accident help please dont know where to start

nicolefrenzy

Hi

This morning i parked up and nipped into the shop came back and a lady said i have just hit your car i'm so sorry my foot just slipped.My car just has a few scratches on the front bumper and i think just needs a respray her car however has a huge scratch along the whole side of her car.I took her name.address,phone number and reg details and she told me she will be at work till 5pm.My problem is i have no idea how to claim it will probably cost me £150 to get the bumper resprayed and my excess is £350 which i just cannot afford infact i cannot afford the £150 at the minute either.My car is a 05 plate astra and my pride and joy so i dont want to drive around with the bumper scratched to bits.What do i do? how do i claim and will i have to pay the excess if i was to claim?

thanks.x

Lirin

You did the right thing in taking her details.

If she's nice enough, you could get it resolved amicably without insurance needing to be involved.
If not, they should reclaim the costs from her insurance, regardless of the cost of your excess.

Lum

If the other person is admitting liability then you don't have to pay anything.

Only exception to this is if you go through your own insurance to make the claim, then the other persons insurance doesn't pay up. If this happens you will have to pay your excess, lose 2 years NCB and have a fault claim recorded against you. As a result of this I would recommend not going through your insurance.

It is also worth noting that if you claim and are successful then you will still have a non-fault claim recorded against you.

You have 3 options.

1) If the person seems trustworthy* then you could ask if they would like to settle privately. Get a quote for the repair from your preferred garage and present her with the bill. This way the woman does not lose her NCB and you do not automatically get the claim recorded against you. Technically you should still report it and suffer increased premiums, up to you whether you do or not

2) Use a 3rd party claim management company. Many here hate people who do this because while they will look after you, give you a nice hire car of equal size/status and arrange the repair, they charge a lot for the service, the other person's insurance foot the bill but ultimately it pushes everyone's premiums up. If you do go down this route avoid Drive Assist. Helphire are allright though.

3) Call the woman's insurance company directly to make a claim and ask them to sort it out for you. They too will sort you out with a hire car and arrange the repairs. I have not tried this approach myself as I am concerned that my interests will not be their first priority, however others on this and other forums have reported good results. I guess they realise that if they annoy you too much you'll be off to the claim management people.

* They did wait for you to tell you what they had done. Many would just drive off, so I think she is ok.

Hammyman

She told you instead of just doing a runner which kind of tells me you'll have no issues. I'm for Lum's option 1. Shouldn't cost you more than £100-£150. She won't be getting off scot free as she'll need to make a claim on hers to get her car fixed anyway.

vaio

My opening route would be Lum's No 3 (sounds like an old tobacco ), talk to the other driver, get her to report it to her insurance company and when she has a claim ref number ring them up and I’m sure they will sort everything out. They will also give you hire car if you need one

In the meantime, you could get a couple of quotes to repair yours so they are to hand when you talk to her insurance company.

If they are less than helpful then contact a claims management company who will deal with it on your behalf.

As the other driver is almost certainly going to make a claim for the damage to hers then the accident will be on the claims database so don’t even think about not disclosing it when asked on future renewals

bigjl

You could consider getting a SMART repair done, Chipsaway, Dentmaster etc. Have seen loads of working drivers that use them, including London Black Cab Drivers and chauffeurs, not forgetting a lot of main dealers, try your local Vauxhall dealer and ask them for the name and number of the bloke that they use for SMART repairs, Small Medium Area Repair Techniques, is, I think, what the accronym stands for.

Lum

I'd rather get it done properly since it's not my fault the damage occurred in the first place.

Had one of those done (by Dent Devils) for a small dent when my GF dropped my disclok getting it out of the boot. You can still see where the dent was if the car is clean.

bigjl

Your not wrong there LUM, as you aren't paying the bill then get it fixed by a proper VBRA bodyshop, surely the excess won't be payable.

I have never paid an excess when claiming after somebody has clipped my car, or rather the wifes car, we used the non fault claims procedure and had a credit repair done, then the bill was paid by the third party insurance company.

Lum

Bigjl: If the 3rd party turns out to be uninsured, you will end up paying your excess and losing NCB while the case is dragged through the MIB scheme, which literally takes years.

I know this all too well. We're only just now almost about to receive payment for the person who rear ended my GFs car in 2008 and that is only because we were eventually able to track down the other driver's insurance company (not the same company as on the certificate she showed to the police and gave us details of)

bigjl

I have used the non fault accident route when I had only third party insurance, I didn't pay anything, or lose no claims, but there is a risk as the repair is actually a credit repair, in other words you would be liable if the 3rd party tried to deny liability, but I seem to remember that the claims are only accepted if the other party is insured and you where not at fault.

When I used one it was in '98, my wife used one in Dec 2009. Though there was little chance of my 3rd party not being insured, as it was the Met Police.

neilmcl

bigjl wrote: »

I have used the non fault accident route when I had only third party insurance, I didn't pay anything, or lose no claims, but there is a risk as the repair is actually a credit repair, in other words you would be liable if the 3rd party tried to deny liability, but I seem to remember that the claims are only accepted if the other party is insured and you where not at fault.

When I used one it was in '98, my wife used one in Dec 2009. Though there was little chance of my 3rd party not being insured, as it was the Met Police.

The only real risk of using this route is if the other party's insurer decide to kick up a fuss at any inflated hire costs. Usually over a short period you'll be OK. Having said that there are some insurers now who are refusing to deal with claims made via these companies, Admiral for one will refuse.