Insurance overpaid third party for accident

GRJH99

Hi Everyone

Looking for some advice, had a small accident in April I stupidly went into the back of someone at a set of traffic lights, and when I say went into the back I mean i was rolling at between 5-10 mph carpark sort of speed.
We pulled over to the side of the road took each others details there was no damage to his car there was to mine but because my excess is £750 (20 year old male driver) there was no point me claiming.
Got the call from the insurance saying the third party had found some small light scratches but nothing else so I said okay thats cool.

Called today to get info on the accident as I am looking at new quotes and my insurance paid out £4555 in repairs!!!!
The call handler couldn't explain the damage to me but obviously this will hugely effect my premium, is there anything I can do? I don't have the third parties details to ask for the photos of the back of their car or any explanation of why so much was paid out.

foxy-stoat

It doesnt matter if they paid out £45, £450 OR £4500. You just need to declare the fault accident and amount paid out, the amount wont affect your premiums in the future.

TadleyBaggie

The other party may have only noticed light scratches, but that doesn't mean hidden damage hasn't occurred. Happened to me, someone ran into the back of me and it looked like nothing was wrong initially, however on closer inspection it turned out the bumper had been pushed into the rear panel and caused deformation.

I suspect a chunk of the claim is for a hire car whilst it was being repaired.

Aylesbury_Duck

A lot of damage can be caused at 5-10mph and as it seems, there was probably much more than was immediately visible after the bumper almost certainly deformed then rebounded into shape. There are multiple reasons for it being that cost. A hire car as explained above, parking sensors perhaps, maybe the boot lid didn't close perfectly afterwards meaning it couldn't be locked or perhaps it leaked, etc etc.

foxy-stoat

Whip lash claim, or broken laptop that was on the back seat that hit the floor....all sorts of made up damages.

loskie

what he said /\

add to that an accident management co hire car and their charges.

Scrapit

It's not for the OP to decide how much damage has occurred and assign that damage a value.

foxy-stoat

Scrapit wrote: »

It's not for the OP to decide how much damage has occurred and assign that damage a value.

Agreed, I think they need to know the total cost of the third party claim so they can give accurate information at renewal time so they need to know. If they dont agree with the amount though that will be irrelevant.

Mistral001

Insurance companies do not pay out as readily as they used to for whiplash claims. However, even if the occupants did not get a successful claim for whiplash, the insurance company could still run up substantial bills for medical reports and other expert reports to establish that there were no injuries.