Insurance claim - named driver

JD69

The other day my wife drove into someones car and damaged their door panel (I wasnt with her).
It was in my car which has me as the main driver and her as a named driver. I have fully comp, about £500 excess and protected NCB, I have never claimed.
She has her own car which is fully comp.
She phoned up her insurance company and asked if she can claim as she is fully comp she would be covered 3rd party to repair the other persons car.
They asked if she was on my insurance and as she is a named driver they said she had to claim via my insurance.
The damage to my car is minimal, a small crack and bit of missing paint on the bumper so not bothered about fixing that too much.
So is it corrcet that I have to give this person my insurance details even though I wasnt driving it? The excess on my car is alot higher than on her insuanrce.
The persons car is a lease car and he insisted he tell the insurance that my wife reversed into it. He had some quoets and wants £1500 to fix the dent in his door. (It is an Audi).
If I have to go via my insuarnce should I might as well get a new bumper even though it dosent realy need one and will that effect my insuarnce later or HPI if I sell it in the future?
Any suggestions.
thanks,
JD.

mcjordi

iirc as she is named driver on your insurance.. yours superseeds the DOC cover..

so yes you will have to give your policy details to the other driver.

Rikki

It's your car and your wife is on your insurance so it's correct the claim is made against your insurance.

You wife's insurance could only be used if she wasn't a name driver on yours and driving your car under her own insurance.

JD69

Thanks,

so if I am going to have to claim via my insurance then should I get a new bumper even though it realy dosent need replacing or will then put up my insurance even more when I go to renew it?
JD.

mcjordi

the other driver is claiming anyway so will out your insurance up regardless of your claim..
can you get the bumper repaired for less than your £500 excess as you will have to pay that if you claim for your own car

Rikki

JD69 wrote: »

Thanks,

so if I am going to have to claim via my insurance then should I get a new bumper even though it realy dosent need replacing or will then put up my insurance even more when I go to renew it?
JD.

You don't have to claim for repairs to your own car. It's a third party claim, he is claiming against your insurance for repairs to his vehicle.

dacouch

You normally only have to pay your own excess if you claim from your own policy for your own repairs, so if you don't claim for your repairs you should have no excess to pay

fivetide

If it's a managed lease by the way then he should have nothing to do with it as he could be insured by the lease firm that own the car.

just pass everything to your insurance company and let them sort.

5t.

Lum

dacouch is correct. You will not pay any excess towards the other person's repairs at all.

If you ask for your car to be repaired, you will pay the first £500 of that, so may well be cheaper to sort it out privately. Remember that garages charge higher rates for insurance work (usually to cover the time wasted dealing with the insurance)

thenudeone

Your wife was legally insured in the same circumstances under two separate policies.
As long as the third party gets their costs paid for, I don't think it matters which policy details you give them, so I would give them your wife's policy details if that is the policy you want to take the hit. You will still have to declare it to your insurer though.

Her insurer might ask questions about any other cover available, which you should answer honestly.
If they realise that she is a named driver on the car she was driving, it is possible that they try to get out of paying on the basis that another specific policy exists.
That would provide an interesting legal situation, but I doubt they could refuse to pay the third party, because according to her certificate of insurance, she is definitely insured by them for that accident. They may pay then argue about who should eventually foot the bill.

I would be interested to hear if anyone knows of specific rules / case law about these circumstances?

dacouch

thenudeone wrote: »

Your wife was legally insured in the same circumstances under two separate policies.
As long as the third party gets their costs paid for, I don't think it matters which policy details you give them, so I would give them your wife's policy details if that is the policy you want to take the hit. You will still have to declare it to your insurer though.

Her insurer might ask questions about any other cover available, which you should answer honestly.
If they realise that she is a named driver on the car she was driving, it is possible that they try to get out of paying on the basis that another specific policy exists.
That would provide an interesting legal situation, but I doubt they could refuse to pay the third party, because according to her certificate of insurance, she is definitely insured by them for that accident. They may pay then argue about who should eventually foot the bill.

I would be interested to hear if anyone knows of specific rules / case law about these circumstances?

The wording in a policy document generally have a wording similar to this from Direct Line.

1b. Driving other cars
If your certificate of motor insurance says so, this policy provides the
same cover as above in 1a when you are driving any other motor
car as long as you do not own it and it is not hired to you under a hirepurchase or leasing agreement. This cover only applies if:
• there is no other insurance in force which covers the same liability;
• you have the owner’s permission to drive the car;
• the car is registered in and being driven in Great Britain, Northern Ireland,
the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands; and
• you still have your car and it has not been damaged beyond
cost-effective repair.

The insurance policy that specified the vehicle that had the accident eg the OP's and had the named driver would be the policy that pays the claim