Should I go through insurance or pay other driver directly

blued

No bryanb, he is not wrong.

Car insurance excess is the amount of money you will have to pay in the event of a car insurance claim e.g. if your excess is £100, then you will have to pay the initial £100 of any claim. The excess makes up the first part of a claim, so if the claim was for £500, you would pay the first £100 and the insurer the remaining £400.

http://www.carinsuranceexplained.com/car_insurance_explained/car_insurance_excess.htm

If you are at fault and another vehicle is damaged you will be required to pay your excess. If another driver is at fault and their insurance is covering the damage to your vehicle you obviously dont pay your excess.

In the OP's case there is no point in claiming on insurance because they were at fault and their insurance would have to cover the cost of the repair. This means the excess will need to be paid and next years premium will increase (regardless of whether no claims bonus is protected).

My advice, get a written quotation (not estimate) so you know what you're paying and then settle up with the garage.

ScottishSapper

bryanb wrote: »

Certainly, The insurance company cannot avoid the claim by the third party if their insured is to blame. Therefore excesses are applied to own damage.
Consider third party insurance where there are no excesses, that part of the policy remains the same in Fully comp.
Sorry that's the best I can do.

edited after reading blued's reply.
I hate minefields!!!!

bryanb

blued wrote: »

No bryanb, he is not wrong.



http://www.carinsuranceexplained.com/car_insurance_explained/car_insurance_excess.htm

If you are at fault and another vehicle is damaged you will be required to pay your excess. If another driver is at fault and their insurance is covering the damage to your vehicle you obviously dont pay your excess.

In the OP's case there is no point in claiming on insurance because they were at fault and their insurance would have to cover the cost of the repair. This means the excess will need to be paid and next years premium will increase (regardless of whether no claims bonus is protected).

My advice, get a written quotation (not estimate) so you know what you're paying and then settle up with the garage.

The flaw in this argument is that the OP would not be claiming. It would be the third party claiming on the third party clauses in the policy where there are no excesses

bryanb

ScottishSapper wrote: »

edited after reading blued's reply.
I hate minefields!!!!

Agreed it is a minefield. However there are no excesses on a third party claim which is what we are discussing.

bryanb

SkintMonkey, Rest assured that if the other party make a third party claim against your policy, you will not have to pay any excess. It will probably affect your next premium though.

ScottishSapper

bryanb wrote: »

SkintMonkey, Rest assured that if the other party make a third party claim against your policy, you will not have to pay any excess. It will probably affect your next premium though.

I think we are all going to have to agree to disagree!!
None of this helps the OP.
I have been lucky never to have had to claim on insurance but I do know friends who have had 3rd party, had a knock and they had to pay excess plus loss no claims plus increase in next years permium.

Good luck to OP

bryanb

ScottishSapper wrote: »

I think we are all going to have to agree to disagree!!
None of this helps the OP.
I have been lucky never to have had to claim on insurance but I do know friends who have had 3rd party, had a knock and they had to pay excess plus loss no claims plus increase in next years permium.

Good luck to OP

That's not possible, there is no provision to have an excess on a third party policy.

dacouch

Bryanb is correct, you only pay the excess if you claim from your own policy for damage / loss. So if the only claim against the policy is by the third party then there is no excess to pay.

You can check this against your own policy by looking at the "Damage to my car" (Own damage), Fire and Theft Sections. These will all detail what is covered and in the "Whats not covered" / "Exclusions" part will say state your "Excess". If you then look in the "Liability to others" or "Liability" section you will see under "What is not covered" / "Exclusions" it does not mention excess (If the other driver is the only party claiming then the claim will be entirely under the "Liability to others" / "Liability" section

(There are a couple of very very cheap and cheerful companies that have an "All Sections" excess eg you pay a claim on third party claims. However as Bryan correctly mentioned the Road Traffic Act does not allow an excess to be deducted from a third parties settlement.

ScottishSapper

dacouch wrote: »

Bryanb is correct, you only pay the excess if you claim from your own policy for damage / loss. So if the only claim against the policy is by the third party then there is no excess to pay.

You can check this against your own policy by looking at the "Damage to my car" (Own damage), Fire and Theft Sections. These will all detail what is covered and in the "Whats not covered" / "Exclusions" part will say state your "Excess". If you then look in the "Liability to others" or "Liability" section you will see under "What is not covered" / "Exclusions" it does not mention excess (If the other driver is the only party claiming then the claim will be entirely under the "Liability to others" / "Liability" section

(There are a couple of very very cheap and cheerful companies that have an "All Sections" excess eg you pay a claim on third party claims. However as Bryan correctly mentioned the Road Traffic Act does not allow an excess to be deducted from a third parties settlement.

I stand corrected:(
As I said have no personal knowledge, (and hopefully never will!) just what I had been told previously.
My car and van are both Fully Comp so cannot check but now know better.

dacouch

ScottishSapper wrote: »

I stand corrected:(
As I said have no personal knowledge, (and hopefully never will!) just what I had been told previously.
My car and van are both Fully Comp so cannot check but now know better.

Who are your van and car insurance with and I'll copy and paste the relevant parts