No fault knock- who's insurance do you use??

[chriswt]

The missus was driving her step-dads car today and someone went into the back of her. Not much damage, just a couple of scratches and a small dent but coincidently on same bl**dy day as I knock my car!!!

She's not a named driver on her step dads car but is covered by her insurance on any other car.

Now if the women who went into the back of the missus wants to go through the insurance companies (shes foreign and doesn't understand that she'll be found at fault) then does the missus contact her insurance company and/or does her step dad contact his insurance?

Also her insurance policy document states that she is covered to drive any other car but does not state that its limited to 3rd party?

Any advice is warmly welcomed

Chris

 

[television]

When I was insured with the NU someone reversed into my V70R and it needed a new door, NU sorted it all out at no cost to me, including hire car and nothing affected my NCB that stayed intact.

Further more no record of it as nothing to do with me

 

[BTB 500]

Further more no record of it as nothing to do with me

It would be on file as a no fault claim with full recovery from the other party. And it should still be declared if asked "any accidents or claims in the last x years". Normally it wouldn't affect your premium, but it's an unfortunate fact of life that if you have a "history" of no fault claims that can still indicate that you are a higher than normal risk. Because next time it happens that other party may put up a fight, be uninsured, etc., and your insurers may take some or all of the loss.

But in answer to the original question, provided you've got fully comp. cover your own insurers should handle everything. However I would be very surprised indeed if she does have fully comp. cover in any other car - normally it's 3rd party only. So you need to find this out ASAP.

 

[crockers]

You MUST report all accident to YOUR insurer.

 

[chriswt]

- normally it's 3rd party only. So you need to find this out ASAP.

I always thought it was 3rd party on other cars so I'll assume it is.

Does she need to contact her insurance or let her step father do everything through his insurance?

 

[Flash]

Non fault claims/accidents still bump up your premium upon renewal with any insurer!

 

[crockers]

Non fault claims/accidents still bump up your premium upon renewal with any insurer!

Do they? Do you have evidence of this? I don't think they do.....

 

[Flash]

Do they? Do you have evidence of this? I don't think they do.....

Yep - on my fomer W126 S Class got a dent/ding in a car park and made a claim against the third party who admitted liability and their insurer paid out. Come renewal time I had to declare this and my premium was bumped up on the quote BUT when I asked them to quote me without the non fault claim it was then less by the three insurance companies I had asked to do this.

 

[Rory]

The missus was driving her step-dads car today and someone went into the back of her. Not much damage, just a couple of scratches and a small dent but coincidently on same bl**dy day as I knock my car!!!

She's not a named driver on her step dads car but is covered by her insurance on any other car.

Now if the women who went into the back of the missus wants to go through the insurance companies (shes foreign and doesn't understand that she'll be found at fault) then does the missus contact her insurance company and/or does her step dad contact his insurance?

Also her insurance policy document states that she is covered to drive any other car but does not state that its limited to 3rd party?

Any advice is warmly welcomed

Chris

I don't think either your wife's or her step Dad's insurance will have any interest in helping with this (as there's no valid claim against either ins co) *except* that they may refer you on to their nominated claims management company as they will get commission / referral fee for doing that (in which case they might appear to be very keen to help). Your wife is required to report it to her insurers (and to any other ins co which covers her, perhaps as a named driver).

Does this foreign woman have insurance with a UK company? If so, you may well find (I did when someone ran in to the back of my wife's car a few mths ago) that they will contact you and offer to sort it out - this is to stop you going to one of claims management companies yourself. Or you could contact her insurance company directly, but they can only proceed if she reports the accident to them.

Your other course of action is to approach a claims management company, such as HelpHire or Accident Exchange, directly. They love this sort of thing (as long as the 3rd parties insurance checks out) and will be keen to put her setp Dad in a flashy hire car, send your wife for medical checks and generally milk the claim for every available penny (and then some).

 

[crockers]

If she has a foreign insurer...which country is it? Who are the insurers? As said earlier if she doesnt report it - you have a poor chance of getting redress. Did she fill in an international accident incident form..? These are usually self carbon copied so you all have a copy of the incident.

 

[Dryce]

Non fault claims/accidents still bump up your premium upon renewal with any insurer!

