hi, i was involved in a slow speed accident, my car drives perfectly and doesn't even have a dint. the only damage is to the osf bumper and headlight which has a few scratches nothing more. sadly the car i hit a mercedes had slightly more damage and he claimed through my insurance...

my excess is a whopping £600 (£250 voluntary and £350 compulsory that I was unaware of), and my insurer (swift cover) told me to pay my £600 excess to the garage which is repairing my vehicle (they told me about an authorised repairer).

i had the inspection on my vehicle about 2 weeks ago by the repairer and was told the cost of the repairs was only about £220. I rang the third party but unfortunately he had already claimed and the cost was about £1200.00 so it is still cheaper to go through my insurer.

my question relates to the fact that it is now over 2 weeks since i was contacted by the repairer who said he would get an exact price for me and call back and arrange a date for booking in my vehicle. I have heard nothing since, now I know this is cheeky but I have a feeling that if i layed low the repairer would never contact me, in essence meaning i don't pay my £600 excess.

Now there are 2 issues here:-

1) my car is perfectly driveable and i can arrange to have the repairs done myself at a snippet of the cost however will the insurer eventually catch up me and demand the £600 excess?

2) the moral issue - i have everything recorded including the conversations with the call centre staff clearly telling me what i needed to do next, but obviously i am being ignorant by leaving this matter unresolved surely and would i held accountable?

thanks for any advice,

Chris.

hmmm...

don't quite know how this will work out.... you could contact your insurer, and say you don't want to claim, and will get the repaire done yourself...

I believe they will allow this, as the excess should only apply to repaires to your car... they should pay ALL the repairs to the merc....

I think this is correct, but I'm sure someone more knowledgble about insurance will post

The excess only applies to your vehicle. Your insurers will cover the cost of the third party damage in full.

Even if they have claimed off my insurance including a curtosy car?

My understanding is that you only pay the excess when *you* claim and the insurance company will pay the repairers the cost of the repair less your excess. It is then up to the repairer to claim the excess off you....

Could be wrong though.

Chris

so the general consensus is that if i retract the claim against my vehicle i don't pay any excess as my insurance company will pay for the third party repairs on my behalf whether i claim or not. i am aware i will loose my ncb, but that will mean a lot less than £600 !

so the general consensus is that if i retract the claim against my vehicle i don't pay any excess as my insurance company will pay for the third party repairs on my behalf whether i claim or not. i am aware i will loose my ncb, but that will mean a lot less than £600 !

Correct.

what scooby chris is saying is correct!!

Another tip... ditch Swiftcover.

They are carp... I went through a hell of a game with them to get my car repaired and reclaim costs after someone reversed into me last year.

Looking back I wish I'd just have paid for the repair to the vehicle myself and never even contacted them...

As far as Swiftcoever are concerned in (my view), the only benefit of their cover is it allow's you to be road legal and tax your car

sorted it!

no excess to pay for me

now i just have to have it repaired myself for the small sum of £1-200 max.

Thanks everyone!!!!

Chris.