Someone hit my car...

Quentin

Taye wrote: »

If i ring up my insurance company to get all this sorted it's not going to hurt my no-claims is it?? as it wasn't my fault im guessing it will be her insurance company that will pay for everything?

Not unless there is anything you haven't told us! This looks a clear cut rear end shunt for which the third party is liable, and your insurer will get the money they pay you back off her insurer if you put this through your own insurer.

But you will still have to chase the third party to reimburse your uninsured losses (eg your excess, hire car, out of pocket expenses, inconvenience etc), which is why you may want to claim the whole lot directly off the third party - and why you may consider using a claim handler, who will ensure you don't lose out over any aspect of this.

asbokid

Taye wrote: »

If i ring up my insurance company to get all this sorted it's not going to hurt my no-claims is it?? as it wasn't my fault im guessing it will be her insurance company that will pay for everything?

You are legally obliged to tell your insurance company about the accident.

When you contact them use wording such as... "I am advising you for information purposes only that I was involved in a non-fault collision on Monday 27 April.....

The nature of the accident was that another driver collided into the rear of my vehicle on a roundabout."

The other party will also have to tell his/her insurer, who will pass his details on to personal injury lawyers and/or a credit hire company.

It's amazing how persuasive a personal injury lawyer can be when he offers to win huge compensation for "whiplash", "muscle stiffness", "tendon damage", and payment for weeks off work, etc..

In my experience p.i. lawyers essentially groom drivers into telling the lies needed to mount a fraudulent claim..

"How's your shoulder today Mister X? Did you manage to get a doctor to look at it?"

"There was and still is nothing wrong with my shoulder, thank you"

"Oh, I'm so pleased to hear that."

"What about your neck? Is that still hurting from the whiplash? Sometimes it can take 72 hours before the symptoms really start to show"

"No, my neck was and still is fine. I have no whiplash. Thank you for your concern, any way".


The law firms work hand-in-hand with the credit hire companies to get you and your insurer to pay for their client's wrongdoing. It's all a game to them, and a profitable one too!!

chnelomi

i agree with you should get your car checked out asap you never know what can happen or when something can happen again. what if this other women has another accident and try's to claim the damage was by you. i found my car had been hit whilst parked i reported it to my insurance and to the police as a witness said they seen it happen but had no registration details.

3 yrs later the police showed up at my door, the other driver was trying to say i had hit him and driven off and it took 3 yrs for the truth to come out and the officers told me if i hadn't reported it when it had happened i would have needed to argue my case to the insurance company's and possibly court action too. so get on the phone and inform the insurance now you just don't know what ppl will do.

Taye

Well i finally decided to get in touch with my insurance company i feel kinda bad about it, but god knows what damage there is to my car and i really need to get it checked out.

At the end of the day im trying to not feel to guilty about it as the accident wasn't my fault.

I really wished we lived in a day and age where you could just turn around and say "do you know what it will cost £100 to fix give me that and we'll call it even" unfortunatly you hear about all these story's where people don't claim and the 3rd party later decided is was your fault and tries to get money out of you, as if you drove off or didn't report it etc.

Anyway i have no intention of claiming for anything more than the damage done by the incident which is more than many people do ... just gotta let the insurance company do the rest now and hope it all go's smoothly.

Idiophreak

Agree with other people above - this isn't your problem.

I had someone drive into me, I got a full repair from the dealership, complete with warranty on the work, had a hire car while the car was in etc.

If she's willing to cover that level out of her pocket, she's welcome to, but it's going to be more economical for her to claim.

It's what insurance is for and the rise in premium will act as a deterrent for her to drive more safely in future - so you might actually save her life by claiming!

(and, believe it or not, I *was* reversed into at speed a couple of years ago - the thing's still in court as it's really hard when the other party turns round and says "he rear ended me" - 99% of the time the driver with the broken headlights ends up paying...)

Quentin

Taye wrote: »

Well i finally decided to get in touch with my insurance company i feel kinda bad about it.....

