Advice following an accident.

Miss_J

I have a lease car which I pay for through work. Recently I had an accident for which I was at fault and have just got my car back after repairs.

On Saturday I returned to my car, it was parked in a legitimate parking bay and found a note attached to the windscreen from another driver who had left a message to say that they had accidently hit my car and they gave their number so I could get in touch to arrange to the repairs.

I have spoken to the other driver today and they have again apologised for the accident and have asked me to get her a quote and let her know how much it is. I explained that it was a lease car and normally I go through them, when she sounded hesitant I asked if she was wanting to avoid her insurer and she said she was. She said once I have a quote she will speak to her dad and will arrange to pay for the repairs. I think on speaking to her she is a student and I can see why she would want to avoid her insurer.

What is the best way to proceed with this, should I be telling my lease company if the car is repaired adequately. I feel like I should help her out as she has been decent and left all her contact details and willingly accepts she is to blame.

Spicy_McHaggis

You should really be informing your insurance but that may make things difficult for both of you.

If you wanted to help her out the same garage could do the work again and she pays.

But what if the work is done and they refuse to pay?
What about a car for you when the work is being done?

ratrace

Miss_J wrote: »

I have a lease car which I pay for through work. Recently I had an accident for which I was at fault and have just got my car back after repairs.

On Saturday I returned to my car, it was parked in a legitimate parking bay and found a note attached to the windscreen from another driver who had left a message to say that they had accidently hit my car and they gave their number so I could get in touch to arrange to the repairs.

I have spoken to the other driver today and they have again apologised for the accident and have asked me to get her a quote and let her know how much it is. I explained that it was a lease car and normally I go through them, when she sounded hesitant I asked if she was wanting to avoid her insurer and she said she was. She said once I have a quote she will speak to her dad and will arrange to pay for the repairs. I think on speaking to her she is a student and I can see why she would want to avoid her insurer.

What is the best way to proceed with this, should I be telling my lease company if the car is repaired adequately. I feel like I should help her out as she has been decent and left all her contact details and willingly accepts she is to blame.

Depending on the damage I would get a quote for the repair then inform the young lady on the cost if she is happy to pay it then i would just accept that and avoid telling anyone about it

Retrogamer

Do you have any other details of driver of the car that hit you?

I'd be reluctant to get too pushy or inform my insurance with just her telephone number. Numbers are easy to change and calls are easy to ignore after all.

Miss_J

I have her name, telephone number, reg number, make and model of her car. Initially we called and there was no reply, she then called back and said she was returning the missed call and apologised for missing the call. She was very apologetic on the phone and said it was entirely her fault. It sounds like she is trying to do the decent thing. If she is a young student I can imagine why she would want to avoid the insurers to avoid a massive hike in premiums.

I just wonder that by avoiding the lease/insurance company she could refuse to pay he repairs leaving me with a massive bill to pay or when the car is eventually returned to the lease company they are not satisfied with the repairs and penalise me for it. It seems like a big dilemma.

tykesi

You may be best telling your insurers 'for information purposes only' at this stage and then go with trusting her to pay for the repairs. If she doesn't for whatever reason and you decide you want the insurance company involved it will be much easier as they already know about the incident and you won't be springing it on them prompting awkward questions!

comeandgo

If it is a lease car through work, do you own this car and insure it yourself? If not then I think you have to report damage to lease company and let them deal with it, otherwise you could be giving yourself some problems when you hand the car back, especially if they notice that there has been a repair done.

Miss_J

It's a lease car that I pay for through work. They provid all insurance and services, repairs included in the price I pay each month. After 3 years i hand the car back. My husband has suggested that I contact my insurer and say there's been an accident, pay the £250 excess that I have for any insurance claims and then get the other party to pay me the £250. Somehow though I think this will go against me as that would mean 2 claims in 1 month plus when my car was damaged in the first accident they have had to replace the front bumper, grill and bonnet so not an altogether cheap repair that time and I suspect this repair won't be cheap either.

OddballJamie

Ignore your husband, don't claim on your own insurance as an at-fault accident.

As you don't own the car and could get charged in the future when you return it for poor repairs. Contact your insurance/lease company and tell them what happened, explain the person wants to pay, rather than claim and leave it at that. Hopefully they will bill her for the costs involved.

If it was a friend/family member then you could do things differently, however this is a stranger who has damaged a car you lease, you don't owe them anything. It's not worth the risk of either her not paying up or the garage doing a poor job.

Miss_J

Thanks everyone fir the advice. I have contacted my lease company today and they confirmed that it has to go through the insurance companies. I also have to pay £250 excess so they will try to claim this back on top of the repairs.

Spicy_McHaggis

Miss_J wrote: »

Thanks everyone fir the advice. I have contacted my lease company today and they confirmed that it has to go through the insurance companies. I also have to pay £250 excess so they will try to claim this back on top of the repairs.

Why didn't you claim straight off the third party as they admit liability.