so their is various ways of doing it,
ie an accident isn't your fault but you claim on your insurance to speed up the process or you can just wait for them to pay up but it'll be more fiddly.
interesting but, i certainly wouldn't want to lose my no claims bonus in an accident that wasn't my fault. Can you just keep a hire car for as long as they take to sort and then just claim that back?
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Firstly it depends on whether you have comprehensive cover of third party. If you have TP, then you\'ll be doing it yourself anyway. If you have comprehensive, then you have a decision to make.
Also, it depends on whether or not you have some type of uninsured loss recovery insurance. I don\'t have much faith in these, but I guess some of them must be ok. If you use the search button above then you should find plenty of earlier comments on these.
However, back to the first decision;
You have, in any case, to submit an Accident Report form (claim form) to your own insurer. It is part of your policy Ts&Cs to do so, irrespective of whether or not you will claim.
If you will deal with it yourself, then you should write very obviously on it that it is for information only and not to be dealt with.
If you will do it through your own comprehensive insurance, then you fill in the claim form, they inspect and authorise repairs and your car is repaired.
You will then have responsibility for your uninsured losses. You have a common law duty to minimise these.
That means, that you can only rent a car when you really need it, and then only a car sufficient to do the job. Even if your car is a Mercedes; if your need was to go to the supermarket, then you would have to hire a Polo (or whatever, you get the idea). If using a taxi was cheaper, then you would be expected to do that instead. As long as you are not being excessive, the insurance companies are usually not silly about it, but you need to be careful.
Its frequently better to get the permission of the other insurer. They will normally give a letter which will say something along the lines of \"we\'re not saying we will pay this claim, but if we do, we would consider this level of car rental acceptable\".
Your uninsured losses would include your policy excess.
You then have to pursue this from the other party, which he would normally pass to his insurer to pay. Make sure it is well documented.
The difference for Third Party is that you have to deal with the value of your car repairs as well. Sometimes the TP insurer will authorise the claim. Sometimes they will give an authorisation similar to the quote I mentioned above for car rental. In which case you would have to pay and claim it back.
If the car is drivable, you can normally obtain a Pro Forma Invoice from the repairer, and the TP insurer will pay to that, allowing you to get it repaired after you have been paid.
Now, why one way or the other ->
Claim it on comprehensive and you will lose your NCD until you can prove that you have recovered your uninsured losses.
Do it yourself, and if the TP cuts up rough, you may fail to get your car repaired.
You have to make a judgement as to how likely you are to recover your money and how much you want your car repaired.
I would say that if it was simply a scratch down the side, you would be better to do it yourself and bite on it if you fail. If it is damage of a substantial amount (enough to outweigh the risk of losing your NCD) then you are better to do it through your own insurance.
However, it all depends on your assessment of the TP, their willingness to accept reponsibility, the likelihood that they re insured etc. etc.
And people change their minds. Normally what happens is that they will accept responsibility at the time, but after having explained it to their family/mates/whoever, they start to believe that the way they having been telling the story showing themselves in a good (or at least better) light is the truth, and they become resentful and less likely to pay.
Is that enough, or do you need more ?
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very impressive, cheers. eeeerrrrrr.......
keep it easy......i have comprehensive on a car, i get rear ended (in my car that is), £800 worth of damage, its not my fault obviously, the other person (probably a woman) accepts that its her fault, am i going to be out of pocket if all goes well between the 2 insurance company's
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I thought I answered that.
If she or her insurance company pays your uninsured losses, which will as a minimum be your excess, and you can show proof of that to your insurer, then no, you will not be out of pocket.
If you are not able to recover this amount with proof, then you will probably lose your bonus.
Whichever, your insurer will take note of accidents, your fault or not and payment made or not and you must disclose them. One probably will not affect you, two probably would affect your premium.
The argument being that your are having more accidents than someone else for some reason or other, and therefore you are a higher risk. Whether that reason is your driving style or the environment in which you typically drive is not relevant.
And as for your comment about "probably a woman"; statistically it is more likely to be a man.
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No you shouldn't be out of pocket, but life isn't fair and you may have a fight on your hands. It helps if the evidence you present to support your case is as good as you can make it. I have twice been rear-ended in the last 20 years and both times I have not been out of pocket, but I went to a lot of trouble to present my case. If you do it properly and win your case your future insurance costs will not be affected.
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Andy
My insurers (Frizzell) haven't penalised me on the 3 occasions I've claimed through them for being rear-ended. So my experience is no, you won't be out of pocket.
Terry
Terry
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If you have had three in short succession, then I am surprised. But good luck to you.
However, there is no doubt that some insurers will load for it.
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