Somebody reversed into me, help!

james2k2

Hello everybody,
As the title suggests, somebody reversed into me today in their BMW X5 - front of my car crumpled lots, their car untouched.

The issue i have is that my car is worth so little ~£500. If i were to claim through insurance they would give me what the cars worth according to their researchers minus a £350 excess (i'm a young driver so this is enforced by my policy). The person has offered me £500 instead of an insurance claim which would be most suitable as at least then i can get hold of another car similar to what i have already. However, the person wishes to do this on monday due to being busy over the weekend, by which time i feel my insurer will not want to help me out due to it being a number of days after the incident.

Should i trust this person and accept his money, or should i inform my insurer and let them sort it out - or would it be suitable to inform my insurer of the incident so its on their records and try to get the money and then if the person fails on me fall back to the insurer?

For your info: I have all his details except his insurance as he didn't have his docs on him and these details have been confirmed by the police as correct. My insurer is Direct Line - what are they like for accidents like these?

Kind regards,
James

Hintza

You will not have an excess to pay as it is the other drivers fault. If it was me I would decide was was reasonable and add a bit if you don't go through insurance. You will be saving him a fair bit of money.

Don't worry about not reporting it to your insurance until Monday that will not be an issue (especially on a Bank Holiday). Do you have any witnesses? If not he might claim you drove into him if it goes via insurance so be careful to keep him onside (within reason).

Personally I would go for it, if I was happy with the amount and he didn't mess me around.

mcjordi

add a bit on to the £500 for the inconvience and i would personally take the money as these type of claims are notoriously difficult to sort out
at best it could be a 50/50 claim

as hintza says if it wasnt your fault and he has admitted fault then youve got nothing to lose by claiming

cyclonebri1

The BH is your ally here:T

If you have the option of an "off record settlement", then take it, the BH reason is enough excuse for any delay.
Even if you aren't at fault the record of the "incident" will stay on your record. uilty untill proved innocent I'm afraid today

Failling any suitable outcome Monday, police on Tuesday.
This forum post could provide effective compliance.

james2k2

Thanks everbody for your replies, they have been most useful. I have decided to take the money, so hopefully it will all go to plan on Monday. At the end of the day im doing him a favour by doing off the record settlement so this should be leverage enough for him to proceed with it as discussed.

He also suggested that he wants me to sign something (presumably so that i don't go off and make an insurance claim afterwards) How should i proceed about this? If he hands me a cheque should i wait to sign until it has cleared or make an addition stating that my signature is invalid until it has cleared? Or should i demand cash?

Kind regards,
James

hewhoisnotintheknow

be careful that they dont all of a sudden say you drove into the back of them, get cash asap and inform your insurance company for information puropses only

uktyler

james2k2 wrote: »

He also suggested that he wants me to sign something (presumably so that i don't go off and make an insurance claim afterwards) How should i proceed about this? If he hands me a cheque should i wait to sign until it has cleared or make an addition stating that my signature is invalid until it has cleared? Or should i demand cash?

I would ask for cash, and get him to sign something stating how much he paid you, and that he will not take action at a later date. Try and bump him up a bit on the cash as well, see if he'll go for £600, its worth a try.

dacouch

He will want you to sign a letter thats states something along the lines of "I accept the amount of £500 in full and final settlement of my claim...signed MR X date 11/04/2009". If you are worried about the cheque clearing then simply add the line "Subject to payment clearing"

It would be best for you to both have a copy of the statement.

I would be cautious about demanding more money as it will get to the point where it will be worth him claiming through his own insurance which can be a bit of a pain. Taking "Cash" whether its physically cash or a cheque off of them would be my ideal solution if I were you. The other advantage of this solution is the car is still yours so if you want to scrap it you keep the money the salvage money which will be somewhere between £80 and £200. If you go through your Insurance company you will not get the scrap money

james2k2

Thanks again everybody for the advice. I am going to stick with £500 as this is adequate considering the cars value with regards to the selling trend on a few websites. Also, if i wish to purchase another similar car, this should be enough. I think i'm going to take a statement of my own too, along with a duplicate for him and me to sign (just in case he doesn't have one i'm happy with or he doesn't have a duplicate of.)

dacouch

Doing duplicate statements is a good idea, it protects both of you and he will be worried you will may and try and claim off of him at a later date without it

james2k2

Hi again everybody,
Sorry to be bumping this up again but i promise - final time! Tomorrow is the day and i am wanting to obviously have a decent statement that covers both of us and contains enough information to avoid any loopholes. On top of this i am taking a friend who i can have as a witness, presumably he may have somebody as well such as his missus or a friend. So ultimately, does anybody have a template i could use / modify or can list what sort of things should be said?

Kind regards,
James