[wmcforum]

I have received an email asking if this question can be asked anonomously:

I was involved in an accident, I was parked and a car reversed into me causing damage to my wing, not a lot but enough that in needs to be repaired. The other party accepted liability instantly and we exchanged details.

Over the next few hours they sent me messages asking that we not go through insurance and they gave me the name of a mechanic to take the car to, i was not comfortable with this so reported the incident to the insurance company, Direct Line.  They kept trying to get me to not follow up the insurance claim and i told them to direct all contact to Direct Line.

Later that day I received a phone call from their insurance company informing me that if they fixed the car using their own mechanics I would not have a no fault claim on my records, the job would be done to fit around me and I would not have to pay the excess (that i could claim back) prior to the job starting. To top it all they offered me £200 cash. They have followed this up (repeatedly) with messages, voicemail and phone calls.

Question is? Can i take their money and get them to do the job?

 

Topic

[kezo]

Third party insurance companies requesting that they do the work is common practice in the industry, as it keeps costs down. They would use their own authorised bodyshop, as the repairer and there would be a high probability, it is the same authorised bodyshop your own insurer uses anyway, so the work would be carried out to a equal high standard, as if you were going through your own insurer.

The problem in this case. is that you have already notified your own insurer Direct Line, so they are aware of a non fault accident. However if this is your own car, you could always speak with your insurer and request the third party insurer carry out the work but, it will most likely still be logged as a non fault accident, so you are not loosing anything other than the £200 good wil gesture from the third party insurer.

If, as I suspect, it is a Motability car, things get a little more difficult because not only notified DLM who will insist along with Motability, that the work is carried out by them and a claim made agains’t the third party insurer. If you had not notified DLM, you could have got away with it.

In this case, you will just have to explain to the third party insurer that it is a Motability car and you need to go through Motability’s insurance, as they are aware of the accident.

[Glos Guy]

This sounds a bit dodgy to me and due to the persistence of the calls and messages I can’t help but wonder if it’s the other party hassling you making out they are the garage / insurer.

Whilst it is quite normal, and not unreasonable, for a driver to offer to settle damage that they have caused in order to avoid an insurance claim (which affects no claims etc), it sounds very odd for an insurer to also offer £200 to not use insurers!

Even if it’s legitimate, there is always a risk when accepting a direct settlement that there might be additional damage that you cannot see. The other party may not point this out and / or may not repair it / claim it was there before etc. Also, you may not be happy with the quality of the repair (I have rejected two repairs due to poor quality). This is easier to do when your insurers are behind you.

Unless it’s minor cosmetic damage (when I’d happily settle with the driver) I’d involve my insurers to cover myself. Unfortunately, whilst it’s a no fault claim, so won’t affect your no claims and won’t result in you paying an excess, it may still result in a slight hike in your renewal premium as insurers will weight anything and everything as that’s the way they are 😡

[Jojoe]

Had exactly this with a none Motability car. My car at the time was a high end car, they knew I’d be entitled to an equivalent replacement and were desperate to keep the costs down by getting it done quickly. They repaired it and I had it back within 2 days.

My guess is the insurers are worried the claim could be high with replacement car costs if  Direct Line can’t get it repaired as quick as they can. Also, when they see Motability they know they could be liable for extra costs related to keeping a disabled person mobile. I’d take the offer as your car will probably be repaired quicker and you have 200 notes in your back pocket.

Enyaq EV

[Glos Guy]

I forgot to say that if it’s minor damage and IF it’s a Motability car (I assumed it wasn’t) and you could live with the damage until the end of the lease, you could always take a cash settlement and not repair it. It’s amazing what Motability will allow and it not affect the good condition bonus!

[Ioniq]

I had a cop reverse into my car in his van. No damage to the van bumper.  But he asked me to get it fixed privately, because if this one went through the books, he would be taken off driving, it was his 3rd accident.

I did so, but only because my buddy had the best accident repair shops in the region. He did pay for the damage no problem and he didnt get put on the beat.

My pals shop had a lot of the force as customers, and he knew a lot of the higher ups. He always done a lot of favours to the force,  returned by his being the first number the lads called at accidents for recovery.

But there are many reasons people do not want to go through insurance. If someone was driving that shouldn’t be.

Our local parcel delivery driver was off sick an his mrs done the round. She scraped my neighbours car and she got it fixed rather than go through insurance.

[Author]

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