Other driver declared liable what should I do now?

sensibly_insane

I had a car accident this morning and the other driver's insurance company contacted me regarding sorting out matters between us directly as they declared their driver liable for the crash. I have been offered repair at one of their approved garages (not honda dealer), courtesy car and £75 as good will gesture to compensate for the consequential hike in my insurance premimum in later years. My questions are:

1. Should I prefer to deal through my insurer. I guess it might delay things a bit and I will have to pay an excess to my insurer to start with. My insurer has informed me if I deal with the other company directly, they wont be able to intervene in case anything goes wrong later on. How can I make sure that I am not left stranded if I deal with the other insurer direclty and don't find the repair work satisfactory.

2. How can I calculate a more sensible amount to factor in the rise in my insurance premium for next three years.

My first chance to be in this situation, so feeling a bit lost will really appreciate any help at all.

Many thanks

chanz4

You get a 3 year warranty with all bodywork, not many insurance companys use main dealers so dont worry about that part just avoid howard basford. Its very unusual for them to give money against premiums so grab that part. What your insurance company would most probably do is sell your claim to a claims management company thats why they want to pursuade you to go via them.

vaio

The third party company is to be applauded, they are doing exactly what they should do, who are they?

On the repair side, if yours is a relatively new car then to protect any bodywork warranty it should go to a manufacturer approved body shop.

on the future premium loadings, there is no easy way of working that out, you could do dummy quotes now which will give you this years figure but who knows what next year and the year after will be? Headline premiums have gone up by 40% this year so maybe that's the starting point but in any event I suspect £75 isn't going to be enough. I reclaimed some non fault loadings about 10 years ago and back then it put my premiums up from about £150 to about £250

McKneff

You can take your car to anywhere you want, think about your warranty.

You are very lucky you were offered anything really.

It is much easier to deal with the TP directly but you must tell your own insurance company 'For Information Only' but I'm sure you know that already. Ask them if your premium will be affected some do and some dont. You may be lucky and the £75 is a bonus.

I was lucky, I had 2 of these no fault incidents and my insurance company didnt raise my premiums. I was with the Coop

Both of them were sorted out in less than a fortnight.

sensibly_insane

vaio wrote: »

The third party company is to be applauded, they are doing exactly what they should do, who are they?

on the future premium loadings, there is no easy way of working that out, you could do dummy quotes now which will give you this years figure but who knows what next year and the year after will be? Headline premiums have gone up by 40% this year so maybe that's the starting point but in any event I suspect £75 isn't going to be enough. I reclaimed some non fault loadings about 10 years ago and back then it put my premiums up from about £150 to about £250

Third party is Elephant. To be honest, I am also impressed by their efficiency. I was also thinking about doing dummy quotes or asking them to match the best insurance quote (without a premium loading) for three years.

McKneff wrote: »

You can take your car to anywhere you want, think about your warranty.

You are very lucky you were offered anything really.

It is much easier to deal with the TP directly but you must tell your own insurance company 'For Information Only' but I'm sure you know that already. Ask them if your premium will be affected some do and some dont. You may be lucky and the £75 is a bonus.

I was lucky, I had 2 of these no fault incidents and my insurance company didnt raise my premiums. I was with the Coop

Both of them were sorted out in less than a fortnight.

I have exactly done the same thing, informed my insurer for "information purpose only". My insurer directline has told me they dont load premimum for no fault claims. However, they don't guarantee the best quote for their existing customers any way. I might end up in a sutiation on my next renewal where their not-premium-loaded quote is worse than the premium loaded quotes from other insurers.

vaio wrote: »

I reclaimed some non fault loadings about 10 years ago and back then it put my premiums up from about £150 to about £250

vaio, can you please tell me exactly how did you reclaim your loadings? how did that work exactly? many thanks for everybody's support

chanz4

I change my mind admiral and elephant use howard basford, dont let them near your car. It took them x3 times to try and respray myn, had togo to another garage in the end but it did come with 3 years warranty. My car is a 2011 , the changed parts are covered by the garages warranty.

vaio

sensibly_insane wrote: »

.........vaio, can you please tell me exactly how did you reclaim your loadings? how did that work exactly? many thanks for everybody's support

do a search for my user name & "loading" and you'll see the thread(s).

Basically I got two or three years loading back by getting a letter detailing the loading from my insurance company.

Opinions vary with lots saying you can't get it and I was just lucky etc so I'm encouraged to see that an insurance company has accepted it is claimable and is pre-emptively making an offer

sensibly_insane

chanz4 wrote: »

I change my mind admiral and elephant use howard basford, dont let them near your car. It took them x3 times to try and respray myn, had togo to another garage in the end but it did come with 3 years warranty. My car is a 2011 , the changed parts are covered by the garages warranty.

elephant has offered me to use Miles accident repairs, I am not sure how are they. I could find only two completely opposing reviews about them on the internet.

bizarebazaar

Be very very careful, I dont trust them, get an alternate professional opinion, if you go with this you may have to regret it in the years to come.

Car insurance in an almighty con!

sensibly_insane

just a quick update, guys and want to thank you so very much, all of you

After I got some dummy quotation with and without the mention of the non-fault claim showing £80 difference in premium at the moment, I managed to get £200 from them as a consquential loss. Though, they insist to term it as a good will gesture This is in addition to a courtesy car and repair work with 5 years guarantee. As they will drop the courtesy car tomorrow, so I hope repairing the car at the earliest will be their top proprity. My insurance company was very keen to process the claim but I preferred to deal with elephant directly to expedite things and keep it simple. I dont know it if it was a good decision.

Once again thank you so much !

sensibly_insane

bizarebazaar wrote: »

Be very very careful, I dont trust them, get an alternate professional opinion, if you go with this you may have to regret it in the years to come.

Car insurance in an almighty con!

As I deal with these guys, more and more I am convinced about your comment. This afternoon a guy from fleet services /albany assistance dropped a courtesy car but the paper work says £50 valet charges would be payable if car not returned in the same condition. How come the car can be returned in the same condition after use, beyond my comprehension. This means they expect their car to be new year after year use. Am I missing here someting, am I getting conscious for nothing?