car accident claiming out with insurance

rich13348

Hi so my fiancee scuffed up another car today and there was some paint transfer.

The other person says that a dent around the accident wasn't there before. We exchanged details, i took plenty of photos of his car and went our separate ways. Now his dad has contacted me saying that there is a chip off the paint on the wing and the bumper needs painted to blend it in.

The problem is the bumper was a mess before the incident and I can't see any paint chips in the high quality pictures I took and also he reckons I need to pay for the whole thing being painted.

My question is am I responsible for paying for the whole thing or should I only be responsible for repairing the damage.

I asked him to get a few quotes and he thinks I'm being unreasonable.

Also his car is POS 13 year old accord that's barely worth £700. The paint transfer rubbed off and I think that the dent can be pulled out for £50 and there is no paint damage anyway. Also to paint the bumper would need to be painted with plastic paint so will cost a lot.

Quentin

He is the innocent party and you are being unreasonable asking him for multiple quotes. (Have you offered to pay him for his time and trouble and expenses getting the quotes?)


If you are wanting to save yourself the extra cost of getting insurers involved then see what he wants and be reasonable with him.


But if the car is only worth £700 he can expect any insurance claim to result in a write off. plus any other uninsured losses he comes up with (maybe whiplash will set in shortly!!)

rich13348

I don't think its unreasonable to get 2 qoutes. If he claims for whiplash its BS as it was a 5mph incident while parking in the car park. The father suggested going out with insurance companies not me. What do you mean by time troubles and expenses insurance companies don't pay for time off work fuel to and from places so im not. He seems to be boosting the damage to get easy cash off me.

Quentin

When you are the innocent party then you are not obliged to go to any expense at all over getting matters put right, and the "guilty" party is responsible for all costs involved (not just the actual repair bill)!


If you are happy to let your insurer deal with this then tell the third party that they should deal with your insurer and not bother you any more


Your insurer will not pay for uneconomical repairs and just write the car off - assuming your valuation is correct.

rich13348

That's what I thought anyway. The valition is a rough one from auto trader as I don't have the mileage so I had to guess.
I will pay for the damage done to his car by my car but I get the feeling the father is trying to get some quick cash off me and not look twice at getting the car repaired.

InsideInsurance

There is no obligation for them to have the repairs done but there is an obligation for you to cover the cost of the damages you caused even if they decide to live with it.

As has been said, for the monies involved an insurer wouldnt fight it as that would cost more than simply paying the very low level claim it currently is

glentoran99

rich13348 wrote: »

I don't think its unreasonable to get 2 qoutes. If he claims for whiplash its BS as it was a 5mph incident while parking in the car park. The father suggested going out with insurance companies not me. What do you mean by time troubles and expenses insurance companies don't pay for time off work fuel to and from places so im not. He seems to be boosting the damage to get easy cash off me.

Whether he actually has whiplash or not is irrelevant to whether he puts in a claim and gets paid out

glentoran99

Whats to stop him claiming from your insurers after you pay out? Ive known it to happen before.


Contact your insurance and let them deal with it

rich13348

glentoran99 wrote: »

Whether he actually has whiplash or not is irrelevant to whether he puts in a claim and gets paid out

I would say the stance the govt and insurers who are cracking down on dodgy injury claims might hamper that slightly.

Quentin

The point that we are trying to make to you is that unless you know what you are doing when keeping your insurer in the dark the third party can cause you big problems by accepting your cash and still pursuing you via your insurer for all other losses and injury compensation.

OnanTheBarbarian

rich13348 wrote: »

I would say the stance the govt and insurers who are cracking down on dodgy injury claims might hamper that slightly.

A load of hype and rubbish you have read from the press.

Insurers are still making me daily pre-medical offers for my client's claims. So they remain happy to keep paying people's claims without seeing any medical evidence whatsoever.

The insurers aggravate a problem they then complain about.