An accident thats your fault - how would you respond?

beachbeth

My daughter was in her car at a junction a couple of weeks ago. She wasn't moving and was waiting to pull out. A car came up behind her and crashed into the back of her. A teen lad was driving with L plates and his mum sitting next to him. They got out and she removed the L plates and told her son to get in the passenger side.

The accident was their fault, no question. My daughter's bumper is cracked and there is some light scratching on the paintwork. Some of the paint of my daughter's car was on the other lady's car, which shows that her car had done this damage.

My daughter has been under some stress lately and just didn't want the bother of going through the insurance. She mentioned to the woman that she was about to sell the car and so didn't want any claims holding this up. They agreed at the roadside that the lady would pay her £30 for the number plate replacement and for repair of the scratches and they would then forget about it. We thought our daughter was being more than reasonable.

However, the lady in question then posted a snotty letter through the door a few days later saying that she only considered that she had damaged the number plate and nothing else and so was only going to pay £20, which was enclosed. She said she wasn't willing to pay for my daughter to tart the car up ready for selling. She made it sound as though she was being taken for a ride. My husband works in accident repair and so can repair the scratches himself and the £30 would have covered the number plate and and the cost of him getting the paint from work. If he didn't work in the business then this repair would cost a hell of a lot more. We all thought we were being very reasonable and yet this lady is acting as though we're trying to rip her off! Most people we've spoken to said they would have been happy if we'd said "pay us £50 and we'll forget the whole thing". We only asked for £30 for goodness sake.

Luckily my daughter took pictures of the damage and so can back her side of the story up. She is now taking it through the insurance instead because its not fair her having to pay for a repair when the accident wasn't her fault. We don't know if the lady pretended she was the driver because her son isn't insured or whether it was because his insurance excess would be high. My daughter is with an insurance that covers for uninsured drivers so it doesn't matter either way.

We just cannot understand how you can react in this high and mighty way when the accident was her fault and we tried to settle things really fairly and amicably. How many of you would also have responded to this by posting such a letter along with less money than had been agreed?

Quentin

Making a claim over £10 is a big mistake!

Premiums increase after a no fault claim, so you will end up out of pocket, and will still need to chase the third party to recover your excess.

beachbeth

My daughter has shopped around for insurance on her proposed new car and has got a really good deal after doing comparisons and so I don't think theres going to be any noticeable increase in premium for her after taking the cheapest quote anyway.

If she's going to go through the insurance it also saves my husband from having to spend hours of his own time mending her car. He spends each week day working on cars at work so doesn't really want to do it in his time off too.

My question really though is "how would you react if you caused an accident and the other party had tried to be amicable". Not "has my daughter done the right thing?2

Quentin

Has she shopped round with this claim on her record?

Also any ncd she currently has may be (temporarily) reduced till her claim is finalised.

(Never rely on anything "agreed " at the scene.)

londonTiger

Quentin wrote: »

Making a claim over £10 is a big mistake!

Premiums increase after a no fault claim, so you will end up out of pocket, and will still need to chase the third party to recover your excess.

I made a mistake of calling in to tell the insrers about a tiny scratch on the side of my car. I parked next to a prius at tescos. The bay that the prius was parked in was at the last parking space before the junction of the parking bay.

When it got out it had to do a sharp turn. So it did (I beleive) and scratched th side of my bumper. Bumpers plastic so I don'#t care about it now, it's not going to rust and is very inconspicuous.

I just phoned up the insurance an notified the insure about the scratch, not knowing any better. Didn't claim anything. But now I'm worried that my premiums are going to go up because this "accident" would be my fault by default since the other party cannot be found. Is this likely to happen?

P.s. I only know it was a prius because I made a point of comparing the paintwork on the other car and comparing it to mine (same colour cars). I then walked into the supermarket and came out saw the scratch and the other cars paint smeared all over mine.

mcjordi

its not a mistake making a claim at all. she was hit and is entitled for the damage to be repaired.. id of happily paid up the £30 and avoided the loss of ncb and hiked premiums for the next 5 years.

Quentin

londonTiger wrote: »

..........I just phoned up the insurance an notified the insure about the scratch, not knowing any better. Didn't claim anything. But now I'm worried that my premiums are going to go up because this "accident" would be my fault by default since the other party cannot be found. Is this likely to happen?.....

Once you report an incident like this it goes on your record and you will have to disclose it when applying for quotes over the next 3 to 5 years, even though no "claim" resulted from the incident.

Do some virtual quotes online to see whether or not it affects premiums.

Quentin

mcjordi wrote: »

its not a mistake making a claim at all. she was hit and is entitled for the damage to be repaired.. id of happily paid up the £30 and avoided the loss of ncb and hiked premiums for the next 5 years.

She is entitled to have the damage repaired, the problem is that a no fault claim results in a premium increase over this at renewal for the innocent party - so not worth claiming over a tenner

beachbeth

Quentin wrote: »

(Never rely on anything "agreed " at the scene.)

To be honest we didn't think she would pay up at all, no matter what was agreed at the time. I was pleasantly surprised when the letter dropped through the letter box until, of course, we saw the snotty letter and the £20!

Jamie_Carter

Quentin wrote: »

She is entitled to have tbe damage repaired, the problem is that a no fault claim results in a premium increase for the innocent party - so not worth claiming over a tenner

I don't know if it's different for business motor insurance. But after making a few no fault claims in the past, the premiums have never gone up.

Jamie_Carter

She is obviously trying to be difficult. I would report her to the police, explaing that they switched drivers (there may be CCTV evidence). And take it through your insurance. £20 is an absolute joke.

If her son wasn't insured, and they had caused you serious injury, then he could have been locked up.

Don't let people like this get away with it. It's because of them that our premiums are so high in the first place.