Car insurance and closing a claim???

[chriz1]

Hi all a Q for you all if you can help me,

 

ive recntly had an incident on Sunday where a woman squeezed through a gap that wasnt there causig a small scratch to my rear arch i tyold the lady give me a fiver for paint and say no more she refused and said go through insurance so i phoned mine (swiftcover.com)up told then what happened,they opened a claim against her,in the meantime i have spoke to the woman we have agreed to drop the claims to save hassle and sort it privately,i told my insurance this and they said they need conformation from her so needs to ring mine up and say its sorted.I asked her to do this but she said i wouldnt bother just leave it which says to me she hasnt rang her insurance in the first case or she would want to get it sorted too.

she agreed too ring them and tell them in the end but she hasnt done and i get the impression she wont either

 

My renewal is due at the end of the month and from the original quote for renwal has gone up £200 and i have lost all my no claims off seven years due to this.

Just wondering if you can advise me on what i can do and where i stand can i close a claim whats the procedure ?

Thanks all

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes of course you can close the claim, as there does not appear to be any chance of the 3rd party trying to claim off your policy and you want to sort it out privately.

 

In regard to the renewal, once the claim is removed, then the Insurers will have to issue a revised renewal notice.

 

If they won't remove the claim, then all you should lose is 2 years off the max discount the Insurers allow. So should not go down to zero.

 

You could threaten the lady concerned with taking this to solicitors with the intention of using the courts instead. To avoid this, all she would need to do is phone or write to your Insurers.

[chriz1]

But do the insrance company need her say so to close the claim?

they are saying they do but when i rang yesterday the lady on the phone said she will pass a note onto her team leader to close the case,im getting 2 different rules from the same insurance company and dont know where i stand.

Im just worried i will lose my hard earned NCB for a claim that neither party are claiming for...

[unclebulgaria67]

Ideally Insurers would want the 3rd party to confirm no claim, as it not unknown for a 3rd party to suddenly change the story of what happened and then make a claim. Someone recently had a situation in a car park, where a 3rd party in a similar accident situation, told her Insurers a story, backed up by witnesses and then tried it on with a personal injury claim.

 

Sign of the times when you can't really trust people, to be honourable.

 

Speak to your Insurers again. If they definately want confirmation of no claim from the 3rd party, contact them to advise them of the situation, in line with my previous post.

[Mossycat]

Ring your insurers and have them mark the claim 'For record purposes only'.

 

That will enable them to close their file without the third party confirming anything, your no claims will then be intact.

 

HOWEVER, please be aware that if at some future date the third party makes a claim against you for this incident then your insurers will not do anything on your behalf and you are on your own.

 

Mossy