So my car was hit at the supermarket .....

[LTD]

... tonight after work

Good news is that I have the details of the other driver, my car was parked and I wasn't in it and that it still drives fine. Details, registrations, photos etc. all obtained.

Now the $64k questions ..... do I

1. Lob the entire thing at my insurers (Admiral) and have a city box thing for the repair duration - paying the excess and having a hit on my NCB for the duration.
2. Use their 'Accident Management option' (Albany Assistance) to deal with it so I get a similar car and no excess payment due or NCB issues.
3. Contact the other parties insurers directly.

I have already spoken with Admiral to notify them of the incident but, as yet, agreed to nothing - mainly as I am not certain that the Albany repairer suggested are actually 'Mercedes Approved'

Opinions please on a wet Friday night that I am not finding a lot of fun .....

 

[Starky]

Is it mandatory to inform your insurer?

 

[Red C220]

If it's slam dunk and you know the other party is insured go with Option 1 and ask that the car is repaired Mercedes approved.

 

[Carrsey]

Option one, its what you pay them for..

If you are not happy with their approved repairer, you do not have to use them, it is your choice where the car goes.. But if you go to "your own" can slow claim down..

 

[nick mercedes]

2. Use their 'Accident Management option to deal with it so I get a similar car and no excess payment due or NCB issues, who string claim out for months and use the cheapest nastiest bodyshop on earth who do a botched repair that then gets redone at massive cost when the car goes back to the lease company

 

[HB]

Option 1 STEVE

Give it to Merc Edinburgh.

 

[geraldrobins]

If the other driver has admitted liability and told his insurance company then Im surprise they haven't been in touch.

We had a 'our fault' claim a few years ago and our insurance contacted the other party directly we told them their details because it saved them admin costs if they arranged for the other partys repair without them having to claim via their insurance.

As for the courtesy car, annoying as it may be, wont it only be for a couple of days as it sounds a minor prang?

 

[Codger49]

If the other driver has admitted liability and told his insurance company then Im surprise they haven't been in touch.

That would be impressive - it only happened this evening!

 

[LTD]

The other party is contacting her insurers tomorrow.

I still have all options open to me although, like Nick M said, the Accident Management company looks like a non-starter. When I mentioned I had doubts if the companies they would use were actually MB-Approved repairers, it was suggested I contacted them directly to find out. In my opinion, that's a score of fook-all in managing anything.

It's a great start to the weekend.

As for accepting a small Euro-box 'for a few days' - would you take an under-performing, ugly bird away for a weekend or a sleek beauty that is up for most things ?

 

[219]

... tonight after work

Good news is that I have the details of the other driver, my car was parked and I wasn't in it and that it still drives fine. Details, registrations, photos etc. all obtained.

Now the $64k questions ..... do I

1. Lob the entire thing at my insurers (Admiral) and have a city box thing for the repair duration - paying the excess and having a hit on my NCB for the duration.
2. Use their 'Accident Management option' (Albany Assistance) to deal with it so I get a similar car and no excess payment due or NCB issues.
3. Contact the other parties insurers directly.

I have already spoken with Admiral to notify them of the incident but, as yet, agreed to nothing - mainly as I am not certain that the Albany repairer suggested are actually 'Mercedes Approved'

Opinions please on a wet Friday night that I am not finding a lot of fun .....

If you have details of the other insurer , I'd speak to them in the first instance and sound them out - if they agree to make good and supply a reasonable replacement car , it can work out for the best leaving you nothing to pay out and no loss to suffer .

Do check that your own insurer won't up your premium next year , even if you haven't claimed through them .

If the other side won't play ball , place it in the hands of your own insurer .

Last option , depending on whether the other party has the wherewithall ( I know your car is quite new ) would be to give them the chance to pay out of their own pocket , getting a repair quote from the place of your choice . Problem with that is many will make the right noises to start with , then renege .

 

[219]

Is it mandatory to inform your insurer?

Yes

 

[Deleted member 113659]

I had a guy reverse into my beloved transit van last week. The guy was good enough to contact me (Van fully sign written).

He's passed my details onto his insurance. (Esure) 3 days later they delivered a hire van to my house. I transferred all my tools. An hour later another company collect my van on a transporter to go off to a Ford repair centre.

God knows how long the repair will take, but I'm currently not working and Xmas on the way so I'm in no rush TBH. As long as it's done right they can take as long as they want. New side sliding door. Respray side of van and new sign writing.

It just goes to show there's still some great nice people around. Many would have just driven off.

The thing is, am I wrong to have not told my insurers?

I personally would go option 3. It's worked for me and this way when it comes to renewal it surely will not affect me.

Ant.

 

[LTD]

Is it mandatory to inform your insurer?

Yes

I have notified my insurer but, as yet, agreed to nothing regarding the repair.

It's a condition of the policy to notify.

 

[markjay]

Reading your comments, I seem to be misinformed in insurance matters...

In cases where the other party accepted liability and was insured I always opted for option 3.

Notify my own insurer just for the record, then contact the other party insurer (in fact usually they would contact me before I got a chance to call them).

Not sure what's wrong with that? The other party insurers were always very accommodating, paid for main dealer body shop no problem, and paid for rental of similar vehicles. All payment made directly to the respective providers so no money changed hands my end.

