quote for accident 3 months ago

xmasbigbird

Hello,
I was wondering if anybody would be able to give me some advice..
On 7th Feb this year i reversed into somebody and damaged their front light assembly. Rather than go through insurance, I said I'd pay for any repairs as my excess is £400. The person e-mailed me a couple of weeks later saying they hadn't had chance to get the car to a garage yet, but would in a week or so. I hadn't heard anything so foolishly assumed it was only a minor cost and they'd sorted it themselves.
Today I received an e-mail saying that they'd just got a quote and that it's just under £400 without VAT, and that they would be putting it into the garage in a couple of weeks.
I don't know much about cars, but this seems a bit excessive, plus I don't know if he's done any other damage to the car in the last 3 months that I'll end up paying for!
Does anybody know where I stand with this at all? I'm more than willing to pay for any damage I caused, but the price and time frame make it hard for me to swallow.

thanks

Premier_2

xmasbigbird wrote: »

Hello,
I was wondering if anybody would be able to give me some advice..
On 7th Feb this year i reversed into somebody and damaged their front light assembly. Rather than go through insurance, I said I'd pay for any repairs as my excess is £400. The person e-mailed me a couple of weeks later saying they hadn't had chance to get the car to a garage yet, but would in a week or so. I hadn't heard anything so foolishly assumed it was only a minor cost and they'd sorted it themselves.
Today I received an e-mail saying that they'd just got a quote and that it's just under £400 without VAT, and that they would be putting it into the garage in a couple of weeks.
I don't know much about cars, but this seems a bit excessive, plus I don't know if he's done any other damage to the car in the last 3 months that I'll end up paying for!
Does anybody know where I stand with this at all? I'm more than willing to pay for any damage I caused, but the price and time frame make it hard for me to swallow.

thanks

If you damage someone else's car you are liable for that damage.

It's what you buy insurance for. As well as paying out, the insurer would also ensure only damage up to the value of that you caused would be paid.

Unfortunately you decided to bark yourself whilst owning the dog, so to speak.

You could try informing your insurance now, but I suspect they won't be too impressed you waited 3 months before doing so.

Either way, your insurance is going to cost more next year when you disclose you had the accident

... or of course you could try and keep that under wraps too, and hope you never have to make a claim in the next 5 years or so, because if you do and you don't disclose the accident, it could end up costing you a whole load more money.

McKneff

It is in all terms and conditions of the contract that you signed that you are supposed to inform your insurance of such accidents, whether you claim or not.

You have to try to think ahead about whether you get found out or not, get your insurance cancelled, then it really will hit the fan.

Notmyrealname

If you hit it enough to damage their lights, there'll be other damage such as the bumper and the front panel behind it and/or the wing and/or the bonnet and/or the grille. You can't damage the lights and not damage something else.

Given that just respraying a bumper is the thick end of £200 I'd say £400 sounds about right for light frontal - even actually a bit on the cheap side.

Your choices are really simple:

Pay

Don't pay and go through the insurance and still end up paying in the long run.

xmasbigbird

thanks for your advice! this is the first time i've ever has an incident, so didn't know much about it. thanks again.

McKneff

Someone put a dent in my boot door of my little Ford KA about 7 years ago, it was over £500 to sort it.

verityboo

Do you know the make, model and age of the car you hit? Has the other driver sent you a copy of the quote which details what is being quoted for or have they just sent you a price?

Strider590

Quite convenient that the bill comes to JUST less than you told him your excess was......

fivetide

verityboo wrote: »

Has the other driver sent you a copy of the quote which details what is being quoted for or have they just sent you a price?

This.

have you seen what the fix involves? Depending on the type of car a headlamp can be very pricey on its own. You might even be able to pay the garage direct.

At this point, I wouldn't be worrying about whether your insurance company is tapping your phone/emails to see if you've had an unreported accident than I would about getting this one sorted.

Make sure that any payment made is "full and final" so they can't come back for more - and get a reciept too!

5t.

Lum

The guy is most likely pulling a fast one. You could ask him to send you a copy of the quote.

That said, £400 to make it go away without showing up on any insurance databases is still a decent deal worth considering.

Quentin

Your excess is irrelevant (you won't have any to pay if you let your insurer deal with this as a claim).

Beware that the quote you have will be subject to any other damage turning up whilst they do the job.

You cannot limit this to just paying for repairs and you could still be hit for more costs (eg car hire whilst the damage is repaired).

Much better to let your insurer deal with this, then if cost effective you can reimburse them when it's been concluded and get your NCD reinstated.

Plus your insurer will tie this up so that the third party can't comeback later with more problems (maybe an injury too) that has come to light!