Cancelling a claim with a 3rd party insurer

kinsey6574

Hi - looking for a bit of advice...

My girlfriend was driving our car earlier in the week and had stopped at a pedestrian crossing when a 3rd party bumped into the back of her. The 3rd party has accepted liability for the crash and asked his insurance company to get in touch to sort the claim out.

I notified my insurer of the accident and they took me through the options I had if I wanted to claim through my insurance. I thought it best to go through the 3rd party's insurance to avoid any increases in my monthly premium.

Now the 3rd party has come back, both insurance companies are saying it'\s not worth fixing (old Passat). Since the damage is only small (dent and cracked bumper) I'd prefer to simply keep the car and drive it until it's not worth the repair costs anymore.

Both companies have sent me a settlement fee but both are hugely different. The 3rd party is offering me around £900 whereas my insurance company is suggesting a settlement amount of around £2k.

The 3rd party got me to drive round to one of their accident repair centres to assess the damage and their figure is based on that - whereas my insurer has made their offer without seeing the car (so I realise there may be a largish chunk to take off this amount once they take it in for assessment - though the car is in good condition and only has around 90,000 on the clock).

My question is, can I simply go back to the 3rd party at this stage and cancel the process so I can use my own insurance. Another worry is whether the 3rd party will in some way refuse to cooperate with my insurance company if they've already made me a lower offer?

Any advice would be warmly welcomed!

PS - 3rd party is Zurich and mine is Quote Me Happy (underwritten by Aviva).

Quentin

Yes, simply tell them you want to cancel the claim with them.


Their offer is irrelevant - they were probably trying it on!

DUTR

Perhaps the higher settlement includes any pending injury claim, what will a replacement car of similar age condition cost you?

kinsey6574

That was my first thought but then my insurance company have said insurers can no longer 'try it on'...
Anyway, I was just checking that the 3rd party couldn't run round and somehow claim that I'm 'trying it on' by going for the tiger offer!

kinsey6574

You're right - the higher offer is an offer based on me giving them the car but then said that if I keep the car we're looking at taking 30% off that. This is still hundreds more than the 3rd party is offering. (the claim has no pending injury claims).

Thanks for the help - I'll simply go with my insurers instead...

Quentin

kinsey6574 wrote: »

That was my first thought but then my insurance company have said insurers can no longer 'try it on'...

By "trying it on" I refer to the sum being a low "offer" (insurers are certainly allowed to enter into negotiation over settlement figures) - it was then up to you to accept or reject the offer!

angrycrow

Just take the higher offer from your insurer and tell the third party insurers you are dealing direct with your own.

markudman

Its always best to let your insurance company deal with other companies on your behalf, the other company is just saving money.

System

One thing to consider.....

If you take the third party settlement you retain your full NCB, you have a no fault claim.

If you use your own insurer and claim for the loss from your own policy you lose your NCB, you have a declarable insurance claim for £2000 which will hit your premiums when you insure your car for the next few years. An extra £1000 in your pocket now could cost you more in the long run due to higher premiums.

dacouch

Tarambor wrote: »

One thing to consider.....

If you take the third party settlement you retain your full NCB, you have a no fault claim.

If you use your own insurer and claim for the loss from your own policy you lose your NCB, you have a declarable insurance claim for £2000 which will hit your premiums when you insure your car for the next few years. An extra £1000 in your pocket now could cost you more in the long run due to higher premiums.

The OP will have a non fault claim registered against them once they or their Insurer recover their outlay from the third party

Begsey

Going through the same just now, waiting till Monday to try and find out the offer, only found out it was considered a total loss late Friday, from the repair place.
The 3rd party insurer picked up the car, gave us a courtesy car, and will let us keep the courtesy car for 7 days beyond ours being written off.
The OHs insurer simply called the 3rd party insurer to confirm they were not disputing liability, then closed it down as a non fault claim.
OP, how much do you think your cars worth/will cost to replace?