Non fault claim, what would you do?

So I’ve now traced the driver who crashed into my parked car.
They want to go through the insurance so I ring my insurer to get the ball rolling.
They gave me 3 options:
1. Appoint Kindertons to handle the claim. I don’t pay any excess. But I’ve never heard of these people.
2. Got through my underwriter, I have more control as to where my car goes but have to pay the accidental excess of £300.
3. Go through the 3rd party insurer. Downside being my insurance won’t assist me if it goes bent.

I’ll be dammed if I’m paying £300. I get I signed up to this on the policy, but in reality and under these circumstances it sucks.

So what advice have CS got?

Go through 3rd party surely? What can go wrong? They have to fix your car to pre crash condition.

You will get your excess back as part of the claim.

What was their excuse for clipping your motor and leaving the scene? Or was it a c**t older than the tooth fairy? Those old b******s have more hits than the beatles and carry on the pricks

Cookson said:

You will get your excess back as part of the claim.

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My insurer couldn’t promise this and said it wouldn’t be a priority. Cheers!!

Cads said:

My insurer couldn’t promise this and said it wouldn’t be a priority. Cheers!!

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2 years plus and I’ve still not got mine back 😤

Personally I'd avoid using claims-management firms as they're one of the reasons why premiums have skyrocketed, but I understand why some might opt for one.

If third-party insurer is willing to deal with you directly then that's probably the most efficient route, as long they are a reputable firm and offer what you want (choice of repairer etc.)

plenty said:

Personally I'd avoid using claims-management firms as they're one of the reasons why premiums have skyrocketed, but I understand why some might opt for one.

If third-party insurer is willing to deal with you directly then that's probably the most efficient route, as long they are a reputable firm and offer what you want (choice of repairer etc.)

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The third party is Hastings Direct, so a fairly big player.

Poopensharten said:

What was their excuse for clipping your motor and leaving the scene? Or was it a c**t older than the tooth fairy? Those old b******s have more hits than the beatles and carry on the pricks

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Just didn’t see it. And no not old.
Said he didn’t see any damage, so left. Despite him not actually getting out his car to look.

I’d give the 3rd party insurer a call, and say your insurance has suggested a claim management company for the non fault claim that their customer has admitted to, but would they like to deal directly with you instead.

They will likely bite your hand off because it will save them thousands in hire car fees etc.

If they dick you around, nothing stops you going through your insurance or an AM company later on.

I’d only go through 3rd party if you’ve got hard evidence I.e dashcam footage.

I’d also avoid any accident management company if possible too.

@charltjr has hit the nail on the head there tbh.

The driver won’t deny what he’s done.
There is enough CCTV to make it very difficult to deny it now. And he knows there is CCTV, and he doesn’t know it doesn’t capture the whole incident.

I’d like to avoid the accident management company and I’d like to avoid paying £300 for the pleasure of my own insurance company handling it.

I’ll give Hastings a call in the morning and see how receptive they are.
I don’t need a hire car, so that’ll save them a few quid too.

Cads said:

Just didn’t see it. And no not old.
Said he didn’t see any damage, so left. Despite him not actually getting out his car to look.

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Avoid the accident management company definitely.

No need for an AM company on a non injury claim anyway. Just let the insurance settle it out between themselves.

Personally I'd stump up the 300 quid, knowing I can decide where the car goes.
You'll get it back - it's a none fault claim.

id be paying the £300 and going through your insurance unless its a beater car that you don't care about, you are their customer, they provide you with a service, much easier to have any issues sorted if the car isn't right.

Hopefully it’s all sorted.

Once matey boy actually reported it to Hastings, they called me straight back.
They’ve agreed to the car staying where it currently is having some other work done and providing Hastings approve the quote it can stay where it is, which is a Lotus approved garage.

Appreciate all the responses, having never been in the position I was interested in what others would do.

My insurers also agreed to waive the excess as long as the 3rd party provided written proof of liability before repairs took place. Otherwise I’d have to pay it, but would get it back, eventually.

We do use the non-fault route a lot but it's because insurance can drag their heels so badly. These days I would only recommend using Enterprise non-fault. Ther set up with the actual insurance companies mean it's very flawless and no come back on the customer should things go south and you've told the truth.

Good idea letting your insurance deal with it and possibly paying £300. It's worth it short term for less grief. If you have any hassle PM me and i'll help you out.

Cads said:

The driver won’t deny what he’s done.
There is enough CCTV to make it very difficult to deny it now. And he knows there is CCTV, and he doesn’t know it doesn’t capture the whole incident.

I’d like to avoid the accident management company and I’d like to avoid paying £300 for the pleasure of my own insurance company handling it.

I’ll give Hastings a call in the morning and see how receptive they are.
I don’t need a hire car, so that’ll save them a few quid too.

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I'm with Hastings and had a no fault claim. They were very good.
Basically this little old lady joined the roundabout in the wrong direction, I was joining the roundabout, literally a couple of miles per hour and she got me head on.
I had dashcam footage, the little old lady admitted full liability. She was with LV. I phoned Hastings immediately.
They pass on their claims straight away to Enterprise rental, who then sort the hire car out and the bodyshop they want the car to go to.
I rang a bodyshop I know well and have used in the past and drove it straight to him.
The day after when I went to collect my courtesy car they started to tell me which bodyshop it was going to.
I stopped the guy right there and then and told him it's already in a bodyshop of my choice. It wasn't a problem.

