NCB - can I reimburse for RTA costs?

[Shelley181146]

A friend had a very low speed bump with costs approximately £800 to replace plastic bumper on a small Ford car. They intended to pay privately but due to sudden bereavement within the family they had other costs and emotional things to deal with so let the third party go through the insurance. However, they did get the T.P to provide estimates first to know the exact damage they were claiming to protect escalating the claim. One of the garages advised T.P that they can claim for the child seat even though it wasn't damaged or affected in anyway by the collisison.

 

Having looked this up with the safety issues surrounding replacing child car seats they do say for very minor incidients that insurance companies dont replace them so they're hopeful that it wont incur an additional £250 to replace their child seat, as they said it cost.

 

What my friend would like to know is, are they able to reimburse their insurance company with the costs involved in order to reinstate their NCB? If this is possible, is there a timeframe which this has to be paid?

 

Seems rather expensive to lose 2 years NCB when accident costs were only about £1000 so they are trying to limit the financial damage for the future insurance premiums.

Edited September 11, 2019 by Shelley181146

[unclebulgaria67]

Short answer is no. 

 

And if they were able to do so, the claim costs may be much higher, if the third party is claiming for personal injury. Your friend would not be aware, if the third party is claiming for say whiplash. And once your friend accepted responsibility for the claim liability, they are then accepting whatever the claim value turns out to be.

 

Your friend just has to accept that the third party will claim whatever they are able to through their own Insurance and your friends Insurers will reimburse the third parties Insurers the relevant sums, once they are happy with the details of claim.

 

 

 

 

[Mwynci]

I think Unclebulgaria is thinking about an ongoing claim, but, y

13 hours ago, Shelley181146 said:

 

 

What my friend would like to know is, are they able to reimburse their insurance company with the costs involved in order to reinstate their NCB? If this is possible, is there a timeframe which this has to be paid?

 

 

 

Once the claim is settled and the underwriters are satisfied no further claim will come in, yes they can. no real time frame as every claim is different.  Unless there is noise of a further claim an underwriter will close the claim down once all known costs are settled.

 

 

[Ethel Street]

Be aware though that even if the NCB is preserved it doesn't mean that premium won't go up. It's regularly reported on here that insurers increase premiums despite them not having paid anything out, even for no-fault accidents. Reimbursing the insurer's claims costs won't delete the accident from their records and it will still be recorded as 'fault' accident.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Ethel Street

[unclebulgaria67]

27 minutes ago, Mwynci said:

I think Unclebulgaria is thinking about an ongoing claim, but, y

 

Once the claim is settled and the underwriters are satisfied no further claim will come in, yes they can. no real time frame as every claim is different.  Unless there is noise of a further claim an underwriter will close the claim down once all known costs are settled.

 

 

 

The Insurers may not allow the policyholder to repay them the claim amount, if it is not their general policy to deviate from the normal process. The Insurers will no doubt have incurred admin costs in dealing with the claim and therefore just paying the third parties claim amount may not be satisfactory to them.

 

From my experience, although this is not bang up date, is that most Insurers will not accept repayment of the claim amount, in lieu of not reducing the NCB amount.

[Shelley181146]

Thank you your responses. I respect this could be a bit if a grey area, and that Insurance companies will vary but it gives them something to think about. I will suggest they leave it awhile to see if the claim gets closed and then ask the question.

 

I know many, many years ago it was feasible and they didn't penalise you afterwards like they do today. But I know they love making money........

 

Thanks again.