Claiming against the third part - car insurance

danjourno

Hi,

On Wednesday someone went into the back of my car. It's 3 weeks old and a lease car so I have to get it fixed.
It was seemingly minor damage so I told the guy that I would give him a chance to sort it out without an insurance claim.

An approved bodyshop gave me a quote of £350+vat, but he is not returning my calls and texts. (Stupidly forgot to take his address).

I've read that if I go through my insurer to claim against his policy, that could put my prices up.

So my question is, it is possible to claim directly against the other insurer? IE without involving my insurer.

Many thanks
Dan

Aretnap

Yes, his insurer will have a third party claims department which you can contact - if there is no dispute over liability they will pay for your repairs, and if necessary arrange a loan car while the work is being done on yours. If you're not sure who his insurer is then you can find out here for a nominal fee, assuming you have his registration number

http://www.askmid.com/askmidenquiry.aspx

However your own insurer will require you to inform them of any accident, whether or not you intend to make a claim through them, and if you are going to make the claim through the third party's insurer then it would be foolish not to tell your own. Insurers share information on claims to help reduce fraud, so once you've told one insurer you should assume that others will find out - and that could result in a cancelled policy or a declined claim in future if you haven't disclosed the accident to your own insurer.

Informing your insurer and declaring the accident in future may indeed have an effect on your premiums. If you really want to avoid doing that then sensibly speaking you have to keep it away from insurance companies altogether, which means either (1) keep trying to contact the other driver and settle with a handful of cash or (2) take it on the chin and pay for the repairs yourself.

forgotmyname

If you contact his insurance make sure you contact yours first to let them know of the incident.

danjourno

Thanks for the replies. Since I already have to inform my insurer, I've started a non-fault claim with them and let them deal with the other guy's insurer.

Out of interest, is there any benefit to me going direct to his insurer?

Many thanks
Dan

Quentin

Some of the benefits of claiming off the third party are that you have no excess to pay and subsequently get reimbursed/no temporary loss of NCD (which can cause problems if your renewal comes due before the claim has been concluded)/no need to pay out for a hire care (and reclaim later) if you need one - the insurer will provide a replacement car if you need one/easier to use the garage of your choice to do repairs