Do I need to complete an insurance claim form too?

Paff

Last week a driver reversed his car out of a parking space and he hit my car.  
He accepted responsibility and said he wanted to cover the repair costs of my car without involving his insurance company.   

On the day of the incident I called my insurers and asked if I needed to notify them of what had happened .  They said no, not unless I wanted to start a claim.  

However, I have now got some repair cost estimates and these are greater than the driver  expected, so he has agreed that it will now need to be an insurance claim. 

This is where I need some procedural advice please about who actually makes the claim.

If the other driver does this with his insurer, tells them about the incident and how it has caused damage to my car, do I also need to directly involve my insurers?   

My assumption is that I don't i.e. his insurers should contact me to agree the repair etc. and they pay the costs.  I can't see why my insurers would need to be involved with the claim, although I do appreciate that my future premiums are likely to be affected even though it was no fault of mine!

Any help before I call my insurer would be very much appreciated. 

UPDATE
Thanks everyone who has answered me, I am clear now what I need to do.   Your help is very much appreciated. 

XRS200

You don't need to directly involve your insurers if you want to claim off his policy.

Some insurers will proactively contact you.  Best to get his insurance details and contact them.

McKneff

You do, however, have to contact your insurance company of the incident and what is happening, 
This is in you contract. Breaching it would cause a lot more trouble further down the line like denying a clain in the future floor non disclosure

Paff

McKneff said:

You do, however, have to contact your insurance company of the incident and what is happening, 
This is in you contract. Breaching it would cause a lot more trouble further down the line like denying a clain in the future floor non disclosure

I called my insurer to do this and was told that if I wasn't making a claim then it wasn't necessary to tell them.   They said they could take the details and it would be recorded as a 'notification' - but in the future, if changing insurers, I would need to get a letter from them to confirm that is wasn't a claim.  There didn't seem to be a proper or visible procedure for making such a disclosure.

PS  It is my understanding though that the insurers have access to the database of all reported incidents and whether it was your fault or not and whether it resulted in a claim or not, they take it into account when working out your premiums.  Cant win! 

chrisw

You might as well just tell your insurers and let them deal with it. That's what you pay them for. There is no real benefit going through the third party insurers other than you might not have to pay out your excess in advance.

Paff

chrisw said:

You might as well just tell your insurers and let them deal with it. That's what you pay them for. There is no real benefit going through the third party insurers other than you might not have to pay out your excess in advance.

Thanks but for me, the simplest thing is for his insurer to sort it directly with me.  It’s a simple repair job.   I can’t see how I will have any excess to pay? 

EssexExile

chrisw said:

You might as well just tell your insurers and let them deal with it. That's what you pay them for. There is no real benefit going through the third party insurers other than you might not have to pay out your excess in advance.

This, although I never had any mention of paying any excess.

Bigphil1474

AIUI, if you claim through their insurer, they should pay for everything and nothing for you to pay. If everything goes smoothly, no problem. However, you essentially don't have any rights with their insurer if you aren't happy. If you go through your own insurer, you do have more rights, but may have to pay the excess and try and claim it back. If the other driver has accepted responsibility and his insurers agree, i would go through them. If there's gonna be any arguing, I'd go through my own insurer. Swings and roundabouts.

Paff

Bigphil1474 said:

AIUI, if you claim through their insurer, they should pay for everything and nothing for you to pay. If everything goes smoothly, no problem. However, you essentially don't have any rights with their insurer if you aren't happy. If you go through your own insurer, you do have more rights, but may have to pay the excess and try and claim it back. If the other driver has accepted responsibility and his insurers agree, i would go through them. If there's gonna be any arguing, I'd go through my own insurer. Swings and roundabouts.

That’s good to know, thank you for your help.  I’ve found it hard to find any guidance that explains these options, even from my own insurers.  

DullGreyGuy

Paff said:

McKneff said:

You do, however, have to contact your insurance company of the incident and what is happening, 
This is in you contract. Breaching it would cause a lot more trouble further down the line like denying a clain in the future floor non disclosure

I called my insurer to do this and was told that if I wasn't making a claim then it wasn't necessary to tell them.   They said they could take the details and it would be recorded as a 'notification' - but in the future, if changing insurers, I would need to get a letter from them to confirm that is wasn't a claim.  There didn't seem to be a proper or visible procedure for making such a disclosure.

