No fault claim query + Renewal car insurance due while claim pending, can still swap?

Lady_K

A girl clipped the back of my daughters car 3 weeks ago causing a small amount of damage but as its a new car she wants to have it put right. Its slightly scuffed the bumper and very slight scratches (friends have mentioned t cutting) plus she wants to make sure theres nothing wrong when the bumper comes off.

She took the drivers details and rang her own insurer churchill to let them know, they flagged the car up on the system and apparently its her parents car not hers, I'm just hoping shes insured. They quite heavily tried to persuade her to let them find the cheapest repairer but again as its a new car she wants to stick with the manufacturer which is Volkswagon so they just told her to get a quote for the damage and let them know which she did do only 1 hour after the incident as the volkswagon garage isnt far from us.

The girl at fault said she would ring my daughter that evening but she never did. My daughter rang churchill last week to see what was happening. They said the girl had not reported the incident herself so they would now write to her and it would take around 14 days, if she refused blame they would write to her again to inform it would be going to court.

Daughter still hasnt yet heard back from churchill but her insurance is due for renewal first week of September, what if she wants to move insurers? and will this affect her haggling power when they send the renewal quote if they know she can't move at the moment?

They didnt get any witnesses to the accident but it was on a roundabout so not sure if there might be any camera evidence and why would my daughter have all the details of a stranger if she hadnt given them to her.

Volkswagon have quoted £300 repair but said if there is any more damage when the bumper is removed for repair it could be more. Churchill have said that no work can be carried out until the lady at fault pays my daughters access (don't understand that bit) plus the lady at fault will need to pay for my daughters curtesy car.

To be honest the repairs look so slight you really can hardly notice so £300 seems a lot to me but as its not my daughters fault and its important to her to have volkswagon do the repairs I guess she shouldnt bother too much about that but I do think the insurance company and volkswagon garage are perhaps taking advantage of it being an insurance claim. I don't think she really needs a curtesy car those repairs could be done in a day or even half a day and its more inconvenience for her to have to use a curtesy car, can she do anythig about that? Shes concerned they might drag it out and take longer to do the repairs

Quentin

You can move insurers with a claim outstanding. You will have to disclose this to the new insurer.

Your own insurer will probably reduce the NCD at renewal, pending the outcome of the liabilty, so ensure a new insurer will amend your premium should the NCD be reinstated.

And are you sure you want to make a claim over £300 if liability is not clear cut - the raised premium due to loss of NCD over the next few years will more than exceed the cost of the claim (after excess is deducted).

Lady_K

Well no if for some reason the girl gets away with it even though it was her fault my daughter would not want to lose her ncb over that but I don't know what evidence is needed. The girl went into the back of my daughters car and the girls car was more damaged than my daughters. The girl gave all her details, I think including phone number. She said it was her parents car, she was about 27. Perhaps when the girl got back to her parents they may have asked her not to report the incident, maybe hoping that my daugter wouldnt bother. Could she claim that it wasnt her fault? Would my daughter be able to get the cameras checked if there are any on that roundabout? Couldnt proof be found on the girls car thats providing they havent sold it?

Also would my daughter have to declare this incident when she looks for car insurance in the future even though it wasnt her fault if she does go through with it? I was wondering if it may affect the value of her car for insurance even though the damage is small. Is this classed as an accident.

I'm not happy though if she ends up having to pay for something that is not her fault, she would be paying for the other girls carelesness. She worked hard to get this car after having really old cars for years she took advantage of the scrappage deal

Quentin

Accidents on roundabouts with no witnesses often end up as 50/50 as far as liability is concerned. Exchanging details is mandatory when damage has been done, and not seen as an admission of liability.

Away from the scene either/both parties often change their story.

Your NCD is only safe if you get them to accept full liability. Anything less than that means the NCD will be affected (as a result of your insurer having to pay out some of the third party costs.

Your daughter will now have disclose the incident anyway, whatever the outcome, for the next 3 to 5 years (depending on how long insurers want a history)

It would have to be major structural damage to affect the value of the car (assuming the scratches are going to be repaired).

