Hit by a other car not my fault whose insurance should I claim on?

purplelil

Hello
My car was hit and badly damaged by another car who has admitted they are at fault. My insurers say it is a write off although they have no seen it in person. I have the other parties details and wondering do I try to claim via their insurance to see if there is a different outcome or just accept the write off? I obviously don't want to get a new car and am worried they won't pay me enough as this seem to be common. Really unsure what to do (appears to be no guidebook for this) thanks 

Nasqueron

You can claim off your insurance and pursue the other person for your excess - that gives you ombudsman protection but relies on your insurer reclaiming the costs from them.

Or you claim from them so you don't pay anything but you can't refer a complaint to the ombudsman

Both insurers are likely to agree on it being a write-off if it's an old car and significant damage particularly to the car structure

You could start by looking at autotrader, ebay etc for SOLD (not listed price) cars that were the same make/age/mileage as yours to argue the value

If you think it can be repaired, you could also negotiate to buy it for the scrap cost and get it repaired from the payout and keep any excess / fund any extra

If you have a 15 year old car with 3 year old wheels that only scraped through the MOT, I'd scrap it, if it was quite new, low mileage, new tyres etc then I'd be inclined to get it back as scrap and get it repaired so it's road legal, even if not as nice looking

ch3shirecat4

Hey, sorry to hear you've had your car hit by someone else, there is nothing more annoying. I've realised that from speaking to other people that cars seem to written off even with such minor injuries that you wouldn't personally clase as one. I feel like surely there isnt any harm with getting in touch with their insurer? what have you got to loose.

DullGreyGuy

ch3shirecat4 said:

I've realised that from speaking to other people that cars seem to written off even with such minor injuries that you wouldn't personally clase as one.

Hu?

purplelil said:

My car was hit and badly damaged by another car 

ch3shirecat4 said:
I feel like surely there isnt any harm with getting in touch with their insurer? what have you got to loose.

Your no claims discount for one. 

Having started the claim with your own insurers you are probably better off continuing it with them, the advantage of claiming off your own insurance is if you are unhappy with the service/valuation you have the right to complain and can escalate to the Ombudsman. If you deal with the third party insurer your only route for complaint is the courts and for that you'll need to have appropriate evidence to support your case. 

You're free to speak to the third party insurer however you need to be aware of the consequences... if there is some "confusion" and both insurers think they are dealign with you then both could incur costs. Normally your insurers would recover those costs from the TP Ins however if they've incurred the same costs they'll refuse to reimburse your insurers and so it ends up being a fault claim on your insurance. 

The TPI may well talk to you about them providing hire, your own insurers may refer you to credit hire. You must be 100% clear on the order of the conversations as if the TPI talk to you before the credit hire company they'll refuse to pay the credit hire rates and the hire car company may come after you for the delta because you failed to inform them that you had a offer of hire already.

purplelil said:
I obviously don't want to get a new car

Whoever you end up claiming from you can ask to retain the salvage, your settlement will be reduced by what their salvage agent would have paid for the scrap but you get to retain your vehicle