Car Insurance Question!

[NickW]

I know this is the wrong forum , but one of you guys may know the answer to this...

I went into the back of someone last month, and I told the lady "I'll pay for any damages, dont bother going through the insurance". She agreed and we went our seperate ways.

The other day I got a message of my insurer stateing they needed information off me about the accident as the woman had filed a claim!!

I said to them "I would like to pay it off outside the insurance please, can you give me her contact details if possible" (as I cannot find them)

They then said:

To confirm to yourself that I have contacted the Third Party Insurer and they have advised that they do not wish to settle the matter privately and they wish to claim through the insurance company therefore we are legally obliged to act upon theses allegations. If you have the third party details yourself you are more than welcome to contact them directly however we cannot disclose any of the third party details to you.

I was always under the impression that as long as I paid for the damages - legally that's all I need to do. Can they really force me to go through the insurance company? I dont want to lose my 3 years no claims :evil:

ARRGHH!

 

[ni9e]

Sounds to me like there going to hit you with a whiplash claim or something similar did you give the woman any money for the damage?

You might not want them to claim from your insurance but can you afford 4 grand plus for a fake claim?

losing your no claims might be the cheaper of the two options.

 

[NickW]

Yes thats very true..

But I barely hit her hard, number plate was a bit dented. Probably hit her at 5-10mph if that. She was fine when we got out the car, didnt seem to be complaining about her neck!!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmph :evil:

 

[BrewStew]

i had someone cut my ex partner up on a button roundabout... turned infront of us right at the last second, no indication, no warning, my partner at the time didn't even have time to hit the brakes.... and smack, we clipped the rear quarter of her car.

she said she was sorry, admitted liability and we got our car fixed on her insurance, no excess payments or whatever...then i got a letter a week later saying my insurers had reviewed the case and declared it was 50/50 fault... my partner at the time was the second driver (and driving at the time) on my insurance... i lost 3 years no claims 2 months before my renewal when i could've got no claims protection... imagine my anger for losing my no claims, weren't me driving, nor my parter's fault.

if i lose my no claims again (i'm now back up to three years) i'm considering buying a banger and not bothering with insurance... the fine for doing it is less than the premium when you've got no no claims and the fecking uk insurers are wankers... all three accidents on my insurance were non fault... all 3 went each way and i lost my no claims...

feckin bastards. :twisted:

rant over :lol:

 

[percival]

sorry to hear about your insurance company woes folks. in my experience they'll do it their way and there's probably nothing you can do about it. they'll decide the outcome and there's probably nothing you can do about that either. They have all sorts of small print to fall back on. Sometimes saying stuff like never admit liability. You could try contacting something like citizens advice folks, but in my experience they are understaffed and often can't deliver what you want. If you did try to take it out of the insurance company's hands and then get stung for a big claim (like the suggestion of whiplash) then the insurance company may refuse to pay up then cos you cut them out of the claim.

it may be that the other car was a fleet car or hired, in which case the struggle is likely to be with the standard procedures of corporate machinations and all the bureaucracy associated with that.

turn your pockets out and ransack your car mate, those details have got to be somewhere and if you find them you can then find out if the claim is small fry or something else.

 

[Vossy1]

Protecting your NCB counts for nothing these days. Even if it's protected, if you have an accident, fault or non fault, it WILL affect your premium price the following year.
I found this out the hard way and ever since I've not protected my bonus...robbing gets :evil:

And why is it you can only have 5 years max NCB, even when you've driven claim free for 17 years :evil:

 

[MartialAnt]

The law states that any crash big or small you have to tell your insurance company. Even if there is no damage & no party makes a claim. I got **** ended by a drink driver last March at 8 in the morning. No damage at all but you could see the shape of her bumper in the dirt on my bumper. I informed my insurer as Mr piggy told me to & when i came to renew put it up from £210ish to £595ish. Not my fault but i got blamed for it. My solicitor dealing with my whiplash claim did get it sorted for me in the end. Renewal was still higher than last year.
It sounds like the woman has jumped on the band wagon for the whiplash claim. In a way you cant blame her but what a ******* bitch.

I must state that i didnt jump on the band wagon. I was actually injured & took 6 months of physio & acupuncture to right my injury.

The woman that **** ended me blew 45mg on the police breathalyzer & was immediately arrested.
My claim is still ongoing.

