Help

gorgeousgeorge

Need help, and Im a confused mum lol, Son has nearly 2 years no claims bonus ( will be 2 years end of this month ) today whilst parked outside my daughter house a vehicle ( which we are pretty sure was a bus) scraped all down one side of his car, quite a lot of damage down the side of his audi tt, and it is the same colour as the arriva buses which go along the road.

He has contacted the bus company who have said they will contact him within the next 5 days, he hasnt reported it to the insurance company as yet, as he is worried about losing his ncb and having to pay the £1000 excess he has on his car, we can probably get parts for it for about £500, but obviously dont want to be out of pocket as it wasnt his fault.

Can anyone advise us of what to do, as we really dont know what course of action to take at the moment,

many thanks

adamc260

It's worth waiting to see what the bus company say.. if they're prepared to foot the bill fantastic.

Ideally he should be informing his insurance company about the 'incident' but for information purposes only at this stage. Then, if you have no joy with the bus company you can pursue a claim via your own insurance and they will chase up the bus company on your behalf and argue his corner depending on what evidence is available.

Should the incident be deemed not his fault then his excess will either be waived (not payable) or chargeable and then recovered as an uninsured loss from the third parties insurer.

dacouch

Be prepared for the bus company to den the claim and defend it tooth and nail, they have a reputation for this so I would not hold your breath on claiming from the Bus company unless you had a witness.

From the costs you have given it sounds like (Assuming the bus co don't play ball) is to pay for it himself

gorgeousgeorge

would he lose his NCB( if we contact insurance company ) if we have no joy from bus company? I am tomorrow taking pictures of the damage from all angles, showing the colour of the paintwork scraped across the car, and there is even a point on his wing mirror a different colour paint which is the same colour as an advertisement on the side of the buses, I will if it comes to it do measurements, and find a bus, and measure that as well ! Absolutely peed off at the moment, dont want him to have this sort of expense, as his insurance and car tax is due at the end of the month

Quentin

Only if he claims off his insurer will he will lose his NCB (unless they are able to get a full refund of the money off the bus company, when they would reinstate it).

If he doesn't make a claim then his NCB won't be touched.

hcb42

Unless you happen to know someone who is exceptionally skilled and do a good job for you (depending on the value of the car of course..), I would claim and take the long view, that the NCD will eventually be reinstated, assuming the bus company admit liability then there wont be a problem.

We were once hit by a bus, and also once hit by a Tesco delivery man, who forgot to put the handbrake on (we lived on a hill..). Two of the easiest claims to ever have to claim, they didnt quibble over their liability.

gorgeousgeorge

Still not sure what to do, perhaps best wait and see what the bus company comes back with first and see if they do admit liability, which they should do ( well hopefully) very stressed about it, he had only popped round to look at a job, he is only 20 (coming up for 21) and parts for an Audi TT dont come that cheap :eek: Im still going to go and take pictures and if need be sit at the bus garage looking out for damaged buses lol, just trying to work out which number bus would have been on that route at that time...........

alistair.long

My honest advise would be the following.

Contact the Aviva bus company and ask which bus ID was doing the route on that day at that time.
Ask the same person where that bus is now.

If you dont get a good enough answer do the following,
Goto the local bus garage and walk around inside with a high visability jacket, becareful you dont get crushed and look for the damage, the buses were I live have a repair depot, in a diffrent place, cosmetic in 1 place and machanical in another.

If you walk into a place of business you will be tresspassing, as far as I understand tresspass laws you can walk into a open property, as its not been considered a crime since the 60's I think, maybe older (was reading tort law when stumbled across it). Need to be corrected if Im wrong.

You need to get the damaged bus and match it, if you dont then you will have a hard time fighting it. Bus companies do not like paying so will fight it all the way with all the tricks in the book.

gorgeousgeorge

Sorry, should he inform the insurance company tho? even if he doesnt make a claim? would that effect his NCB and/or premiums? Sorry for so many questions. Going to wait to see what the bus company says first, he would rather them just to pay for his car to be fixed without going through insurance if theres a chance he would lose his NCB etc, but I said to him even if they admitted it, Im sure it would have to go through Insurance... but there again I dont understand how it works

alistair.long

I wouldn't inform the insurance company, but if you intend on making a claim and have evidence then do so. the reason being is that it is not against the law to not let the insurance know, but it will help them if you do later claim.
Letting your insurance know will make your premium go higher next year even if you dont claim.

Quentin

gorgeousgeorge wrote: »

Sorry, should he inform the insurance company tho? even if he doesnt make a claim? would that effect his NCB and/or premiums? Sorry for so many questions. Going to wait to see what the bus company says first, he would rather them just to pay for his car to be fixed without going through insurance if theres a chance he would lose his NCB etc, but I said to him even if they admitted it, Im sure it would have to go through Insurance... but there again I dont understand how it works

As already advised, his NCB is "safe" unless he makes a claim off his own insurance. In that case he would lose it unless his insurance gets full reimbursement of the costs from the third party.

He is obliged by the conditions of his policy to inform his insurer of the incident. Informing them will not affect his NCD. Failing to do so breaches his policy conditions and leaves his insurer the opportunity to invalidate the policy in the future (maybe when he does need to make a claim!). All this will be set out in his policy agreement to read.

If the third party do admit liability, then you are right, insurance companies would be involved, but his NCD would be unaffected.