Had an accident (need advice)

rubberduck

rubberduck

rubberduck

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After 10 years of driving I've had my first accident :( It was my fault and I have exchanged details with the guy and after asked how much he wanted to settle without getting insurance involved.

He just called and he said he has spoken to a 'mechanic friend' who will repair the damage for £600. Should I pay him or get the insurance company involved?

He was driving a beat up M reg Vauxall Astra 1.4 estate and he did get a fair whack on the front wing which will need replacing along with the light and maybe the bumper (cant remeber how damaged it was). I am 3rd party so will have to pay for my own damage whatever.

I have 5 years no claim bonus and think I am on voluntary excess of £350. I'm pretty sure his car is not worth £600 but would it make more sense for me to pay him the £600 and not lose my no-claims?

Advice?
 
Do you not have protected no claims then?

If not then yes its prob best to pay him and chalk it down to experiance. However also bear in mind that he COULD claim compo for injuries upto 3 years down the line. If he does and you didnt let your insurance know of the accident i dunno how they will take it. Maybe someone who works in insurance could offer a view?
 
To cover your back, you could tell the insurance there has been a accident, but you're not claiming and don't want to go any further.
 
But doing so will get you an increased premium next year even though it was not claimed through via the insurer.

You could just pay him, get it in writing and signed etc saying he's happy to be paid without going through insurance just as a measure of security in case later down the line he decides it's "not enough" or whatever.

Or just find another Astra if it's selling for less than £600 then buy it and give it to him? :p
 
Haven't protected the no claims so it's looking like I should pay him the money.

After paying the £350 excess, what other charges would I have? How much would my policy go up by (approx) and would I lose all of my no claims bonus?
 
You would lose all your no claims yes. Not sure how much it would go up by. I am not sure if you get him to sign anything that it would hold up in court in the event he tries to claim for injuries further down the line.
 
my insurance company got invoiced £700 for a new bumper alone when i bumped into the back of somebody

Granted this is cash in hand and not an insurance job, but i can quite easily see it comming to £600 if more than one panel is bent and stuff like lights need replacing.

iraiguana said:
You would lose all your no claims yes. .
Click to expand...

please, dont post *(@$ as fact if its not true.

you will NOT lose all your no claims. You will lose a portion of them, typically 2 years. Ring and notify your insurance that you were involved in a bump and are pursuing it privately. If you dont tell them, and 2 months down the line he gets funny and claims off your insurance you wont be covered. Typically, to be covered you need to notify them within 28 days.

At the same time ask how much NCB you will lose if he claims, this varies from insurer to insurer as theres no fixed ammount, but usually its 2 years.
 
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You usually lose 2 years no claims for a claim, not all of it.

600 sounds a bit steep considering his car.. It probably aint worth that is it? If he went to his insurers they would almost certainly write it off which he probs doesnt want, may have some leeway for negotiation for that. See if you can find the market value of his car and go from there.

If you want to see what sort of diff the claim will make, go to your insurers website and do a quote online givin the claim details and see what the difference is, dont use your name and change your day/month of birth by a few dates tho..

Edit: Most TPFT policies wouldnt require you paying any excess here. Its only usually payable in the event of a fire/theft claim (ie insured incident). Some policies like Bell's flexibell policy can end in you paying third party excess but the vast majority dont.
 
Remember that regardless of whether you claim or not, the accident is still reportable for most insurance companies, certainly at renewal time.

I'd hand it over to the insurers personally, it's what I pay them for.
 
The guy would be best scrapping the car and keeping the £600. Doubt the car is worth anything more than £100.

Not sure what I'd do. With a £350 excess it's only £250 for not losing your NCB though I guess.
 
I have decided to take it through the insurance companies.

The guy said he would only accept cash and wanted it paying tomorrow. He also said he had already contacted his insurance company and was advised to 'listen to what I had to say'. £600 is a lot to hand over to someone and even if he signed a piece of paper what would stop him from pocketing my money and then making a claim the same day?

OK I will likely have to pay £350 excess and will probably lose most of my no claims, but at least I am doing everything above board and there is no way that this will come back to 'bite me in the ass'. I guess insurance companies are there for a reason and 1 claim in 10 years isn't too bad.
 
unfortunately 1 claim in 10 years is only as good as 1 claim in 5 years, as thats all they usually asked to be disclosed. Best to protect your ncd in future though, although you will need to wait till next renewal (4 years).
 
Have you check to see if he is actually insured, there are a few places online where you can do this but cant remember them off the top of my head.

His car will be written off if it goes through insurance, might be worth pointing this out to him also.....
 
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