1st time advise relating to car insurance claim (advise required)

evsie

Hello everyone,

I really require some help and advise as in 8 years driving ive never had any accidents and never had to claim for anything with an insurer but a few weeks ago both mine and my partners cars have been involved in accidents at the end of the snowy spell last month.

Question is can anyone be kind enough to give tips on what to look out for when making my claim. I apologise if i dont make much sense :eek:

Story goes im the owner of the 2 cars, both have had accidents on the same day (nightmare).

Car one - big family car - driven by my parter slid into a hedge on ice and tore the front and back bumpers and cracked the screenwash reservior. Thankfully she was unfurt but it was a scary moment. She has no NCD and im primary insured on this vehicle and I have no NCD on this vehicle. Excess is £250.

Car two - my small car - hit a pothole on a thawed road and bust an alloy with the windscreen getting cracked in the process (9 inch crack at the top) - ive 8 years protected NCD on this one and excess of £250.

My worries are that as Ive never made a claim before I dont want to get ripped off so long as I can help it so any advice however large or small is really appreciated. (This forum has been a godsend so thanks in advance).

Im also worried about what I can claim for as ideally Id like to get the bumpers and the screenwash reservior sorted on the family car and the allow and windscreen sorted on my main car.

Am I safe in claiming and getting paid back?

Im only worried as I recently had a 2 year battle with HSA relating to health insurance claims where they eventually paid out after 14 months of battling but it was a stress I dont want to go through again.

Thanks everyone and I will definately call the insurers, just hope for some handy tips before I do incase i get stung by them.

Thanks everyone.:T.Im hoping theres nothing to worry about but as Im making 2 claims for the same day I dont know how dodgy that makes me look lol.

daveyjp

Who is the policyholder for each vehicle and who is declared as main driver on each vehicle?

If you insure one and your partner insures the other it is straightforward.

As neither accident involved other people the policyholder for each makes a claim - assuming policies are fully comp.

Once the repair is approved you will only have the excess to pay once the cars are repaired.

Both claims will need to be declared once you renew next year.

If there are complications around policyholder and main driver expect lots of questions from your insurance company.

evsie

Thanks for the reply

"Who is the policyholder for each vehicle and who is declared as main driver on each vehicle?"

I am.

If its simply a case of claiming and there arent any obvious things for me to worry about then I would imagine im worrying about nothing, but I appreciate the advice.

if theres anything else then feel free to let me know.

Best wishes.

daveyjp

In that case expect lots of questions about how often your partner drives either of the cars - if you are down as the main driver they will need to be convinced you are and didn't say so to get a lower premium. They don't like fronting.

evsie

daveyjp wrote: »

In that case expect lots of questions about how often your partner drives either of the cars - if you are down as the main driver they will need to be convinced you are and didn't say so to get a lower premium. They don't like fronting.

Ok, so its a case of making sure they know Im the main driver and just being carefull to emphasise that as otherwise it might get messy. Never thought of that in all fairness. Good thing you mentioned it .

Thanks for the help, 'daveyjp'. :T

shelly

We have 2 cars with hubby as policy holder and main driver of both, I am named driver on both.
I made a claim on one of the cars and it was never questioned whether I really was the main driver of one car or not.
Admittedly this was in 2006 and times have changed since then.

My advice would be not to over emphasise the point and if they don't ask questions then don't offer info.

What I mean is don't go to them saying......I am definately the main driver, my wife only drives occasionally etc etc
Wait for them to ask questions.

HTH

evsie

shelly wrote: »

We have 2 cars with hubby as policy holder and main driver of both, I am named driver on both.
I made a claim on one of the cars and it was never questioned whether I really was the main driver of one car or not.
Admittedly this was in 2006 and times have changed since then.

My advice would be not to over emphasise the point and if they don't ask questions then don't offer info.

What I mean is don't go to them saying......I am definately the main driver, my wife only drives occasionally etc etc
Wait for them to ask questions.

HTH

Thankyou, Shelly.

Glad for the info and hope none of us have to make any claims for a long long time :beer: