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Advice needed after minor car bump
MummyOfTwo
Posts: 474 Forumite
in Motoring
Hi all, any advice offered is much appreciated...
just on my way home now i was behind a young lad who attempted to make a left turn as another car was hurtling down the narrow street. He had to slam on, as did I, and my front end hit his back end. The car which caused him to slam on immediately left the scene (we do have the reg number). My car has scratches and very minor damage to the paint at the front, but its certainly not anything i would claim for. The driver in front is an 18yr old lad, been drivin a couple of months, in a very old Fiesta. I checked the damage to his car and the panel is fine, he just needs a new bumper and light, but doesnt know if he is going to claim, as his insurance is already the best part of £2500. We have exchanged details, and he stated that he does not hold me in any way responsible for the collision. my question is, is there anything else i need to do? Do I tell my insurers even if i dont want to claim? Thanks
just on my way home now i was behind a young lad who attempted to make a left turn as another car was hurtling down the narrow street. He had to slam on, as did I, and my front end hit his back end. The car which caused him to slam on immediately left the scene (we do have the reg number). My car has scratches and very minor damage to the paint at the front, but its certainly not anything i would claim for. The driver in front is an 18yr old lad, been drivin a couple of months, in a very old Fiesta. I checked the damage to his car and the panel is fine, he just needs a new bumper and light, but doesnt know if he is going to claim, as his insurance is already the best part of £2500. We have exchanged details, and he stated that he does not hold me in any way responsible for the collision. my question is, is there anything else i need to do? Do I tell my insurers even if i dont want to claim? Thanks
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MummyOfTwo wrote: »The driver in front is an 18yr old lad, been drivin a couple of months, in a very old Fiesta. I checked the damage to his car and the panel is fine, he just needs a new bumper and light,
Are you a motor engineer? There could very well be hidden damage that writes the car off.MummyOfTwo wrote: »We have exchanged details, and he stated that he does not hold me in any way responsible for the collision.
Doesn't matter. The impact was your fault (not enough space left to stop safely).MummyOfTwo wrote: »my question is, is there anything else i need to do? Do I tell my insurers even if i dont want to claim? Thanks
Yes, because he has every right to claim from your insurance (and probably will).Science adjusts its views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation, so that belief can be preserved.
:A Tim Minchin :A
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well seeing as its rush hour and i was going about 4mph i doubt his his car is written off, especially as he flew off at light speed.
I shall inform my insurer.
anyone with less of an attitude want to contribute anything useful?0 -
I wouldn't bother informing them. You should but no one was injured. No point chasing up the other driver though, they didn't actually hit anythign and unless it was a one way street nothing the police could do.
Mildred is right though, you hit him so your fault for not leaving enough space. Best thing would be for you to replace his bumper and light with one from a scrappers or off eBay as any claim will put up his insurance, fault or not. Scouldn't be much for an old Fiesta and probably no more than your excess anyway.
He gets his car sorted and no one's premium rises unnecessarily.
5t.What if there was no such thing as a rhetorical question?0 -
Once he gets home and realises that you were 100% to blame he doesnt need to go through his insureres at all. He could deal directly with your insurers. You must ring them and inform them of the accident because if he does make a claim and rings your insurance company you will get some stick for not informing them (apart from that if you dont inform them you would be in breach of your contract and they could just as easily void your insurance - this could affect your for years, when another company comes along and says 'have yu ever had an insurance cancelled at any time)
He could also be going down the whiplash road too. Many do.make the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
and we will never, ever return.0 -
i think ill ring them and just see what the craic is. never had anything like this before and neither had he as a new driver so we kindof scratched our heads a little and swapped info. for the car he had the bits would be easy enough to get so if he does want to claim i hope he would get in touch first and give me opportunity to settle with him for the work.0
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Once he gets home and realises that you were 100% to blame he doesnt need to go through his insureres at all. He could deal directly with your insurers. You must ring them and inform them of the accident because if he does make a claim and rings your insurance company you will get some stick for not informing them (apart from that if you dont inform them you would be in breach of your contract and they could just as easily void your insurance - this could affect your for years, when another company comes along and says 'have yu ever had an insurance cancelled at any time)
He could also be going down the whiplash road too. Many do.
Exactly. He's been driving a couple of months and probably isn't very road savvy. He's entitled to have his car repaired and the cost of that could easily be higher than the value of the car = write off. Whiplash can occur at low speed, especially in old cars, and may well come on after 24 or 48 hours. You'd be amazed what happens when people talk to other people, all sorts of damage/injuries raise their heads.
OP - I don't have an attitude. I just answered your questions in the simplest way possible.Science adjusts its views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation, so that belief can be preserved.
:A Tim Minchin :A
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and when you get down to the nitty gritty, the cost of a new bumper and light and fitting for an old car is not much different to the same replacment/fixing of a new car.
The driver who legged it is irrelevant.make the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
and we will never, ever return.0 -
MummyOfTwo wrote: »well seeing as its rush hour and i was going about 4mph i doubt his his car is written off, especially as he flew off at light speed.
I shall inform my insurer.
anyone with less of an attitude want to contribute anything useful?
reason I would inform them is sometime before the months out you may receive a letter from the other parties solicitor claiming his client has whiplash and has had to take time off work/dole because of it.lawyers 4 U will prob be on the job so cover your own back.counting down the time I got left.:beer::beer:0 -
Do you have the other drivers phone number? If so then call them and sort it out like 2 decent people, tell them your situation and that your happy to pay etc, yes you are supposed to inform the insurance but is it worth it? Not everyone is a claim freak and money grabbing goons, there are some decent honest civil people out there and the young guy seems like one of them so just talk it over with him before you do anything, maybe even buy him some furry dice for his car when its all sorted
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i would call him, and ask to come to an agreement to settle privately.0
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