Rear end shunt

diamond_dave

My daughter has just had someone hit her in the rear of her newish Renault Clio when stationary at lights. The damage is minimal but the paint has cracked on the colour coded bumper. She got the woman's address and phone number and we have been trying to contact her to no effect. She refuse to return calls or answer the door. In desperation we have put the matter in the hands of the insurance co. and have given them the other drivers insurance details as found on the MID website. Should we write to this woman holding her responsible for the accident,etc,etc, or merely leave it to the insurance company? The damage is minor but will need some paint work. I was hoping to sort this out between ourselves but she obviously wants to lose her NCB! any advice,please.

Mojisola

Leave it to the insurance company.

diamond_dave

Our insurance company is Admiral!! Any problems with them?

colino

Leave it up to the insurance company, especially with a rear shunt, they tend to be slam-dunks. However make a point of checking the car over very thoroughly. Modern cars are great for keeping us safe, but any accident can transmit and dissipate a surprising amount of force throughout the shell. Check out the boot floor and roof and fit of the hatchback for any ripples.

Stoke

Yep, check the boot floor hasn't crumpled. If there's a spare wheel, take it out and make sure the floorpan hasn't been crumpled or damaged at all. Also check the rear lights haven't been cracked as they're only plastic.

Did your daughter get photos of both vehicles? It's useful now to take photos of both vehicles as to prove the damage in my opinion.

Tilt

colino wrote: »

Leave it up to the insurance company, especially with a rear shunt, they tend to be slam-dunks. However make a point of checking the car over very thoroughly. Modern cars are great for keeping us safe, but any accident can transmit and dissipate a surprising amount of force throughout the shell. Check out the boot floor and roof and fit of the hatchback for any ripples.

+1 to this.

Get down to your nearest approved body shop for an estimate. Admiral will no doubt want you to take it into somewhere they use but remember, it's your (or your daughter's) car at the end of the day.

diamond_dave

Admiral want us to take it to a Honda Main dealership some miles away even though there is a huge insurance approved bodyshop a couple of miles from here. If we take it somewhere else they wont guarantee to work, apparently. I have checked the floor pan lights etc - no damage. Just a low speed hit which cracked the paint on the bumper, but I will get the insurance to check the cat is not damaged, just in case.

Quentin

You can insIst on getting the repairs done at your choice of repairer.

But check if there is any extra excess to pay for doing this (Aviva charge an extra £200), and expect to have to pay for any courtesy car needed as most insurers restrict providing courtesy cars from their approved repairers only.

Alternatively cancel the claim and see if the third party insurer will deal with you direct if liability is clear cut.

Tilt

Quentin wrote: »

You can insIst on getting the repairs done at your choice of repairer.

But check if there is any extra excess to pay for doing this (Aviva charge an extra £200), and expect to have to pay for any courtesy car needed as most insurers restrict providing courtesy cars from their approved repairers only.

Alternatively cancel the claim and see if the third party insurer will deal with you direct if liability is clear cut.

This is recoverable from the TP (if deemed at fault) as un-insured losses.

Foxy-Stoat_3

If you want to avoid phone calls and texts for the next 3/4 years asking you to claim for whiplash/government comfort payments etc etc, buy a pay and go sim and give the insurers the number NOW....if they have the mobile number already they may well of past the details to all the ambulance chasers in the land but you may be lucky if you catch it early.

Bigphil1474

I had a rear end shunt last year, appeared to be minor damage but on inspection the car was written off - it was a bit old mind you. My brother is a mechanic so he checked it out
The other driver wanted to sort it between us, but wouldn't accept the car was a write off - value £750. When they said no, I went to my insurers. They were brilliant. Put me onto a third party claim handling company as it was a no fault incident (avoids anything going on your insurance history, no affect on ncd etc.), they had the car examined, written off, paid out, sold the car back to me as it was drivable, drove it for a couple of weeks until got a replacement, sold it for scrap for more than the insurers sold it to me for, case closed.
Took about 3 months for the claims company to start calling me. Managed to brush them off for 6 months, until I gave in. They processed a claim, and after a couple of weeks, all I had to do was confirm that I had suffered some injury from the accident and I'd get £2,500. Although tempted, I said no - they wasted their time. Went quiet for a few weeks, then another company contacted me about my "recent road traffic accident". Think it has to be within 3 years of the incident, so I should be clear in 2 years :mad: