Reply With QuoteHave you got legal cover with your car insurance policy, if you have it may be worth asking their advice?
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Hi All,
Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation and can provide any advice?
A trader came to repair our roof, and his ladder fell and damaged my car which was on our drive. He apologised and said he would pay for the damage.
I get one quote which he then said he would go through his liability insurance to pay for. He then says the insurance company needs 3 quotes which I duly get him. Since then he has ignored my calls and no response.
What’s the best course of action for this? Some have said I should hand things over to my car insurance company even though it was his fault and should be claimed on his public liability insurance (if he indeed has one), or should I pursue down the legal route, small claims court etc and get my car fixed in the meantime?
Any advice appreciated?
Cheers.
Have you got legal cover with your car insurance policy, if you have it may be worth asking their advice?
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The most efficient way of getting it sorted would be to inform your own car insurance company who would repair the vehicle and then reclaim your excess and the repair cost from his insurer. This would go down as a non-fault claim on your own insurance, or fault claim if your insurers are unable to subrogate.
Alternatively if you are able to get a copy of his insurance details, you could write to them directly keeping your own insurers out of it.
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How does that work? Unless the roofer pays out of his own pocket, the OP will have to inform his insurer. And even then he probably has to as part of the terms and conditions anyway, but that’s up to the individual making a call on how likely they are to get away with it.Originally Posted by mrsammyp
I would just inform my insurer, give them the roofer details and let them sort it.
How much damage are we talking about?
How long is 'since then'? I think that's quite key to how I would proceed, i.e. if it's been 48 hours I'd consider that stuff sometimes pops up and give the guy a bit more time.
Should one not inform ones insurance company within 24 hours?
It depends on the conditions of the insurance policy wording. If the OP's not going to make a claim under their own policy, the vehicle was on private property where RTA doesn't apply and no other vehicles were involved, then I personally see no reason to inform the insurance company unless there is no third party PL insurance in place and/or the OP doesn't want to go down the small court route.
What evidence do you have beyond words? Texts, CCTV,witnesses? If none you have little hope of recovering anything from the trader.
What makes you think the OP would claim against the tradesman’s insurer? The claim is against the tradesman- it’s then up to him to bring his insurer into it.
If he’s ignoring you, send him a letter before action, setting out your claim, and giving him 14 days to cough up or you’ll commence proceedings. If he fails to pay, use Moneyclaim online to begin a small claims action.
OP, has he actually admitted liability in writing?
Hi everyone, thanks for all your comments, very helpful.
For others who may have this problem in future, the most efficient way as mrsammyp has suggested it to inform the car insurance company.
They are sorting everything out for me and car is now booked in for repairs with a courtesy car.
Cheers to all those who replied.
You've probably chosen the route with the least headache. Glad you've managed to get it sorted!
Because a) any tradesman carrying out work on your property should be checked to make sure they hold adequate and sufficient PL insurance in place, and b) you've got far more luck going after their insurers than the tradesman themselves.
unfortunately it will go down as a claim on your motor insurance which could well effect your premiums on renewal :0(
I fail to see the worry that some have about claiming on insurance it seems pointless to me.
The only "worry" I can see is that it could effect premiums in the future as I pointed out above. I can understand that risk wouldn't be "pointless" to some?
Moving house could, not moving house could, getting older could, changing car could, not changing car could.
There are such a myriad of variables used to calculate insurance premiums that a non fault claim of this type seems unlikely to materially affect premiums
You think so? Is that based on first hand experience?
or it could have no effect whatsoever.
The whole point in taking out Comprehensive car insurance is so that if your car gets damaged in an incident, then the cost of repairs is taken care of by the insurer, less your excess, that's what you are paying your money for so why would you not use the service you have paid for?
Other than you agreed to notify them of any accidents or claims involving the vehicle as part of the legal contract you entered into with them when you took out the policy.
That depends on the specific language used within claims notification clause in the insurer policy wording, and that varies by insurer.
Yes
Because he could be worse off?
Making even a non-fault claim on your car insurance policy can affect future renewal quotes, it’s certainly something you need to remember to disclose for the next 3 years which is in and of itself a bit of a pita.
My decision in this scenario would entirely depend upon the cost of repairs, small cost pursue the Tradesman directly up to and including small claims court as necessary, otherwise claim on your car insurance, pay your excess and seek recovery of that plus any other out of pocket expenses.
The Tradesmen may be deliberately ignoring it because he is going to have to pay a portion of the damage himself, there is going to be a Third Party Property Damage Excess on his Public Liability policy minimally 250 quid I would have thought possibly a fair bit more.
So you’ve been in a situation where a business you have a claim against has failed to engage with you, but you’ve been able to find out who its insurers are and you’ve made a claim direct to the defendant’s insurers.
I’m calling bovine poopoo on that one.
Having spent the last 20 years or so in the insurance industry and specifically in the claims end I can tell you that making a claim can and often will effect your premiums. Regardless of fault or non fault . I don't think it is fair but that is how the industry works
Experience tells me it can...
