When another driver causes a crash, you have two ways to get your car fixed: claim on your own comprehensive policy (excess, claim history, their timeline), or claim directly against the at-fault driver's insurer. The direct route is the one most drivers don't realise they have. Here's how it works.
Your right to claim directly
A person whose negligence damages your property is liable for your reasonable losses: that's ordinary law, not an insurance product. In practice the at-fault driver's insurer steps in to handle it. Your recoverable losses typically include repairs, towing and reasonable storage, and loss of use, which is where a replacement vehicle comes from.
The direct claim, step by step
- 1 Gather your evidence: the other car's rego, driver details, photos, witnesses, dashcam. The details checklist covers it.
- 2 Identify their insurer. Get it from the at-fault driver directly, along with their name and, best of all, a claim number once they lodge. Tracing an insurer from a rego alone is slow and unreliable unless you have legal muscle doing the chasing.
- 3 Lodge a third-party claim. Call the at-fault insurer's claims line and say you're claiming as a not-at-fault third party. You'll get a claim number. Keep it on everything.
- 4 Provide your statement and evidence. Stick to facts. You're describing the collision, not negotiating yet.
- 5 Damage assessment. They'll want quotes or an inspection. You're generally entitled to use your own repairer at reasonable rates.
- 6 Liability decision, then approvals. Once they accept fault, repairs are approved and hire becomes claimable.
- 7 Settlement. Repairs paid, hire covered, car back. In a clean claim, nothing touches your own policy.
Where it gets harder than it looks
- Silence. Third-party claimants aren't the insurer's customer: files can sit until someone chases. That someone is you.
- Liability games. "Our insured tells a different story" can stall a claim for weeks. See how disputes resolve.
- Rate and duration pushback. Insurers routinely argue hire cars were too big or kept too long. What's reasonable is a constant negotiation.
- Quote shopping. Two-quote requests and lowball assessments push you toward the cheapest repair, not the correct one.
DIY vs handing it to an accident management company
| Category | Doing it yourself | Through Crash Assist |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | No excess (it's their insurer), but your hours, upfront hire costs and recovery risk | No excess, and no cost to you if eligible: recovery risk sits with us |
| The chasing | You, on hold, during business hours | Us: it's literally the job |
| Hire car | You arrange and fund it, then argue for reimbursement | Like-for-like car delivered, billed to the claim |
| Repairs | You coordinate quotes, assessments and approvals | Done at our own repair facilities, assessment prepared to insurer standard |
| Leverage | One-off claimant | A team that runs these claims every week |
The honest version
You can absolutely run a direct claim yourself: straightforward, liability-admitted claims settle fine DIY. Where we earn our keep is everything else: disputed fault, slow insurers, hire-rate arguments, and the simple fact that you have a job that isn't 'insurance correspondence'. Checking eligibility costs nothing either way.
Quick answers
Do I need the other driver's claim number?
It helps a lot. The gold standard: have the at-fault driver phone their insurer and lodge the claim at the scene, then note the claim number they're given. Once a claim is lodged they can't 'forget' the accident or stop answering calls. Chasing that lodgement weeks later is a genuine hassle. Couldn't get one? Call us early anyway, but know that a rego alone is rarely enough to get an insurer moving; the first job becomes pinning down the driver's details, their insurer and that lodgement.
How long does the at-fault insurer have to respond?
There's no statutory response clock for third-party property claims, which is exactly why persistent, documented follow-up matters. Insurers do move; they move faster when someone keeps the file warm.
I already claimed on my own policy: can I still recover my excess?
Generally yes. When your insurer recovers from the at-fault side, your excess is typically refunded. Ask your insurer about recovery status, and see do I pay an excess? for how the pieces fit.
About this guide: general information for NSW drivers, prepared by the Crash Assist team, not legal, financial or insurance advice. Accidents turn on their facts; for an answer specific to yours, get in touch, it costs nothing to ask.