Friday, June 12, 2009

Let your insurance company handle the recovery

Dear Mr Tan,
My parked vehicle was hit by another vehicle. A eye-witness left me a letter stating the number of the vehicle involved, but did not provide any contact information. I made a police report and went to my insurance's authorized workshop to claim third party against the other vehicle.

They recommended me to claim against my own insurance. As i have "no" eye-witnesses, they say the claim is highly improbable and i will eventually have to fork out from my own pocket or claim against my own insurance if i were to wait for the third party claim.

What should I do? Employ a lawyer to pursue? Repair and claim against my own insurance policy?

I decided to claim third party first and leave the car in my car park while waiting for the result? Is it advisable?

REPLY
It is better for you to claim under your own policy and let the insurance company handle the recovery from the other party.

As the witness is not prepared to give his or her identity, it will be difficult for you to prove that the specified vehicle had caused the damage, unless you are able to get an investigator to inspect their other vehicle before it is repaired. This is, as you can see, quite a lot of hassle.

So, leave it to your insurance company to handle this matter.