Damage only car accident - Need advice

I love how all the people are saying "grow up, accidents happen" but this is far from that.

"An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It usually implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its occurrence."

Had an unseen car pulled out, a car coming towards you pulls out into your lane or you hit ice or god forbid a person steps out in front of you....something unexpected then fair play - accidents do happen when out of the ordinary stuff happens.

When you are driving too close to be able to stop behind the vehicle in front of you, then that is simply poor judgement, had it gone to the insurers it would have been the OPs fault, maybe 50:50 if it went to court and had a good barrister/advocate/solicitor advocate

That aside it's hope this is a good, cheap lesson for the OP. I hope that the old guy hasn't do the nasty and report it to his insurers as it seems to have been settled in his favour.
 
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Syther101 said:
Well if that happens he is claiming on the wrong guy. Being a University student I have no money for my self let alone money to give him.
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You realise it will be your insurance that pays for any claim, not you? (although you do of course pay for this come renewal time!)
 
PistolPete said:
I love how all the people are saying "grow up, accidents happen" but this is far from that.

"An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It usually implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its occurrence."

Had an unseen car pulled out, a car coming towards you pulls out into your lane or you hit ice or god forbid a person steps out in front of you....something unexpected then fair play - accidents do happen when out of the ordinary stuff happens.

When you are driving too close to be able to stop behind the vehicle in front of you, then that is simply poor judgement, had it gone to the insurers it would have been the OPs fault, maybe 50:50 if it went to court and had a good barrister/advocate/solicitor advocate

That aside it's hope this is a good, cheap lesson for the OP. I hope that the old guy hasn't do the nasty and report it to his insurers as it seems to have been settled in his favour.
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You do realise your definition of accident explains exactly what happened?
 
Syther101 said:
Ok so I just got in my fist car accident :'(, Bloke suddenly stopped and I had no chance to stop in time.

Overall I came worse off, he had a small dent in a bottom plastic bumper and a broken numberplate while I have got a nice dent in my bonnet and will have to get a whole new front bumper as the bar under it might be pushed in a little.

He asked for my insurance information of which I didn't know and said he will have to call the police and proceeded to go back to his car to do so.

He looked at the damage and said he could bump out the plastic and get a new number plate for £20. So I gave him the £40 that I had to hand and he went off on his way.

So basically how bad is the situation, how liable am I and have I done anything wrong here. Pretty shaken up to say the least, even if it was only at 20mph if that.

Thanks for any advice!
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You gave him £40 but what's to say he hasn't wrote down your reg and still proceeding to go through the insurance?

Syther101 said:
Yep. Going to cost at worst £400. Seeing as it was actually metal on mine the got dented not plastic :/
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Try visiting some breaker yards and seeing if you can get a new bonnet from there? might save you a few pennies, chances are it won't be the same colour so you'll probably have to get it sprayed so you're not going to save a terrible amount.

Diagro said:
You would have had the chance to stop if you drove correctly, This is why i think driving tests are far to easy, and people under 20 should not be able to drive.

If you had driven into my car i would have taken a pic of ur license and u and the car and opened a can of whoop ass on your insurance.

I failed my test 3 times, it was hard, But i don't think it was hard enough.
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What a silly thing to say, the reaction times of younger drivers is far better, admittedly there are a correlation between age and accidents and younger drivers being at fault. You would say that having passed your test already, you failed three times yet you think it was easy? and what are you implying by saying "open up a can of whoop ass" - are you saying you'd claim whiplash and whatnot? because if so, this is the reason why insurance is through the roof, this cost has to be claimed back somewhere.
 
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matthab said:
Your one lucky chap. In taking the money doesn't that mean he's accepted the compensation and he can't claim again?
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I have no idea. If this is true I am very lucky but 1. I doubt this is the case and 2. Their is no evidence of me giving him the money anyway so it would be pretty hard to prove.
 
Syther101 said:
I have no idea. If this is true I am very lucky but 1. I doubt this is the case and 2. Their is no evidence of me giving him the money anyway so it would be pretty hard to prove.
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Yeah, did you take any of his details? my mate had a similar incident and he paid the guy and never heard anything back, so you might be lucky. Might be worth giving him a call and asking him if he's managed to get it sorted.

As for telling your insurance, I thought you only needed to tell them if the accident involved a claim.
 
Antowns said:
Yeah, did you take any of his details? my mate had a similar incident and he paid the guy and never heard anything back, so you might be lucky. Might be worth giving him a call and asking him if he's managed to get it sorted.

As for telling your insurance, I thought you only needed to tell them if the accident involved a claim.
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I got the his number plate but in the frame of mind that I was in after it happening I forgot to get a number. After I gave him the money he drove straight off so I didn't have a chance to ask.
 
Syther101 said:
He asked for my insurance information of which I didn't know and said he will have to call the police and proceeded to go back to his car to do so.
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This bit would worry me. At this point he wants to call the police, but after an offer of 40 quid he forgets everything without further inspection of the car.

Hope it is the last you hear of it mate. He sounds a bit dodgy to me.
 
Third Opinion said:
This bit would worry me. At this point he wants to call the police, but after an offer of 40 quid he forgets everything without further inspection of the car.

Hope it is the last you hear of it mate. He sounds a bit dodgy to me.
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Yeah best case he has no insurance and just wanted to see what he could get out of me. Tbh I would happily pay £40 for that, being my first year of driving whether it's my fault or not any claims on my insurance is what I want to avoid at all costs.
 
Addicted said:
I have a feeling they will contact insurance anyway, there's so many times where this happens!
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Just hoping he doesn't. If my insurance gets void and I have to pay for it again at the higher price I literally have no money to do so. Which in turn will mean I won't be able to get to Uni and will most likely have to drop out :/.
 
Syther101 said:
Just hoping he doesn't. If my insurance gets void and I have to pay for it again at the higher price I literally have no money to do so. Which in turn will mean I won't be able to get to Uni and will most likely have to drop out :/.
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I doubt it will void, the worry is that he makes the claim anyway, so you have a fault claim, didn't declare it immediately and £40 down.
 
You got away ok. I had a bump yesterday. Reversed into a car coming from my left to my right. Just scratches to my car. Guy in other car said willing to sort outside of insurance. Cost me £180. He gave me a quote from garage. I was at fault and was willing to pay that as I thought it was reasonable.
 
I did a similar thing ages ago, rear ended an e46 330i with a hire van :o
Chap seemed not bothered about his car even though I'd dented the boot lid and the panel that runs underneath, despite this, he accepted what I had on me - £52 - and off he went!!
No comeback - thankfully - I reckon I'd done at least 10 times that in actual damage to his car!
No damage to the van either, so I got my deposit back too....
Wondered for a few weeks if I'd hear anything, but thankfully, no.

I know I was very lucky.
 
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