Accident..if you can call it that

jbatista

Hi all as much input as possible would be obliged,
My son was with his friend about to reverse park into a space in carpark, son started to reverse in and the car behind him was waiting, son asked guy to back up as he was reversing so he would be able to manuvere better, he clipped the guys bumper, asked him again to move and other driver moved an inch, literally, clipped bumper again, but didnt hear anything, got out of car sons car has a few scratches on it, son didnt say he was at fault, but gave the guy his name,etc and insurance details.. The guy whom he clipped said he didnt want to go through insurance has he had a £1000 excess! Police werent called, this happened on Wednesday this week, bloke got his secreatary to ring this morning and said its going to cost £385 to repair, sons car came off the worst with scratches etc, son took no pics etc
Will son be better off ringing insurance himself or woud he better off waiting for insurance to contact him?
How does this all work as son will have the work on his own car done his self and not put jis through, would it be a 3rd part claim only and would he have to pay the excess on his own insurance, I have no idea..
Help please would much appreciated..
Thankyou

lisyloo

If he doesn't have his own car done, it will be a 3rd party claim.
There is generally no excess on 3rd party claim.

jbatista

Lisyloo, would this affect his insurance much ...would son be better contacting his insurance company or wait for them to contact him//

scottishblondie

TBH if this guy said he doesn't want to go thru insurance then he probably doesn't want to involve your son's insurance either, as once he does that it's on record that he's been involved in an incident and he'll have to declare it when he renews. So I doubt he's made any contact with your son's insurance company. I'm going to say he's expecting your son just to cough up for the repairs.

If you want to get the insurance involved, it will increase the premium and he'll have to declare it as a claim for the next 5 years.

jbatista

When the 3rd partys secretary rang this morn, and she said it will cost £385 son said go through insurance,
How long will it take for the blokes insurance company to contact sons etc??

Quentin

jbatista wrote: »

would this affect his insurance much ...would son be better contacting his insurance company or wait for them to contact him//

The third party claim will mean he won't get any NCD added for this year, and he will lose 2 years of any he has already earned. And a premium loading is inevitable.

The problems with him paying the guy off with £385:

1) Is your son definitely responsible (if not, then let insurers sort it out

2) Is your son confident the £385 will end the matter (eg is the third party going to want a hire car whilst his is repaired/is there going to be more damage discovered at the body shop/etc)

If your son isn't sure this will end the matter, then let insurers sort it out.

3) Originally the third party said he wanted to avoid using his insurer because of his excess, yet if he is the 100% innocent party, then he knows he has no excess to worry about.

And as the suggested cost is less than his excess then he wouldn't be making a claim anyway!

4) Is the £385 correct (ie have you seen the quote?) - or is he making it up?

If you let the insurers deal with this they will ensure its done properly with no comeback possible from the third party in future - or if there is, they will deal with it.

Your son would be able to reimburse them if the costs make it viable, and thereby keep his NCD.

He is bound by his policy conditions to inform his insurer of the incident - failure to do so would be a breach of the conditions!

ariba10

Quentin wrote: »

1) Is your son definitely responsible (if not, then let insurers sort it out

If he reversed into a stationary vehicle, he is responsible.

jbatista

Quentin, many thanks for your response.
No son has not seen quote at all, son was in Stafford at uni at the time, it happened on a MCDS car park, lunch time, we live in Stoke and the 3rd Party lives in Tipon,
Son has not made contact with insurance so he should do shouldnt he? Only thing he didnt do was get 3rd partys insurance details. He has a business card and address only. Will this be enough for Direct Line? (he was in shock, flustered, 1st ever incident after 3 yrs of driving)
Whats premuim loading? He is 21 now.

somethingcorporate

Premium loading means his premiums will go up. Given his age and gender this would probably be by quite a bit!

jbatista

Oh god, thats all thats needed

Quentin

jbatista wrote: »

Only thing he didnt do was get 3rd partys insurance details. He has a business card and address only. Will this be enough for Direct Line? (he was in shock, flustered, 1st ever incident after 3 yrs of driving)

If your son isn't wanting to make any claim off the third party then he doesn't need his insurance details.

He should inform DL about the incident "for information only". (That shows them your son is not making a claim for his own damage).

Then should the third party get in touch just pass on all correspondence to DL to deal with.