Deal with 3rd Parties Insurance Yes or No?

[Toddie]

Hi all,  Coming back from holiday yesterday in the wife's Toyota Yaris we turned off M18 motorway. At the bottom of the slip road there is roundabout, we stop @ white line to wait til there was clear road to enter roundabout when we were rear ended by a Hyundai Tuscon which pushed the car about 8-10 foot forward. As I was looking right to see oncoming traffic my head  bashed the A post of the car. Felt very shaken up etc, no blood etc we exchanged details with the driver who was Bulgarian with poor command of English. Car is driveable We attended the nearest Hospital, who said that as I was taking blood thinners I would have to an urgent brain Scan. 6 Hours later declared OK.

 We are insured with Aviva, 3rd party is insured with Direct Line. Today as we are filling in online form, Direct Line ring accepting full responsibility for claim, asking us to deal direct with them, offering repairer of our choice, hire car, physio if needed, £250 cash incentive to deal with them.

I am tempted to accept 3rd party deal as we have 3 car ins policies to renew in the New Year & I am concerned that if we go with our Aviva insurance this will impact the renewal prices, as they will still be trying to get their money back.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts on this situation?  Thanks in advance

[CMA]

Even if you do go direct with the 3rd party company, which might work out better, you will have to declare it to your insurance company anyway and without a doubt it will affect your renewals even if a no fault.

 

I guess the reason they want to deal direct is to save all the extra costs of claims management companies and overpriced hire cars from another company.

Edited Friday at 06:24 PM by CMA

[mike597]

You will need to declare it to your insurer. 

Remember that direct line will be working for themselves and not you. No harm in listening to their offer but if it's not to your liking you can cease direct communications. 

 

[Menoporsche]

Make sure they don’t have a little hidden clause that says you can no longer go to your insurers. 

[Mattman42]

Surely better to use your own insurer, that's what you pay them for.

When my daughters car was written off earlier this year, her insurance company explicitly told her not to engage with th other parties insurance company as they aren't working for your best outcome, just there own

[Nobbie]

I’ve gone with 3rd party insurer a couple of times and they are incentivised to get it sorted quickly. I’ve been happy with the result. The only downside is that you are not covered by the insurance ombudsman if the repair is not to your satisfaction, so make sure you choose a repair shop that you trust.

[Scubaregs]

This will be counted as a claim, even if non fault, by your own insurers. Get them involved from the start, this is what you paid your premium for. 

[nelmo]

Sadly, though, this is why our premiums are so high. Your insurance company will try to squeeze every last drop out of the other insurance company; car hire, compensation for your injuries etc. It will work out for you better BUT long-term, we ALL lose out.

So, unless you're personally prepared to be the first to sacrifice extra cash (no, I probably wouldn't either), better to tell your insurance.

[EXY]

17 hours ago, Toddie said:

Hi all,  Coming back from holiday yesterday in the wife's Toyota Yaris we turned off M18 motorway. At the bottom of the slip road there is roundabout, we stop @ white line to wait til there was clear road to enter roundabout when we were rear ended by a Hyundai Tuscon which pushed the car about 8-10 foot forward. As I was looking right to see oncoming traffic my head  bashed the A post of the car. Felt very shaken up etc, no blood etc we exchanged details with the driver who was Bulgarian with poor command of English. Car is driveable We attended the nearest Hospital, who said that as I was taking blood thinners I would have to an urgent brain Scan. 6 Hours later declared OK.

 We are insured with Aviva, 3rd party is insured with Direct Line. Today as we are filling in online form, Direct Line ring accepting full responsibility for claim, asking us to deal direct with them, offering repairer of our choice, hire car, physio if needed, £250 cash incentive to deal with them.

I am tempted to accept 3rd party deal as we have 3 car ins policies to renew in the New Year & I am concerned that if we go with our Aviva insurance this will impact the renewal prices, as they will still be trying to get their money back.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts on this situation?  Thanks in advance

Sorry to hear this.

Didn't read to me like you were NOT planning on declaring it like some are advising above, more so you're worried that it could still be dragging on rather than done-and-dusted/settled in time for renewal so you are working with a known quantity  

No personal experience but a mate went the settling with their insurance company route for similar reasons to yourself, could he have got more, possibly, was he happy with the settlement he received, most definitely, he got it sorted and moved on. His car was written off though so slightly different.

I know how you must have felt being on blood-thinners and banging your head, just thankful you got the all clear

Fingers crossed you get it sorted with the least amount of hassle whatever you decide.

[Araf]

20 hours ago, Toddie said:

Hi all,  Coming back from holiday yesterday in the wife's Toyota Yaris we turned off M18 motorway. At the bottom of the slip road there is roundabout, we stop @ white line to wait til there was clear road to enter roundabout when we were rear ended by a Hyundai Tuscon which pushed the car about 8-10 foot forward. As I was looking right to see oncoming traffic my head  bashed the A post of the car. Felt very shaken up etc, no blood etc we exchanged details with the driver who was Bulgarian with poor command of English. Car is driveable We attended the nearest Hospital, who said that as I was taking blood thinners I would have to an urgent brain Scan. 6 Hours later declared OK.

 We are insured with Aviva, 3rd party is insured with Direct Line. Today as we are filling in online form, Direct Line ring accepting full responsibility for claim, asking us to deal direct with them, offering repairer of our choice, hire car, physio if needed, £250 cash incentive to deal with them.

I am tempted to accept 3rd party deal as we have 3 car ins policies to renew in the New Year & I am concerned that if we go with our Aviva insurance this will impact the renewal prices, as they will still be trying to get their money back.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts on this situation?  Thanks in advance

FFS don't do it!

SIL had this happen.  Third party farmed out the claim to ambulance chasers who gave him a hire car, offered bottom money for his car, registered his wreck in their name and sold it from under him, and now, 11 months later he is being taken to court for hire car charges as the ambulance chasers haven't paid the inflated bill.  It will be fine in the end but in the meantime it's a total mess.  All because they persuaded him it was in his best interest.

YOUR insurance company are paid by you to work in your best interest.

ETA:  Your insurances will all be impacted anyway.  The question is "Have you had an accident" not "Have you made a claim"

[Bike Loon]

Yep, what @Araf said. The 3rd party insurers do not want to involve your insurers as they will add their charge to the cost.

Let your insurers deal with it is the safest bet, it makes no difference to you financially not to.

[Toddie]

Hi All,

 Thanks for all your posts offering advice etc.

As the 3rd party insurer is Direct line, with no ambulance chasers, and we can use our preferred local Toyota approved body shop with which we have previous experience (excellent), we have decided to proceed with them. There is no excess, they supply, deliver & pay the hire car bill, the ceramic coating on the car will be replaced on damaged areas. Pay all out of pocket expenses.

At any time we can re involve our insurance company, and they pay my wife's next year insurance premium with the £250 payment!  To us it seemed a much better way to proceed than using the various ACMC's offered by Aviva, plus they wanted £250 excess to use non approved repairer and NO hire car.

When all sorted out, I will post back on here with the end result good or bad!