car insurance claim

[sara3]

for those of you who haven't yet heard me whinging, my lovely car was bashed by a careless driver on Saturday. I've reported it to my insurers, who will be calling (hopefully today or tomorrow) to arrange for the car to be picked up and to drop a courtesy car. in my opinion, it's a borderline write-off.

I've just had a call from the other parties' insurer (Direct Line), who said "don't bother going through your own insurer. she's admitted full liability and we will take your car to be repaired, and arrange a hire car". I am surprised!

I assume my insurers are on my side, and would ensure I get the best result.. whereas the other side have targets and may not do the best thing for me.

are there pros and cons to this? I'm not sure what to do.. I'm at work now and will check back for any answers when I have time. thank you.

[redcrx]

Sara, when my car was hit (i wasnt in it so now blame could be on me) i used my policy's legal cover and did not include my insurer in the claim. All i had to do was notify them i was claiming direct and then this would not effect my NCB or any future policy figure.
I would call you insurer and sound them out. They wont mind at all if they dont need to be involved

[sara3]

hi red, and thanks.. I just don't want both insurance companies doing the lazy/cheapest options.

I have no claims protection and assume, as she's admitted full liability, that I'll recoup any losses and retain my NCB,

[redcrx]

yes, but if you go throught you own insurer, even a no fault claim, it can affect your premium.
Going directl;y through the other insurer all youll need to do is notify your insurers for their records. They then do nothing further and you get all sorted in one go by other insurers. It will also help in the fact that Direct line will pay for everything and you wont then need to claim things like car hire from them.
If you were near renewal date it would also be good as you wont have a claim outstanding. For instance, if your insurance was up for renewal this week you would have claim outstanding and your premium would increase until it was settled, regardless of whos fault it was.

[Red_John]

Never involve your own insurer unless you have to. If it's not your fault then the other party's insurer should handle the whole thing. Now that your insurer are aware they'll hike you premium for having an accident even though it wasn't your fault.

[redcrx]

they wont hike it if you tell them you are only notifying them and not claiming throuh them.

[Canary42]

Your assumption that your insurers are "on your side" is a bit naive - the only side they're on is THEIRS. Car insurance is compulsory, so it's a captive market for insurance companies who then screw the policy holders as much as they can - as you'll find out when they up your premium on renewal because of the accident even though they know you're not responsible.

Good luck.

[sara3]

thanks for all your answers and yes, naive.. that's me, lol!

[whiskeryron]

I'm a little bit worried here sara3, when you say you had a call from the other parties insurers do you mean they called you on the'phone ?
What bothers me is you probably have nothing that they said in writing, I would suggest therefore that you ring them back & ask for their offer in print.Ron.

[sara3]

hi Ron, and thanks. I've spoken with my own insurers and given them the info, so they will deal with Direct Line.. after all, that's what I'm paying them for.

I can't see how the other driver could do anything but take responsibility. she's right on the approach to a roundabout so she couldn't even say I was speeding.. and I would have to go and kill her if she tried denying it ;o)

[chas2008]

the 3rd party insurers are trying to take control to reduce there costs, RBS of which Direct LIne are part of have started doing this,also it is to prevent you going to an accident management/non fault company where the costs can rocket & they earn a profit from the claim.
Just one thought if you go through Direct Line,s repairers make sure they use genuine parts, again RBS have a policy whereby there repairers have to use non gen items(where possible)

[sara3]

chas, thank you.. that's kind of what I suspected. I just didn't expect them to call and make such an offer. I told my insurers (Axa), who didn't seem surprised so maybe it's becoming more commonplace.

I suspect it may be written off, and I know the other insurers would just go with the cheapest option for them.