claiming insurance

1888

my car was hit last nite while parked outside house, lady handed in her documents so foned my insurance this morning who said i would need to pay excess of 310 which i can claim back later, plus it would affect my no claims even though not my fault which i wasnt happy with so they put me through to a company called albany assistance to deal with it so no excess or ncd affected,

is this the best way to do this or should i go thru my insurance company admiral

paddedjohn

Go directly to the other persons insurance company and deal with them.

McKneff

As paddedjohn says, deal directly with the other party.

Ring the claims company and tell them you dont want them to deal with your claim.

Tell your own insurance company that you will be dealing directly with the othe party's insurance so your call to them is for 'information only'

It is so much easier dealing direct.

They will instruct yo to take your car for a quote (and remember that you as the innocent party can take it to a garage of your choice)

The garage will email the insurance company with the quote
The ins. company will instruct the garage to carry out the work
You take yor car there.
They mend it
You pick it up
The garage invoices the ins. company direct and the ins company pays the garage.

Job done.

Your premium may increase next year, fault or not, ask your ins. company when you ring. Some do and some dont

neilmcl

As above, contact the 3rd party insurer directly.

Strider590

paddedjohn wrote: »

Go directly to the other persons insurance company and deal with them.

It's too late, might as well go with own insurance now.... The claim has been registered and it'll cost the OP a premium increase regardless.

Otherwise i'd agree 100%

McKneff

It isnt too late. Like I say it just takes a couple of phone calls.

It doesnt necessarily involve a premium increase.

I had 2 no faults in the last couple of years and my premiums werent affected, it depends on the insurnace company. Coop and Aegis were mine.

I believe if it does increase you can also claim this from the other party's insurance compan.

Quentin

Strider590 wrote: »

It's too late, might as well go with own insurance now.... The claim has been registered and it'll cost the OP a premium increase regardless.

Otherwise i'd agree 100%

Only "too late" if the insurer has already incurred expense, though as they are hoping for a bung off albany, this seems unlikely!

Going via the third party makes no difference to what happens to your premium!

There are great advantages to not using your own policy.

eg:

1) No excess to pay and subsequently reclaim.

2) No temporary loss of NCD. This can be a pain pending the claim being concluded and the NCD reinstated if your renewal comes due whilst the claim is open.

3) Much easier to use your own choice of repairer

4) The third party will provide a replacement car whe needed - ( so no hire car to pay for and reclaim).

Quentin

McKneff wrote: »

.....I believe if it does increase you can also claim this from the other party's insurance compan.

Not usually. (Well ..... you can make a claim, but you usually won't get anywhere with it)

Where did this "belief" come from?

londonTiger

dont use albany assistance, they will put on cheap non-oem parts. they fixed my front wing and put on a really light front wing that has a really tin can sound to it when i tap it. my oem wing from the other side has a more solid thud to it.

go with the other insurance company direct and take your car to the best garage. the other insurer will be more than happy to help - it will be cheaper for them if you use a main garage and deal with the third party insurer than if you go with your own insurer and deal with albany.

vaio

Quentin wrote: »

Not usually. (Well ..... you can make a claim, but you usually won't get anywhere with it)

Where did this "belief" come from?

Common sense?

Law of torts & consequential costs?

Reported experience by other posters?

vaio

Quentin wrote: »

Only "too late" if the insurer has already incurred expense, though as they are hoping for a bung off albany, this seems unlikely!

Going via the third party makes no difference to what happens to your premium!

There are great advantages to not using your own policy.

eg:

1) No excess to pay and subsequently reclaim.

2) No temporary loss of NCD. This can be a pain pending the claim being concluded and the NCD reinstated if your renewal comes due whilst the claim is open.

3) Much easier to use your own choice of repairer

4) The third party will provide a replacement car whe needed - ( so no hire car to pay for and reclaim).

Yep, but there is a downside in that if you go direct to the third party insurer then you lose the protection of the FOS if things go wrong. Not a huge risk especially as you can pick your own garage but worth mentioning for completeness.