There was 3k of damage to the front end of my 182. New bonnet, front grill, bumper, headlight. Plus I got my rear bumper sprayed at the same time 😉
Everything was sourced from Renault direct in France. 1 thing held up the repair was the insurance insisted I had a new front wheel arch liner, which I knew wasn't available lol. So I had the courtesy car for 90 days 🤣
The bodyshop I use also said don't pay any excess as its not my fault.
I phoned Hastings and told them this and they agreed that I should pay £0.00 excess.

That was 2 years ago. So £3k of damage on a car I reckon is worth about £4 - £4.5k maximum.
I'll guarantee if I'd have let Enterprise rentals deal with it, it would have been written off. But you can insist that your car is repaired.

Also I'd like to add. My insurance wasn't affected. It actually went down the following year.

MRBILLYUK said:

I'm with Hastings and had a no fault claim. They were very good.
Basically this little old lady joined the roundabout in the wrong direction, I was joining the roundabout, literally a couple of miles per hour and she got me head on.
I had dashcam footage, the little old lady admitted full liability. She was with LV. I phoned Hastings immediately.
They pass on their claims straight away to Enterprise rental, who then sort the hire car out and the bodyshop they want the car to go to.
I rang a bodyshop I know well and have used in the past and drove it straight to him.
The day after when I went to collect my courtesy car they started to tell me which bodyshop it was going to.
I stopped the guy right there and then and told him it's already in a bodyshop of my choice. It wasn't a problem.

There was 3k of damage to the front end of my 182. New bonnet, front grill, bumper, headlight. Plus I got my rear bumper sprayed at the same time 😉
Everything was sourced from Renault direct in France. 1 thing held up the repair was the insurance insisted I had a new front wheel arch liner, which I knew wasn't available lol. So I had the courtesy car for 90 days 🤣
The bodyshop I use also said don't pay any excess as its not my fault.
I phoned Hastings and told them this and they agreed that I should pay £0.00 excess.

That was 2 years ago. So £3k of damage on a car I reckon is worth about £4 - £4.5k maximum.
I'll guarantee if I'd have let Enterprise rentals deal with it, it would have been written off. But you can insist that your car is repaired.

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Decent result that! So far I can’t fault Hastings. As long as they agree to the quote I’ve already got then it’s all good.

Cads said:

Decent result that! So far I can’t fault Hastings. As long as they agree to the quote I’ve already got then it’s all good.

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Hopefully you'll get it sorted 👍

MRBILLYUK said:

There was 3k of damage to the front end of my 182. New bonnet, front grill, bumper, headlight. Plus I got my rear bumper sprayed at the same time 😉
Everything was sourced from Renault direct in France. 1 thing held up the repair was the insurance insisted I had a new front wheel arch liner, which I knew wasn't available lol. So I had the courtesy car for 90 days 🤣
The bodyshop I use also said don't pay any excess as its not my fault.
I phoned Hastings and told them this and they agreed that I should pay £0.00 excess.

That was 2 years ago. So £3k of damage on a car I reckon is worth about £4 - £4.5k maximum.
I'll guarantee if I'd have let Enterprise rentals deal with it, it would have been written off. But you can insist that your car is repaired.

Also I'd like to add. My insurance wasn't affected. It actually went down the following year.

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90 days due to an arch liner?! 😄 I'm still convinced that there's a market for non-structural replacements for stuff like this. It would just be a ball-ache getting the sign-off from Renault/Valeo/whoever to be able to make them under licence.

I'd definitely be doing the same if the worst happened to my car. No way some bean-counting admin person at an insurance company (likely with next to zero interest in cars) would be writing it off, if it could be saved!

Darren S said:

90 days due to an arch liner?! 😄 I'm still convinced that there's a market for non-structural replacements for stuff like this. It would just be a ball-ache getting the sign-off from Renault/Valeo/whoever to be able to make them under licence.

I'd definitely be doing the same if the worst happened to my car. No way some bean-counting admin person at an insurance company (likely with next to zero interest in cars) would be writing it off, if it could be saved!

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Yeah 90 days lol. Mad isn't it.
I knew the arch liner wasn't available. But Renault told my bodyshop it was available on back order.
There wasn't any actual damage to the arch liner caused by the accident. The existing damage had been there for years so he thought he'd order me a new one lol.
The woman's insurance company wouldn't sign off the job until the arch liner had been sourced.
So I had the courtesy car for 99 days. God knows how much that would have cost her insurance company?? 5p quid a day? 100 quid a day? 😲 Enterprise rentals must have made a killing lol.
Also don't forget. There was £3k of damage to my car, which I estimate is worth maybe £4 - 4.5k.
The guy who owns the bodyshop I use is a bit of a geek. He really knows the legal ins and outs.
Apparently there was a case in the 1970s were a guy demanded his car was fixed, even though it would cost more than the value of the car. He won his case and this set a precedent for future cases.

If somebody could make this nla parts they'd have a pretty lucrative business.