My car was hit by a stolen vehicle...

mininoel

My car was parked on my driveway and hit by a stolen vehicle which was being chased by the police. I have a few queries now....

Will I loose my NCB discount?
Who pays the excess? (Especially if driver of stolen car unidentified)
The car is going to take over a month to repair and I was in the process of selling it - can I claim anything for the delay as I now have to cancel adverts etc. until repairs are done?
Can I claim anything for alternative transport?

I know this sounds like I just want to try and claim - it isn't that at all but as the accident was absolutely not my fault I don't want to nor can I afford to be out of pocket for this.

dacouch

Do you have the reg number of the other vehicle and / or the police crime reference?

mininoel

Yes I have both - the vehicle was left there and the police had to tow it away - the driver ran off. As of yet I don't know if he has been caught.

dacouch

If you claim from your own policy it will cover the costs of repairing the car but not for consequential losses. In addition you will have to pay your excess and then recover it from the other Insurers.

I assume the stolen car has insurance, if it does you could claim directly from them and are entitled to claim for reasonable consequential losses. If you go down this route there is no excess to pay. The other Insurers can sometimes pretend they are not liable for the damage a stolen car has done but in the vast vast majority of cases they are.

You can check whether the other car is insured, find the name and contact details of the other Insurer from this website for a small fee https://www.askmid.com

Was your car parked up or were you driving and if so did you sustain any injuries?

mininoel

Could I ask if you have any advice about claiming anything for the fact that I cannot actively sell it while it is in for repair. I had an offer the day before and was ready to negotiate but obviously this opportunity has passed as it will take at least a month to repair.
What sort of losses can I claim for? I have had to temporarily get a hire car through my own insurance policy and at the moment as I rung them to report the accident and they started repairs etc, I am currently being charged the excess and loosing my no claims, can I ask them to claim these back from the other cars insurance or do I have to?

The car was also registered as a Hire car so does that make any difference?

dacouch

If you are claiming from the other party you are entitled to be in the financial position you were immediately prior to the accident.

You have a duty to mitigate (Keep your costs reasonable where possible) your losses, the problem with the sale of the car is it will be difficult to prove what you have lost.

The fact it is a hire car does not make much difference as the Road Traffic Act applies to it. It sometimes may not show as being insured on that link I provided though

Paul_Varjak

This organisation deals with claims where the driver was uninsured...

http://www.mib.org.uk/Home/en/default.htm

mininoel

I need some more advice on this - I had a guaranteed hire car for 14 days with my insurance company. I had to pay for an upgrade as the car they provided would not fit my son's pushchair in and was only 3 door so was not easy to use with his car seat. Can I claim back the extra I had to pay. I am now without a car as mine is still being repaired. Are my insurance company supposed to deal with claiming all of this back (and the excess on my policy) as at the moment they are doing nothing and I am having to pay everything. If I have to make the claims myself how do I do it?

squack

sounds to me like the coppers are at least 25% liable

lisyloo

Can I claim back the extra I had to pay.

Not through you insurer no.

There are losses that you are insured for e.g. repairs minus excess.
But there are also uninsured losses that you may incurr e.g. excess.
These are not covered by you main insurance policy.

Did you take out legal cover?
If you ahev legal coevr then you should instruct them to claim back all your losses.

If you ddin't pay for this option then you are on your own and it's up to you to sort out all the things you aren't insured for.
The first step would be to write to the other insurer with receipts to make you claim.
I would send it by recorded delivery to avoid loss and I would keep copies or scans of the receipts.

mininoel

I do have legal cover - and my insurance company instructed them to work on my behalf. I have now finally managed to get hold of them and they are saying don't get the car repaired yet until they have a police report - however insurance company have already started repair work. Can I claim back hire car charges, and loss of car from now until repairs are done?