Can Insurance company pay contractor directly?

chertsy13

Any advice would be gratefully received. A car crashed through my field wall, the driver left their insurance details, I was told by his insurance to forward 2 quotes for rebuilding the wall, I did and the insurance company agreed to cover all the rebuilding costs as per one of the quotations. Now my problem starts - I emailed the insurance company accepting the settlement offer and requested they pay the nominated contractor directly  - they refused and offered to send me a cheque in my name even though i advised them that i am shielding and would not be able to bank the cheque, they have now offered to do a bank transfer which is useless as i would still not be able to pay the contractor.
Can they refuse to pay the contractor directly even if I sign a letter of authority ?

williamgriffin

chertsy13 said:

Any advice would be gratefully received. A car crashed through my field wall, the driver left their insurance details, I was told by his insurance to forward 2 quotes for rebuilding the wall, I did and the insurance company agreed to cover all the rebuilding costs as per one of the quotations. Now my problem starts - I emailed the insurance company accepting the settlement offer and requested they pay the nominated contractor directly  - they refused and offered to send me a cheque in my name even though i advised them that i am shielding and would not be able to bank the cheque, they have now offered to do a bank transfer which is useless as i would still not be able to pay the contractor.
Can they refuse to pay the contractor directly even if I sign a letter of authority ?

Why can't you pay the contractor by bank transfer?

TELLIT01

I don't understand why you can't pay the contractor yourself.  Just do a bank transfer once the job is done.  No need to have any direct contact with the contractor.

Sandtree

Why not ask them to do a BACS transfer into your bank account if you dont want to go to pay in a cheque? Many banking apps allow you to deposit cheques by photo these days too.

An insurer wont want to pay your choice of contractor directly because they dont want any comeback should they do a poor quality job or you decide you want them to do extra work done at the same time etc.

chertsy13

Thanks for your replies, i didn't quite explain the situation in it's entirety.
I have a very small smallholding and rent out some land to a local farmer, the total turnover from the smallholding and land rent is close to the vat threshold therefore as i have no wish to register for vat i do not want this money ( it's a few thousand ) going through my account and possibly tipping me into vat registration.

  

Sandtree

Its not revenue and so wont be considered for VAT purposes

mattyprice4004

As above, a payout from an insurance claim is not income and thus isn't a consideration for VAT.