Car Insurance Claim. Confused!

hillbillypete

I am a new driver and was involved in a bump at work that was not my fault.

Someone reversed into the front of my car when i was stationary. They did not look, i beeped to let them know i was there, and i have a witness who says it was their fault.

We have exchanged details. I have taken my car to be fixed but they have advised me not to contact my insurance company. I have given the other persons details to the car garage and they will try to claim through them.

Should i contact my insurance company is my question???

Quentin

Yes, you need to inform your insurer about the incident, irrespective of whether you end up making a claim.

huckster

hillbillypete wrote: »

Should i contact my insurance company is my question???

Technically yes you should, as it is a condition of your policy.

See how it goes first. Often a 3rd party Insurer will sort out the claim, if the matter is straightforward.

Astaroth

Sounds like the garage are intending to sell your details to a Credit Hire/ Repair company for which they will get a fairly healthy commission. If you do go the credit route make sure you read all the T&Cs fully before signing or agreeing to anything as in some cases you will be liable for anything the at faulty party's insurers refuse to pay (and in all my years of claim handling I dont think I ever paid any credit bill in full)

As to your insurers, you must advise them of the incident

hillbillypete

The other person will be contacting their insurer and giving them my details.

However, i have only given the garage their details. I don;t understand why the garage advised me not to contact my insurer.

dogbot

Make sure the garage here are only pointing out you can try to claim direct from the third party insurer and not reffering you to an accident management firm/credit hire firm.

If you have the details of the other party's insurer then give them a call yourself. If this is a simple repair job then they should be happy to authorise the repair direct and provide you with a like for like hire vehicle while your's is off the road being repaired. A credit hire firm will just add to the cost of the claim to no-ones benifit.

As stated above, it is a policy condition that you need to notify your own insurer. Be extreamly clear that you are only notifying them of an incident - go to the customer service number not the claim number and take note of names of people you talk to, time and date.

dogbot

was typing while you and astaroth were OP! They are probably telling you not to call your insurers because, as indicanted, they are going to pass your details to a credit hire firm. The garage will get a comission of a few hundred quid and the hire firm will provide you with a car at a fairly high rate, then charge the other person's insurer for it.

Go direct to the other person's insurer and they will authorise the repairs directly, and provide you with a hire car direclty at their costs without you having to sign a credit agreement that COULD mean you end up liable for the hire costs.

Astaroth

hillbillypete wrote: »

I don;t understand why the garage advised me not to contact my insurer.

Because your claim could be worth up to £1500 to them even before they touch your car by selling your details to a credit hire and repair company to deal with the property damage and to a PI solicitor to convince you that your neck hasnt been the same since and you should claim £1,000 for the pain, inconvenience and suffering since the incident.

Quentin

hillbillypete wrote: »

The other person will be contacting their insurer and giving them my details.

However, i have only given the garage their details. I don;t understand why the garage advised me not to contact my insurer.

Irrespective of the third party contacting their own insurer, you are bound by your policy conditions to inform your insurer of the incident.

The garage have given you bad advice you if they have told you not to, and must have an ulterior motive for doing this!

As you have already been advised take great care before signing anything the garage produces!