Q - What happens if I have a fully comprehensive policy but wish to claim direct from the third party?

A – Many people become understandably confused about the type of motor insurance policy that that they hold.

The most comprehensive type of policy is…’comprehensive insurance’ – which as the name implies means that you are insured for any damage caused to both yours, and if the accident was your fault, the other drivers vehicle. If the accident was the other drivers fault your insurance company will still pay for the cost of repairs to your vehicle (and then seek to recover the cost from the other insurance company themselves). However many comprehensive policies carry an ‘excess’ which means that you would have to pay the repairing garage the first £50, £100, £200 or £500 ie the amount that you agreed to when you took out the policy. We at GMC can recover this amount for you from the other drivers insurers if that accident was his/her fault.

However if the accident was obviously not their fault, some people prefer not to use their comprehensive policy at all and have the other drivers insurers pay for the total cost of repairs from the outset ie without troubling their own insurer. We here at GMC can assist you with this and furthermore if you are relatively local to our base in Blackpool, we can arrange for your repairs to be carried out by a local bodyshop. We can then manage the whole process for you and ensure that we recover the repair cost for you directly from the insurers of the other driver, without any inconvenience to you.

If you are insured on a Third Party, Fire & Theft (TPFT) or Third Party (TP) only basis, then this means that in the event of an accident your own insurance company will only pay for the repairs to the other vehicle involved in the accident – if it was your fault. They will not pay for the repairs to your vehicle.