Someone hit my car - trying to pay cash

Hutch100uk

So a young lass reverses into my car in a car park today (my car was the only other car in the car park!!!). She waits for me to return and admits liability and apologises etc etc. I take photos of everything, take reg number and all her details.

I then report to my insurance company and they arrange for repair/courtesy car etc. Her insurance company also ring me to say she has admitted liability etc.

Then, she rings me up to tell me she has contacted the insurance and tell me they have said her car will be written off (as its really old) and mentions her high excess and that she's only just passed her test etc. An hour later her boyfriend calls me asking if we can come to an 'arrangement'.where they pay for the repairs directly. Not sure if its because of her high excess but I suspect its more to do with her insurance premiums.

I obviously tell him I'd rather not and that I suspect it will cost a LOT more than her excess to repair anyway. He then asked for photos of the damage so I'm not thinking "here we go".

So, am now waiting on her retracting her admission. So, does anyone have any advice about this and what I should do or what could happen?

loskie

dont go through your insurer but claim directly off hers.

Fat_Walt

She won't pay an excess on your repair and if she doesn't claim for her car they won't write it off.

Claim direct from her insurance as they have admitted liability. That was you won't be messing about with your excess.

Hutch100uk

loskie wrote: »

dont go through your insurer but claim directly off hers.

I've been told by a few people to use my own insurance. That way if I have issues with any repairs, its easier to deal with.

I told her boyfriend on the phone that she needn't bother claiming for her car as the damage is minimal.

I don't pay an excess with my own insurance.

My main concern is if she decides to changer her mind about liability.

angrycrow

You have nothing to worry about. She hit your parked and unattended car and has confirmed this to her own insurers so nothing for her to dispute. Worst case she tries to say no damage but she will struggle to argue this given her own insurers want to write her car off.

Joe_Horner

Just be aware (it's a bit late now because they've been informed) that by involving insurers on minor damage any payout is effectively going to be a loan because they will reclaim it over the next few years in increased "had a claim" premiums.

Had it recently with my partner. She managed to scratch someone's bumper (about 4 inch scratch, broke the lacquer but didn't mark the base coat) when visiting hospital to pick up her dad from a terminal cancer diagnosis. Admitted liability on the spot (because she WAS liable) and swapped details.

By the time she got home (about 3 hours) they'd already informed their insurers, who'd put them on to an accident management company, who'd informed her insurer, obtained her email from them, and sent a threateningly unpleasant email about her "not reporting it yet / breaking the terms of her insurance / county court recover / blah blah blah".

Obviously didn't give them the time of day but did forward the photos I'd taken of the (really minimal) damage to our insurers. The end result notified back to us was a £200 "cost of claim" including whatever fees the accident management lot put on it.

Now, for that £200 payout Sian's insurance will increase by about £50 over he next few years but, running a few dummy quotes based on the other car and a non-fault, so will the other guys.

So the insurers have effectively loaned £200 to get the job done (which we could have happily paid anyway and without the 2 month delay that occurred) and they'll be having that repaid by both parties over the next few years.

Which is possibly why, as an industry, they're really so keen for you to tell them about all incidents....

DUTR

Hutch100uk wrote: »

I've been told by a few people to use my own insurance. That way if I have issues with any repairs, its easier to deal with.

I told her boyfriend on the phone that she needn't bother claiming for her car as the damage is minimal.

I don't pay an excess with my own insurance.

My main concern is if she decides to changer her mind about liability.

Listen up!, your car was hit by a 3rd party, you want the car restored to a usuable condition as it was prior to the impact.
If the 3rd party are going to pay directly then they can pay their,your or accident management company directly to re-imburse them. You don't need to get into any dialogue with the 3rd party afer the initial exchange of relevant details.

jimmy_cricket

Hutch100uk wrote: »

So a young lass reverses into my car in a car park today (my car was the only other car in the car park!!!). She waits for me to return and admits liability and apologises etc etc. I take photos of everything, take reg number and all her details.

I then report to my insurance company and they arrange for repair/courtesy car etc. Her insurance company also ring me to say she has admitted liability etc.

Then, she rings me up to tell me she has contacted the insurance and tell me they have said her car will be written off (as its really old) and mentions her high excess and that she's only just passed her test etc. An hour later her boyfriend calls me asking if we can come to an 'arrangement'.where they pay for the repairs directly. Not sure if its because of her high excess but I suspect its more to do with her insurance premiums.

I obviously tell him I'd rather not and that I suspect it will cost a LOT more than her excess to repair anyway. He then asked for photos of the damage so I'm not thinking "here we go".

So, am now waiting on her retracting her admission. So, does anyone have any advice about this and what I should do or what could happen?

If it was me I would try and make the whole thing as painless as I possibly could for the other party. A new driver, so inexperienced. But, did the right thing in waiting for you to return and exchanging details.

If she comes out of this experience feeling that the situation has been made overly difficult by the other party, she might think next time 'b<gger this for a game of soldiers' and drive off.

peter_the_piper

Now she says she has brought her insurance into it she has to declare next time anyway.
Just been through the "Lets not involve insurance, i'll pay" myself and had to involve his works/insurance company as he would not contact me after he had left the scene. Keep yours in the loop but still expect a rise in cost next time you insure, they use any reason to increase.

foxy-stoat

Hutch100uk wrote: »

My main concern is if she decides to changer her mind about liability.

Unlikely, she could of just driven off and left your car damaged.....she waited for you to return....I have no idea how she can now change her mind about liability.

bod1467

We've recently renewed my wife's insurance (with me as a named driver). I've had 2 claims in the past few years (1 for a door scratch; no identifiable party so effectively a "fault" claim, and 1 "non-fault" claim wherein someone reversed into me), plus an SP30.

When we did the comparison I'd forgotten about the SP30 (as it has almost timed out) but had declared the claims ... the offer we went with was about 2/3 the price of the renewal from the existing insurer; adding the SP30 during the formal quote process added about £8.

tl;dr ... claims and notifying the insurer may have an impact on future renewals, but as it's a competitive market it probably won't be quite as scary as others may make out.