can you buy and insure another car whilst waiting for a claim on an accident write off?

ALIBOBSY

Daughter involved in an accident last night, face on collision, air bag deployed, older vehicle and pretty sure it will be written off.

She was almost up to the end of her first year driving with one of the boxes in the car for which she had got the highest driver rating for not speeding etc. The police and fire service attended and the car was on fire at the front after she got out. Both drivers breath tested negative at the scene and the police took statements. No one badly hurt (thank god), but my daughter is now a bit stuck.

The car was recovered today and mu hubby went with the keys to meet them and watch it be taken away and the recovery driver seem to think like we do will defo be a write off-older car lot of front end damage.

Police said they are looking into the accident but obviously wouldn't commit to who was at fault at the side of the road last night (we dashed up in our car when she rang us after the crash). Daughter thinks it was the other drivers fault but I think it may well be knock for knock plus darkness and bad weather probably played a part.

Things are now with the insurers and the police and after waking up with a sore neck and shoulders I took her to a and e and we have confirmed just soft tissue damage so confirmed she is ok.

The issue we have is she has a job she loves as a teaching assistant in a school for children with special needs and those who need extra support and unfortunately we are located pretty rural 20 mins from one big town and the school is very rural 20 mins on the other side of this big town. So we are looking at 2 buses or a train and bus just to be within a point about 25 mins walk down country lanes from the school and looking at bus and train times there is no way for her to get to work on time.

Hubby and I both work full time and would struggle to get her to work and get back to our jobs in time although we are thinking we might be able to manage this short term. But we also have to juggle getting 2 younger siblings off to school each day as well.

So the big question is if we help her to buy another older vehicle will she be able to own and insure it whilst the first claim works it's way through the system?

Or could we insure her short term on one of our cars and let her use that again just for a few weeks, and would we need to make her the main driver for that period?

Does she need to use the same insurers-I assume she will need to declare the ongoing claim on any insurance application.

Will she now be un-insurable?  How much will her insurance go up twice three times as much?

Would appreciate anyone's experiences, not had to do any kind of insurance claim for years tbh.

TadleyBaggie

Of course she can. I once had a major accident in an April, the car wasn't written off until December. I bought another car with a few weeks of the accident. I used a different insurance company to insure.

Flight3287462

As above, but just pray the other driver is 100% at fault.

But the first thing she needs to do is clarify everything with her insurer.  Why would she change insurer mid policy, not recommended whilst the case is open.

jimjames

Do the insurance company provide a hire car while they are processing the claim or repair? Beware of companies that do that but with liability on you though.

ALIBOBSY

No unfortunately no courtesy car, and we are pretty certain it will be a write off so no repair. Obviously I don't know who will be deemed at fault, I wasn't there. I do know she is a good safe driver, but we all make errors especially in those early years. The police did say they weren't looking at any kind of dangerous driving charges against any parties and I asked what happens if she is found partly or totally at fault and the traffic officer said in his opinion it would likely be an offer of a driving awareness course. But obviously he couldn't confirm until the investigation was completed.

Can we add the car to the same insurance? The telematics box is undamaged and we have it as we recovered it from the vehicle, but it is one of those that worked with your phone on an app and constantly updates as you drive anyway. If she is at fault will the insurance company immediately cancel her insurance? or will the price just jump up?

She had a policy for new drivers with the box as I said so was already pretty high and we know if at fault it will likely jump up, she is just worried that she may not get insurance at all, which in effect would lose her job for her.

I know its all if and buts and we are waiting on the insurers its just difficult to know what to do for the best to help her, I haven't had an accident and hubbies last accident was 20 years ago when someone drove into the side of his car whilst stationary and we had 2 cars at the time so could juggle dropping each other off at work and waiting for the car to be fixed.

GrumpyDil

My son has friends who have written cars off and then immediately got insurance on a replacement car so I don't think your daughter will be unable to get insurance, merely that it might be more pricey.

Rather than worrying about it today can I suggest your daughter needs to speak to the insurance company directly to check what her options are? 

eamon

Ring the insurance company and ask them your questions. You will then have your answers straight from the horses mouth.

DullGreyGuy

If your vehicle is a total loss you are normally able to transfer the remainder of the policy onto a replacement vehicle... in the first instance speak to your insurers and if there is any option to transfer before the total loss is decided.

Nice to hear the police not commenting on liability... they have no training or role in it... it's the same as asking a random person down the pub but unfortunately that doesn't normally stop them. They can help determine what happened but the insurer/lawyers determine the liability after that. 

Grey_Critic

Have known a few people who have just gone out and bought a cheap car whilst thirs was in the garage for a few weeks so they were mobile. They then sold it when they got their car back, sometimes with a slight profit. If you do not have a courtesy car and don't want to pay for a hire then it makes sense.

Need to remember that not all fender benders are insuarance claims on others -

Petriix

It should be fairly obvious who is at fault in a head on collision. In any case it's incredibly inexpensive to fit a dash cam to record proof. If you have compelling evidence then the third party insurers would be providing the courtesy car. 

DullGreyGuy

Petriix said:

It should be fairly obvious who is at fault in a head on collision.

Depends on the extent of contact and speed of the vehicles (therefore how close to the point of impact the vehicles stop).

Most head on collisions are glancing OSF to OSF contact and often on narrow lanes and both parties state they stopped in time but the other car didnt.