So our parked car was hit, the driver owned up, gave us their details and accepted liability. We think there’s ~£2k of damage and have been told we can use companies who then invoice the other driver/their insurance directly to save us claiming on our insurance. This would be fine but I still need to use our car and there’s a long wait time to get our car sorted, the car is currently not safe to drive as we need a new tire because of the accident.
Can I get a new tire fit myself, retrospectively claim for the cost of this and get the other work done through a garage who will directly invoice the person accepting liability? Or does it all need to be done in one go and I’m just going to have to wait and not have access to my car?
6 comments
You need to notify your insurers anyway, so use them and their legal services.
So I was hit by another driver who’s insurance accepted liability. I needed a new side mirror glass to be legal (wing mirror versus wing mirror).
The other party’s insurance offered me a hire car (at £200/day) which turned out would have been for about a month to get the cosmetic stuff done as well rather than just paying me to get a mirror.
I didn’t want a hire car for ages so paid out of pocket – ended up having to sue the insurance company for the money (~£100).
I must have saved them a chunk as I only had the hire car for 5 days but there was no gratitude.
Frankly if they’re willing to take over the management I’d leave them to it and ask for a like for like hire car for the duration.
No, no, no. If you are going via insurance, you MUST include them from day one. The other party’s insurance should provide a courtesy car if they have accepted liability, until your car is fixed.
Any other thing you’re doing yourself will likely just invalidate your claim or at the least complicate the whe process.
I would go through the insurance company, there is nothing compelling the other driver to actually pay the invoice you send. You could end up screwed with them suddenly denying liability and/or challenging the invoice.
Your insurance may well provide a hire car as well.
You have to inform your insurance. So let them deal with it, that’s what you pay it for.
Contact the other drivers insurance and they will likely appoint a company to sort your car, this will generally include hire car and repairs etc.
I did this with a crash, where the other driver was adamant i was at fault, so i contacted my insurance who told me who the other driver was insured by and sent them the dashcam footage… they accepted full liability immediately and appointed a third party to repair within 24 hours. From crash to repair was 5 days, but the crash was a friday