Car damaged and no note left - MIB?

GT1983

Need a spot of guidance. About 6 months ago someone left a fairly large dent in my wife's car and didn't leave a note. We got some quotes for repairs but they were unaffordable to us (about the £450 mark). We considered going through insurance but the excess is £350 so, again, couldn't really afford at the time. In the interim I have had my car hit by an uninsured driver and as a result found out about the motor insurer's bureau. I have legal cover on my policy so someone else is dealing with all this for me. 

So my series of questions is... can we go directly to the MIB and they pay for the repair to her car? Or do we repair it on a credit card and then go through the MIB to reclaim that cost? Or do we just go through our insurer (again, paying excess on a credit card. We have no legal cover on that policy so presumably can't claim it back any way)? Or is there another option?

maisie_cat

I think you need to be able to identify the driver, or at least the uninsured car to prove that it is in fact uninsured.

GT1983

maisie_cat said:

I think you need to be able to identify the driver, or at least the uninsured car to prove that it is in fact uninsured.

Sorry - I think my explanation wasn't clear enough. My wife's car was hit by an unknown driver. I don't know if they are uninsured or not but what I discovered is that the MIB can be used to claim for untraced drivers. Which is the case for my wife's car. 

Lomast

Do you have fully comp insurance  or tpft,  mib will not cover it if your own insurer would ie comprehensive cover

GT1983

Lomast said:

Do you have fully comp insurance  or tpft,  mib will not cover it if your own insurer would ie comprehensive cover

It is fully comprehensive. So that answers my question then....I should go via my insurer. 

Lomast

up to you but after all this time I would just pay it myself its only £100 difference and if you are on each others insurance then you would both have 2 claims to declare

DoaM

Lomast said:

up to you but after all this time I would just pay it myself its only £100 difference and if you are on each others insurance then you would both have 2 claims to declare

Really? A named driver on a policy also takes the hit for any claim on any car on which they're named, even if they're not the main insured party?

Lomast

I badly worded that I meant there would be 2 claims to declare if both were  named on each others insurance

sweetsand

Sorry OP, but you state you cant really afford the repair or the excess - what happens when you crash into someone esle, write of your and their car, what would you do re excess then? MIB won't cover it but having stated that, give them a go, ask them and update please

ATB

GT1983

sweetsand said:

Sorry OP, but you state you cant really afford the repair or the excess - what happens when you crash into someone esle, write of your and their car, what would you do re excess then? MIB won't cover it but having stated that, give them a go, ask them and update please

ATB

I have an account with enough to cover the excess but it also gets used for tyres, MOTs etc so usually dips too low so I would have to use credit card. 

Aretnap

The MIB will not cover damage to property unless either you can identify the car (not necessarily the driver) involved, or the accident also resulted in serious injury (defined IIRC as a hospital stay of at least 4 days).

It also won't pay for anything that you could claim for from an insurance policy if your own. Basically it's an insurer of last resort. It's there to ensure that people who are seriously injured by uninsured/untraced drivers are not left destitute if they are unable to work - not to ensure that they keep their no claims bonuses. 

So I'm afraid your options are to claim from your own insurer, or to get it fixed yourself.