I was at fault for an accident - What to do now?

[Adam]

So yesterday I had an accident. Without making too many excuses (there wasn't any diesel for example ) a large truck blocked the road which caused the car infront of me to swerve and brake, unfortunately I locked up my brakes on the wet surface and went into the back of her. We have witnesses but no one was able to flag down the truck or get his registration number which was annoying. This therefore means i'll be taking full responsibility and blame for the accident (in all likelihood I would have taken the blame even with the truck drivers details). My mistake, we live and learn I guess

Luckily no one was hurt, my ego and wallet are dented but it could have been much worse. If the truck had hit the woman, she would have been pushed off the road into a large ditch, could have been nasty.

Now, the lady I hit has a damaged rear bumper on her 08 VW Polo. My car came off slightly worse (i'll come onto that in a minute). My excess stands at £350 and i'd loose 2 years NCB (nearly 3). I suggested she got some quotes and i'd foot the bill if it made financial sense. She called yesterday and wants to use a VW main dealer, this will mean it makes no sense to bypass the insurance so no doubt we will be going down the insurance route.

So my car is a 2000/W 2.0 Zetec. It drives perfectly even after the accident and the damage is purely cosmetic. The slam panel isn't bent and I can't see any damage to the radiator. The front bumper absorbed all of the impact which was good. I'll need a new drivers side light (the plastic mounting brackets snapped), a new grille and a front bumper. The bonnet is slightly damaged but I can live with this.

If I am right and we do go via the insurance I am positive my car will be written off. I was therefore wondering what would happen with regards to buying the car back and repairing it myself. Using eBay, I estimate the total cost of fixing my car would be around £100-150. If I received a payout of around £1000, i'm hoping they would value the car low and i'd be able to buy it back and repair the car. In my opinion the damage is insignificant and I wouldn't be too upset to own a Cat C/D car. How would this work and is this a good route to go down? Will I be offered first refusal and be giving a fixed price of the car? How would this calculated?

 

[Adam]

I am not sure but I don't think that you pay excess on repairs on the other person's car.

You don't have to claim on your own insurance if you don't want to. So you could have the insurance deal with her costs but repair your own car yourself as it would be cheaper not to pay the excess.

Hmm i'm not sure I follow. I'd be more than happy to save myself my £350 excess and ask the insurance company to leave my car as it stands now. My main priority is to ensure she is happy with her repairs whether it be from my own pocket or through the insurance. If it means I can save paying the excess, keep my no claims and just have to declare another accident then that would be fantastic. Is this definately correct.

I'm disappointed with myself and angry with the situation and hassle, but she shouldn't suffer because of it due to shoddy repairs etc.

Just shell out for hers to be done Properly at a Reputable place, Cost no object within reason sort of thing & then sort your own out as best you can. Ignore the insurance company.

Well not really. If the repairs come to £1000 then i'd be better off going through the insurance, paying my excess of £350 and paying slightly more for my insurance over the next couple of years until I build my NCB up again.

 

[Adam]

He's got a point. Even at dealer prices it may be cheaper to do it privately. Tell her to get a quote from the dealer.

She will be getting a quote and I can expect that on Thursday. I have also suggested she tried another garage which I used before for a claim. Unfortunately it's 10 minutes outside her normal journey and she is worried about a VW warranty she has. I can't complain, it was my fault afterall.

At main dealer prices with parts and labour I can see it costing a lot. If it's over £500 i'd probably be better off going via the insurance route.

I'm more interested in your comment above osc89er about not paying the excess if my own car is not being fixed. I have tried googling but cannot find anything.

 

[Adam]

I'd involve my insurance, purely for the problems that could arise if she decided to claim for health implications.

Agreed, they could also not be happy with the work and still involve the insurance so I'd be out of pocket twice.

You WILL pay more for an insurance job. When my missus drove into someones car she got a quote to repair the panel damage at £800. Took it to my local Skoda dealer and they did it for £300 all in and IMO did a better job than the franchise garage (I use this garage for years).

If you go through the insurance you DO NOT have to use an approved garage although I have heard issues where people used their own garage choice and the work was not done to a satisfactory level, whereby the insurance company washed their hands of the whole thing.

Also, depends if you have much spare cash but I think I would pay up to £1500 to repair a car if it meant not having a claim on my record, especially as they'll screw you on premiums for the next few years probably!

Take the hit if you can afford it and find an insurance company that offers protected no claims - that's what I'd do.

