Out of pocket insurance claim

colclarke2003

Hi 

My daughters car was recently damaged whilst being parked at work she contacted the other parties insurance and her own to notify about the accident, My daughters insurance Esure have sent her an email after receiving her notification saying her car is being written off and a collection is being arranged to collect the car and she has to sort out how to pay excess when car is collected. Am i just being thick but the point of paying insurance was they would then contact the other parties insurance and between them sort the repair courtesy car etc and surely she should not have to pay any excess as she was not at fault, her car approx value 09 plate Fiat 500 cabriolet insured £2500 and for her to get another car with full service history low mileage will cost in excess of £4500 far more than she is expecting to receive from her insurance" market value" why should she be out of pocket because another driver lost control of their car and damaged my daughters cars, So any advice would be gratefully received Thank you in advance

Nobbie1967

Sounds like there’s no dispute about liability, so your insurer will probably waive the excess. Even if they don’t you can claim off the other cars insurance. What’s the damage like? Any chance it could be repaired with a secondhand door or bumper and a bit of paint? You have the option of not going through your own insurer and instead claiming direct from the other drivers insurance. You can then get a cash settlement to get the car repaired yourself if you wish.

Bigphil1474

OP, if the car is still roadworthy and driveable, I'd keep hold of it if I were you, especially if you think the car is fairly easily repaired. As above you can usually buy back the car so they give you a settlement minus the scrap value. It can be from your insurer or theirs. Obviously, the car would be recorded as a write off (not sure which category), but with the money from your insurer and the remaining value of the car, you shouldn't be worse off - other than your car will be a write off. 

In terms of their valuation of the car, you need to argue that with them. Remember that similar cars for sale at a higher price aren't necessarily sold for that price, but they do give an indication of the current market. Look at some specialist sites for actual second hand values (retail price not trade in price), and also try We buy any car, Cazoo etc. The latter may offer a lower price but if it's more than your insurers are offering, you've already got a good starting point.

sheramber

As she contacted the other party's insurance what have they said to her?

colclarke2003

Nobbie1967 said:

Sounds like there’s no dispute about liability, so your insurer will probably waive the excess. Even if they don’t you can claim off the other cars insurance. What’s the damage like? Any chance it could be repaired with a secondhand door or bumper and a bit of paint? You have the option of not going through your own insurer and instead claiming direct from the other drivers insurance. You can then get a cash settlement to get the car repaired yourself if you wish.

Tried that and they just said to go through her own insurance they didn't want to know

colclarke2003

They didn't seem interest

Nobbie1967

colclarke2003 said:

They didn't seem interest

That’s strange, they are usually all over you to avoid the costs of a 3rd party accident management company. Someone dinked my car last week and I’ve had numerous texts and calls to contact them to get it sorted. Is there any dispute over liability?

Flight3287462

What is the damage OP?   Being parked sounds like low impact so car should probably be repairable.  Whatever you do don't let them collect until everything is agreed.

Also start gathering evidence to support your claim of value of the car and be ready to ask how much to buy the car back.

Get quotes from local bodyshops and start pricing up any bits that need replaced.

Ectophile

colclarke2003 said:

Nobbie1967 said:

Sounds like there’s no dispute about liability, so your insurer will probably waive the excess. Even if they don’t you can claim off the other cars insurance. What’s the damage like? Any chance it could be repaired with a secondhand door or bumper and a bit of paint? You have the option of not going through your own insurer and instead claiming direct from the other drivers insurance. You can then get a cash settlement to get the car repaired yourself if you wish.

Tried that and they just said to go through her own insurance they didn't want to know

Lets be honest.  If the other insurance company thinks they can get away without paying, then they will.

On the valuation of the car, your daughter can reject the offer from her insurance company if she thinks it's too low.  Ask them to reconsider, and threaten to go to the financial ombudsman if they don't come up with a sensible offer.

On the excess, if she's claiming off her policy, then her insurers won't pay the excess.  She can claim it off the other driver's insurance.  If she took out legal protection as part of the policy, she can call them, and set the lawyers on the other insurers.  Otherwise, she has to write a "letter before action" to the other driver (not their insurer) demanding payment of the excess that she hasn't got from her insurers.  If the other driver has any sense, they will pass the letter straight on to their insurers.  Then if she doesn't hear anything, it's small claims procedure at the courts.

DullGreyGuy

colclarke2003 said:

My daughters car was recently damaged whilst being parked at work she contacted the other parties insurance and her own to notify about the accident, My daughters insurance Esure have sent her an email after receiving her notification saying her car is being written off and a collection is being arranged to collect the car and she has to sort out how to pay excess when car is collected. Am i just being thick but the point of paying insurance was they would then contact the other parties insurance and between them sort the repair courtesy car etc and surely she should not have to pay any excess as she was not at fault, her car approx value 09 plate Fiat 500 cabriolet insured £2500 and for her to get another car with full service history low mileage will cost in excess of £4500 far more than she is expecting to receive from her insurance" market value" why should she be out of pocket because another driver lost control of their car and damaged my daughters cars, So any advice would be gratefully received Thank you in advance

You are mistaken on how insurance claims work.

If you have comprehensive insurance you have a choice of ignoring that cover and trying to claim directly from the third party insurers (either on your own or with the assistance of an accident management company). Alternatively you can claim off of the own damage section of your comprehensive policy. By the terms of the policy there is no difference if you were at fault or not at fault, your insured losses are the same which are capped at the market value of your vehicle less the excess.

Once your claim against your insurance is concluded your insurers will then counterclaim off of the third party's insurance company (or the person themselves if they were uninsured) to recover their outlay. If you have uninsured losses, eg your excess or an injury or loss of earnings, then these are claimed from the third party insurers, if you have Legal Expenses cover then your insurers will appoint someone to assist in the recovery of these. 

In some cases an insurer may choose to waive the excess as a guesture of goodwill but they are under no obligation to do so and many times I've known it to be waived and the case then not go the policyholders way so the insurer is more out of pocket than it should have been.

Some insurers look to make some additional revenue and so may sell refer you to an accident management/credit hire company to deal with all your claim or just providing a better "courtesy car" whilst yours is repaired/written off.

Market value, by definition, should be the average sale price for a like for like vehicle and is provided by the motor industry giants like Glasses