pay for it to be repaired and not go through the insurance. The excess on my policy is £700 and I thought the repair to her car would be less than that. The other driver said she’d get some quotes for repair and get back to me. On Friday ( 8 days after the accident) she messaged and said she’d had a quote for £2000! Apparently the garage said she needs a new door. Another place told her she doesn’t need a new door and it can be repaired. I said that I can’t afford £2000 so if it’s that much we will need to go through the insurance. She didn’t want to do that either ( guessing because her insurance would also go up ) and she was meant to get back to me with another quote. She hasn’t so far.
I’ve just checked my policy terms and conditions and I’ve only got 7 days from the date of an accident to make a claim. So I can’t claim as it’s now been 10 days. Also, my insurance is due for renewal in 6 days. They ask have you made a claim when giving a quote and currently the answer is no.
I don’t know what to do."
Report to her insurance company and make the claim. She is not the first person to do this, nor will she be the last.
Her policy will indeed require her to report it in a short timeframe (I'm surprised it's as long as 7 days tbh) but it's unusual for such clauses to be enforced strictly. Legally the insurer would only be able to (partially) deny the claim if the delay had caused them additional costs over and above what they would have had to pay had she reported it on time.
Get new renewal quotes with the pending/open claim declared.
Remember in future that there is no excess to pay on third party claims - it only applies if you claim for your own damage.
Her policy will indeed require her to report it in a short timeframe (I'm surprised it's as long as 7 days tbh) but it's unusual for such clauses to be enforced strictly. Legally the insurer would only be able to (partially) deny the claim if the delay had caused them additional costs over and above what they would have had to pay had she reported it on time.
Get new renewal quotes with the pending/open claim declared.
Remember in future that there is no excess to pay on third party claims - it only applies if you claim for your own damage.
Excess is only for own damage.
She's supposed to declare the incident anyway, regardless of whether she claims. If giving advice you can't really tell her not to report it or it'll be back at your door is it bites her on the arse later.
I've no idea how striclty the time limit for claims is enforced - not heard of that before.
She's supposed to declare the incident anyway, regardless of whether she claims. If giving advice you can't really tell her not to report it or it'll be back at your door is it bites her on the arse later.
I've no idea how striclty the time limit for claims is enforced - not heard of that before.
As above, there's no excess on 3rd party claims.
It doesn't matter what your niece's policy says about time limit for a claim as that's for HER making a claim, not a 3rd party.
If the other driver doesn't want to go through insurers, that's their own choice but they can't dictate that your niece has to pay; she can just let them contact her insurer.
It doesn't matter what your niece's policy says about time limit for a claim as that's for HER making a claim, not a 3rd party.
If the other driver doesn't want to go through insurers, that's their own choice but they can't dictate that your niece has to pay; she can just let them contact her insurer.
Similar thing happened to a friend of mine a couple of years ago, car in front went to go then suddenly stopped to let a car out of a side turn and friend bumped into the back of him. There was barely any damage to the back of the vehicle, just a dented/scraped bumper and broken number plate. It was a 12 year old Hyundai i20. My friends grille, bumper and headlight was smashed. He had a similar excess to yours, around £700, but said he would pay for the damage to the Hyundai and get his own fixed.
Hyundai guy then messaged him later that night saying he wanted £500 by tomorrow as 'his mechanic mate' had looked at it, it was a one time offer or it would go up day by day. As soon as this happened, went straight to the insurer and went through them all legit. His insurance went up by only about £50 at renewal time, but at least there was peace of mind. As soon as he would have paid this guy the £500, you could be almost certain a personal injury claim will have followed etc etc.
Hyundai guy then messaged him later that night saying he wanted £500 by tomorrow as 'his mechanic mate' had looked at it, it was a one time offer or it would go up day by day. As soon as this happened, went straight to the insurer and went through them all legit. His insurance went up by only about £50 at renewal time, but at least there was peace of mind. As soon as he would have paid this guy the £500, you could be almost certain a personal injury claim will have followed etc etc.
Having recently gone through this myself as the other party (a young girl bumped into me and I agreed to settle outside of insurance for her), my suggestion would be to just be honest.
“Hi I’m making a claim that happened on X date.”
“You should have reported this within 7 days.”
“OK I’m really sorry, to be honest with you we were not sure whether the claim was worth claiming on insurance, but we were always going to inform you of the incident regardless.”
As someone has mentioned previously, it would be really unreasonable for the insurer to deny your claim on this basis; as you are being honest.
The number one reason why insurance companies like you to declare incidents as soon as possible, is so that all the details of the claim are fresh in the consumer’s memory. If people got into the habit of declaring accidents they had six months ago, then the finer details, any evidence, and witnesses would all be less reliable.
“Hi I’m making a claim that happened on X date.”
“You should have reported this within 7 days.”
