Not convinced I caused the damage claimed to other party's car

motorguy

poorlittlefish wrote: »

Recently a car in front of me turned left out of a junction and, as there was nothing coming, I turned left too, only for the driver in front to immediately slam on his breaks for no apparent reason, which led to my bumper hitting his. At the time he was pointing to scratches in the middle of the bumper, which to me looked like abrasion from being rubbed with something coarse and I doubted they were caused by the accident. However, I said that for such minor damage I would rather just pay for the work rather than go through insurance and asked him to get a quote, to which he agreed.

He's now come back and said the bumper needs an entire replacement at a cost of £750 because it is cracked. However, the crack is on the very right side of the bumper and I cannot possibly fathom how the left edge of my bumper could have hit the right side of his when we were both turning left. I am now doubting that I caused this (or maybe any) damage and am wondering whether I should approach my insurance company and say what happened or whether doing so could end up costing me way more than £750 in increased premiums, lost excess etc. Would they bother to investigate whether the damage alleged could have been caused by what happened or would they just automatically say I was at fault and therefore pay out?

The problem with bumpers these days is that theres an outer flexible bumper and an inner rigid one. You most likely have damaged the inner bumper / broke brackets etc, maybe even damaged the rear panel of the car however the outer painted plastic bit has flexed out.

If you are getting away with £750 you are getting away VERY light. If it gets through to your insurance dealing with it, then expect maybe £1500 of repairs and £3,000-£5,000 for a whiplash claim which will push your insurance up for the next 5 years.

motorguy

debtdebt wrote: »

It's always the case that when the forum poster runs into the back of someone, they're always astonished at the cost of the damage.

You negligently drove into the back of someone. If you don't want to pay for the repair, pass it onto your insurers to deal with. It's as simple as that.

+1

People have a "oh it'll only be a couple of hundred" when they look at damage in their "expert" opinion.

I'd a BMW that was rear ended. I'd had said £300 to fix it tops - total bill came to £2,300 as the inner bumper / rear panel & tow bar all had to be replaced.

Retrogamer

Tell him you can't afford it and you'll need to go through insurance but point out it'll likely increase his premium for the next 5 years as well.

I had an at fault claim a while back on my insurance but didn't affect my renewal too much at all (£100 increase first year) for a £1500 claim