Just Had A Crash Would Appreciate Some Advice

Astronaughtwannabe

You're right Arcon but it's too late once it's gone. Insurers have little interest but should it end up in court for whatever reason (say the third party makes a large claim for personal injury) then these details could well be poured over. If the locus is local to the OP I can't see it would do any harm (providing OP doesn't get run over in the process ;-)

Clive_Woody

If I were you I would be keeping my story very simple and to the point when reporting it to your insurers.

"As you were driving on XX-July-2015 you approached a car that was pulled in to the side of the road, as you moved out to overtake, the car suddenly pulled out in front of you with no warning. After stopping the driver of the other car admitted she was looking for an address she was visiting and therefore could not have been paying attention to the road."


And I would leave it at that and let the insurers sort it out. Suspect it will not go 100% in your favour but I would certainly suggest you keep your explanation brief and to the point as the claims handler will have a lot of other claims and does not want to read a 1000 word essay.

Hiring a car for Monday morning for one day should not be a huge expense if you have to take the hit yourself while the insurers figure things out.

UnderPressure

Co Op just rung me! Apparently they have a small team on a Sunday just handling new claims and not taking calls, anyway good!

I told them the full account asked me some random questions, he agreed it sounds like it was not my fault and said he has logged the claim and they are going to pursue it as a non fault on my part, he did warn me though that it "might" end up split.

Garage coming tomorrow to assess damage to my car, he said they will make a decision there and then on the drive, he also said that it "might" (there's that word again!) due to the cars age end up as a total loss in which case they will have it recovered and assess its value from there, no courtesy car! Courtesy car only available if garage has to take it away to assess or repair, well the car is worth all of 50 pence so that is not going to happen, with my £350 excess I might end up owing them money WHEN it is declared a total loss!

Great!

rs65

Time to start looking for a new car.

Quentin

UnderPressure wrote: »

the car is worth all of 50 pence so that is not going to happen, with my £350 excess I might end up owing them money WHEN it is declared a total loss!

Great!

Why did you instigate a claim if you know your car is worth (so much) less than your excess?


Cancel the claim now before they spend any money inspecting it and pursue the third party insurer for it's value (and your uninsured losses) - you have nothing to lose!

UnderPressure

Hello Quentin

Thanks for the reply this did occur to me this afternoon, I could have just let her launch the claim her end. If I do, what are the ins and outs so to speak?

Thanks in advance,

Astronaughtwannabe

Not much. You wouldn't have an excess to pay but you'd still lose your no claims/it would be reduced (assuming the third party makes a claim against your policy, even if it's settled, say 50/50).

Going direct to the third party's insurer and making a claim (if 100% sucsessful) means you'd get your car repaired/replaced without losing your no claims & excess.


Either way, your insurer would require (probably) you to notify them of your "loss" and this tends to put your next premium up a little. Clearly a moot point given you have!

UnderPressure

Morning all

Thanks for the replies so far, Quentin and Astronaughtwannabe this sounds like a plan!

I spoke to a mate of mine that works in a garage last night to ask a favour, he opened up super early this morning, I was there for 6:30! He put it on the lift and checked it out underneath for me, I was right no damage underneath, he then also checked the front wheels alignment and it was perfect, I noticed driving it to his garage that with the front tyre replaced everything felt as normal so in theory the car i still perfectly driveable, a couple of sharp edges on the wing but with a bit of persuasion I can easily sort that out, order an indicator and bulb today and in theory it should be good to go for a couple of weeks.

This would be perfect for me, as said earlier I had already planned to get rid of it at the end of the month anyway if I can get there using this car then I will have all the funds planned on to get the 7 seater we want without wasting any money buying something for a couple of weeks to then have the hassle of trying to sell it to re-coup funds to buy a 7 seater.

This is the bit I need help with, if I withdraw my claim I understand the Co Op(my insurance company) will deal with her claim that her insurance company (More Than) will pursue against me, if I take my car out of the equation with the Co Op will they still fight my corner as hard? The other car involved was a 56 plate Zafira so although not worth tens of thousands still worth considerably more than mine!

How do I then claim directly with More Than? What is the procedure? Will this all be OK with my insurance company? Will more than wait to establish liability and then pay a percent that their client is liable for? Am I right in thinking that this will then come directly to me so no excess to pay? Will More Than be OK with me continuing to use the car in the meantime?

I need to make a decision about it all today as the Co Op approved garage is ringing today to arrange to come and inspect the car.

Is this really going to be relatively straight forward thing to do?

Finally the one thing I still want to consider is the likelihood of the companies deciding in my favour and placing full liability on her, from what my insurance company have said yesterday and the general feeling on here should I just forget that and accept it will be 50 / 50 at best?

Finally do I have to make a claim against More Than right now? Do I have a period of time to make the claim to them or does it have to be done immediately? I was thinking I could wait and see the outcome of the liability first and then claim?

Thanks again guys I really appreciate your input on this.

Quentin

Withdrawing your claim won't affect your insurer's approach to dealing with any claim from the third party.


If you want to pursue the third party insurer directly you can contact them and see if they have an innocent third party claims department who will deal with you - most do.


They will take the details, contact their insured and if liability is accepted deal with everything for you.


(Your insurer will be quite happy about you taking this route - it is well worn, and of course everyone without comprehensive cover has to do this when involved in an incident when not to blame)


If it ends up split liability if you haven't claimed off your own insurer then you won't have any excess to pay with regards to your insurer paying out for any third party costs

phillw

Astronaughtwannabe wrote: »

Going direct to the third party's insurer and making a claim (if 100% sucsessful) means you'd get your car repaired/replaced without losing your no claims & excess.

You are required to report the incident to your insurance company though. It's worth getting a letter from the 3rd party insurance company with the outcome of the claim and pass that on too. Your insurance company is supposed to do this but sometimes they forget and you'll only find out when your renewal premium is sky high. Even if they do this then there is no guarantee your premium won't go up. No fault claims can increase your premium for two reasons:


1. Even though you managed to argue that it wasn't your fault, they secretly believe that you got away with lying.


2. If in the unlikely event you weren't lying, you choose to be on the road with drivers who cause accidents.



Like speeding, you can get away with once without it making a huge difference.


Even after you have started a claim with your insurer you can approach the 3rd party insurer. Usually they will treat you better because by going direct you are saving them money. I had a better courtesy car and had my car repaired by a main dealer rather than the dodgy(*) back alley garage that my insurance company made me go to.


(*) Dodgy compared to dodgy main dealers.