A bump 6 weeks ago comes back to bite me

Milly01

Hello everyone,

I was involved in a small bump over 6 weeks ago, where i hit somebody from behind at about 5 mph.

I gave the driver my contact details, but since there was no visible damage, I didn't report it to my insurance, and I'm pretty sure she didn't either.

She rang a few days ago saying she took the car to a garage "about 4 weeks ago" (i.e. about 2 weeks after the incident) and she said there is damage to the 'crumple zone' and it would be about £300 - £400 to fix.

Now I suspect that my insurance wouldn't pay out for this, since no incident was reported by either of us, and she could have had another bump in those two weeks it took her to get it checked out.

She is an acquaintance of a friend of ours, so we don't want to sour any relationships by telling her to whistle for it.

Do you think they have any chance of getting any money from our insurance, and do you think it would be reasonable of us to offer to pay our excess (£150) towards the repairs as a compromise?

Thanks for any advice,

Milly

forgotmyname

You can still claim, They may take a dim view of you not declaring the accident. But that will soon tell when you
come to renew.

Offer to pay excess as a compromise? The excess will have to be paid anyway. No compromise there?


If the excess is £150 and only £300 to £400 to repair i would stick my hand in my pocket, Next years and the next 5 years
premium will be in excess of that when you declare the accident.

paulsad

yes you could also get hit with a whiplash injury claim later on so i'd go through insurance - these things can get expensive from one who knows!

Milly01

Thanks for the replies!

I'm working under the assumption that our insurance isn't going to pay out because they won't be able to prove that it was our incident that caused the damage (because of the two weeks delay, they may have had another bump), or that there was ever an incident at all (because it was never reported).

So if they try to go through the insurance, they won't get any money and will have to pay for all the repairs themselves. Or is that assumption wrong?

The 'compromise' of us paying £150 towards the repairs is because we could easily say 'what accident?' (as many might) and they would get nothing. If it was that important to them they wouldn't have left it two weeks to get the car seen, and then another 4 weeks before getting in touch with us about it?

Thanks again

vaio

Your insurance will pay for the damage to her car assuming everyone tells the truth about what happened.

As your car didn’t suffer any damage then excess doesn’t come into it

benham3160

I'd not communicate with them, just tell your insurance company.

This is what you've given them thousands of pounds over the years for, and they should be able to quickly find out how accurate their description of a "damanged cruple zone" is.

Leave it to your insurers.

Regards,
Andy

mikey72

The insurance will pay, as you hit the back of them, unless you lie outright, and deny any knowledge of it. As for the friend of a friend, that's when you'll find out who they are a better friend to if you do.

Thea

Did they ask you for the money directly or did they claim on there insurance?

Same thing happened to me a while back, low speed impact, and the guy was been really dodgy asking if i had insurance and all sorts. Funny thing was it was his 'wife' that was driving but she refused to get out the car. I grabbed my phone and took plenty of picks- no damage done. Then a few weeks later i get a threating letter from his brokers claiming i caused severe damage to his crumple zones but i could always pay up and they would keep quite (he'd already got a quote) and that he wouldnt be claiming on his insurance but mine.

Anyway i called my insurance company, explained what happened and told them i felt he was on the make since there wasn't even a scratch to the vehicle. It took about 3 months to sort out in all as they insisted on having the vehicle checked from one of there officials and the guy started phoning me complaining they wern't paying out. In the end all he got was a like a little square flap fixed (which im positive was hanging off before but no proof!) for about £20 and not the £400 hush money he wanted. For once the insurance company took there time and didnt pay out a penny more then they had to.

Always take pictures, no matter who or what the incident is. and beware, whats to stop her going to the insurance after you pay £150?

Milly01

vaio wrote: »

Your insurance will pay for the damage to her car assuming everyone tells the truth about what happened.

As your car didn’t suffer any damage then excess doesn’t come into it

Really? I thought I would have to pay the excess regardless of whether it was me or the other party claiming.

So you think that my insurance won't try to avoid paying out by saying it had been too long since the incident before they took it to a garage?


I do understand that it's my fault, but I'm annoyed and suspicious about how long it's taken them to get in touch with us about it.

Thanks again for everyone's replies. I really appreciate it.

andy111

Milly,

In your original post you said you gave them your insurance details, then in #4 you could say 'what accident?'.

Obviously if you gave details then something occurred, you are definitely at fault being the car behind.

Sometimes it pays to be up front with it all, absorb the consequences and get on with life.

Sometimes little indiscretions can come back to haunt you.

Milly01

andy111 wrote: »

Milly,

In your original post you said you gave them your insurance details, then in #4 you could say 'what accident?'.

I gave her my contact details (i.e. telephone number), but not my insurance details which I didn't have in my possession at the time, and she didn't request them because there was no visible damage to either car.

I'm not planning on saying 'what accident?', and I am being up front. I do intend to pay to get the damage repaired, but for all I know she could have reversed into a bollard in those two weeks, which is why I'm being a little stubborn about paying the full amount.

It's strange that it took two weeks to get the car looked at, and then 4 more weeks to contact me when she has my contact details