Minor 'fender-bender' accident - advice

regency_man

Hi all,

My friend has had a second minor 'fender-bender' type accident in less than 6 months. There is no damage what-so-ever to her vehicle (that wouldn't polish out), but the other party's bumper cracked.

It was all very amicable (the third party admitted she braked very hard and suddenly without indicating because she almost missed a turning while following a diversion) and they agreed at the scene they would try and resolve it between themselves before contacting the insurance companies.

The other party got a quote, for new bumper and fitting and it was £800+VAT. This seemed high, so knowing the make/model of the vehicle from the Reg number we got a quote from the main dealer of a new bumper, paint-job and fitting & fixings - i.e. the most it could possibly need, and it came out at £500+VAT.

With this information we went back to the third party and offered repair at the main dealer to settle things. She refused, saying she knows the man who gave her the original quote at her local garage personally and trusts him to do a good job. When we pushed the issue, she said if my friend didn't accept her terms she would just go to her insurance company because she didn't want the hassle.

My friend is adamant she wants to settle it outside insurance, but I tried explaining to that it doesn't really matter now, she has no NCB to lose, and the increase in her premiums, while probably significant for a second accident in 6 months, would probably be less than the £800+ for the repair.

Am I right here? There is no benefit what-so-ever to her settling outside insurance. The only possible benefit would be if she lied on her renewal and pretended the accident never happened, but in reality this is extremely unlikely to affect her premiums by more then £800 over the next 5 years.

Cheers in advance!

Quentin

She can do dummy quotes online with one or two claims and see the difference to help the decision.

She should bear in mind she is responsible for all costs not just the repair eg car hire etc.

InsideInsurance

£500 + VAT sounds very cheap for a new bumper, fitting, painting and blending in! Are you sure that the price given is for all of this? Garages can be cheeky and list things as + parts at MLP or exclude blending in etc to undercut others. May be fine on a brand new car to not blend can be very obvious on older cars.


Having 2 fault claims within 6 months is going to have a compound effect -v- just having one, especially if she had Max NCD before these incidents.

The "problem" with paying it yourself is how to declare it going forward. For an insurer "fault" is deemed by having a nil net outlay at the end of the claim and so if you allowed your insurer to deal with it and then repaid them the file would be closed as a non-fault claim due to the 0 balance. There is therefore an argument that the same should apply if dealt with privately.

regency_man

InsideInsurance wrote: »

£500 + VAT sounds very cheap for a new bumper, fitting, painting and blending in! Are you sure that the price given is for all of this? Garages can be cheeky and list things as + parts at MLP or exclude blending in etc to undercut others. May be fine on a brand new car to not blend can be very obvious on older cars.


Having 2 fault claims within 6 months is going to have a compound effect -v- just having one, especially if she had Max NCD before these incidents.

The "problem" with paying it yourself is how to declare it going forward. For an insurer "fault" is deemed by having a nil net outlay at the end of the claim and so if you allowed your insurer to deal with it and then repaid them the file would be closed as a non-fault claim due to the 0 balance. There is therefore an argument that the same should apply if dealt with privately.

Perhaps it is a little low, but it was a small car (Yaris) so there isn't much bumper to replace! The £500 is moot anyway, as the third party isn't keen to use another garage. So it's really a toss-up between a fault claim, and £800+VAT.

If she settles outside of insurance, to stay on the right side of the 'law' (or rather Ts&Cs) she will have to notify the insurer of an accident when she renews anyway right (if they ask)? I assume they will interpret this as a non-fault 'claim' on the policy as they didn't have to pay anything. Presumably this is 'better' than having it recorded as fault?

If she does go down the settlement route, is there a template for an agreement for this that the TP can sign, using the appropriate terms like "without prejudice" and "full and final settlement"? Worse case scenario would obviously be paying for the repair, then getting a whip-lash follow-up in 6 months time which would have to go through the insurers anyway.

Quentin

Her insurance conditions will require her to tell them (without waiting for them to 'ask')

(Don't put "without prejudice" on any receipt!)

forgotmyname

New bumper + fitting + VAT maybe £500 but what about painting it?