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Original poster

Car accident and claim

14 replies

poloarpanda123 · 16/05/2019 11:51

I had an accident last week and the insurance engineer has been sent out to look at the car tomorrow.
I am in the middle to moving house, have 3 young kids and relying on taxis to get me places. Most of my belongings are now at the new house (40 miles away), I'm still working and in short it's a bloody nightmare. The kids are due to start their new school next week after long delays in the house buying process and we're all very fed up.
I @think the car will be a write off, but I desperately need a car and having just bought a house don't want to keep paying out for rental cars and taxis.
So, mum suggested I borrow some money and get a car and either wait for the pay out or sell the car on if it's repairable.

Can I change my insurance while the claim in being processed to a different car? (I'm not using my current one, it's sat outside my mums) or will this affect the claim?
My problem is that if I can't really wait another week/2 weeks for it to be repaired. I have interviews coming up and I'm totally stuck with the kids.

OP posts:

purpleme12 · 16/05/2019 11:54

I'm not sure what you mean by change your insurance. If you mean do a change of vehicle to your new vehicle or even a temporary change of vehicle, yes you can. If you mean cancel and go to a different insurance company for your new car if you do that you'd be liable for the whole of your current insurance premium cos you're making a claim so I wouldn't do that

PancakesAndMapleSyrup · 16/05/2019 12:15

If it's sat on the road outside your mum's then it needs to continue being taxed and insured. If it's on a driveway then for the time being you could notify the DVLA that it is SORN but I would wait until you actually have the insurance man come out an give a response to the insurance co. It may not take too long in the scheme of things.

PancakesAndMapleSyrup · 16/05/2019 12:16

Equally whilst you have an on going claim you do need to stick with the same insurance company.

Mumof1andacat · 16/05/2019 12:27

Do you have an option to hire a car under your insurance? I was able to have a hire car for a couple of weeks as part of my insurance at no extea cost to me.

Birdie6 · 16/05/2019 12:29

My DH is an insurance underwriter. I just asked him. He says that you need to keep the insurance policy current on the damaged car, until the claim has been finalised. You can't transfer that policy to your new car at this time .

What you can do ( if you intend staying with the same company) , is to take out a cover note on the new car, which covers it for 30 days. If the damaged car claim is finalised during that time, you can then swing the policy over from the damaged car to the new car. This option only applies if the damaged car is to be repaired and you're going to sell it.

BUT if the damaged car is a total loss, you can't do that since the policy on the damaged car will be ended. You'd have to have a brand new policy for the new car.

purpleme12 · 16/05/2019 12:31

It wouldn't be a brand new policy. You'd just do a change of vehicle on your current policy

Original poster

poloarpanda123 · 16/05/2019 13:22

Many thanks everyone. I will see tomorrow what the engineer says.
Can anyone give me a rough idea of how long it will take to get an answer?
Can I have a different policy (if keeping this one) on another car then?

My policy on this car is due for renewal at the end of June.

I did not opt for a courtesy car on my insurance so have not that option.

OP posts:

purpleme12 · 16/05/2019 13:30

If you've got more than one car you a policy for each car yes, unless you get a multicar policy

HiJuice · 17/05/2019 20:21

It wouldn't be a brand new policy. You'd just do a change of vehicle on your current policy
I don't think that's true if the car is a total loss. My understanding is you have to pay the full year's insurance for that car even if there is still time left before policy renewal. But if you were to sell the old car after repairs you can swap to the new car.
If you own two cars at once you need 2 policies, but sometimes insurers give discounts for the second car.

purpleme12 · 17/05/2019 20:48

I work in insurance and we've always done a change of vehicle. When it was a total loss sometimes the underwriter would contact us telling us that and we'd contact the customer to see if they wanted to do a change of vehicle to a new one or cancel it. Either way they wouldn't get any refund no but that's just because they've made a claim on the policy

Original poster

poloarpanda123 · 17/05/2019 21:34

Thank you. The adjuster came out today and said it is repairable (around £3000 worth and my car is worth around £5700 he said. My renewal is due June so I'll just keep paying until then.
If the car is repairable do I have to sell it under a category N or something?

OP posts:

purpleme12 · 17/05/2019 21:40

Why would you have to sell it? You don't have to sell it

Original poster

poloarpanda123 · 17/05/2019 21:41

No purple, I meant if I were to sell it at a later date. Sorry.

OP posts:

purpleme12 · 17/05/2019 21:49

Oh I see.
Category n means write off I believe and it doesn't sound like your underwiters think this is a write off if they're repairing it

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