Car insurance- punish the victim?

pookie

Apologies if this is obvious, and has been posted before. A man stopped suddenly and reversed while on a roundabout (yes, I know!!), straight into our car. We got his details and contacted our insurance company. They say if we want to pursue the claim we pay the excess, even though it clearly was not our fault. What a pain- we are the victims and we just want the damage to our car repaired. Do we have to pay the excess first? If we pay it we chase for it to be refunded if the other party's insurance pays for the claim?
Thank you.

rev_henry

If you don't want to pay the excess you need to pursue a claim direct with HIS insurance company, not yours. In fact I would recommend this route provided he doesn't start playing silly !!!!!!s.

Quentin

pookie wrote: »

.... Do we have to pay the excess first? If we pay it we chase for it to be refunded if the other party's insurance pays for the claim?
Thank you.

You normally pay your excess direct to the repairer before getting your car back.


Your excess isn't covered by your own policy. You will have agreed the excess when taking out the policy.


If you proceed with the claim against your own policy then assuming that liability rests with the third party then you reclaim your excess along with any other uninsured losses from the third party insurer.


If you have "legal cover" with your policy you can use them to do this for you.

[Deleted User]

Instead of claiming on your own insurance phone his up and claim directly with them. As well as not having to pay any excess this also puts you in control of the process. You can select your own preferred garage, for example. I recommend using a dealer authorized one that will use genuine parts and protect any warranty you have remaining.

pookie

Thank you. We have the other party's telephone number but he didn't have his insurance details on him- we'll try telephoning him first.

Quentin

If you have any problems, you can get the third party insurance details from askmid website (foc if you go there via a smartphone - otherwise it will cost you £4)


If you intend pursuing your claim direct against the third party then contact your own insurer ASAP and tell them you are doing this (and make sure they know you are no longer pursuing your claim against your own policy)

pookie

Oh, handy, thanks Quentin. We're going to rely on the other party doing the right thing, but if not it's great to have a fall back option.