Insurance claim

[stuart1948]

Hi Folks.

Got side swiped by Polish registered, left hand drive 8 wheeler yesterday. (more like a house on wheels)

Not much damage, more of a nuisance than anything. Surface scracthes to the door that will polish out. Over the rear near side wheel arch deeper scratches but nothing to the metal but dented, because its in the contours of the wheel arch not very noticable.

My concern is, I think that the car has had a respray at some point and If I have the wheel arch re sprayed. It might not color match and be more obviouse.

I have fully comprehensive insurance, but what happens if the Polish company ignore my insurance claim even though I have an independant witness.

Will I lose my no claims bonus? and what happens if the paint dosent match, will I be able to claim for a complete respray?

Any thoughts or suggestions much appreciated


Stuart

 

[SimonsMerc]

Go through your own insurance company, and get them to fight for you. Just because the other guy's insurance company is Polish, doesn't mean it can ignore insurance claims; indeed now that Poland is part of the EU, it's fairly easy for your insurance company to get his insurance company to pay out (especially considering that you have an independent witness).

Which company was he with? Warta? PZU SA? Hestia?

Since you have a no-fault claim, you should not lose your no claims bonus. No idea about the respray; I would argue that they should put it in with a proper colour match of your existing (re-sprayed) colour.

-simon

 

[219]

Since you have a no-fault claim, you should not lose your no claims bonus.

Sorry to differ , but the discount you get on renewal is a ' no CLAIMS discout ' and not a ' no BLAME discount '

It does not matter at all if you are completely blameless in an incident involving your vehicle . If your car is stolen or damaged by an uninsured driver or your insurer is unable to recover a loss from the third party for any other reason and they have to pay out themselves then I'm afraid they are perfectly entitled to reduce or remove your NCD (and most likely will unless you have paid extra to protect it).

 

[glojo]

I go along with Pontoneer, but if the other driver is at fault then contact the other drivers insurance company? There is a chance they will do all the necessary repairs without the need for you to loose out. This is a regular procedure with UK drivers but I have no knowledge on our EU partners.

Good luck,
John

 

[Dieselman]

Sorry to differ , but the discount you get on renewal is a ' no CLAIMS discout ' and not a ' no BLAME discount '

It does not matter at all if you are completely blameless in an incident involving your vehicle . If your car is stolen or damaged by an uninsured driver or your insurer is unable to recover a loss from the third party for any other reason and they have to pay out themselves then I'm afraid they are perfectly entitled to reduce or remove your NCD (and most likely will unless you have paid extra to protect it).

Er..wouldn't you have made a claim in this instance then?

Who has said the other party is uninsured?

I've personally never heard of insurance companies charging more because a driver has been involved in no fault, no claim accidents. They are only bothered about claims as that is when they pay out.

 

[SimonsMerc]

Sorry to differ

Never be sorry to differ!

the discount you get on renewal is a ' no CLAIMS discout ' and not a ' no BLAME discount '

It does not matter at all if you are completely blameless in an incident involving your vehicle . If your car is stolen or damaged by an uninsured driver or your insurer is unable to recover a loss from the third party for any other reason and they have to pay out themselves then I'm afraid they are perfectly entitled to reduce or remove your NCD (and most likely will unless you have paid extra to protect it).

If you go to your insurance and you have a no fault claim for which the other driver's insurance pays out then you should still maintain your discount, I believe. No?

-simon

 

[219]

Er..wouldn't you have made a claim in this instance then?

Exactly ! The suggestion above was that as long as you were blameless , you would not lose NCD - this is not the case .

As I said above , perhaps not clearly enough :

"if you are completely blameless in an incident involving your vehicle" -

FOR EXAMPLE

"if your vehicle is stolen"

OR

"is damaged by an uninsured driver"

OR

"your insurer is unable to recover a loss from the third party for any other reason and they have to pay out themselves

AND

they have to pay out themselves then I'm afraid they are perfectly entitled to reduce or remove your NCD (and most likely will unless you have paid extra to protect it)."

Who has said the other party is uninsured?

No one .

I was referring to the general principle that a blameless driver may suffer a loss of NCD as a result of having to claim against his own insurance because the loss cannot be recovered from the third party , and not making any suggestion that the third party in the particular case at the start of this thread may have been uninsured .

Sometimes there are other reasons why claims against third parties can fail or drag out indefinitely : examples being drivers who do not notify their insurers of an accident or who come up with a different version of what happened . Sometimes (not always) when dealing with foreign drivers and foreign insurance companies matters can also become difficult .

I thought what I was saying was quite straightforward ; it also looked like John understood what I meant .