Should I allow the at-fault party's insurers to fix my car

mkaibear

Hi folks;

Sorry if this question has been asked before - I had a quick google of the forum but couldn't find anything obvious...

So I had a bump on Tuesday - set off from traffic lights and drove down the right hand lane, accelerated up to 30mph and then maintained that speed, and then another driver ran into the back of me because she had been looking to see if there was a space in a queue in the left lane and assumed I was going to keep accelerating, which I didn't. She obviously had been looking left instead of forwards and she's admitted liability and both insurers have been informed.

I've been contacted by her insurers who have said that they are willing to handle fixing my car and I won't need to go through my insurers to do it (other than telling them about the accident which I've already done) - obviously my insurers are rubbing their hands with glee about the referral fees and are talking about passing my details onto their preferred hire car provider and personal injury solicitor (including serious pressure during the call to allow them to pass me over to the personal injury solicitor which I found a bit grubby)

As far as I can tell there's no downside to me to allow her insurers to repair my car, I'll speak to them about replacing the child seats as well (no kids in the car at the time of the accident fortunately but two car seats) and I'm not interested in pursuing a personal injury claim for a sore neck and bottom!

But... something in me is telling me not to do it - that my insurer has my best interests at heart (which I kind of doubt, but...) and theirs doesn't.

So, crowd-sourced wisdom - should I allow their insurers to handle the repairs etc? Are there any obvious pitfalls?

Thanks in advance for your time - and if this has been answered before please could you point me in that direction so I can read it!

AdrianC

Definitely go directly to the other insurer. By far the quickest and simplest resolution.


Surely there's no need to replace two unoccupied child seats from a low-speed bump? They won't have had any significant load on them at all.

mkaibear

AdrianC wrote: »

Surely there's no need to replace two unoccupied child seats from a low-speed bump? They won't have had any significant load on them at all.

Well, that's what I thought too but Kiddy and Britax both say that they should be replaced after an accident.

Kiddy say after any accident and Britax say after any accident over 10kph.

I'm not going to argue with the manufacturer (even if my understanding of materials science suggests that that might be a bit overly cautious, shall we say)

AdrianC

Occupied, sure - because they've got the loads of restraining the occupant.

I'm sure the manufacturers aren't just trying to get extra sales by being massively over-cautious...

mkaibear

AdrianC wrote: »

Occupied, sure - because they've got the loads of restraining the occupant.

I'm sure the manufacturers aren't just trying to get extra sales by being massively over-cautious...

Oh no, there's no way that a manufacturer would ever do that... :eek:

...but seriously the argument given is that although it makes it more likely that there's damage if they're occupied, car seats do flex with the impact and are banged around - and if the car is damaged and/or the occupants hurt at all then it's regarded as likely that there are "micro-cracks" (which conveniently for the manufacturer you can't see...) in the structure of the seat. Which I suppose does make sense even if it seems a bit cautious to me.

Kiddy feel sufficiently strongly about it that they offer a free "accident replacement service" after any accident - if it's reported to the insurance company or the police, they ask for the seat back and a copy of the insurance company or police report and then give you a free replacement seat. So they, at least, are putting their money where their mouth is!

AdrianC

Makes you wonder why the normal seats in a car aren't replaced as a matter of routine after any bump... After all, they take multiple times the load.

facade

mkaibear wrote: »

should I allow their insurers to handle the repairs etc? Are there any obvious pitfalls?

Absolutely, it saves a fortune, which doesn't have to be recovered from all of us through increased premiums.
Your insurer has their own pocket at heart, they get a cut from the Ambulance chaser, and likely the inflated car hire too. Strangely, this is not passed onto us through reduced prices though....






Pitfall- you must inspect the work, as you have less scope to complain if they do it, you sign to say you are happy and that is pretty much it. (There should be some sort of warranty from the repairer, but you didn't actually pay for the work)

mkaibear

AdrianC wrote: »

Makes you wonder why the normal seats in a car aren't replaced as a matter of routine after any bump... After all, they take multiple times the load.

My understanding is that normal car seats are made of metal and foam padding, whereas modern kids seats are made of plastic and expanded polystyrene foam (like a giant bicycle helmet).

(mostly because kids car seats generally need to be moved around and normal car seats don't!)

pinkshoes

mkaibear wrote: »

Kiddy say after any accident and Britax say after any accident over 10kph.

Slightly off topic but...


Odd they state a speed limit to the crash when the impact force is more to do with how quickly you come to a stop!

E.g. if you are doing 20mph and hit a brick wall it will hurt much more than hitting the back of another car.

I would like to see some research from car seat makers showing impact FORCES and damage to car seats, as I am quite sure this whole "replace it after an accident" thing is to make money from selling more seats, or because they haven't actually done sufficient research.

marlot

mkaibear wrote: »

...Kiddy feel sufficiently strongly about it that they offer a free "accident replacement service" after any accident - if it's reported to the insurance company or the police, they ask for the seat back and a copy of the insurance company or police report and then give you a free replacement seat. So they, at least, are putting their money where their mouth is!

I wonder if they're actually claiming them from the insurance?


A bit like the AA/RAC being happy to come and rescue you after an accident, but when you read the small print, they add the recovery to your insurance claim.