Car Insurer Admits Liability - Can I claim the cash instead of getting the car fixed?

Joey122

Hi All,

Simple question - I was hit by a car and they are prepared to fix my damage.

I have taken it in for a quote and we are seeing the cost of the repair to be about 600 pounds.

Can I ask for this to be paid to me instead of getting the car fixed?

Has anyone successfully done this?

raskazz

Claims isn't my specialty but I think you can ask for what is called 'cash in lieu of repair'. But IIRC then the amount payable will only be the cost of repair minus the VAT element.

[Deleted User]

You're probably better getting the car repaired as a guarantee of getting the total amount, unless you can reach agreement with the third party over cash in which case the choice is really yours but at least having had the car repaired you could use it again

MarkyMarkD

You can definitely ask for the cash. It makes no difference to a third party insurer if they repair it or pay you the cash.

And there's no good reason for them to knock off the VAT - they can't reclaim it anyway. But they may be able to negotiate a discount from the repairer, and hence pay you less on that basis.

ioscorpio

Depending on the insurance company, they will be glad to settle cash in lieu so that they can close their file. The only problem is that if when you get the vehicle repaired, if there is further damage than was on the estimate, you cannot go back to the third party insurer for more money to complete the repair. On the other hand, you can gain money by having the repair done at a small garage rather than the approved repairer. If you suffered an injury, do not settle cash in lieu for that, unless you don't want to go for a medical.

lisyloo

On the other hand, you can gain money by having the repair done at a small garage rather than the approved repairer.

Or if it's a something that's of a more cosmetic nature and you can live with it and don't plan to re-sell the car, then you could keep the money.
In this case you do need to consider issues like rust.
e.g. a light scratch might be ok, but one that has gone down to the metal will rust and that may be an issue long term.

geri1965_2

ioscorpio wrote: »

If you suffered an injury, do not settle cash in lieu for that, unless you don't want to go for a medical.

Eh? You always get cash for an injury, there's no other way to settle it.

raskazz

geri1965 wrote: »

Eh? You always get cash for an injury, there's no other way to settle it.

I know what you're getting at here (that the 'generals' element of an injury claim will be paid in cash)., and I'm probably being a bit pedantic, but there are many other ways of settling motor insurance injury claims apart from paying cash - for example arranging rehabilitation, physiotherapy, counselling, healthcare, prosthetic limbs etc in order to more actively 'manage' the claim rather than writing a cheque.

geri1965_2

raskazz wrote: »

I know what you're getting at here (that the 'generals' element of an injury claim will be paid in cash)., and I'm probably being a bit pedantic, but there are many other ways of settling motor insurance injury claims apart from paying cash - for example arranging rehabilitation, physiotherapy, counselling, healthcare, prosthetic limbs etc in order to more actively 'manage' the claim rather than writing a cheque.

But those things are usually paid in addition to general damages.

raskazz

geri1965 wrote: »

But those things are usually paid in addition to general damages.

Which is exactly the point! If the claimant accepts the insurer's intervention then these costs will not be settled by cash payment to the claimant but rather payment to the provider of the treatment. So the claim is not settled 'in cash' but is settled in cash plus services provided in rehabilitation.

geri1965_2

I don't want to get into an argument about this but that isn't what you said.