Was Pranged 10 days ago.

spark_deals

I was travelling at a very low speed in rush hour when hit by some muppet on 10/9/10.
Cosmetic Damage to passenger side rear bumper. I am fully comp. with Octagon insurance.
What are my options? I was considering these two:-
1. Claim off your own insurance. Report it and let octagon sort this.

2. Claim direct off other party. Report it to Kwik-fit (other party insurance) and let 'no win no fee' solicitor chase this.

All advice welcome........

Quentin

They are your options.

If you claim off your own insurance you will have to pay the excess then recover that yourself off the third party.

If all you have is cosmetic damage, a no win no fee solicitor may think the money involved in the claim is too low for them to be interested, but no harm in contacting some and seeing what they say.

Otherwise you can do it yourself. Write to the third party saying you hold them responsible, enclose a quote for the repairs and ask them to agree to pay all your costs, then take it from there (if they accept liability, some will take over and repair your car for you, others may ask you to send them receipts and reimburse you).

spark_deals

Thank you very much.
Do I need (NEED) to involve my insurace in this to report the accident or should I keep them out?
Thanks

Quentin

Your policy conditions are that you must inform your insurer of all incients like this. You report it "for information only", and confirm you are not making a claim on your own policy.

spark_deals

Quentin wrote: »

Your policy conditions are that you must inform your insurer of all incients like this. You report it "for information only", and confirm you are not making a claim on your own policy.

I informed my insurance 'for notification only' but they have let allsorts loose on me.
I've been called by Drive Assist, solicitors and ClearContact.
Moreover, I contacted TP insurance and they advised me to claim off my own insurance.
Please advise.

Quentin

Did you contact any no win no fee claim handlers? If they accept the case they will sort it out for you via the third party insurers. (When they told you to use your own insurer, that was just an attempt to brush you off - did you write to them as advised?)

dogbot

The third party insurer should be happy to deal with you directly - Kwikfit are just a broker not an insurer. As advised above, get a quote for the repairs from a local garage, submit it with a letter stating you wish to claim directly and not involve your own insurers. Also state that you will require a vehicle while yours is in for repair (you are entitled to like for like, the insurer can provide this directly).

Personaly I would avoid Drive Assist and other accident managements firms - they will put you into a credit hire vehicle and possibly do a credit repair. This increases costs for everyone and puts you at risk of being liable for the whole amount.

spark_deals

Thanks dogbot. Could you please outline how should I approach Kwikfit? Possible words/phrases, etc or point me to some thread you know of.
My solicitor is not very much enthusiastic and are advising to claim off my own insurance.
Thanks.

Quentin

spark_deals wrote: »

My solicitor is not very much enthusiastic and are advising to claim off my own insurance.
Thanks.

Do you mean your solicitor's advice is that a claim off the third party will fail?

If so, and you have paid for this advice maybe best to acceopt it.

spark_deals

Quentin wrote: »

Do you mean your solicitor's advice is that a claim off the third party will fail?

If so, and you have paid for this advice maybe best to accept it.

This is a no win no fee solicitor. They didn't say it will fail but say that if the claim go to court, judge may ask why claimaint didn't try to reasonably mitigate the losses to defendent by claiming off own insurance than TP.
or solicitors might be thinking its not worth their trouble.

Quentin

As previously posted, the matter probably is too small for no win no fee solicitors to be interested.

(The suggestion that you haven't mitigated your losses by not using your own insurer is just tosh!)

Just proceed with the letter + quote to the third party insurers mentioned earlier.