stuarty Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 (edited) Earlier today my son was driving his mum's Mini Cooper along a road around half a mile from home. Our town is a nightmare just now with no less than 6 sets of road works going on all at one time. My son was driving down a road and stopped because of traffic, he flashed a car allowing it to turn into a side street while he was sitting in traffic. He started moving (10mph) and an elderly lady turned right and crashed into the front of my wife's car. Luckily a police officer was sitting at the junction and witnessed the whole event. The lady agreed it was her fault for cutting in front of my son and the police officer mediated and helped exchange details. I went down to where it happened and the Police officer explained exactly what happened to me. I contacted my insurer who so far have been excellent, we both had access to local maps and I told them what happened. They said it sounds like its a no fault claim, arranged for their recommended repairer to pick up the car in a day or two and a courtesy car from enterprise. I provided all the details including an incident number from the police officer, who is happy to be a witness. I think the car needs a new front bumper and their is a slight dent in the bonnet, some trim has also fallen off, but all in all it looks not to bad. As I've never made an insurance claim or used a recommended repairer, any advice would be appreciated. Edited May 3, 2014 by stuarty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhackyWill Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Sounds like a clear cut case, all in your favour. Just let the insurance Co handle it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 There's nothing left to do. Assuming you have the witness statement from the copper, just sit back and wait. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumping350 Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 If it's her fault and she admitted it and you have witness should it go down as a no fault claim? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350 Russ Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 as said above, just sit back and wait, can't see there being a problem, she's admitted to it being her fault and there is a witness from the police. One thing though was it you or your son?? only you have written above "what happened to me" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarty Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 There's nothing left to do. Assuming you have the witness statement from the copper, just sit back and wait. The police officer was a local CID officer in an unmarked car but on duty. He issued a incident number with all his details and I forwarded them to our insurer. They said as it was a no fault claim they would get a courtesy car from enterprise arranged asap, they said I would have to pay enterprise 1p from my debit card as deposit, I take it that's incase any damage is done to the courtesy car. Also if the repair is going to take a long time, the recommended repairer would issue us with a courtesy car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarty Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 (edited) If it's her fault and she admitted it and you have witness should it go down as a no fault claim? Yeah insurer said it would be a no fault claim. They also said the lady's insurance company was an excellent company and they would try and sort it all out before the repairs were finished to avoid us having to pay the excess until it was established who was at fault. Edited May 3, 2014 by stuarty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsexr Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Yeah i had to pay a £1 for a loan car when my company car went in for repair after being hit in the car park at work. I think they do it to make sure the card you give them is valid. Its to cover the excess if you damage the rental and any speeding or parking tickets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarty Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 as said above, just sit back and wait, can't see there being a problem, she's admitted to it being her fault and there is a witness from the police. One thing though was it you or your son?? only you have written above "what happened to me" Sorry i meant the police officer explained what happened to me when I drove down to the accident. The cars my wife's and both myself and my son are named drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Yeah i had to pay a £1 for a loan car when my company car went in for repair after being hit in the car park at work. I think they do it to make sure the card you give them is valid. Its to cover the excess if you damage the rental and any speeding or parking tickets. Also it's for when the other party turns around and claims it's your fault, then the fault goes 50/50 and you have to pay for the rental car. It does happen. Personally speaking, unless I had no other choice then I wouldn't be taking a rental car issued against my name on my credit card. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 Also, sucks to be your wife and your son, as they both now have to declare either a claim or an accident for the next few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 Also, sucks to be your wife and your son, as they both now have to declare either a claim or an accident for the next few years. Yep as apparently even a no fault claim ie someone else causing an accident which you are involved in has tonbe declared as it makes you more likely to have a future accident Sent from the golf club... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarty Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Yeah i had to pay a £1 for a loan car when my company car went in for repair after being hit in the car park at work. I think they do it to make sure the card you give them is valid. Its to cover the excess if you damage the rental and any speeding or parking tickets. Also it's for when the other party turns around and claims it's your fault, then the fault goes 50/50 and you have to pay for the rental car. It does happen. Personally speaking, unless I had no other choice then I wouldn't be taking a rental car issued against my name on my credit card. I contacted my insurer and they confirmed that the £1 deposit was only so enterprise had my card details in the result of parking/speeding fines and I refused to pay. I asked what would happen if the other driver or their insurer refused that it was there fault and my insurer told me that under no circumstances would enterprise charge me a penny for the hire car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEUS Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 I was hit last year and it was not my fault, tell your insurance you want to change your mind and not claim through them but just make it "notification only". Then let the other sides insurance handle the repair for you. This way your insurance company will not need to get involved and next year your premium will not go up, you will have to declare the accident but then say it was notification only and no claim was made by you. I did this and this year my premium went down 50 quid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarty Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 (edited) I was hit last year and it was not my fault, tell your insurance you want to change your mind and not claim through them but just make it "notification only". Then let the other sides insurance handle the repair for you. This way your insurance company will not need to get involved and next year your premium will not go up, you will have to declare the accident but then say it was notification only and no claim was made by