If another driver hits your car (insured & admitted fault)..

[AngelSparks]

If another driver hits your car (insured & admitted fault) then how do you get your car repaired?

Do you call your own insurance company and they sort it out? or is the onus on you to call the other persons insurance company to get it done

background

I was hit by another driver in May and they admitted liability both verbally and in emails. I called my own insurance company and they said they could arrange repairs, but i would have to pay the excess and then they would 'try' to get it back from the other company.

My friend was hit by another car, (similar circs) and her company arranged everything, and took her car for repair the next day with no word of excess etc??

[EllieJayJay]

When this happened to me, the insurance company dealt with everything I didn't have to pay or organise a thing - just took the car to the garage and picked it up when completed

May seems a long time ago though did you only just get it fixed??

[MinniesMate]

I was hit by another car and the driver admitted liability.

The repairs and loan car were arranged through the other driver's insurance.

I informed my insurers but no claim was opened on my insurance.

[runforthesun]

We were hit earlier on in the year April and the car was a write off. We got the money for the car when the claim was sorted less our excess. We have just received the cheque for the excess this week. We were dozy sending the forms off to claim the excess so it could have been sorted out earlier. I think the insurance appoint solicitors to claim any extra cost.

[BackforGood]

Ultimately, they won't pay your excess if the other person then denies responsibility / disappears / it is revealed they weren't really insured, etc., so the company ought to mention that you have an excess.

When we've been hit, the insurance company get someone to look at the car, deliver a courtesy car, get the repairs done, etc - but I guess it depends on your level of cover? Or maybe the quality of the insurance company?

It's very annoying to me, as it's FAR more expensive for their repairers to mend it than my local garage I've been using for donkeys years, and FAR more hassle to keep track of all the arrangements than for me to pop round the corner and talk to my usual car man, but, they charge a seriously big excess for you to use your own, so it's easier to just let them get on with it IME, despite the fact that once the companies get these contracts, it's then a license to rip off the insurance companies, which we all end up paying for, in the end.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

Every accident ive had ive had to pay my excess first and then claim my excess back off their insurance. It's always been a royal pain.

One time the other driver admitted it. The second and third time they drove off but I had their Reg plate and tracked them down.

Maybe the first time I rang my insurance company too quickly and should have rung his instead. My company organised all the repairs.

[ManorGreyhound]

Don't tell your insurance company unless you really have to - your premium is likely to increase as a result, irrespective of whether you were at fault or not.

[AngelSparks]

My car is being collected this week for repairs after i ran around trying to get it sorted...

Hastings car insurance you suck!!

[Sallyingforth]

Don't tell your insurance company unless you really have to - your premium is likely to increase as a result, irrespective of whether you were at fault or not.
Bad advice.
You are required to tell your insurer of any accident regardless of fault. If you don't tell them and the other driver changes his story and claims from you it will not go well.
Your premium should only go up if your insurers are still waiting for payment from the other party.
I recently had a write off as a result of another driver's fault and my premium was unchanged.

[ButterflyUpSoHigh]

Sallyingforth any claim fault or non fault will increase your policy as you are seen as a higher risk. Unless you have protected no claims discount.

Manorgreyhound the insurance company would find out any way as there is a central claims database that holds records of claim from either party.

[WMittens]

any claim fault or non fault will increase your policy as you are seen as a higher risk.

Not always - depends on company and circumstances.

Unless you have protected no claims discount.

If you're seen as a higher risk, your premium would increase regardless of NCB. A claim will still load the premium, even if you don't have a further 'loading' due to loss of discount.


Don't tell your insurance company unless you really have to

You really have to if they ask you the question, "have you had any incidents that could give rise to a claim" (wordings may differ) - that applies to any new quotes that you obtain and (usually) they need to be declared at renewal to your existing insurer. The general advice is if in doubt, declare it.

[caroldecker]

If you do not declare it, your insurance is invalid and you are therefore breaking the law.
Generally it will increase your premium.

[WMittens]

If you do not declare it, your insurance is invalid and you are therefore breaking the law.

Again, not so cut and dried.

[specialsubject]

call your insurers. Procedures vary.

farting around about whether accidents should be declared for the few extra quid it will cost on your premium is nuts. If you don't declare and then have an incident, and then your insurers decide you aren't covered, the amount of financial trouble you are in for will really make you think.

[RB68]

it really depends on your insurance that's why they say read the small print

if you also have legal protection then part of what they do is ensure that where you are not at fault that the excess is retrieved from the other insurance company.

it is normal though that you forfeit the excess in the short term on a standard policy

[Sallyhasleftthebuilding]

If you look at your policy wording admitting fault invalidates your insurance. Example - if the brakes are new but faulty, dodgy road markings, oil spillage ... so may not be your fault.
So try is a fair wording.
What have you done about this so far?

[backtowork2015]

If you deal with the other drivers insurance company it will be far more simple. We had this and first spoke to our insurers who talked about our xs being claimed back and also how we would have to deal with the accident management company who would hire us a ridiculous priced hire car wgich we would then have to claim back from the other insurer. It sounded so complicated we called the company insuring the driver who hit me and they sorted it all out, the car was collected, a hire car left, the the car was returned, no obe oyt if pocket. Made me think my insurer, admiral, were not so good. next year I will look to be covered by the company who insures the guy who hit me, allianz

[backtowork2015]

• No one out of pocket, my phone or my wine?!

[Bunbaker]

"Don't tell your insurance company unless you really have to - your premium is likely to increase as a result, irrespective of whether you were at fault or not."

Ignore this.

When someone drove into my parked car and admitted that it was their fault the claim went through their insurance and had no effect on my premiums. I'm with Aviva BTW.

Also, not admitting to this is, I believe, against the law.

[IMustNotForgetMyPasswordAgain]

I have had people go into the back of me twice (nearly a decade apart - I don't just drive round braking lots!), on both occasions I didn't pay any excess, my car was fixed on the other driver's insurance and it didn't affect my no claims.

You do have a duty to let your insurance company know though and it will invalidate your insurance if you don't mention it when you renew.

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

You do quite often have to pay the excess when you pick up the car. Standard procedure I think. Sometimes it's refunded to you before you've even paid it. If it's not your fault, obviously. I used to work in a garage and that was always the case. The excess was invoiced to our customer and the rest of the job was invoiced to the insurance company.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

You always have to declare at renewal date or a new quote. They ask the question and lying to them isn't worth it.

I work with someone who's car caught fire through an electrical fault once. Total write off. They said they wouldn't pay out as they realised somehow she had got three points in her licence for speeding which they reckoned she hadn't declared.

They ended up paying out but only because she could prove she had declared the three points (she had been insured with them the previous year and it was on the previous year's documents).

But how crazy that they would use something which had no affect on the claim at all to try and not pay. And might have got away with it if she really hadn't declared it?

[ZoeTurtle]

I was also hit in May and my insurer dealt with and paid for everything. They are now taking the other driver to court to get the money back because her insurers are being difficult. I would only have to pay the excess if I didn't agree to the court case.

[19lottie82]

BTW just because a driver admits they're at fault at the scene does not mean that that will be the case when the insurance company gets involved. It's not even for the driver to decide who was at fault. The insurance company will do that and they will not just admit it unless it is 100% cut and dry.

[Pranmasghost]

This happened to me a few weeks ago. The other driver admitted liability and said he would rather pay than go through insurance as it was a company van that hit me. I told my insurance and they logged it 'for information only' I got an estimate, told the other driver and he paid the garage in advance, over the phone. The car was fixed and returned without any cost or inconvenience to me (courtesy car).