Why would a traders insurance company even speak to you?
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
The side of my car was scraped by a bus when I was stationary at traffic lights.
At renewal, I was told my premium was increased because of the incident. Something like 15% higher from memory. And, assuming that persists for the 5 years you’re required to disclose at renewal, that’s potentially 75% of a year’s premium because some **** can’t drive their bus properly. I regard that as material because it’s 100% more than it would have cost me if the **** had kept to his side of the road.
Last edited by David_D; 23rd December 2021 at 20:50.
^^^ This, in a nutshell.
“Traders Insurers” speak to / deal with Third Party’s or more often their Legal Representatives on a daily basis, albeit primarily in relation to injury claims but not exclusively.
Of course they would
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They are under no obligation whatsoever - you are not the insured.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I didn’t say they were
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From experience, in such a situation most Insurers would engage courteously with the Third Party, take basic information without prejudice and contact their Policyholder to see whether it is a matter that they are aware of and wish to notify as a potential claim.
Which is why they have no obligation to engage with you.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Most Contractors Liability policies provide for an indemnity to parties other than the Policyholder, in those circumstances I’m certain they would enter a dialogue.
Of course, but the indemnity is there to protect the policy holder.
I think (and I am guilty) of 'hairs being split'.
I wish the OP a positive outcome.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
potentially...
How much was an alternative quote from another provider with nondisclosure and disclosure?
How much of the estimated 15% was a annual increase for staying with the same provider?
That is the nature of insurance those who make a claim are judged to be a different risk than those who haven’t, obviously, apart from those who are judged to be a greater risk based on other criteria changes since their last renewal.
Insurance companies are always looking at there books and evaluating their risk profile, sometimes folks make a claim and see a very minimal if any uptick when they re-insure, others see a significant uptick and that is not necessarily because that’s the true cost of the insurance but because the insurance company has a lower interest in covering your risk, you shouldn’t take it personally.
Along with the obvious difference between a ladder being dropped by a tradesman onto a car parked on their clients driveway while undertaking a contract and a rta between a stationary car and a moving bus...
Last edited by Captain Morgan; 24th December 2021 at 01:57.
And this is the point the trader can say it wasnt me or other such if there is no proof. the presence of a dent only proves that a dent is present.
the claim has the costs for a courtesy car as well now, your premiums are going up next year. You might want to investigate the cost of your claim now.
You’re absolutely right, that’s what courts are for.
When in court it only matters what you can prove, what you know is worthless.
Guy bumped his head on the boot of my taxi. The boot was closing electronically and he decided to reach back into the boot as it was closing to grab a piece of paper (receipt?) and he bumped his head on the boot on the way back out. I asked him was he ok and he said yes.
Fast forward a couple of months and my insurance call me asking about my “accident”. At first I had no idea what they were talking about and then they explained a little more and the penny dropped.
At no time whatsoever did I give my insurance details to this third party, yet somehow they obtained my insurance details, contacted them and in the time since, despite me telling the insurance company I’m happy to go to court, my insurance company has paid out.
So I now have a claim against my policy for someone being clumsy.
I didn’t say they had an obligation to, but (as somebody else mentioned) they will most likely contact their policyholder to find out what has happened.
If in this case they believe it is a slam shut case then they make a decision whether to settle rather than incur additional legal fees.
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There are quite a few differing factors all being rolled into one in this thread. An alleged Personal Injury claim will be dealt with differently to Third Party Property Damage and any claim involving an RTA would also be handled differently.
In the case of damage as described in the OP’s post, if the Policyholder didn’t want his Public Liability Insurer to deal with the matter they would quite happily let him get on with it. In fact if it was not notified to them in a timely manner and the Tradesman asked them to deal with it at a later date they would almost certainly deny coverage.
Likewise, after 30 years of handling claims at Cat loss level, and setting up one of the UK's largest Direct Insurers, I'd like to think I've also got a pretty good idea of how the industry works as well
Yes, making a claim can result in a premium increase but not always, as several members of the forum have previously testified to.
Feel free to PM me if you want and we can swap war stories, it's likely we have a lot of mutual connections in the market.
Exactly this ... great explanation.
I'd add that premium increases, regardless of claims also often relates to the type of risk (customer, risk type, the item being insured itself) and market that the company wants to attract or write business for at a particular time, the number of policies they want running at any one time, or the underwriting capacity they have.
So as a very simplistic explanation, in motor insurance terms, if a company decides they want to change the % of say Ford Sierra's they want to insure, because they can make more money by insuring more Vauxhall Cavaliers, then they simply increase the premiums charged to insure Sierra's to make that happen.
Yes. That’s how they get away with it. I asked the “agent” and they said it would have been X without the reported damage and Y with. Apparently the fact that I’d been hit made me a greater risk!
That’s because statistically you could be, best not to take it personally and see is solely as a business transaction.
Insurances companies hold immense amounts of data and their actuaries use that data to maximise profits and minimise risk for the company while keeping revenue coming in by maintaining competitive policy prices for the risks they wish to accept.
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