Repair via insurance or settle?

MyRealNameToo

daveyjp said:

If Enterprise agree it is their fault there is no need to pay excess.  If you want it sorted quickly you may need to pay the excess and argue blame afterwards.
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There is if you want your insurers to deal with it rather than using an accident management company or going it alone with Enterprise. 

Some insurers will waive the excess in certain circumstances but there is no obligation for them to do so. Your contract states you pay the excess in the event of a claim. If you have Legal Expenses cover they will appoint someone to assist you in its recovery. 

Lorian

Any witnesses or dasham pictures? Even if it just shows where you were when it happened.  They will help.

 It's a lot more than £900 as others have said, and if parts arent available easily and your insurance were to provide a hire car to you while it's being repaired they might even want to right it off as uneconomical to repair.

I know that seems extreme but it happens.

TELLIT01

Tell your insurer and let them handle it.  I hope you have the registration number of the vehicle as well as the driver details.

lon_85

Thank you everyone - yes I have reg and driver details 

ButterCheese

lon_85 said:

Thank you everyone - yes I have reg and driver details 

Just adding this from experience - if they do repair it, make sure you check it thoroughly before you sign off the repair.  Even drive it around a car park if they won't let you take it away.  Obviously you are looking to see if it drives and steers properly, but check everything electrical i.e. lights, reverse camera etc.  I had a side dent and scrape repaired, I looked at it briefly and it looked fine so I signed that I was happy with the repair.  Days later (when it had stopped raining and dried out) you can clearly see the spots where they'd welded rods to the body to pull out the dents.  It looked awful in the sunlight, but I had already signed to say I was happy.  I'm also cynical of body repair shops, as they told me the 5 month delay was due to no availability of parts, funnily enough there were no new parts fitted, just a crappy repair, so their story was rubbish.  Some of them have very little attention to detail.

dnpark38

ButterCheese 
The delay more likely they are very busy because the Insurance company sending them more work than they can cope with.

lon_85

Update: Thank you everyone for your advice. I’ve logged with my insurer , they accepted and they will also be seeking excess from the other party so hopefully I won’t have to pay anything. My ncb should not be affected according to them as it’s a non-fault but I still need to declare it. Just waiting for hire car to be provided now and for repair company to pick up the car.

QrizB

Thanks for the update, hope it all goes smoothly. Please let us know how it turns out!

lon_85

Hi everyone - update to the situation.

Enterprise have given me Mercedes A class which is not a like for like vehicle (but thats all they have due to it being holiday season etc) + as its not hybrid means I'm paying more for fuel and its much smaller and lower on the road so not same driving experience,storage or accessibility for my parents to get into and out of. 

I also paid £70 for excess damage waiver as I was not comfortable driving the car (no gear stick in the middle like other cars, its in the form of an indicator on the right of the steering wheel?)

I don't even feel confident driving anymore even though I've driven for 20 years without a single scratch or accident - Its affected my confidence :-( 

Can I claim any compensation?  If so how do I go about it? Can my insurance co. help with this or do I contact Enterprise directly (as they are the 3rd party) or get my own no win no fee lawyer? 

MyRealNameToo

lon_85 said:

Hi everyone - update to the situation.

Enterprise have given me Mercedes A class which is not a like for like vehicle (but thats all they have due to it being holiday season etc) + as its not hybrid means I'm paying more for fuel and its much smaller and lower on the road so not same driving experience,storage or accessibility for my parents to get into and out of. 

I also paid £70 for excess damage waiver as I was not comfortable driving the car (no gear stick in the middle like other cars, its in the form of an indicator on the right of the steering wheel?)

I don't even feel confident driving anymore even though I've driven for 20 years without a single scratch or accident - Its affected my confidence :-( 

Can I claim any compensation?  If so how do I go about it? Can my insurance co. help with this or do I contact Enterprise directly (as they are the 3rd party) or get my own no win no fee lawyer? 

So you've hired a car at over £125 per day rather than the circa £40 a day you could have hired it privately for and you think you can get more money on top? You either claim for a hire car or you claim for inconvenience of not having a car you can't claim for both. 

If enterprise didnt have a suitable car why not go to a different hire firm? All offer an accident management service because they can charge 3x the going rate for their vehicles. 

There is a chance a claim for more expensive fuel could be successful if it's modest but likely to be paid out of the go away pot than accepted as a genuine head of claim.