Hi all,
I had my old crappy wagon parked at the shops and this lady came out of a restaurant with her mum and as they drove out of the car park she lost control of her car as she was rushing to turn right, anyway she smashed into my wagon . Lucky I was not in it !
Well has anybody had any experience with this type of thing.
Im wondering how long it takes before her insurance company sends me the cheque for the damages?
From my understanding I get a quote and give it to her insurance company , my car has no insurance its an old bomb.
It has insurance if I damage someone's elses car , but not the damage on my car.
My cars only worth about 500 bucks
Pete

As far as I know you need to get your car repaired and then send the at-fault driver a letter of demand to cover the cost and attach a copy of the invoice from the panel beater to support your claim. The at-fault driver then gives the letter of demand and the invoice to their insurer, who would then send you payment.

I am not sure how quickly this happens though. Insurance companies have a bad reputation for paying out claims to third parties and they do it because they can - Joe Average can't afford to make them act in a more appropriate way.

Hi Brad,
Its not worth repairing.
The damage is far more than my car is worth.
Her car is not too good either and she had her elderly mother in her car who was a bit upset, which was the big worry at the time.

If she hasn't given you a claim number then you need to send her a letter of demand.

Which insurance company is she with?

Haven't heard of a cheque just being handed over. The usual procedure is that you get a repair quote and the insurance company's assessor checks it out.

Tread carefully. $500 car, they will write it off on you.

Coles!
I didn't even know they did insurance.

My car was really on its last legs before this happened

What happens is she contacts her insurance company and gets a claim number. Then gives that number to you. You then give that number to your panel beater and he provides the insurance company with a quote corresponding to that claim number. Do not pay anything yourself. And don't worry about the value of your car .
I have just been through this process this week. How many valve radios were in the car lol.

Coles is just a re-seller. The actual underwriter is IAG.

She needs to call this number:

https://financialservices.coles.com.au/insurance/car-insurance/make-a-claim#claim

Funny thing is, this has happened twice with this car and both times I was not in it and both times they hit the drivers door.
But this time all central locking was damaged and you cant open the car

Get it fixed at her (insurance) expense, just as you would have to fork out if it was the other way around.

Thanks everybody .
I will look into it.
The lady was apologetic and and I could see she was honest about the damage so I just hope they pay up fast

Ask her for the claim number. Without that there will be no payout (unless she pays you herself).

Ok G , I will get onto it, you have seen my "classic wagon" its more like an abandoned vehicle than a proper car !
Thanks pete

It might be a $500 clunker, but It's replacement value is $1500, that's your story and stick to it, they don't know it's on its last legs, It was a good reliable car, even if it's had more hits than Elvis! You've been inconvenienced through no fault of your own and left stuck without a car, so the only acceptable outcome is another reliable car, whatever the cost.