“OK I’m really sorry, to be honest with you we were not sure whether the claim was worth claiming on insurance, but we were always going to inform you of the incident regardless.”
As someone has mentioned previously, it would be really unreasonable for the insurer to deny your claim on this basis; as you are being honest.
The number one reason why insurance companies like you to declare incidents as soon as possible, is so that all the details of the claim are fresh in the consumer’s memory. If people got into the habit of declaring accidents they had six months ago, then the finer details, any evidence, and witnesses would all be less reliable.
roadsmash said:
As someone has mentioned previously, it would be really unreasonable for the insurer to deny your claim on this basis; as you are being honest.
The insurer can't deny a 3rd party claim on the grounds of some time limitation clause they've decided to add to OP's niece's insurance policy.PorkInsider said:
The insurer can't deny a 3rd party claim on the grounds of some time limitation clause they've decided to add to OP's niece's insurance policy.
Indeed, but that clause is probably on the third party’s insurance too.If you check the T&C’s of yours, you will also probably find it.
roadsmash said:
PorkInsider said:
The insurer can't deny a 3rd party claim on the grounds of some time limitation clause they've decided to add to OP's niece's insurance policy.
Indeed, but that clause is probably on the third party’s insurance too.If you check the T&C’s of yours, you will also probably find it.
If the 3rd party decides to report to OP's niece's insurance, nothing in niece's policy or in the 3rd party's policy precludes a claim.
In fact it doesn't matter if the other driver has no insurance at all, let alone any time clause in their own policy if they do have one.
As others have said, no excess on tp claims, and time limit is completely irrelevant and unenforceable.
Supposing you had an accident and were in a coma for 8 days? Lots of insurers state what they'd like to be told about and when, as a condition when in law it's just a request. A tp has 3 years to make an injury claim (3 years from the date of the injury coming to light) and 6 years from the date of the accident to make a damage claim. And the insurer has to deal with it.
Supposing you had an accident and were in a coma for 8 days? Lots of insurers state what they'd like to be told about and when, as a condition when in law it's just a request. A tp has 3 years to make an injury claim (3 years from the date of the injury coming to light) and 6 years from the date of the accident to make a damage claim. And the insurer has to deal with it.
1) Get your niece to inform her own insurance company.
T&Cs will probably say that she has to do this regardless of who was at fault anyway.
Yeah I know, there will be arguments that you shouldn't blah blah blah.
Check the insurance ombudsman website for examples of why you should if you are required to do so.
2) Get your niece to tell the other driver that she has informed her own insurance company and pass on the company name.
The other driver will be pee'd off, because her insurance company will now know about the accident, that she probably wasn't intending on letting them know about, but......meh.
3) Get you neice to sit back and relax knowing that the insurance that she pays for is sorting out her accident. Come renewal time, after shopping around, her premiums might not even be affected (mine weren't after Mrs Nibbles_bits wrote off 2 cars in an at fault accident).
T&Cs will probably say that she has to do this regardless of who was at fault anyway.
Yeah I know, there will be arguments that you shouldn't blah blah blah.
Check the insurance ombudsman website for examples of why you should if you are required to do so.
2) Get your niece to tell the other driver that she has informed her own insurance company and pass on the company name.
The other driver will be pee'd off, because her insurance company will now know about the accident, that she probably wasn't intending on letting them know about, but......meh.
3) Get you neice to sit back and relax knowing that the insurance that she pays for is sorting out her accident. Come renewal time, after shopping around, her premiums might not even be affected (mine weren't after Mrs Nibbles_bits wrote off 2 cars in an at fault accident).
megaphone said:
Your niece can give the 3rd party her details, leave the onus on the third party to decided of they want to make a claim, sounds like they might not bother. Problem goes away.
This. I’ve a suspicion that the third party might not even have any insurance, so it’s worth calling their bluff. These days so many aren’t insured - I’d say from anecdotal experience that it’s as high as 25% and in certain areas of, say, the NW much more.
Dog Star said:
megaphone said:
Your niece can give the 3rd party her details, leave the onus on the third party to decided of they want to make a claim, sounds like they might not bother. Problem goes away.
This. I’ve a suspicion that the third party might not even have any insurance, so it’s worth calling their bluff. These days so many aren’t insured - I’d say from anecdotal experience that it’s as high as 25% and in certain areas of, say, the NW much more.
roadsmash said:
Dog Star said:
These days so many aren’t insured - I’d say from anecdotal experience that it’s as high as 25% and in certain areas of, say, the NW much more.
Well, that’s not true.Dog Star said:
From the experiences of friends and families in north west ex- mill towns I can tell you that is not an unfair estimate.
1 in 4 cars are not uninsured on the roads, in any town. That is a ridiculous comment. Maybe in particularly crime-ridden streets or small areas, but not towns.
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