Making an accident claim

As your representative, we’ll do all we can to promote your case, but sometimes the evidence available doesn’t abide by either driver or rider’s account. In this situation, all parties will need to take some responsibility, which may affect the total costs recovered and your no-claims discount.

In the event that an accident isn’t your fault and you have suffered an injury, the Legal Expenses Cover that’s included in your policy as standard may have been activated. Your claim will then be passed to our carefully chosen claims and legal service providers, the details of this will be discussed with you.

This service from Carole Nash is provided free of charge, but you’re still free to contact your own solicitor should you prefer.

When making a claim, your no-claims discount (NCD) may be affected, unless you decided to protect it when you first took out your policy. If the incident in question is not your fault, and all costs are recovered by your insurer, then your NCD could be re-instated.

There may be other circumstances that affect your NCD, such as theft or accidents involving an unknown driver/rider but for peace of mind our friendly claims team are always happy to help.

You can find more details on how much your excess will be in your policy information. This is something you’ve agreed to pay when you took out your policy, as a contribution towards the cost of the claim.

Your excess must be paid even if you weren’t to blame for the accident, but you might be able to claim this back – your claim handler will be able to go through this option with you.

At Carole Nash, we have specially selected an approved repairer to help as part of our service for you. If you use an approved repairer, you won’t need to source two quotes, saving you plenty of time.

If your vehicle is stolen, you must report this to the police. We won’t be able to process your claim unless you do this.

If your vehicle isn’t recovered, your insurer will make you a settlement offer. Any photos of your vehicle can help with this process, so be sure to provide us with them. Modifications might also affect this, so have any photos or documents regarding this ready.

As with a total loss situation, you’ll need to send us your vehicle’s V5, MOT certificate and service records if it still isn’t recovered.

If it’ll end up costing more to fix your vehicle than it would to buy it, your insurer may decide it’s beyond economical repair – known as a total loss. In this circumstance, an engineer will inspect it to put a value to it, and you’ll need to make sure you remove all your personal belongings too. You’ll then have to send us your vehicle’s V5, and the most up-to-date MOT certificate and service records.

If you want to keep it still, you’ll be able to discuss this with your claim handler, although the purchase of total loss vehicles is governed by the Association of British Insurer’s Code of Practice. This code will govern the process to prevent severely damaged vehicles from returning to the road.

This refers to losses incurred by you that are not recovered by your insurance policy, such as your excess. If the accident in question wasn’t your fault, our claims team will be able to inform you if your Legal Expenses Cover has been activated.

This is included as standard in all Carole Nash car and motorcycle insurance policies, and we may pass your claim onto our carefully chosen claims and legal service providers, who can look into the extent of your uninsured losses claim to see if anything is reclaimable.