How to claim on someone elses insurance

felim

Hey there, I think this might be my first post on here. In any case, just wondering if anyone has any tips on my situation.

Yesterday morning a dump truck hit the side of my car and the driver admitted liability. Narrow road and I stopped and pulled in as far as I could to let him pass, he got half way past and without checking his mirror (he admitted all this), assumed I had kept going and pulled right, catching my car with the trailer section of his truck. I took his name, number and insurance details, he took just my name and number.

I'm currently waiting on a final quote for the repair but I expect it to be in or around 2 or 2.5K (new back door, new back quarter panel, respray of same and respray of front door, mirror and back bumper, plus rear wheel alignment..on a 04 Mazda3).

I think the truck driver is going to have a heart attack when he hears this figure, it didn't look that bad at first glance. He said it wasn't his truck and he'd have to speak with the owner but that he'd probaby keep it off his insurance. I think he'll change his mind about that when he hears the cost.

So, my question is, how do I claim from his insurers...do I just ring them up? Their website (Axa) only seems to cater for claims by someone who holds a policy with them. I'm thinking that they will insist in getting my insurance details, so that'll get my insurers involved too right? How fast do they have to get this sorted? I had intended to drop the car in tommorrow but if I have to wait for an assessor that'll be another while. Will they cover a replacement car for me while mine is being repaired or does that depend on his policy?

Thanks for any info.

prospect

Report it to your insurers with all the details of the accident and the other driver. They take care of the rest.

P


P.S. Sorry to hear you had an accident and Welcome to boards.ie/motorvehicular yapping section.

michaelanthony

Ring up his insurance company's claim department. That's what I did when someone crashed into the side of my car this week.

Stark

You can either claim off your own insurance (if you have comprehensive) and let your insurance company do the work, or you can ring his insurance company and tell them you're claiming off them. I went for Option B before when I got hit by someone with Eagle Star insurance and was sorted out within a week with no hassle regarding my own NCB. Not sure how good AXA would be to claim directly off. My parents claimed comprehensively off their own AXA insurance before when another driver hit them and it took AXA 2 or 3 years to sort it out fully. Meanwhile they couldn't go elsewhere for insurance because they didn't have an NCB while the claim was being sorted out.

felim

Thanks for the replies, lads.

I got the quote at 1819 and told the driver of the truck, he put me on to the owner of the truck who proceeded to change the story and accuse me of lying. I told him I didn't want to deal with him anymore and I would be going to his insurers. I notified both his and my insurance and I'm waiting to see what his insurance company come back with. The guy I spoke with at Axa was very helpful and pretty annoyed that the owner of the truck hadn't reported the accident but obviously if your man gives a different story they'll have to back him up until an investigator sees the car. It's quite obvious from the damage that I was hit and not the other way around. If they have to go through the investigator route I'll put it on my comprehensive policy and let the insurance companies battle it out. Just a little p*ssed off that I can't get my car fixed yet. Oh well, such is life, at least no-one was hurt. Again, thanks for the replies.

Páid

I had a very similar accident with a Dublin City Council truck where their driver was a fault. He did not admit it at the scene and gave a different account of the accident to their insurance company. I went for option B (sue his insurance company) which took about 18 months. I would go this route again as my NCB was not affected. If you claim off your insurance company it will be and they could in theory decide it was your fault.

Do you have any witnesses to the fact that he admitted liability? Did you get it in writing? Do you have any photos of the accident?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Don't forget that on many policies nowadays your NCB is protected and unaffected by a claim. Check it out.

felim

Yeah, I've got protected NCB, so I should be alright either way, just might have to fork out my €250 excess.