Not sure I could stretch to £1500. There is no doubt that in the long run I would end up spending more, but £1500?! Seems kind of high but I appreciate your advice nonetheless

The point is that while the woman with the Polo will undoubtedly make a claim against your insurance, you don't have to make a claim for yours if you don't want to. You don't have to get the car written off and buy a salvage back unless you want the extra money, but of course that will be a second claim against your insurance. If you are happy to do so, then simply buy the parts required yourself and patch it up.

This also makes sense. If I do not make a claim against my car would I need to pay the excess? Thinking about it, if I were making a claim why would I not ask the insurance to repair/write my car off? If I understand correctly, I'd need to pay for the excess, the increase in future premiums AND the cost of repairs for my own car. Surely if I were to do this, it would make more sense to allow the insurers to pay out for my car at the same time so I'm not adding onto my own personal costs?

Everything depends on the quote from VW. In an ideal world, I'd like her to get a quote from an independent as well although I only have the experience of the one I suggested which she didn't seem keen on.

 

[Adam]

The point is that you have still not got it right in your head. You only pay the excess if you want your insurance to fix YOUR car.

If fixing your car is £300 then it is cheaper than having your insurance fix it for £350 out of your pocket and the insurance probably paying another £500 to fix it (as they will be cheated on the price) and then another £300 or whatever for a courtesy car for you.

I see, that makes sense. I was just looking for confirmation as I wasn't aware that was the case. I thought you paid the excess regardless of whose car you were claiming for (either yours or the third party). Useful to know, thanks for your help

 

[Adam]

I called a local VW dealer who quoted me around £350 - £400 for a new bumper and spraying for a 08 VW Polo. They said there is a metal support which may also be damaged and this would cost an extra £50. Obviously they need to physically inspect the car, but I was expecting much more than this.

Roll on Thursday when she has her official quote

 

[Adam]

If I was you I'd consider replacing your car with something with ABS and a new set of premium tyres. (What tyres do you have by the way?)

By the sound of it you could have avoided the car in front in the first place. I don't think you'll find many people who will disagree that ABS is a real life saver.

Hmm there was definitely no ABS. The car skidded on the wet surface straight into the back of the car infront. Perhaps the tyres are poor, I have no idea. I will need to check. I know they have plenty of tread but I suspect they are cheap tyres which were on the car when I bought it.

I dont think this was answered but you only pay excess for your own damage* not for the third party's damage. So if you can live with the damage to your car, you could let your insurance company deal with her and take loss of ncd on the chin.

* There are a few (And i mean few) types of policies where you have to pay excess for third party claims too, only one that springs to mind for me is flexibell policies.

This is true, I confirmed it with my insurers. Didn't realise this was the case. Well it all depends on the quote she receives on Thursday really. I shall need to work out how much 0 NCB will cost me over the next 2-3 years.

If the dealer knows its an insurance job they will go to town with the quote because they know it will be paid no questions asked (plus they'd claim the VAT back for a business to business transaction - I think?)

As has been said already it might be worth seeing if you can get a private quote from the same dealer, possibly play them off against other VW franchises. Mind you if I were in her shoes and someone had gone into my car through no fault of my own I'd want mine fixed by a main dealer and not have to worry about any additional hassle purely to make the other persons life easier.

I completely agree, I couldn't care less about my Mondeo but if someone had gone into my Leon Cupra R I wouldn't have been at all happy, i'd want it repaired properly!

 

[Adam]

I thought paying attention was the minimal requirement? Here though it was not lack of attention that caused the crash it was the locking of his wheels.

It probably doubled his stopping distance and disspite him being aware he had to brake the car simply did not respond. Here the best way to aviod this accident was to have ABS and good tyres.

Well, i'll hold my hands up and admit fault. While I wasn't driving like a penis, I didn't stop in time so I don't have anything in the way of excuse. The feeling of being powerless sailing into the back of another car isn't one I want to repeat

You pay insurance so you don't have to worry about these things. You'll have to inform them of the accident even if you don't claim (at the least at next renewal) so might as well just save the hassle and go through them.

I notified my insurers and they even suggested dealing with it privately. They will even work with me to confirm the 3rd party is happy and will close the case. I will decide what to do on Thursday.

 

[Adam]

Incase anyone is interested, I have a small update.

She was meant to call Thursday with details of the quote from VW but I never heard from her. I have started to receive texts telling me I am entitled to £x amount due to the recent accident I have had. I can only assume she has decided to go via the insurance route without having the decency to tell me. Oh well, I kind of expected to use the insurance but I thought she may have offered me the chance to settle this privately.

Bye bye 3 years no claims, I am sure you will be missed come renewal!

 

[Adam]

I think they only take 2 years off you.

Annoyingly i'm 1 month away from 3 years!