You had no choice. Not telling your insurer would have been a breach of the policy conditions anyway.

Anyway i have no intention of claiming for anything more than the damage done by the incident which is more than many people do ...

Don't quite know what you mean, but don't just claim for the repairs if you need any - you should be reimbursed all expense you incur (including your phone calls etc, so keep a note of all outgoings and also ask for some compensation for the inconvenience and time wasted)

It will be at least a one day job to get the bumper replaced if necessary, maybe more - why should you be without wheels? Get a hire car if no courtesy car is provided.

Were the boot on the other foot, things might be different!

Also, don't pay your excess then let her off that too!

Taye

Gah this is turning into a nightmare.

I've just phoned her to tell her than i'd called the insurance company and give her my details because she didn't take them at the time of the accident.

she refused to take my details saying that her husband said that unless we called the police to the incident i couldn't claim !!! which i know is rubbish but still.

Basically she's just given me abit rant about how the damage is minor and how she can't belive im taking it this far, and while i agree the damage to my car is most likely minor she can't seem to understand why i feel the need to get it checked out by a proffesional, she just kept going on about how it was "just a little dent in my bumper"

It is just alittle dent, still it's a little dent that wasn't there this morning and that IS her fault and i want it checked.

Anyway she's refusing to talk about it insists that her husband "knows" that if the police wern't involved you can't claim on the insurance and has told me to speak to her husband tonight, it's almost like she thinks that if she doens't take my details she doens't have to admit to it.

tbh ... my car is a wreak anyway.. IF she'd been decent about it, as long as the garage said it was "safe" and fine i would have just dropped the whole thing, written it off as one of THOSE things and added the new dents to the rest of them that live on my car and not actually made a claim.

Now im just mad, im not going to ring her husband, i don't see the point having a fight with him too... let her be funny about it... ill let the insurance deal with it.

Now im going to have a nice shiny new bumper...serve the snotty cow right!!

lisyloo

Don't deal with them.
Deal with the insurers.

She quite clearly doesn't understand that there could be structural damage that isn't visible.

Don't get wound up about it, she just doesn't know about cars, that's all it is.

Quentin

Your mistake was contacting her.

You have decided to deal with it via your own insurance which means they will do everything necessary. You don't need any further contact with the third party.

Until you want to pursue her for your out of pocket, uninsured losses and excess as already mentioned!

PD1

Taye wrote: »

Gah this is turning into a nightmare.

I've just phoned her to tell her than i'd called the insurance company and give her my details because she didn't take them at the time of the accident.

she refused to take my details saying that her husband said that unless we called the police to the incident i couldn't claim !!! which i know is rubbish but still.

Basically she's just given me abit rant about how the damage is minor and how she can't belive im taking it this far, and while i agree the damage to my car is most likely minor she can't seem to understand why i feel the need to get it checked out by a proffesional, she just kept going on about how it was "just a little dent in my bumper"

It is just alittle dent, still it's a little dent that wasn't there this morning and that IS her fault and i want it checked.

Anyway she's refusing to talk about it insists that her husband "knows" that if the police wern't involved you can't claim on the insurance and has told me to speak to her husband tonight, it's almost like she thinks that if she doens't take my details she doens't have to admit to it.

tbh ... my car is a wreak anyway.. IF she'd been decent about it, as long as the garage said it was "safe" and fine i would have just dropped the whole thing, written it off as one of THOSE things and added the new dents to the rest of them that live on my car and not actually made a claim.

Now im just mad, im not going to ring her husband, i don't see the point having a fight with him too... let her be funny about it... ill let the insurance deal with it.

Now im going to have a nice shiny new bumper...serve the snotty cow right!!

What a joke, if only she knew how you agonised over it!!

You are quite right informing your insurance. Note a few things though :

1) roundabouts are like a no man's land as far as some insurance claims are concerned, so beware even though its a rear end shunt.
2) her husband's an ill informed baffoon
3) her husband's a complete and utter plonker