What am I missing?

EDIT: As Ant said...

 

[219]

The other party is contacting her insurers tomorrow.

I still have all options open to me although, like Nick M said, the Accident Management company looks like a non-starter. When I mentioned I had doubts if the companies they would use were actually MB-Approved repairers, it was suggested I contacted them directly to find out. In my opinion, that's a score of fook-all in managing anything.

It's a great start to the weekend.

As for accepting a small Euro-box 'for a few days' - would you take an under-performing, ugly bird away for a weekend or a sleek beauty that is up for most things ?

When my W124 was rear ended at a roundabout ( 3 years old at the time and 1 week in my ownership ! ) the other insurers admitted liability within an hour of the incident and agreed to pay for repairs : I got a quote from body shop of my choice , approved no problem , and I agreed any loan car for 5 days . I received a brand new Rover 200 with 26 miles on the clock and was happy with it . In the end it cost me nothing , the car was fixed , and my insurance wasn't affected - a good result all round .

While I might baulk now at a Dacia or a Nissan , as long as I got something decent like a Golf or similar then I'd be OK with it - as long as it was just for a few days .

 

[Piff]

my insurer aviva apply an additional excess of £200 if you don't use their repairers.

i believe mb have their own accident management company, using their body shop and presumably supplying their own loan cars - but you could end up with a smart for two and some mb body shops are of questionable quality

 

[219]

my insurer aviva apply an additional excess of £200 if you don't use their repairers.

i believe mb have their own accident management company, using their body shop and presumably supplying their own loan cars - but you could end up with a smart for two and some mb body shops are of questionable quality

That's if you place the matter in the hands of your own insurers .

While you generally are contractually obliged to inform your own insurers of any incident or loss , you don't have to lodge the claim with them .

As long as liability is not disputed , it is often worthwhile dealing directly with the insurer of the other party : they will pay for everything and you have no excess to lay out nor recover .

I've been there - twice .

 

[TheFoX]

On renewal, you'd have to notify your insurer anyway about any accidents, fault or non fault, that have happened in the last five years, so it is worth letting them know about this incident regardless of who was to blame.

I notified my own insurer after I drove my mother's Ka and was hit by a third party. Even though I was only covered under their Third Party section of my policy, they contacted the other party for liability and sent an email within the week stating that I was NOT at fault, and that my NCB would be unaffected.

Chances are that if you DO deal direct with the other party's insurers, they'll still want to know your own insurer just to make sure you were insured at the time of the incident. Companies aren't stupid and will use any excuse to get out of paying if they can.

You might also find you get penalised later for not informing your own insurer at the time of the incident. Check the small print in your policy book. If you make a claim, it might be a contractual requirement to notify your primary insurer.

Finally, if things get messy with the other party, such as they decide that they weren't in the wrong and blame you instead, having the backing of your insurer helps in the fight to get what is rightfully yours.

(It won't be the first time that another party has accepted liability, then rescinded and denied responsibility. A mate was hit by a car exiting a side road, and they exchanged details and went their separate ways. Three hours later, my mate was visited by the Police who stated that he had 'hit and run' not leaving any details at the scene, and that the other driver, while distressed, had managed to write down my mate's registration number as he drove off at speed.)

 

[boxbrownie]

(It won't be the first time that another party has accepted liability, then rescinded and denied responsibility. A mate was hit by a car exiting a side road, and they exchanged details and went their separate ways. Three hours later, my mate was visited by the Police who stated that he had 'hit and run' not leaving any details at the scene, and that the other driver, while distressed, had managed to write down my mate's registration number as he drove off at speed.)

Well at least your mate was able to show the Police the details exchanged at the time of the incident, I would imagine the other driver soon got a heavier knocking on their door, Rozzers take a very dim view of people lying to them.

 

[219]

On renewal, you'd have to notify your insurer anyway about any accidents, fault or non fault, that have happened in the last five years, so it is worth letting them know about this incident regardless of who was to blame.

I notified my own insurer after I drove my mother's Ka and was hit by a third party. Even though I was only covered under their Third Party section of my policy, they contacted the other party for liability and sent an email within the week stating that I was NOT at fault, and that my NCB would be unaffected.

Chances are that if you DO deal direct with the other party's insurers, they'll still want to know your own insurer just to make sure you were insured at the time of the incident. Companies aren't stupid and will use any excuse to get out of paying if they can.

You might also find you get penalised later for not informing your own insurer at the time of the incident. Check the small print in your policy book. If you make a claim, it might be a contractual requirement to notify your primary insurer.

Finally, if things get messy with the other party, such as they decide that they weren't in the wrong and blame you instead, having the backing of your insurer helps in the fight to get what is rightfully yours.

(It won't be the first time that another party has accepted liability, then rescinded and denied responsibility. A mate was hit by a car exiting a side road, and they exchanged details and went their separate ways. Three hours later, my mate was visited by the Police who stated that he had 'hit and run' not leaving any details at the scene, and that the other driver, while distressed, had managed to write down my mate's registration number as he drove off at speed.)

Steven has already notified his own insurer of the incident ( as required under t&c ) and is now just trying to determine the best way to deal with the claim - either via his own insurer or directly with the other side - my take being that it all depends on how the at fault party want to play it .