Advice on accident damage

andythelandy · 4 May 2017 at 21:34

So basically someone crashed into me in a supermarket car park, there fault and I have it all on my dashcam.

My car is only worth around £1500 so when they suggested not going through insurance I agreed to get some quotes as I'm worried insurance will write my car off and I'm quite attached to it.

The quotes I've got are quite high and I'm fairly sure he's not going to want to pay it but I'm waiting for him to get back to me still.

I'm worried that as this happened on Monday my insurance is going to wonder why I took so long to tell them if I end up having to go down this route is this going to be an issue?

MooMoo444 · 5 May 2017 at 05:26

I can't imagine a few days would be an issue. It will say in your policy notes somewhere how long a window you have to make a claim.

Maccapacca · 5 May 2017 at 05:50

Give the other party till the end of the day to accept and transfer the money over.

This hardly ever works unless it's a scratch.

On Holiday · 5 May 2017 at 08:50

What's the damage? / Pictures?

You need to consider the cost of YOU paying to fix it privately vs the increased premiums you'll be paying.

andythelandy · 5 May 2017 at 14:43

This is the problem I could get a wing from a breaker car and fit it myself for £50 probably but I just don't feel he should get away with it.

Maybe I should just suck it up.

Quartz · 5 May 2017 at 15:33

andythelandy said:
My car is only worth around £1500 so when they suggested not going through insurance I agreed to get some quotes as I'm worried insurance will write my car off and I'm quite attached to it.

You need to tell your insurance company of the accident ASAP. You also need to tell them that you are not making a claim at the moment but reserve the right to do so.

Sin_Chase · 5 May 2017 at 15:37

Quartz said:
You need to tell your insurance company of the accident ASAP. You also need to tell them that you are not making a claim at the moment but reserve the right to do so.

Why would you do this. Whether you claim or not, your premium is like going up. It's a declarable non-fault accident. If you are engaging your insurance company, just claim!

Sin_Chase · 5 May 2017 at 15:40

andythelandy said:
This is the problem I could get a wing from a breaker car and fit it myself for £50 probably but I just don't feel he should get away with it.

Maybe I should just suck it up.

What exactly are you hoping to achieve?!

You are not taking money off him as a punishment, you are entitled to be put back into the position you were before the collision. I'd say being able to repair it for £50 with breaker parts and pocket the extra settlement money is a result.

Either settle it privately with an agreed figure or engage your insurance company and run the risk of a write-off and buy back.

Iamzod · 5 May 2017 at 19:57

Last time I was hit and it was 100% non fault I found out who her insurer was through ask MID (had to pay £3.99 I think) and dealt with them directly, point blank refused to let them take my car anywhere but welcomed them to come and assess it. I asked for a cash in Lieu Settlement which they agreed to as it meant no courtesy car and sent them a quote from a Ford dealer for new parts and added a bit on for materials to respray and fit the bumper myself, I ended up with just over £700 to repair the car with and no write off risk.

My car was also worth £1500 ish.

Gaygle · 5 May 2017 at 23:58

andythelandy said:
This is the problem I could get a wing from a breaker car and fit it myself for £50 probably but I just don't feel he should get away with it.

Maybe I should just suck it up.

Get away with what? Being guilty of making a mistake?

If you take a potential £50 fix on a £1500 car though insurance, or even notify them, because you don't want him to "get away with it", you're daft and deserve to have your premium put up for the next 5 years.

Deleted member 66701 · 6 May 2017 at 00:07

Iamzod said:
Last time I was hit and it was 100% non fault I found out who her insurer was through ask MID (had to pay £3.99 I think) and dealt with them directly, point blank refused to let them take my car anywhere but welcomed them to come and assess it. I asked for a cash in Lieu Settlement which they agreed to as it meant no courtesy car and sent them a quote from a Ford dealer for new parts and added a bit on for materials to respray and fit the bumper myself, I ended up with just over £700 to repair the car with and no write off risk.

