Claiming with third party insurer

tommyk61

I recently got rear-ended by another car when stationary. Thankfully no-one was injured in either car. It was reported to the police who helped us get the cars out of the road. My car only has cosmetic damage but the other car is probably a write-off.

After calling my insurers to start the claim process, the other driver's insurer (Aviva) called to offer to take over the claim. They'll pay for the repair costs, a hire car and will give me a £500 goodwill payment as they'll save costs in the process.

Are there any downsides to going down this route? My insurance has already said they'll cover the excess as the other driver was at fault and I have a protected no claims bonus.

35har1old

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656387/claiming-with-third-party-insurer

Hopefully the £500 will cover any possible rise in premiums

eschaton

I’ve had two non fault claims over the past 10 years, the last being in July.

Dealt with 3rd party both times and would do it again.

First time was Direct Line although I was also insured with them and last time was Saga.

luci

The OH had a non-fault accident many years ago around 4pm. I reported it with the hour, then the 3rd party's insurer called by 6pm and said they would take over the claim. From what I remember, we had no issues.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656387/claiming-with-third-party-insurer

Depends on who you ask :)

The one real downside is that you are not their customer so cannot escalate any complaint about them to the Ombudsman. Your escalation route would be court.

The rest depends on your background… to me there is little downside, as they say they want to keep you out of the hands of credit hire etc hence their proactivity. Some will claim they'll try and minimise your claim by giving you a tiny hire car, not tell you that you can claim X, Y or Z whereas Credit Hire would give you a like for like car without question.

Having done third party claims, I personally would say that yes, credit hire start at like for like whereas we would have a conversation of what your needs are. If you need like for like then well give that, if a more modest car is suitable for your needs we'd start there. I'd also say that accident management firms won't mention X, Y or Z either (if there are no injuries) because they dont get anything for attempting to recover uninsured losses. If you know to ask for yourself you're more likely to have a better experience with a direct claim on them.