Urgent advice needed

Confused_driver

Hi. I have just had a small car incident at a retail car park. I touched someone's car whilst trying to squeeze in a tight parking spot. Stupid mistake I admit. The damage was very minor, few scratches to the back. I reversed back and decided to move to another parking place. Whilst driving off I noticed a lady in the opposite side watching me intently then taking her phone out and writing down something, most likely my reg number. She obviously thought I took off without claiming responsibility. I parked somewhere else and went back to leave a note for the car owner with my contact details on it. As I was doing that he came back so I spoke to him. He was very nice and didn't appear bothered by it at all. But he told me it was his company car and he needed to log an incident so he asked me for my name and contact details. He only took my first name, address and tel number and didn't ask for my insurance details. He told me not to worry about it but I am quite worried obviously. I don't want my insurance to be involved and I can't offer to settle the matter either outside of insurance because I am quite tight financially. I also realised too late that I forgot to take his reg number and a photo of the scratch but he did give me his business card. What can I do? just wait and hope for the best? contact him in a couple of days? and what can the other woman who took my registration number do?

dacouch

If you can't afford to settle the matter outside of insurance then you have no option but to hand it over to your Insurers.

There are very few companies that who would accept a private payment instead of dealing with it through you or their own Insurers anyway

Franz_Ferdinand

What you should do is inform your insurance company about the incident.

There isn't really much you can do, the woman taking your reg number was only doing the decent thing.

Tiddlywinks

It's a company car so the company will refer it to their insurance company - they won't have the time, inclination or processes to allow a private settlement.

You caused the accident - you have to just suck it up and accept that this is an insurance claim.

rich13348

So you don't want to pay for the incident you caused and you don't want your insurance involved. How do you think it will resolve itself?

He will log the incident with his insurance and the company will decide whether it needs fixing .my guess is yes. Driver will pass all details he got from you to his insurers who may or may not be able to get your insurance details database if not they may contact you. So wait and see.

Busy body can't do anything except report to police or talk to driver. As you have gone back and done the right thing then no need to worry about anything.

Franz_Ferdinand

rich13348 wrote: »

So you don't want to pay for the incident you caused and you don't want your insurance involved. How do you think it will resolve itself?

He will log the incident with his insurance and the company will decide whether it needs fixing .my guess is yes. Driver will pass all details he got from you to his insurers who may or may not be able to get your insurance details database if not they may contact you. So wait and see.

Busy body can't do anything except report to police or talk to driver. As you have gone back and done the right thing then no need to worry about anything.

Would you have that opinion if it were your car grateful was hit and the other driver did one?

Tiddlywinks

rich13348 wrote: »

Busy body can't do anything except report to police or talk to driver. As you have gone back and done the right thing then no need to worry about anything.

You say 'busybody', I say civic minded good samaritan.

Confused_driver

Thank you all, appreciate the quick reply. I will obviously pay for repair if I have to but I am just worried about being ripped off because the scratches are so minor they would be very easy to repair but his insurance will certainly charge me a fortune for that. My car also had what I thought were thick scratches but when I got home I Used a damp cloth and they were nearly all gone! Pretty sure his were similar.
As for the woman taking my details I am not questioning whether she did the right thing or not, I just want to know what she could possibly do with that information. Getting a call from the police would only complicate the matter i guess...

Franz_Ferdinand

Confused_driver wrote: »

Thank you all, appreciate the quick reply. I will obviously pay for repair if I have to but I am just worried about being ripped off because the scratches are so minor they would be very easy to repair but his insurance will certainly charge me a fortune for that. My car also had what I thought were thick scratches but when I got home I Used a damp cloth and they were nearly all gone! Pretty sure his were similar.
As for the woman taking my details I am not questioning whether she did the right thing or not, I just want to know what she could possibly do with that information. Getting a call from the police would only complicate the matter i guess...

There's no reason for the police to be involved and even if they were it wouldn't complicate anything.

rich13348

Franz_Ferdinand wrote: »

Would you have that opinion if it were your car grateful was hit and the other driver did one?

Tiddlywinks wrote:

You say 'busybody', I say civic minded good samaritan.

Just an adjective no need to get so uppity

arcon5

rich13348 wrote: »

Just an adjective no need to get so uppity

Is 'busybody' the only adjective you know there? Can't think of any more... maybe more relevant or correct ones...