Insurance company obliged to contact 3rd party after accident?

itm2

My wife had an accident a few weeks ago, which resulted in damage to both cars' bumpers. My wife was at fault, so she asked the other driver to get a quote for her repairs, so that she could decide whether it was worth making an insurance claim.

In the meantime my wife phoned her insurance company to notify them of the accident, as her policy document advised. She explicitly told them that she had asked the other driver to obtain a repair quote as she had not yet decided whether to settle the repair bill without the insurance company's assistance.

After getting no response from the other driver for a few weeks (despite follow-up messages), she finally got a message for her saying that my wife's insurance company had contacted her, and that the repair of her car was already being arranged by them.

My wife was surprised (and annoyed) that her insurance company had arranged the repair without even bothering to notify her, particularly as she had explicitly told them that she was considering settling the other driver's repair bill without their intervention (i.e. without making a claim). She phoned the insurance company to complain, and they told her that they had been legally obliged to get in touch with the other driver.

If this is true, is it basically impossible to avoid making a claim under these circumstances without concealing the accident from your insurance company (and hence breaching the advice given in their policy documents?)

londonTiger

unfortunately since it was your wife's fault she doesn't have much of a say in the matter. The other party has full right to take whatever course of action that is open to them, in this instance they changed their mind.

Silver-Surfer_2

She could always choose to reimburse the insurance company after they have paid for the repairs if she wishes to retain her no claims etc.

itm2

londonTiger wrote: »

unfortunately since it was your wife's fault she doesn't have much of a say in the matter. The other party has full right to take whatever course of action that is open to them, in this instance they changed their mind.

In this case the other party wasn't actually given a choice per se - she was simply advised of the insurance company's intention to arrange the repair of her vehicle. She didn't phone the insurance company - they called her. That the insurance company had done this without advising my wife, given that she had already made her intentions clear, seems to have been poor customer communication at best.

Car_54

My policy says "You must not admit liability for or negotiate to settle any claim without our written permission. We have full discretion in the settlement of any claim ..."

I'd be surprised if the OP's wife's policy is any different, and if not then the insurers are simply exercising their rights. However, they're certainly guilty of poor communication.

londonTiger

Silver-Surfer wrote: »

She could always choose to reimburse the insurance company after they have paid for the repairs if she wishes to retain her no claims etc.

not worth it, not even for a minor ding. An insurance repair is EXPENSIVE. car hire, approved repairer padding up costs for non-fault work.. For a minor dent could end up costing a couple grand.

I repaired my car on a non fault accident, used approved repairer and did not take out a hire care, the cost of the repair came to £1200. I am pretty sure a competant chipsaway franchise could have taken out the bumps and patched the light paint damage for <£200.

These costs will be far in excess of any premium increase for reduced NCB, it probably wont help your premium because NCB is half of the picture, OP will still have an at fault accident on their record which would be the lions share of the cause of premium increase.

After 3 years NCB the discounts are derisory.