PS  It is my understanding though that the insurers have access to the database of all reported incidents and whether it was your fault or not and whether it resulted in a claim or not, they take it into account when working out your premiums.  Cant win! 

Sounds like you are either talking to a broker or you called one of the many companies that advertise on insurer's claims departments to try and capture non-fault claimants into credit hire/accident management. Your insurers will want to have a record of the incident as it has to be declared for your renewal. 

CUE, the database you mention, is typically used post purchase to validate you have been honest. You seem to be defining "winning" as successfully committing fraud?

Paff said:

chrisw said:

You might as well just tell your insurers and let them deal with it. That's what you pay them for. There is no real benefit going through the third party insurers other than you might not have to pay out your excess in advance.

Thanks but for me, the simplest thing is for his insurer to sort it directly with me.  It’s a simple repair job.   I can’t see how I will have any excess to pay? 

Because when you bought your policy you agreed to pay an excess. Some insurers will waive it in some circumstances but in principle it's payable in any claim for own damages. 



Claiming from the TPI will mean no excess is payable and some even give you a financial incentive to claim from them however note that the main disadvantage is that if something goes wrong with the claim you dont have the right to complain to the Ombudsman as you are not their customer. Claiming from your insurance will often mean the excess is payable and then recoverable from the TPI but you do have access to the ombudsman. Some people will mix and match so may claim their damages from their insurance but as they need something more than a Corsa as a courtesy car they get the TPI to provide hire.

Paff

DullGreyGuy said:

 Paff said:

McKneff said:

You do, however, have to contact your insurance company of the incident and what is happening, 
This is in you contract. Breaching it would cause a lot more trouble further down the line like denying a clain in the future floor non disclosure

I called my insurer to do this and was told that if I wasn't making a claim then it wasn't necessary to tell them.   They said they could take the details and it would be recorded as a 'notification' - but in the future, if changing insurers, I would need to get a letter from them to confirm that is wasn't a claim.  There didn't seem to be a proper or visible procedure for making such a disclosure.

PS  It is my understanding though that the insurers have access to the database of all reported incidents and whether it was your fault or not and whether it resulted in a claim or not, they take it into account when working out your premiums.  Cant win! 

Sounds like you are either talking to a broker or you called one of the many companies that advertise on insurer's claims departments to try and capture non-fault claimants into credit hire/accident management. Your insurers will want to have a record of the incident as it has to be declared for your renewal. 

CUE, the database you mention, is typically used post purchase to validate you have been honest. You seem to be defining "winning" as successfully committing fraud?

Paff said:

chrisw said:

You might as well just tell your insurers and let them deal with it. That's what you pay them for. There is no real benefit going through the third party insurers other than you might not have to pay out your excess in advance.

Thanks but for me, the simplest thing is for his insurer to sort it directly with me.  It’s a simple repair job.   I can’t see how I will have any excess to pay? 

Because when you bought your policy you agreed to pay an excess. Some insurers will waive it in some circumstances but in principle it's payable in any claim for own damages. 



Claiming from the TPI will mean no excess is payable and some even give you a financial incentive to claim from them however note that the main disadvantage is that if something goes wrong with the claim you dont have the right to complain to the Ombudsman as you are not their customer. Claiming from your insurance will often mean the excess is payable and then recoverable from the TPI but you do have access to the ombudsman. Some people will mix and match so may claim their damages from their insurance but as they need something more than a Corsa as a courtesy car they get the TPI to provide hire.

Hi

I’ve no idea about brokers or TPI companies. 

I simply want to understand if procedurally the other driver can put their claim in for the damage they caused to my car and his insurer organise the repair of my car.  That’s why he has insurance? The previous person in this thread has given a helpful perspective on this. 

As I said in my question, I have already spoken to my insurer to tell them about the incident and they said I don’t need to notify them unless I want to start a claim.  

Just to add for clarification, my comment about ‘you can’t win’ was in relation to finding out that a policy holder’s premium will increase even when someone has been negligent and damaged their car!   No interest in fraud!