Minor Car Accident Settling outside of insurance

negg

I was kindly given a 'scratch and small dint' on my car a few years ago in a similar incident. Took it to the garage who said it would probably cost 'about £50' but once they took the bumper off, they was further damage underneath. Cost was just over £700 which the insurance paid. Might be best to go through the insurance anyway! Of course, the other party may come back and claim personal injury claim at a later date, which you might be responsible for paying if you lost a case and had settled out of insurance. I wouldn't settle out of insurance these days if possible.

pedro123456

Kinder...........I would have to say go throught the insurance mate...........they are going to put up your premiuns in any case.........the Insurance companies make millions a year they wont miss a few hundred quid, you have ticked all the right box's, paid your premiums and it was a genuine accident............let them pay........Its what insurance is designed to do.

gook luck Pete

"Um, no they are not, and that's why there is an Ombusdman.
If you have nothing helpful to say then maybe this forum is not for you. Try Discussion Time"........

thanks for your imput too geri, it was very helpful....lol.....Ombudsman........give me strength.

Kinder_2

Thanks all for your input,

The problem seems to be that as you say, notifying the insurance company even if we do settle outside. The reason I did is that about 6 years ago an elderly gentleman bumped me on my motorbike. There was a small scuff to his bumper but no real damage done and after a discussion we decided to go our separate ways as he was very apologetic (as drivers generally are if they do something daft to a motorcyclist) and my bike was fine. Next thing I know he has taken my number plate, made a claim against me saying it's my fault. My insurance company threaten not to do anything as I didn't inform them. As as you can see, I'm kind paranoid about doing the "right thing" now and also my faith in human nature was kinda knocked, hence my questions about getting any settlement down in writing.

I think I'll just go the insurance route!

Quentin

Your post highlights another problem.

Whenever involved in a bump you should never say "not to worry, no damage done" and leave it at that - you cannot know whether or not there is hidden damage done until a specialist has examined the vehicle.

A bumper can cost from around £600 upwards to be replaced, and you cannot know simply from seeing no scratches whether or not the bumper has become useless (from absorbing the impact). If you have another bump, then the "useless" bumper will not do its job, and the impact will be absorbed by the car, possibly causing £1000s to repair.

bradgirl

Having an issue with this type of thing myself. My other half was hit by another car from the rear at a roundabout. Very kindly agreed not to take it through insurance as the person at fault was young and not had insurance long and both parents seemed very helpful and nice. They agreed to pay for the work, but now having had the phone call from the garage asking them to pay, are saying thay can't get to the bank until Monday! And will not budge on this. So that leaves her without a car for a whole week even though it wasn't her fault - we're very mad and I want her to get a hire car and charge it to them, but she doesn't think they'll pay! This is just causing more hassle than it's worth, so I would say that the moral of the story is, if it's not your fault go through the insurance!!