Car insurance refuses to recover excess

ArcaneWishes

My parked car was hit by an enterprise van which then drove off without giving details. I have a witness and a photo of the registration plate of the vehicle. When on the phone to my insurance they said i'd have to pay then recover my excess myself and go through their legal services (at an extra cost) to recover it. Since then i've had various people telling me that my insurance should be the ones recovering it and legal services are only if there's confusion in who was at fault for the damage or if there's any injuries involved. 

I've since rang my insurance who are adamant that i'll still have to go through their legal services (Or go through the 3rd parties insurance myself - there's apparently 2 third party companies involved so they don't know who I should contact yet) and they won't do a thing to recover my excess. I've filed a complaint. Was this the right thing to do? 

Edit: this is what it says for terms of recovery - they are stating that they'll only recover what they loose. Not my excess. 

Payments made under compulsory insurance regulations and right of recovery If we are required to pay a claim under Road Traffic Law or the law of any country in which this policy operates (including settling such a claim on a reasonable basis in anticipation of such a liability), which we would not otherwise be liable to pay had the law not existed, we shall be entitled to recover such payments (including legal costs of reasonably defending the claim) we make from you if you or any other insured person: 
-  caused the loss directly or indirectly 
- caused or permitted the vehicle to be driven by an uninsured driver 
- through act or omission, caused this insurance to be invalid

Citizens advice says this:

When you pay the excess for a car accident which isn’t your fault, you may need to claim this back from the insurance company of the driver who caused the accident once the claim is settled, if you don’t have legal expenses cover to pay this for you. If you have trouble getting your money back, you can take the insurance company or driver to court.

If your insurance company have dealt with the claim, they should claim the excess back for you. If you have a no fault accident, a credit hire company can also make a claim on your behalf.

(I don't have legal expenses cover - but the 2nd paragraph makes me think they should be claiming it back for me even without the cover) 

DCFC79

I'm under the impression that's what you pay the insurer to do.

rs65

ArcaneWishes said:

Since then i've had various people telling me that my insurance should be the ones recovering it 

Its quite normal for you to have to recover the excess your self or use your legal expenses insurance to do so.  Your insurers may assist but they don't have to. 

eddddy

FWIW, when another driver is at fault, I have always contacted their insurers first (or they've contacted me) to see if they want to settle direct. It generally saves them money, so they are keen to agree.

So I've never had to pay an excess, I've always chosen a main dealer (or equivalent) for my repairs, and they've always arranged a good quality loan car for me.

It might be a bit more complicated if it's a hire van - it may be Enterprise's Insurer, or Enterprise might be self-insuring, or it might be the hirer's own insurer - but it might still be worth contacting Enterprise.

(And also mentioning that the driver didn't stop or report the accident - which is probably an offence.)
 

Marvel1

Happened to me:
- Third party hit my car while it was parked outside my house, driver identified at scene, name/address taken.
- Phone my insurer, claim made on my policy (now know shouldn't have).
- Car written off, cheque received minus excess 
- Insurer had their money from third party insurer
- I took out legal cover when I took out the insurance, so I started the process
- Filled in some documents from whoever the legal cover company was
- Weeks later, cheque for excess received