si senor asked:
Hi, I was involved in a car accident that was entirely the fault of the other party; my car was hit from behind. When speaking to my insurance company (or rather the broker), they say I still have to pay the excess on my policy for repairs. As I didn’t take out legal cover with them, they won’t claim back the excess for me.
Hi, I was involved in a car accident that was entirely the fault of the other party; my car was hit from behind. When speaking to my insurance company (or rather the broker), they say I still have to pay the excess on my policy for repairs. As I didn’t take out legal cover with them, they won’t claim back the excess for me.
However, they will provide me legal cover for this incident for a cost of £75 to claim back my excess (which is over £300).
My question is, if the other insurance company accept liability, am I able to claim back the cost of the excess myself rather than spending £75 to get someone else to do it? I would have thought it would be pretty straight forward once they admit liability.
And would I be claiming against the third party insurance company or my own? I would guess my own insurance company would have claimed back the full cost of repairs already so I would be getting the excess from them?
If you have the full details of the other driver then yes, you can claim it back yourself. Write a letter to his/her insurance company stating the facts and stating that you hold their driver wholly liable for the accident. Then state that you expect payment within a specified time, usually 14 days. If you can, go to the Citizens Advice Bureau and they’ll help you to draft the letter.
Pretty rubbish insurance company if they will not claim this for you.
Yes you have to pay the excess initially but your insurance company should be claiming this back from the other parties insurance.
Simply, if the accident was the fault of the other party then they pay ALL costs incurred to repair your car.
Your excess is classed as part of the ‘uninsured loss’ and you have to pay it.
The total uninsured loss can also include expenses incurred by not having your car, and personal items that were in your car and were damaged as a result of the accident.
What you do next is: Send a letter to the other party claiming your total uninsured loss, he/she should then send the letter to his/her insurance company who should then pay you the amount claimed provided you are not obviously trying to claim more than you are due. (I don’t for one minute think that you would).
If the other party’s insurance refuse, which is unlikely if they have accepted liability for the accident, you will then have to sue the driver who caused the accident. If necessary taking the matter to the County Court (small claims court). Whilst this sounds like hard work, I can assure you it isn’t, having been in that position twice, however if it does go to court there is still no guarantee that you will get any money if he/she cannot pay.
HTH
The is no excess to pay on a third party claim. Either by you or the driver whose insurance is being claimed against. You make the claim against the other driver and their insurance company stumps up. Think your broker is pulling a fast one, there is no need for you to involve your insurance company at all unless the nature of the damage to your car is likely to change your future premiums – eg if it was a cat D or C write off.