you. I did this and this year my premium went down 50 quid! Good advice, they told me that my wife's insurance would not be affected at renewal. But I suspect that will not be the case. Weird thing with my current insurer is that last year was the first year we took insurance with them, we got great prices for both cars. On renewal the premium more than doubled but not a thing on our policy changed. I shopped about and decided to get a new quote as a new customer from my existing insurance company, I couldn't believe that it was around 30% of our renewal and a good bit cheaper than the first year. I asked them why this happened and all they could say was "that sometimes happens" and "maybe we have reviewed your postcode". I was annoyed so i just took the new policies and let the renewal laps. So much for customer loyalty. Edited May 4, 2014 by stuarty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEUS Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 One other thing is don't use Just Car Clinic if they say that's their approved repairer. They had 5 attempts to fix light bumper damage on my zed and in the end I had to get the regional manager involved who agreed they had ballsed it up. Awful company. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarty Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Yeah i had to pay a £1 for a loan car when my company car went in for repair after being hit in the car park at work. I think they do it to make sure the card you give them is valid. Its to cover the excess if you damage the rental and any speeding or parking tickets. Also it's for when the other party turns around and claims it's your fault, then the fault goes 50/50 and you have to pay for the rental car. It does happen. Personally speaking, unless I had no other choice then I wouldn't be taking a rental car issued against my name on my credit card. Been thinking about what you said and your probably correct, no matter what the insurance company says regarding enterprise courtesy car. I also read a few reviews. One guy had a no fault claim in which an American tourist backed out of a parking space in a hire car and smashed into him. He went through his insurance and as part of the process was offered an enterprise courtesy car. He took it paid a small deposit and signed the agreement, which was a financial agreement. The only automatic car they could give him was a Mercedes, so he happily took it. Then the other party refused to accept liability and he now has a £1700 bill!! The other reason why I'm not going to take an enterprise courtesy car is that my wife simply does not need it. She can use my car and I can drive my son around for a day or two until the approved repairer picks up the mini and gives us there courtesy car. That way the other drivers insurer isn't getting charged over the top for enterprises courtesy car and no doubt a load of "admin" charges. It's all these things that in my opinion push up the cost of everyone's insurance. I know it really won't make a difference but I'll feel better about it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarty Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 I've been reading some horrific reviews of my insurers approved repairer. Does anyone know if i can refuse to use them and use BMW or someone who i trust instead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEUS Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 I was given the option of using my own choice of repairer but went with the approved one, big mistake! I'm sure you will be allowed to choose your own. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 DO NOT use the approved repair centre. They have no interest in doing anything properly. 3 times I've used one now......6 times the cars have gone back. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 (edited) DO NOT use the approved repair centre. They have no interest in doing anything properly. 3 times I've used one now......6 times the cars have gone back. On the other hand I used the approved repair centre when I had my zed and they made a superb job of fixing it up when Azure is very difficult colour to match Sent from the golf club... Edited May 4, 2014 by spursmaddave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsexr Posted May 4, 2014 Share Posted May 4, 2014 I took the rental as it was a car for work but privately i would not bother. You can get damage waiver but it costs extra as uaual. My fear factor is if someone keys the rental car then you will have to pay. Its not a bad idea to go to a main dealer for the make of car as they have a reputation to maintain so the repair should be a good standard. Also tell them your concerns before they start and insist on genuine panels if they are being replaced. Trouble with insurance repairs its all about them fixing to the price the insurance are paying and not about doing the best job they can. Its very frustrating as you being the innocent party think your going to get a great repair and most times you dont. If you know a good body shop that will fix it to the standard you expect then insist its done by them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuarty Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 (edited) DO NOT use the approved repair centre. They have no interest in doing anything properly. 3 times I've used one now......6 times the cars have gone back. I told my insurer I wanted to use a BMW bodyshop. They said thats fine but they may end up sub contracting the work out to someone else anyway. I'm going to speak to my neighbour who is the sales manager from the mini dealership we bought the car from and ask him to arrange for some estimates and give me the guarantee the mini won't leave there premises! I understand mini bodyshop might not be better than anywhere else but then I have the bonus of complaining to BMW customer service if things don't go to plan. Edited May 5, 2014 by stuarty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraziekatz1 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I had someone drive into my Pug earlier this year while it was parked and unattended. I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to witness the event so the other driver had to take full responsibility. I reported it to my insurance Co and it went down as a non fault claim (NCD not affected) & I picked the body shop repairer and my rental replacement, all at no cost to me. However when I went to renew my insurance I still had to declare it and it did make a small difference to my premium even though the accident had nothing to do with me. I think the only way around it might be to settle costs privately but in my case the damages came to over a grand so the other party couldn't afford to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowhereboy Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I was hit last year and it was not my fault, tell your insurance you want to change your mind and not claim through them but just make it "notification only". Then let the other sides insurance handle the repair for you. This way your insurance company will not need to get involved and next year your premium will not go up, you will have to declare the accident but then say it was notification only and no claim was made by you. I did this and this year my premium went down 50 quid! I work for an insurance broker and this is not the case with the 30+ insurers we use. When an accident is non fault the premium will be loaded equally weather or not the accident was settled through insurance. If a non fault claim goes ahead the information will show on policy as "non fault" even if the insurance didnt get involved it still gets noted in the same place as "non fault". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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