My car was also worth £1500 ish.

Do this.

This is the best way to proceed with older cars. I did the same when my Scorpio Cosworth was hit and also worth around £1500 at the time. I accepted cash in lieu of settlement for £1200 and arranged all repairs myself and this also avoids insurance markers being applied to the car.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES LET THE CAR LEAVE YOUR POSSESSION UNTIL A SETTLEMENT IS REACHED!

Gaygle · 6 May 2017 at 09:08

I don't understand why you'd want to do that though? You'll still have an elevated premium for the next 5 years, when the OP, by his own words, could just fix the problem for 50 quid!

Quartz · 6 May 2017 at 17:27

Sin_Chase said:
Why would you do this.

Because it's in your insurance that you have to. If you have a bigger accident later on and they learn about this incident, they could point to it and refuse to pay out. Driving without insurance is serious; not having insurance means you are personally liable.

johnny6 · 6 May 2017 at 17:55

Quartz said:
Because it's in your insurance that you have to. If you have a bigger accident later on and they learn about this incident, they could point to it and refuse to pay out. Driving without insurance is serious; not having insurance means you are personally liable.

Lol you are giving insurance companies far too much credit.

Iamzod · 7 May 2017 at 11:13

Gaygle said:
I don't understand why you'd want to do that though? You'll still have an elevated premium for the next 5 years, when the OP, by his own words, could just fix the problem for 50 quid!

Depends who you insure with. My premiums were not increased due to a non-fault.

Kuros · 8 May 2017 at 10:58

For £50 parts from the breakers, I'd personally say call it £100 for time to actually get parts and to fit them.

It's not worth trying to go for more, because you'd likely lose more than that going through the insurance point of view. Trying to punish him after isn't going to achieve much other than peeing him off and then you'd both lose.

If you get silly quotes, he could easily settle with the bodyshop direct, you'd not end up with 50 quid in your pocket.

mattcrane · 8 May 2017 at 14:26

Gaygle said:
I don't understand why you'd want to do that though? You'll still have an elevated premium for the next 5 years, when the OP, by his own words, could just fix the problem for 50 quid!

Really?

In 2005 I had an accident the insurance assessor placed repairs at £4500 so they were trying to right it off I refused this as the damage was nowhere near as bad as he was saying it was so accepted Cash in Lieu of repair it cost me £350 in parts from eBay, (new bumper and bull bar), pocketed the rest of the cash.

Following year my insurance went down by £50.......

mattyg · 8 May 2017 at 14:36

Quartz said:
Because it's in your insurance that you have to. If you have a bigger accident later on and they learn about this incident, they could point to it and refuse to pay out. Driving without insurance is serious; not having insurance means you are personally liable.

I'm not sure thats how it works nowadays. In my experience they work out how much they would have charged had you declared and adjust the payout. This is of course mid term. Lying/Non disclosure at the outset could lead to a policy being void

andythelandy · 8 May 2017 at 17:56

Gaygle said:
Get away with what? Being guilty of making a mistake?

If you take a potential £50 fix on a £1500 car though insurance, or even notify them, because you don't want him to "get away with it", you're daft and deserve to have your premium put up for the next 5 years.

This seems a strange attitude to me. I'd have to put my own time and money into fixing the car and potentially get a bad colour match with a wing from a different car. Quite simply why should I when it was their fault for not paying attention?

I guess the main reason would be because I was worried my car would be written off, but it was very interesting what Iamzod did and it clearly worked for him, I would certainly take this advice if I needed again on a car not worth much, I wasn't really aware you could be like that with insurers.

In the end (if anyone really cares!) the guy paid out the full amount from the quotes I got so I've been very lucky to get someone so cooperative.

mattyg · 8 May 2017 at 18:09

Can they even push a write off on a 3rd parties car. There is a difference between "Beyond economical repair" and "irreparable"

Advice on accident damage

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