 

[NickW]

Just done quick check on comparison websites without my acrued 3 years no claims discount , and its looking like its going to be at leasy £600 more than last year. F*%%*%*CK

What do you reckon the odds are that I'll get a positive response if I phone the woman I went into the back of and ask to settle outside of insurance? (ive found her phone number).

Its annoying, because it will be less hassle for both of us if we settle it outside of insurers. It will be done a lot quicker too. Even an accident on her record will bump her insurance up even if she wasnt at fault.

Meh

 

[MartialAnt]

Be careful as she might class it as harassment & phone the police.
If you have an address you could make life **** for her though.

 

[percival]

i cant see what harm it would do to give her a call and ask what she is claiming for. if she doesn't want to tell you, or talk at all, then don't pursue it as she may feel harrassed. if you explain why you want to leave insurance companies out of it all then you'll either have her sympathy or you won't. probably nothing you can do to change her mind at that point. if she is a scammer she may still put in a claim afterwards anyway. shitty situation crE, i hope you get it sorted.

 

[damfoose]

Driving a vehicle these days is not a right or a privalage..... Its the government letting us drive while they keep it just cheep enough so we can afford to. Between road tax that does not get used for the road, Fuel prices (tax) that goes to the coffers for other stuff, and insurance so some thieving bugger can stiff you for whiplash or dent and drive off usually at Toscos-sainsbugs-chavsda-moronsons were well shafted. At the moment im getting through £120 a week just in fuel for work.

Insurance ripoff buggers if you sneez in your motor the insurance will go up. Insure your noclames itl only be £30 for the year oh yeh ontop of the eleventy thousand pounds your already paying then even though you managed to get through the year accident free it still goes up because of the amount of other people who have had accidents the insurance company is loosing cash so they put all renewals up..... In general were shafted good and proper...

 

[NickW]

meh, i know what you mean guys.

she didnt seem like the scammer type when i met her (albiet after smashing into the back of her car).

But do I LEGALLY have to go through the insurance company with this? .. what is my legal right? - surely I just have to pay the damages? even if I do it ouside the insurers?

oh, and damfoose... i wholeheartedly agree!!! - what happened to the times when:

"oh sorry sir, i dented the back of your car good sir, please take these shillings for the repair"

"oh thank you sir, that is very kind of you, i will go and get it sorted straight away thanks for your generosity and apologies!"

AGH!

 

[BrewStew]

BrewStew realises he should add this to his list for reasons to leave the country

 

[EskiBrew]

Be a bit wary in case she agrees verbally to settle with you, you send her some money and then later find that the claim is still going through - what proof would you have that she settled for cash?

 

[MEB]

Mrs MEB was an independant insurance broker for 22 years, i'll ask her about it mate.

Will reply in a bit :thumb:

 

[MEB]

Mrs MEB was an independant insurance broker for 22 years, i'll ask her about it mate.

Will reply in a bit :thumb:

A bit later
Mrs MEB says "It is a legal requirement to exchange insurance details at the scene of an accident because it is a legal requirement to have insurance for third party injury or property damage. It will be a condition of the insurance policy that all incidents are reported whether claimed for or not.



My advice would be to let the insurance company deal with this in case it turns out to be a lot more than they expected. If he goes back to them at that stage not having reported it, they could refuse to deal with it. Ask the insurance company if they will agree to him reimbursing them to retain his NCD if the claim is not too large. Most reasonable insurance companies will agree to this



Hope this helps :thumb:

 

[NickW]

Thanks MEB that was some fantastic advice!

I will try that :)

 

[NickW]

MEB, spoke to swift cover and they will keep my no claims discount if I cover the damages :), fantastic news.

Thanks!

 

[BrewStew]

that's great news!!! i'll remember that

my latest claim was when i hit a parked car, admitted liability the other bloke declined to claim (that was nice of him :thumb: ) and i had £400 of car repairs with a £200 excess payment... if only i'd known that i could've paid the extra £200 and would have 6 years NCB right now

still... great advice for if/when it happens again

 

[MEB]

MEB, spoke to swift cover and they will keep my no claims discount if I cover the damages :), fantastic news.

Thanks!

Glad it worked out for you :thumb:
Mrs MEB may not be pretty but she is clever