Whose Car Insurance Should I Claim Against?

muggin5 · 20 June 2018 at 1:31PM

Hi All,

On Saturday evening a car collided with my car parked on the side of the road, which pushed my car into my other car. The car that took the brunt of the collision is a little Smart Fortwo, which to me, looks like it will be written off as the rear wheel axle is badly twisted.

Out other car, our T5 Camper has body work damage but should be fixable.

The driver accepted liability, I know this doesn't mean her insurance will, but our cars were parked. When we came out of the house she was still sat in the car and we have pictures of her behind the steering wheel.

Now I need to get the ball rolling but unsure how to proceed. The camper can be repaired, fine. I could just go through her insurance. But, should the Smart be written off, who is likely to value my (15 month since I purchased it) car more accurately? I had virtually the same accident happen 2 years ago but the person had been drinking. On that occasion I rang my insurance and ended up going down the Accident Management Company route, which is still ongoing and it is currently looking like I'll be going to court over that one...

Any advice would be most welcome. Just feeling a bit confused by the best way to move forward.

Thanks

muggin5 · 20 June 2018 at 6:46PM

I might add that my Smart car insurance is with KGM, which others seem to suggest are not the best.

muggin5 · 21 June 2018 at 9:41AM

Through my own research, it seems as though the only difference in using my own insurance and theirs is that should I have trouble with a write off claim then I won't be able to escalate to the ombudsman through theirs. But I could still complain.

Any thoughts/advice would be most welcome.
Thanks again

AstroTurtle · 21 June 2018 at 9:48AM

If you claim off your own insurance it's two fault claims on your record + your ongoing claim so you'll struggle to even find insurance after that.

Claim via your insurers of the third parties insurance? They hit your parked unoccupied cars.

Quentin · 21 June 2018 at 9:57AM

AstroTurtle wrote: »

If you claim off your own insurance it's two fault claims on your record + your ongoing claim so you'll struggle to even find insurance after that.

Claim via your insurers of the third parties insurance? They hit your parked unoccupied cars.

Why will the OP have two fault claims on their record as a result of this?

There looks to be no dispute on liability???

Whoever the claim is made against makes no difference to the OP's claims history

AstroTurtle · 21 June 2018 at 10:06AM

Quentin wrote: »

Why will the OP have two fault claims on their record as a result of this?

There looks to be no dispute on liability???

Whoever the claim is made against makes no difference to the OP's claims history

OP Said in the #3 post benefits of using his insurer vs theirs?

If OP's insurer pays out for the loss and it isn't recovered that shows as a fault claim? Which is why I don't understand why they wouldn't want the TP insurance to pay.

EDIT: Re-Read it, I guess they mean liaising with the TP insurance themselves as opposed to getting their insurance to do the admin.

muggin5 · 21 June 2018 at 10:16AM

I was just more concerned that the TP insurance might undervalue a write off compared to my own, or are they likely to use the same process/rules?

Quentin · 21 June 2018 at 10:21AM

They aren't "bound" to offer you the same deal, but are highly likely to.

There will be no problem you keeping the car (to repair/sell yourself) as well as getting the write off settlement (though obviously there will be a deduction for the salvage value), whereas your own insurer may be more difficult about letting you keep it if you want to.

If you aren't happy with their offer then no reason why you cannot revert to making a claim against your own insurer

Whose Car Insurance Should I Claim Against?

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