Lady_K

If the girl doesnt accept fault churchill said it would go to court and she would have to pay the costs if it goes in my daughters favour, so it looks like my daughter really needs to see if there is camera evidence can she do that now before it went to court? or should churchill do that? Doesnt it make a difference as the girl went into the back of her? and wouldnt they seek out evidence of the girls car damage?

If my daughter decided not to go ahead with a claim and just left it now she would not lose her no claims bonus would she as churchill wouldnt be paying for her car would they? I don't understand what third party costs churchill would be paying if my daughter doesnt go ahead

Quentin

If they end up with split liability, then your insurer would have to pay their share of the third party's costs (eg if it ends up 50/50, then they would have to pay 50% of the third party's costs). In that case her NCD would be affected even if she didn't claim for her own repairs off her own insurer.

Court is a long way off, but your insurer should be sorting out any evidence.

Lady_K

Thanks,

Sorry to sound so dumb about this but if the girl replies to churchill saying she doesnt accept liabilty or whatever when churchill write to her if then my daughter decides not to persue it and not go to court even though its not he fault will she still lose her no claims bonus? she has over 5 years no claims and does not want to lose that.

Does all this mean she really shouldnt have bothered phoning her insurer at all? and what could se have done at the scene to make sure she had more chnce to prove it? I understand you should not call the police unless there are injurys and I guess its not easy trying to get witnesess to stop on a roundabout. How does she go about getting the cameras checked?

Churchill did say that usually when people are threatened with court they admit to clear things up to avoid court costs etc. I'm hoping thats going to be the case here.

Quentin

If this ends up as anything other than 100% the third party's fault, and any claim (from either party) is made against your daughter's insurance, then her NCD will go down to 3 years at the next renewal. (As posted earlier, her insurer may reduce the NCD anyway for the renewal next month if the liability issue is unresolved).

She had to inform her insurer about the incident whether or not she makes a claim (it's a condition of the policy that all incidents are reported).

It's not up to the third party to admit liability - her insurer should deal with your insurer to resolve this.

Regarding cameras, she could approach whoever operates them and see if she can obtain footage of the incident, (or discuss this with her insurer, as cost may be a factor). In any case, this needs to be done quickly as they may not keep any video for too long.

Lady_K

Thanks I think she should call churchill asap then again to ask about the cameras I had heard recently that the camera tapes are taped over automatically after a relatively short time and this was 3 weeks ago now.

Lady_K

Contacted churchill today but the present claims dept is not open weekends but they did say they have her on 5 weekly updates which seems quite a long time I thought especially at the begining of a claim. I looked on the highays website and it says video evidence is only kept for 7 days. How else can she get evidence from cameras how can she find out who owns them as I thought they retape after 30 days and its been 3 weeks now so we are worried about churchill getting it in time if they try to at all. All the man at churchill could say is that nothing has happened since the last time my daughter spoke to them so they havent had anything back from the other girls insurance as yet

I'm so mad that shes in this possition when she hasnt done anything wrong, there were lots of witnesses she says but on a busy junction they cant just stop and get out

Quentin

These long timescales to finalise liability issues are the norm when insurers are involved (although Churchill say they still await a reply from the third party, in practice they know that the the third party probably won't reply, but just pass the correspondence over to their own insurer to deal with (as churchill would want you to do if the position was reversed). (Unless the third party is also insured by Churchill??)

Expect this to take months rather than weeks to be finalised, though why your insurer won't process your claim till the third party pays the excess is a mystery - it's down to the policyholder to pay any excess, as its an uninsured item, and claim it back from the third party if they accept liability. So something not quite right in what churchill are saying about this, and it may be worth trying to speak to a manager for their explanation. (If churchill don't incur any costs first, they have little incentive to chase up the third party to advance them your excess - which they would never have to pay anyway!)

All you can do regarding the video evidence is try and establish who operates it and see if they will help - it seems by the time Churchill move on this it will be too late.