Claim or not on Car Insurance

jrs101

Hi


I need some advice as to whether to raise a claim or not.


Standard accident - someone hit me in the rear.
I gave details as information only to my insurer who deem it as a no fault claim to me (claim not raised as yet)



I need to get the car assessed as to whether its damaged and safe to drive. If I claim and its deemed unsafe the repair is most definately going to mean the car is a write off as very old and worth not too much.

Can i get is assessed without making a claim, seems to be unclear to me? And then decide?



How do i proceed? Proceed privately with no claim to ins. company?

MovingForwards

Phone up the third party's insurance company, tell them you want to claim from them and ask them to instruct an engineer to assess your car.

What car is it, what age and what damage do you have as any repair costing 65-70% of the pre-accident value will see it being written off / cash in lieu settlement.

Quentin

If you don't want it written off get it checked out for road worthiness and likelihood of getting written off

When you know this then make your decision

You don't have to make a claim

Also consider claiming off the third party insurer

If it's a write off but you want to keep it and repair it yourself they will let you keep it with a small deduction from your settlement

jrs101

Quentin wrote: »

If you don't want it written off get it checked out for road worthiness and likelihood of getting written off

When you know this then make your decision

You don't have to make a claim

Also consider claiming off the third party insurer

If it's a write off but you want to keep it and repair it yourself they will let you keep it with a small deduction from your settlement

If its deemed a write off on assessment and I have not claimed am I legally ok to drive it away and do what i wish with it?


If its ruled ok, no damage - then I assume I don't claim and approach the other driver direct (or his insurance) and get a quote for the paint damage. Which one would you go direct with and what should I be aware of?


thanks

Quentin

Assuming it's roadworthy you can take it away if you want to

Yes, you can claim off the third party irrespective of whether or not it's a write off

jrs101

Quentin wrote: »

Assuming it's roadworthy you can take it away if you want to

Yes, you can claim off the third party irrespective of whether or not it's a write off

And if its deemed a write off on assessment and I have not claimed am I legally ok to drive it away and do what i wish with it?

Quentin

Not if it's deemed not roadworthy (you would be driving uninsured as well as illegally)

You would have to get it delivered by truck

lisyloo

You need to find out if it’s roadworthy.
If the damage is cosmetic then you can carry on driving whilst you sort things out. Indeed you may be even able to keep it like it is (my car has multiple dents from the last pensioner that haven’t been fixed). It really depends on the nature of the damage.

If it were me I’d go to the third party insurers innocent third party claims department.
No NCD loss and no excess to pay.
One downside is that you won’t have any redress to any complaints procedure (personally I don’t think this is a big issue).
Also if you want to keep the car make sure you stress to the insurer and to the garage that your car is not to be taken away without your permission.
Remove any items from the car e.g. jump leads, medical kit, scrapers from the car before it goes in.

Quentin

lisyloo wrote: »

If it were me I’d go to the third party insurers innocent third party claims department.
No NCD loss and no excess to pay.
One downside is that you won’t have any redress to any complaints procedure (personally I don’t think this is a big issue).....

No

You can still complain if something goes wrong or you are unhappy with the standard of repair etc

(You look to be referring to being unable to use the FOS adjudication service which is only available when you are involved in an insurance company complaint against your own insurer,)

lisyloo

Yes correct. I don’t think this is a big issues but the OP asked if there was anything to be aware of....

You can make complaints e.g. write a letter and use the legal system.
What I meant was that the free ombudsman service would not be available.

jrs101

lisyloo wrote: »

You need to find out if it’s roadworthy.
If the damage is cosmetic then you can carry on driving whilst you sort things out. Indeed you may be even able to keep it like it is (my car has multiple dents from the last pensioner that haven’t been fixed). It really depends on the nature of the damage.

If it were me I’d go to the third party insurers innocent third party claims department.
No NCD loss and no excess to pay.
One downside is that you won’t have any redress to any complaints procedure (personally I don’t think this is a big issue).
Also if you want to keep the car make sure you stress to the insurer and to the garage that your car is not to be taken away without your permission.
Remove any items from the car e.g. jump leads, medical kit, scrapers from the car before it goes in.

Its been deemed roadworthy and a repair quote has been given to me (to my surprise it is not a write off as the repair is %73 of the car value that my insurance also decided it was worth)

I was also told they can give me the repair cost in cash and i walk away


Thoughts on the next step?