Quoting for an accident

yoshifumu

I had a small 'London bump' the other day in which I was a rear driver (saturday).

I won't go into too much detail but the short story is I turned my head for a second, whilst braking at a low speed, confident that I would stop in time.

Obviously I didn't and the end-result is paintwork damage on both our cars (only paintwork damage). It's on a single panel on the rear bumper, and there are no dents.

I don't care about paintwork on mine so won't claim. But the other guy was pretty upset, not because of the accident directly, but because he had had one a year ago, and just got the car fixed last month.

I own a Ka 54 reg.

He owns a BMW 5 series 60 reg.

He also seemed to know what to do.

He has notified his insurance, but having been on this forum before, I thought I might wait a bit to see how much it costs outside of insurance. He then stopped his claim and told me he would get a quote. If it's above £500 I would go through insurance as that is my excess.



That was saturday, today is tuesday and he Just replied to me via text (I've asked for his email and he has yet to give it to me). He has told me that

"you bumping in to the back of my car has cost £1500 pounds as the insurance company looked into my policy and say they have under charged me for last year and this year"

followed by a thank you.

I'm not 100% sure what he's talking about but I'm assuming that that is his insurance premium being raised or some such event. In which case I'm not even sure if that's legal.

I also am not sure whether he has quoted me how much he wants to pay or not.



So:

Should I notify my insurance?

Should I insist on emails?

Any realistic estimates for this?

Any other advice?

Thanks!

yoshifumu

Here's the picture:

Rolandtheroadie

Phone your insurer now and leave it to them.

It's all going to go wrong if you dont and I've a feeling there could be neck and/or back pain by now or in the near future.

Only thought about the £1500 is his insurer didnt have all his details correct and the corrections mean he's due more in premiums?

Quentin

You need to inform your insurer ASAP.

Then pass on any communication/correspondence from the third party unanswered to your insurer to deal with. And don't get into any more discussions with the third party!

neilmcl

As above. Also, you don't pay excess on third-party claims only your own, and as you're not going to claim for yourself then this isn't an issue.

yoshifumu

Ok I've notified my insurer, elephant. But I have still maintained that I want to deal with it privately. They say that if I need to I can change my mind and they will pay.

the garage have given a 'rough estimate' of 800-900. But say they need to check to see if there is any more extensive damage. If it get's too expensive I'll go through my insurer.

But my premium is likely to increase by almost £1000 if I claim (being a 21 year old student living in London, with a 21 year old brand new student as a named driver), so long-term might be cheaper to pay.

vaio

don't forget that some (most?) companies (elephant is one) will still load your premiums even if you pay the bill yourself.

F_T_Buyer

As the insurance now know about your accident, it will be recorded when you renew - whether or not you claim.

The damage is going to be more than £500, so I say go through the insurance. If that was my car, I would only want BMW to fix it, and as it's nearly new I bet they won't penny-pinch looking for the cheapest quote for you to pay.

Oh, and he'll probably claim for whiplash too - especially when they realise their premium is increasing too!

yoshifumu

Ok, but as I'm keeping my NCB, could I not just move to a different insurer. Or do they share non-claimed accidents as well?

Quentin

Bear in mind that the third party can claim all his costs (ie not just the garage bill). eg hire car whilst the job is being done.

You could let your insurer deal with this, then, (if cost effective),reimburse them their costs thereby getting your NCD reinstated.

F_T_Buyer

yoshifumu wrote: »

Ok, but as I'm keeping my NCB, could I not just move to a different insurer. Or do they share non-claimed accidents as well?

They share all accident info.

Someone drove into me, 100% their fault and they took all liability, yet my insurance went up due to now being involved in an accident - I never claimed, only off their insurance!

Car insurance is a legalised racket I say!