Sometimes they do.

Sometimes they don't.

Insurance quotations involve a mysterious blend of mathematics and marketing that is known to only a select few business alchemists and nobody else.

 

[Dryce]

Also her insurance policy document states that she is covered to drive any other car but does not state that its limited to 3rd party?

It's normally restricted to TPO which excludes fire or theft while it's in her custody. Also restricted in that you must not own or have hired the vehicle.

 

[chriswt]

The foreign lady does have UK insurance as she appears to be a UK resident but she doesn't understand the way insurance works because she asked if she could have the detail of my partners insurance company so that she could make a claim against her for the damage to her car.

I'll get the missus to approach the womens insurance company first off.

 

[Rory]

The foreign lady does have UK insurance as she appears to be a UK resident but she doesn't understand the way insurance works because she asked if she could have the detail of my partners insurance company so that she could make a claim against her for the damage to her car.

It's quite proper to exchange insurance details and your wife ought to have given her own insurer (as she wasn't covered by her step Dad's policy).

The foreign lady may well perfectly understand how insurance works and the version of events she reports could be very different from your wife's! I certainly wouldn't assume anything until you establish that she really does have insurance and is properly covered.

I have to say that I think driving using DOC cover is a little iffy. Does your wife do that often? It gets widely misused (it was only ever meant for "emergency" use) and there was talk of it being done away with, although nothing seems to have come of that.

I'll get the missus to approach the womens insurance company first off.

That should be fine *if* the woman has reported the accident.

 

[BTB 500]

there was talk of it being done away with

I think several of the majors are doing this now i.e. fully comp policy does not cover you for any other car, even 3rd party only.

 

[chriswt]

I have to say that I think driving using DOC cover is a little iffy. Does your wife do that often? It gets widely misused (it was only ever meant for "emergency" use) and there was talk of it being done away with, although nothing seems to have come of that.

That should be fine *if* the woman has reported the accident.

The wife (to be) doesn't do it often but she had to take someone to hospital and the step fathers Mondeo was the only car that her passenger could get into.

I'm a little worried that the women may try to twist the events although I think she is a little green rather than devious (I'll await the witty jokes!).

I'm going to call her tonight and try to politely convince her to settle up without using the insurance as she stands to lose a lot in terms on no claims and higher future premiums not to mention that and her L reg Nissan isn't in need of much if any repair.

 

[anna]

I think several of the majors are doing this now i.e. fully comp policy does not cover you for any other car, even 3rd party only.

DirectLine covers me for driving any car limited to 3rd party only.
As far as I understand this, 3dr party does not cover me in case of a accident, only covers if there are claim from other drivers to me.

 

[BTB 500]

As far as I understand this, 3dr party does not cover me in case of a accident

That's correct - it doesn't cover any loss or damage at all to the car you're driving.

 

[stevesey]

Yep - on my fomer W126 S Class got a dent/ding in a car park and made a claim against the third party who admitted liability and their insurer paid out. Come renewal time I had to declare this and my premium was bumped up on the quote BUT when I asked them to quote me without the non fault claim it was then less by the three insurance companies I had asked to do this.

Was the claim fully closed at the time of renewal?

I had similar when my wife had a no fault on her car. The damage was minor and as we were 3rd party only, I made sure that I had it in writing that the other party admitted liability before taking the car in for repairs. The renewal came though a good 3 months after the repairs were done with a much hiked premium, queried this and was told that the money had not yet been received from the other parties insurers, so although they had admitted liability my insurance company still had this marked as a possible claim against us. I was promised a refund would be forthcoming when the claim was finally closed - although after a further couple of months I had to phone them to remind them of this and a refund was promptly despached.

 

[Rory]

Was the claim fully closed at the time of renewal?

Insurance premiums are calculated by complex algorithms and it's not completely unreasonable to increase the premium slightly in the event of a non-fault accident, as, arguably, almost every accident is avoidable by adopting a more defensive driving technique.

Being hit from behind is common, but there are ways you can minimise the chances of that happening. Even if a car hits yours while you're parked, then maybe that's because you parked in a less safe location.

(Pls don't come on with a list of "unavoidable" accidents, I know if you're driving along and someone simply drives into you, then there's not much you can do).