Any Car Insurance Bods Offer Some Advice On Accident?

[Bobajob]

Mother had an accident yesterday where mother was doing 10mph along a street when a young lass pulled out of a parking space and into the side of mothers car (front wing). Lass got out and admitted it was her fault, which it completely was.



Mother later received a call from Admiral insurance saying their client (the lass) was admitting complete liability and they asked mother to take her car to Allied vehicles in Glasgow for repair and there was no need to contact her insurance company. She was given reference numbers etc over the phone.



Now the step father of the lass is a known heavyweight in the area and others who witnesses the incident told mother to tread carefully but all seems in check once we get Admiral / Allied to agree to a courtesy car.



Question - Am I not right in thinking that my mother is duty bound by the terms of her policy to inform her own insurers of this incident?



Bob

[dablik]

Im not an Insurance bod by any means bobajob but in the last 5 years have been involved in several 3rd party claims, (read SWMBO mostly ) and YES i believe your mother is duty bound to inform her insurancein fact it could very well be part of the T&C,, the accident will have to be declared at renewal time,, as a non fault which dont effect premiums,, i have informed my Insurance on each occasion,,, does your mum have legal cover with her insurance !!! if so this will help resolve any issues she may have re the accident,,, my advice is do it.



Edit,, also im sure if your mum informs her insurer she can use an approved garage recommended by them for repairs,,, and these will be warranted,, this is exactly what i have done on each occasion.



In cases where its simply a very minor accident,, ie broken mirror or minute bump a cash deal could be more preferable to both parties, but in this instance i strongly recommend contacting your mums insurance..

This post was last modified: 09-11-2012, 10:51 AM by dablik.

[Bobajob]

Cheers Dablik,



I thought so. Not sure about the legal cover but will ask.



Bob

[dapleb]

Lewis might also have some helpful advice on this since he works in the industry. Lewisssssssssssssssss.....

[agrantg]

Yes, she is bound by the terms of her insurance to notify her insurers of any accident. They will ensure that it is all above board and again, you do have to declare any accident (even no-fault) on renewal. Better to be safe than sorry.

Ali

[drumwrecker]

In my time as a home service agent I would mostly advise to claim from your own insurer and get your vehicle reapired at one of their recommended repairers, that is your car dealt with quicly. Things have a habit of taking a nasty turn when dealing on your with third parties and their insurers.

Then claim your uninsured losses from the third party, this would include your excess, any car hire and other expenses necessarily incurred as a result of the accident. It used to be if you received 83% or more of your uninsured losses from the thrd party this would be enough to retain you no claims discount. You can acertain this from your insurer.

[LewisBlackburn]

Nothing wrong with claiming from a Third party however, watch out for a couple of things.



Firstly them forcing you to one of there garages,

Secondly if there going to provide you with a hire car they will likely tell you too add it to your own insurance so its covered whilst your driving it.

This however is not necessary as the owner of the vehicles (usually a hire company) will have ample cover. mainly though, if there were to be another accident, in the hire vehicle, it wouldn't be coming off your insurance. Also there would

likely be a charge for it from your own insurers.



Your policy terms will state you have to inform your insurers of any damage to your vehicle or any accident your involved in. This is purely to load premiums. (however would you report a scratch to your car caused in a car park you knew nothing about for 2 weeks until you discovered it when washing your car? )

Don't presume that as it is a none fault incident your premium wont be affected, Yes the No Claims Discount will remain unaffected, however the premium is calculated from multiple different risks, One of these being previous accidents weather fault or none fault.



The majority of people claiming from a Third Party Insurer (TPI) do not report the incident to there own insurance company nowadays for this very reason. From a professional point of view and working in the industry however I would advised to do whatever your contract of insurance states. Which likely means reporting it.



if you don't report it and the TPI turn around and state they are not dealing with your claim any longer you will then have to report it to your insurance company to get your claim sorted.



Couple of last things : If admiral are struggling to decide weather or not to offer your a courtesy car, just state "we've been speaking with a gent on the phone who said he could get us a car through credit hire tomorrow" and watch how something turns up on your doorstep the same or next day.



If you have any problems with not getting what your entitled too during the claim, just threaten to cancel with them and take the claim through an accident management company, or your own insurance company. They will soon change there mind.



Anything else, feel free to drop me a PM



Lew <img src='http://www.carpe-tdm.net/ipb/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Bobajob]

Thanks all, especially you Lewis. I got mum to call her insurers as it states in the policy that she must. They were fine about it and said they would contact Admiral to keep everything shipshape.



The step father has calmed down and just wants this sorted. Turns out the girl had just passed her test recently and it's a shared policy, I'll bet he gets a shock at renewal time!



Bob

[LewisBlackburn]

No probs, Glad to be of service,



Anything elsem just lemme know.