Car Insurance Excess

DrGonzo1977

Hello all

I need some advise. My better half's car was driven into, the claim went ahead with the other party excepting full respocibility and she was told she would need to pay an excess for the repairs.

When she went to pick her car up from the repairer she mentioned about paying them the excess and the lady there said she has nothing on her records showing that it needed to be paid and so was allowed to take the car thinking that the claim must have fully gone though and the insurance company must have already covered it (this was over a month ago).

This afternoon she has had National Crash Repair on the phone (the company that did the repair) demanding the £500 excess by Friday which after a month she now does not have as it has been used for other things as she belived it was not needed.

So,,I have 2 questions really,,can a company demand money over the phone to be paid in just 2 days like this (shouldn't it be in writting) and secondly after all this time shouldn't the insurance company (Hastings Direct) have sorted it so this company should deal with them direct?

Can anyone please advise as this is causing her some distress as she cannot meet the demand made by this company and doesn't know what to do.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Takoda

No she doesn't have to pay an excess for the repairs. That comes out of the guilty party's insurance company.

A few years back a bloke drove into the back of my car. There was a 'ramp slow down' sign and I did just that but he didn't see either the sign or my car (plonker was probably texting or something) Just cosmetic damage to the bumper - a couple of holes and a lot of scraping.

I got a new one fitted courtesy of his insurance company and did not pay any excess.

Tell National to discuss it with blokey's insurance company.

Hope it gets sorted quickly.

dacouch

The above is not totally correct, technically she does have to pay the excess as its part of the agreement she has with her insurance company if she claims on her own policy.

As the problem is not her fault I would suggest she asks the garage to give her some time to make the payment. In addition ask them for an invoice for the excess. She can then get this invoice and contact the other Insurers and ask them to make the payment either to her or the garage

Takoda

So if what you say is true - why did I not have to pay the excess?

Takoda

It was all sorted by my insurance company. The only thing I had to do was take my car in for repair. Actually they would've collected it but I work in the same town so it wasn't a big deal.

The only paperwork I did was to sign for the courtesy car.

She won't be claiming off her own policy she'll be claiming off blokey's policy.

Takoda

Maybe my insurance company just has superb customer service.

Neveraliein

If you go through your own insurance to claim against the other, you will normally have to pay excess and then get your insureer to recover. If (like I experienced) you deal directly with the third party's insurers and they accept full responsibility, they will pay full repairs.

Takoda

SueSueSue wrote: »

Or more likely they had an admission from the other party and knew the excess had been recovered.

Its common practice that if you claim on your own insurance that the excess is paid when the car is repaired and then recovered once the claim is settled and the insurers receive the expenses from the other party. This is done so if liability etc is disputed that the insurers get their excess and the cars repaired immediately without hassle.

The OP's family member had the excess to pay if the claim hasnt been settled by the other party yet and really shouldnt have spent the cash. That said they did and need to negotiate some time to pay the excess however until the claim has been settled it is due.

That's a useful post thanks. The other driver admitted liability straight away both to me at the roadside and to his insurance company. I didn't claim on my insurance. I made them aware but that was all. They spoke to the other party's insurer - Direct Line I think he was with.