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Car accident - settle privatley and not though insurance - could they then do a claim??

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choc lover | 19:31 Mon 12th Apr 2010 | Law
5 Answers
If you have a car accident and agree to settle outside of insurance..they send you a quote and state on covering letter that they agree to settle outside of insurance, you pay through bank so you have proof...could they in the future just do the claim anyway???
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Simple answer:
No

More detailed answer:
Your insurance is there in order to ensure that anyone who sues you for loss, injury or damage will get paid out. (In practice, of course, insurers usually pay up without the need for the other party, or their insurers, to actually sue for their money). If you've already paid full compensation, the other party no longer has the right to sue you, so they can't make a valid claim against your insurance.

Chris
... but you need to be sure it was agreed clearly as being full and final settlement of all loss, injury, damage.
And you still need to declare it on car insurance applications
Question Author
Thank you very much!
There is another scenario not quite covered by Chris’s answer.

Driver A (you) has an accident with driver B, which is driver A’s fault. Driver A agrees to pay for the damage to driver B’s car without troubling the insurance companies. All perfectly legal and OK. However, driver B, who has a comprehensive policy which covers damage to his own vehicle regardless of who is to blame, also claims under that policy for damage to his car. So he trousers your cheque and then gets his car repaired courtesy of his own policy. Not quite cricket.

The difficulty for him may arise when his insurers try to recover their outlay from either you or your insurers. You will obviously say that you have paid him for his repairs and further enquiries may be made.
Question Author
but if they were to then claim on their own insurance for damage to their own car... and I have a letter saying they agreed that once I paid then it has been settled, would that be enough to cover me?

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Car accident - settle privatley and not though insurance - could they then do a claim??

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