minor parking scrape (opening door) - cheeky to offer cash compensation?

[Deleted User]

Made the classic error of opening my door too vigorously and bashing the car next to me. There was no dent, only a transfer of paint from my door to the other car.


Going down the insurance route would be a lot of hassle for everyone, so I'm thinking of offering the owner some cash (maybe £50?), or paying a mobile repairer like chips-away directly.


The car I knocked was not very new, nor in great condition, and the paint from my car may come off with some gentle abrasion, though likely to leave a small scratch underneath. If it were my car I'd be happy to take £50 and fix it myself.

InsideInsurance

There will be a risk that they are a more "moral" person and inform their insurers anyway which may then get back to your insurers which will cause you a problem if you didnt inform them.


In theory, outside the not informing your insurers issue, there is nothing wrong with you settling the claim privately. Just need to ensure they dont take the cash then take the car down to Mercedes (or whatever brand it was) and get a dealership price for repair and then come back to you for the rest

[Deleted User]

So I guess I could get them to sign a piece of paper saying "I accept £x in full and final compensation for the scrape to my door on <date>"?


Also, would there be any harm in informing my insurer (to cover the case you describe), but saying I'm going to try and settle privately anyway? It would only impact the no claims bonus if I actually made a claim.

InsideInsurance

[quote=[Deleted User];65834411]So I guess I could get them to sign a piece of paper saying "I accept £x in full and final compensation for the scrape to my door on <date>"?


Also, would there be any harm in informing my insurer (to cover the case you describe), but saying I'm going to try and settle privately anyway? It would only impact the no claims bonus if I actually made a claim.[/QUOTE]

Pieces of paper dont tend to carry too much weight because of them being able to say it was signed under duress

It would only impact your NCD if a claim was actually made but it may impact your premium irrespective of if a claims made or not and as its then "in the system" you have to declare the incident for the next 3-5 years (depends on insurers). Its the usual trick, you still get a 70% discount but its now a 70% discount off a bigger number

GingerBob_3

InsideInsurance wrote: »

There will be a risk that they are a more "moral" person and inform their insurers anyway which may then get back to your insurers which will cause you a problem if you didnt inform them.


In theory, outside the not informing your insurers issue, there is nothing wrong with you settling the claim privately. Just need to ensure they dont take the cash then take the car down to Mercedes (or whatever brand it was) and get a dealership price for repair and then come back to you for the rest

Try at all costs not to involve the insurance company. Don't even ring them up to enquire about it. They'll immediately put it down as an accident. This is one of the reasons why, when you ring them up, they generally will not talk to you about anything until they've identified you.

Friend of mine rang up to enquire about whether or not it made sense for him to claim for a lost signet ring .... they immediately noted the loss and it later affected his premium - after telling him it wasn't covered anyway. Bloody leeches! Tell 'em nowt!

arcon5

Over a bang on the door I can't see many motorists saying no to a cash settlement. Your insurer merely indemnifies you so not sure what difference it makes if you pay it or them..?! (Although of course you are contractually obliged to inform them - judgement call that)

Cheeky to offer cash settlement? Hell no.

If the car wasn't in great condition or very new I suspect the owner will take the cash and treat is as 'character'. Quids in.
If you banged my car i'd probably be happy for a tenner for some coffee and cake

mcjordi

arcon5 wrote: »

Over a bang on the door I can't see many motorists saying no to a cash settlement. Your insurer merely indemnifies you so not sure what difference it makes if you pay it or them..?! (Although of course you are contractually obliged to inform them - judgement call that)

Cheeky to offer cash settlement? Hell no.

If the car wasn't in great condition or very new I suspect the owner will take the cash and treat is as 'character'. Quids in.
If you banged my car i'd probably be happy for a tenner for some coffee and cake

yeah same here lol.. had some newish driver hit my wing on the megane a while back luckily on the one that was being replaced anyway.. poor lass was panicing about having " a crash" already. Till i pointed out that the wing was being replaced when i got home that day anyway.. i just laughed it off, she kept saying ill pay blah blah. i just said buy some soup or whatever for the food bank collection in my local supermarket (where she bumped it) and we'll call it quits..

There are some decent folk out there who wouldnt claim if it wasnt worth it but others will take the mick and claim for "injuries" etc

AlexMac

Watch it; even if they accept cash, they may grass you up to your insurer so try to gauge whether you can trust them.
Case in point; someone backed into me having braked suddenly to a halt (late on the school run; trying to park, didn't look, too late for me to take evasive action!)
Despite my car being ONLY 3 WEEKS FROM NEW (!) I suggested we speak by phone after she'd calmed down, and we'd inspected in the dry and in better light, as damage to my bumper appeared trivial and she had a fairly old car. I was going to suggest a 'chips away' job at her expense rather than involving the insurer.

Imaging my surprise when a) she failed to return my calls, and b) I got an email next day from my insurer claiming that I'd failed to report 'my driving into her!'. So it all had to go thru the insurer who refused my idea of using my legal protection cover to force her to lie in court.

Turned out OK, despite costing £450 at my insurer's bodyshop, as I had gazillions of protected no-claim; but as I assume she didn't, her lies probably cost her much more than the fix in premium increase.

There you are; rant over! I admire your honourable stance

nobbysn*ts

I've had two. Both when the car was parked. One was an old wreck, they backed into it and stuffed the boot and bumper in. Paid me cash, I pounded the boot out with a lump hammer so it locked again, ignored the bumper, and kept it a few more years. I spent the money though. The other one was someone scraped down the rear bumper of a fairly nice car, but it was black rubber, so I decided it would polish off, which it did, with no cost. My insurer didn't need to know.