Better to claim from insurance or not ?

makemineadouble

Was driving in steady traffic on Saturday when several cars in front suddenly stopped. I managed to brake in time to avoid hitting the car in front of me. The car behind tried to swerve onto the pavement but still hit me on the corner of my car. The man driving would prefer to pay for the repairs privately rather than me make a claim through his insurance. Was going to get some quotes but wondered if there would be any problems doing things this way. Damage does not appear too bad; seems to be just light unit and bumper. There were also two passengers in my car. Everyone appears okay so far but have read of injuries only becoming apparant later on sometimes.
Also, am worried that as my car is such an old banger, it may get written off and going through insurance will not pay me enough to replace it if it is written off.
I do have a witness as the man in front kindly got out and gave me his number.

cyclonebri1

makemineadouble wrote: »

Was driving in steady traffic on Saturday when several cars in front suddenly stopped. I managed to brake in time to avoid hitting the car in front of me. The car behind tried to swerve onto the pavement but still hit me on the corner of my car. The man driving would prefer to pay for the repairs privately rather than me make a claim through his insurance. Was going to get some quotes but wondered if there would be any problems doing things this way. Damage does not appear too bad; seems to be just light unit and bumper. There were also two passengers in my car. Everyone appears okay so far but have read of injuries only becoming apparant later on sometimes.
Also, am worried that as my car is such an old banger, it may get written off and going through insurance will not pay me enough to replace it if it is written off.
I do have a witness as the man in front kindly got out and gave me his number.

It's a no brainer if what you say is true.

Go through the insurance, otherwise when the offending party realises what it will cost, they will do their utmost to back out.

Ask yourself why you have insurance?. leave it to them. :T

makemineadouble

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

It's a no brainer if what you say is true.

Go through the insurance, otherwise when the offending party realises what it will cost, they will do their utmost to back out.

Ask yourself why you have insurance?. leave it to them. :T

Not quite sure what is meant by "if what you say is true". Why would I ask for advice about something that wasn't true ?

The man who went into my car admitted liability and the witness obviously thought I might be in need of his number to dispel any doubt should an insurance claim be made.
Yes, my automatic reaction would be to go through insurance but a similar event happened previously to one of my passengers (who also had an older car which was not worth much) and their car would have been written off so she thought it might happen to me too. The man who went into me gave me all his details and as the damage appears fairly small (yet to be confirmed), would obviously prefer to pay privately.
It was all quite amicable. I have not ruled out either option yet. Just wondered about the best way of tackling the matter and/or any pitfalls of allowing him to do this.

rev_henry

Well, if its written off then the insurance company will take the car off you and pay to settle. Actually having said that I believe as you're the innocent 3rd party I think you can insist on a repair, or them supplying a replacement identical car, by law. But if they want to write it off then this will be more hassle I guess. If its only small damage then I would have thought it would probably save a lot of rigmarole with loss adjusters etc by just getting quotes and having him pay cash. As its an older car maybe consider secondhand bits, but as its not your fault then obviously you can insist on new ones if you want. Hope that helps.

chrisw

I would get a couple of quotes then give him the option of insurance or not.

Jennie-1987

I hit the back passenger corner of a recent Audi in Dec 2008 and he allowed me to pay privately at just under £250 if that helps.

cheap_plastic_spoon

Get some quotes/estimates for the damage to your car ASAP from a pukka repair garage,Damage to your car maybe behind the bumper aswell.Contact other driver with a figure your happy with,sound him out to find if its less than his insurance excess(should be happy to cough up).If he doesn't agree then go through his insurance, if he does agree then get him to give you the cash this week so you can get it sorted.

cyclonebri1

makemineadouble wrote: »

Not quite sure what is meant by "if what you say is true". Why would I ask for advice about something that wasn't true ?

.

Nothing personnal, but as always we have only your version of events, hence the "if".

You are hopefully being honest, but many that come on here are clutching at straws to get them out of situations of their own making, hang around awhile and you will see.

It's merely a qualification that if the advice is conditional to you having told the truth, you wouldn't want smoke blowing up your jacksie without that being considered would you?

It wasn't intended to offend, but has to be said in my view.

rev_henry

cheap_plastic_spoon wrote: »

Get some quotes/estimates for the damage to your car ASAP from a pukka repair garage,Damage to your car maybe behind the bumper aswell.Contact other driver with a figure your happy with,sound him out to find if its less than his insurance excess(should be happy to cough up).If he doesn't agree then go through his insurance, if he does agree then get him to give you the cash this week so you can get it sorted.

Excess doesn't apply to 3rd party claims.

makemineadouble

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Nothing personnal, but as always we have only your version of events, hence the "if".

You are hopefully being honest, but many that come on here are clutching at straws to get them out of situations of their own making, hang around awhile and you will see.

It's merely a qualification that if the advice is conditional to you having told the truth, you wouldn't want smoke blowing up your jacksie without that being considered would you?

It wasn't intended to offend, but has to be said in my view.

Not taken personally. I just fail to see which part of what happened could possibly be untrue. Perhaps you think that it was me who went into the other driver and am now trying to get him to pay for that ? Think if that was the case then the witness would have given their number to the other driver rather than myself or is it the witness being present that may be in doubt too ?

I dare say that some do come to here and other forums for the reasons you stated. As for hanging around a while, I already have been; mostly as a reader of threads (or lurker if you prefer); I just haven't had the need to post much before on here. I belong to many forums and do not reply to anyone on the assumption that they may not be telling the truth; I answer the question which was asked if I am able to help. If that means I am sometimes aiding and abetting a liar then it's not for me to have on my conscience.

Thanks for all other replies too. First quote looks around the 300 quid mark (if they are able to locate the light unit required) so will make contact with other driver involved and go from there. Repair centre agreed that if going through insurance, my car probably will be written off so if this can be settled amicably and without the hassle of making a claim then will probably be the method I'll use on this occasion.

cyclonebri1

makemineadouble wrote: »

Not taken personally. I just fail to see which part of what happened could possibly be untrue. Perhaps you think that it was me who went into the other driver and am now trying to get him to pay for that ? Think if that was the case then the witness would have given their number to the other driver rather than myself or is it the witness being present that may be in doubt too ?

I dare say that some do come to here and other forums for the reasons you stated. As for hanging around a while, I already have been; mostly as a reader of threads (or lurker if you prefer); I just haven't had the need to post much before on here. I belong to many forums and do not reply to anyone on the assumption that they may not be telling the truth; I answer the question which was asked if I am able to help. If that means I am sometimes aiding and abetting a liar then it's not for me to have on my conscience.

Thanks for all other replies too. First quote looks around the 300 quid mark (if they are able to locate the light unit required) so will make contact with other driver involved and go from there. Repair centre agreed that if going through insurance, my car probably will be written off so if this can be settled amicably and without the hassle of making a claim then will probably be the method I'll use on this occasion.

No no no. You don't understand.

Consider this.

Go to a solicitor, tell him your story.

He will say to you something like;


Based on what you say you are 100% correct and not to blaim...............

In other words, You are in the right but only if what you say is correct and provable.

You need to get a grasp of that. I'm not trying to shoot you down, but in an argument, someone else may try to. :A