Presumably you have the other driver's details, including their insurer.

Your claim is against the other drivers insurance, and apart from notifying them of the non fault accident, your own insurer nor their attack dogs have no need to be involved at all from this point.

if you contact the other insurer, they will (if they have an ounce of sense) bend over backwards to keep you mobile and get your car repaired with as little drama for you as possible, cheaper for them and less hassle for you.

Thats what i would do here, i suspect The Occult are a claims management outfit who your present insurer is referring you to for a fat fee, by all means go down the claims management route if you want to, it wouldn't be my choice but its entirely up to you, i hope you haven't already agreed to let them handle it.

Edited by gordonbennet on 12/03/2017 at 19:40

If it wasn't your fault, you should not have to lose your excess. It makes no difference if it was "mechanical failure" in another vehicle; if it had been your own it would be different. (That is my understanding - others may wish to comment.) Your no-claims bonus is another matter, though it may be protected, if you took that option - check your documentation.

If Occulus is a claims management company, avoid it like the plague. If you don't understand why, ask in this thread and we'll explain. Suffice to say, you could be landing yourself with some unnecessary (and possibly considerable) expense.

I'll repeat something my mum taught me as soon as I started learning to drive at 17 - ALWAYS leave your car in gear when parked, and ALWAYS have your foot down on the clutch when you start. (There are good mechanical reasons for the latter, and most modern cars have a safeguard requiring it anyway).

That of course corresponds to Park with an automatic.

I have always hated elec handbrakes, they are unreliable, dangerious and cannot be relied upon, may I suggest in future to engage forward or reverse gear after turning engine off, the clutch will hold the car if the brakes fail, or, at the very least slow it down enough to jump in and stop it, consider yourself lucky no man, woman or worse still child got crushed and killed by this rolling car.

If you have excess you will be liable if they decide that you are to blame either whole or in part, can you prove the handbrake was applied ?

As for not telling your insurance which I think someone suggested, it is an offence in itself to not report all RTC, all insurance companies state that all collision's must be reported, if the other party claim and you have not told your own insurers, then they cannot only refuse the claim they can also refuse your insurance cover for that day, and then you face the charge of driving without insurance.

One last note most car parks have CCTV, which is accepted as evidence without question.