Learner driver Insurance - using Claim's company

[tango123]

I was allowing my son, who is a learner driver, to practice in my car in order to top up his normal driving lessons.

 

He purchased a month long "short term learner driver " insurance policy via an insurance broker to be able to drive my car.

 

Unfortunately we had a situation where another driver scraped the side of our stationary car while manoeuvring past and scarpered without leaving his insurance details despite telling me he was going to pull over to exchange details. Fortunately, we got video of vehicle and an independent witness.

 

We reported the matter to the police and got a reference number and also reported the matter to the insurance broker straight away.

 

When contacting them we got put through to some claims handling company which presumably works alongside the insurance broker.

 

The claims handler seems to be quite eager to go after the "fleeing" driver as a "no fault" claim and emphasising the fact that there wouldn't be any cost to us.

 

However I’m wondering if there would be any issues with regards using this or any claims management or should I just make the repairs myself privately and not make a claim in case his premiums go up in the future.

 

Also do I need to notify my own insurer about the incident?

[unclebulgaria67]

It makes sense to go after the fleeing driver as their Insurance company may just want to settle the claim quickly, as you have evidence mentioned in your post.

 

Then the claim is on another person's record and less of a problem for your Son. 

 

If you tried to handle this yourself by contacting other driver you may end up having problems and then if you later tried to involve the Insurers they may refuse to help.

 

Who was actually sat in the drivers seat at time of accident or just before this accident if you had left the car ?  Whoever was in control or last in control of the car would claim against their Insurance.  

 

Let the claims management company deal with this. This is why you pay Insurance premiums.  They are correct that trying to get the third party driver or their Insurance company to pay would be most economic option.

[tango123]

Following on from the above, by way of update, I let a claims management company deal with the matter. A company who seemed to promise everything but ended up delivering very little.

 

My son after chasing the management company for a few months finally got a response from them saying “We have received correspondence from the third party insurers including an engineers report for their clients vehicle showing that their has been no damage to their vehicle. At present unless we can be provided with evidence of the accident occurring we will be unable to provide any services and will have to refer you to your comprehensive insurance policy to fix and damages to your vehicle.”

 

We provided the claims company with all the relevant information at the beginning including pictures of damage to our vehicle, video recording from a third party dpd driver who witnessed the incident and police report. Despite this claims company have now closed the case. I don’t think they thought it was much of an earner for them to warrant any further effort.

 

However I don’t want to let this fleeing driver of the hook.

 

What are my options or shall I just forget it?

[unclebulgaria67]

If you have damage to your vehicle and evidence, then choice is to use own Insurance or sue the third party driver, first issuing letter before claim and then issue County Court claim online.

[tango123]

Thanks for you response. Also I was wondering if it is worth going to another claims management company or to make a claim on my son's legal cover that came with the learner driver's insurance? However as he has now just passed his driving test I don't it to impact his no claims and future insurance going forwards.

[unclebulgaria67]

The issue for a claim management company is that with the third party appearing to want to dispute the claim, is what would they gain from dealing with the claim ?  Would they even cover their costs ?

 

You could use the legal cover under the learner policy as  that is normally a separate optional extra  insurance.  But normally the legal expenses provider has to be made aware of the claim within a certain time period, as detailed in the policy terms.

 

You may be better to send the third party a letter before claim giving them 21 days to settle the claim (give them details of the damage cost) and what evidence you have available. Suggest that they contact their Insurers about this. And if they do not pay you the amount stated you will issue a County Court claim against them and will include the costs of making the claim.

[tango123]

I don't have any of his contact details of the driver apart from the name of his insurance company which was divulged to me by the claims company. I presume the claims company will have all the details but so far have not sent anything to me despite asking

 

[unclebulgaria67]

If you have the third parties Insurance companies details, you could send the letter to them. One copy for the Insurers and one copy to send to their policyholder.  It would help if you at least had the third parties name and their policy number.   The claims management company should provide this.