Car accident: Whose insurance company to deal with? + other advice pls

Good_Grief_2

Hi All.

I was in a car accident a few days ago. Long story short: Old chap went through a red light, hit me nearly head-on, police & ambulance called to scene, no-one badly hurt, 3rd party witnesses made police statement that he sailed through a clear red light and I was in no way at fault.

I have never been in a car accident before, so am I bit confounded about how to handle the whole thing.

I phoned my insurer, Aviva, as soon as I got home and told them everything. They arranged for my car to be collected and taken to a body shop, which is where it is now, awaiting an assessment of the damage & cost to repair (or whether it will be a write-off). They have also arranged for me to have a hire car while all this is being sorted out.

Today I received a letter from the other chap's insurance company, Acromas (who, the letter says, were formerly known as Saga). Although it doesn't outright accept liability, it seems to strongly imply that they know their customer is at fault as they are offering me all sorts to deal with them directly, rather than my own insurance company. For example:

"We are sorry to hear you were in an accident with our customer. Subject to an assessment of liability we may be able to offer you the benefit of our Approved Repair Scheme to repair any damage caused to your vehicle by this collision.

The following benefits apply under our Approved Repair Scheme:

Free collection and delivery service
5 year repair guarantee
No excess to pay
A free replacement vehicle
Your No Claims Discount is not affected
No forms to complete"

Obviously, all of the above sounds very attractive, but presumably that is the idea - if Acromas know they are going to have to pay out, for everything, then they will want to try and keep costs down by doing things "their" way.

Does anyone have any advice about what to do, please? Should I continue to only speak to my own insurance company, or would it be better to deal with Acromas direct?

Any and all advice will be very, very much appreciated. As I say, I have never been in a car accident before, and the whole thing has left me very shaken and unsure of where to go from here. Four weeks before I am due to get married, as well - it's the last thing I need

Thank you in advance.

AdrianC

Good_Grief wrote: »

The following benefits apply under our Approved Repair Scheme:

Free collection and delivery service
5 year repair guarantee

Does that differ to your own insurer? Bear in mind the "approved repairers" in any given area will almost certainly be the same for any major insurer.

A free replacement vehicle

Which you've already got through your own insurer.

No excess to pay
Your No Claims Discount is not affected

It won't be anyway, assuming you're found not to be at fault. But, either way, you will have to own up to having been involved in a collision/claim, and that will affect your premium...

No forms to complete"

But you've already completed any forms that you might have to...

Does anyone have any advice about what to do, please? Should I continue to only speak to my own insurance company

You've already started down that route, so might as well stick to it.

victor2

As above really.
Let your insurers deal with it, that's what you pay them for.
In my experience, which was the other way round as I was at fault, the third party insurers wrote to me saying the third party was claiming whiplash (of course!) etc. and asking for details of my solicitor and such. Asked my insurers what to do and they said not to answer the letter but forward it to them. I did and that was the last I heard about the third party.

Foxy-Stoat_3

I would buy a throw away sim card now and advise your insurers of your new mobile number.

Once your claim is setttled and any injury paid out throw the sim card away.

Expect to be phoned and text messaged for the next 5 years about how you can claim compensation as your insurers will sell your details to one and all very soon, if not already done so.

Good luck and hope you get a good result.