Who pays the excess ?

a1jonuk

Hi,
We have had someone reverse into our car and cause some damage , they volunteered their details etc.
When reporting it to our insurance company they gave us the name of their recommended repairer and said we would need to pay the repair garage the excess on our policy and the rest they would cover and reclaim from the other parties insurance.
Is this right ?
We have comprehensive insurance and always thought if someone reversed into our parked car and admitted it then surely their insurance should cover our excess.
We have voluntary excess of £200 and compulsary excess of £120 , so is this going to cost us £320 even though it was not our fault ?
Also , will we now lose our no claims bonus even though it was not our fault ?

dzug1

a1jonuk wrote: »

Hi,
We have had someone reverse into our car and cause some damage , they volunteered their details etc.
When reporting it to our insurance company they gave us the name of their recommended repairer and said we would need to pay the repair garage the excess on our policy and the rest they would cover and reclaim from the other parties insurance.
Is this right ?
We have comprehensive insurance and always thought if someone reversed into our parked car and admitted it then surely their insurance should cover our excess.
We have voluntary excess of £200 and compulsary excess of £120 , so is this going to cost us £320 even though it was not our fault ?
Also , will we now lose our no claims bonus even though it was not our fault ?

It's right but a roundabout way of doing it. It would have been better if the other insurer had handled the repair.

It sounds as though you will have to reclaim the excess from the other party/his insurer yourself.

It should end up costing you nothing and not damage your NCB, provided you succeed in reclaiming your excess

C_Mababejive

Sounds right. You will need to recover your excess from the other party.
Do you have legal protection insurance? If so,contact them re recovery of your excess. By the way,you do not have to use the insurance companies recommended repairer.

a1jonuk

As far as I know we do not have legal protection insurance so how do we go about reclaiming the excess?
Andy

espresso

a1jonuk wrote: »

As far as I know we do not have legal protection insurance so how do we go about reclaiming the excess?
Andy

You would not have any excess to recover if you claimed directly from the other parties insurance company, due to it being a 100% no fault accident.

lisyloo

Hi a1jonuk,

The reason you are paying an excess is that you are making a claim on the comprehensive section of YOUR policy.
As others have said, if you made a claim on the 3rd party section of the other persons insurance then there would be no excess.

Quentin

a1jonuk wrote: »

As far as I know we do not have legal protection insurance so how do we go about reclaiming the excess?
Andy

Send a letter to the third party (or their insurer if you know who it is).

State that you hold them responsible for the incident and ask that they refund all your uninsured losses.

List them, and send copies of any proof you have.

Ask them to reimburse you within your own choice of a reasonable timeframe (eg 14/21/28 days).

If this is ignored, send a letter before action saying that unless you are now paid in full within 7 days you will take legal action.

If this is ignored, issue proceedings via MCOL.

lisyloo

I suggest using recorded delivery (75p) otherwise a cycnical company make use the "lost in the post" excuse.

Quentin

You should add your postage costs on to your list of uninsured losses!

bryanb

Bear in mind that if you claim via your insurance, what you have is a "No claims discount" It is not a no blame discount. You should claim from the other side's insurance.

C_Mababejive

RE legal protection insurance....if you believe someone caused damage to your vehicle, would the legal insurance cover you to litigate to recover costs either via small claims or other means?