Someone reversed into me - Qhere do I stand?

daveyjp

Is your car damaged? Do you want it fixing? Are you fully comp? Either pay to get it fixed or inform your insurance company, fill out a claim form with all the information, send it off and let them deal with it. The whole thing will drag on for months but you pay your premiums, let them earn them.

I would be suspicious whether the other driver is actually insured, a visit to the local police station with the information on the owner, address etc may be worthwhile.

Also remember re insurance it's a no claim bonus not a no blame bonus. If you claim and are not successsful your insurance will go up, but these things happen. My car was damaged by a hit and run driver who was never caught. Claim was £2,500, but come renewal I actually found a policy for less than I'd paid the rear before, despite an accident and reduced NCB.

Tao81

daveyjp wrote: »

Is your car damaged? Do you want it fixing? Are you fully comp? Either pay to get it fixed or inform your insurance company, fill out a claim form with all the information, send it off and let them deal with it. The whole thing will drag on for months but you pay your premiums, let them earn them.

I would be suspicious whether the other driver is actually insured, a visit to the local police station with the information on the owner, address etc may be worthwhile.

Also remember re insurance it's a no claim bonus not a no blame bonus. If you claim and are not successsful your insurance will go up, but these things happen. My car was damaged by a hit and run driver who was never caught. Claim was £2,500, but come renewal I actually found a policy for less than I'd paid the rear before, despite an accident and reduced NCB.

My bumper has been pushed in slightly and so my rear tail light is not quite as visible as it normally is (embedded in the back bumper and now slightly pushed in under the boot door of my hatchback). I'm not sure it's significant enough to claim for though. I am fully comp, not sure on legal cover but pretty sure I must have included this, must check!!

My predicament is that this woman implied that her number plate was only slightly dented and therefore the damage was neglible to her in any event and that although my car had sustained damage it was not significant damage in her opinion and regardless of this I was in the wrong for having stopped on double yellow lines and therefore quote - 'do not have a leg to stand on' unquote.

Even if I do not feel that the damage is worthy of making a claim, I am worried that if I don't tell my insurers then I am in breach of contract with them, but if I do comply and report the incident then even in the eventuality that neither one of us claims (and potentially she doesn't even bother to inform her insurers) then it will be me who will be penalised with higher premiums from next year and reduced NCD for something that wasn't my fault and probably wouldn't have come to light except for my honesty?!!!!

Have you read the thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...=462340&page=2
I am shocked and stunned and this is the only reason why I am considering not informing my insurers - I don't want to be stung unnecessarily. The driver at fault could just keep quiet, I don't make a claim against her insurance, I inform my insurers they sting me for higher premium and reduce my full NCD and therefore, the guilty party doesn't suffer in the slightest, yet I could be heavily penalised for being HONEST!!!!!!!!! :mad:

Really don't know which way to swing on this one?
If i hadn't have read the thread above I would have quite innocently already rung my insurers just to do my duty and inform them of the incident (even though not likely to produce a claim from either party) and sat back knowing I had done the right thing - but then unexpectantly getting the financial and NCD sting in June next year!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

Confused, upset and very p**ssed off! :mad: :mad: :mad:

nickmack

Tao81 wrote: »

I am shocked and stunned and this is the only reason why I am considering not informing my insurers - I don't want to be stung unnecessarily. The driver at fault could just keep quiet, I don't make a claim against her insurance, I inform my insurers they sting me for higher premium and reduce my full NCD and therefore, the guilty party doesn't suffer in the slightest, yet I could be heavily penalised for being HONEST!!!!!!!!! :mad:

You should inform your insurers of any material facts affecting the policy. This includes accidents, fault or not. They will record this on your policy and it may affect your premium. Seems unfair, but statistics seem to show involvement, even if not your fault, result in a higher risk. I don't know the technicalities, but I guess it's to do with your driving pattern (location, times) and the fact, you *may* have been partially at fault if a claim was not made.

If you're not making a claim and neither is the other driver, your NCB should not be affected.

If you don't inform them and they find out (and they do), depending on what information is witheld, you risk them invalidating a future claim or refusing future cover.

mum2one

Bear in mind that the other thread is peoplesincidents, as long as you are fully comp and have your no claims protected, dont worry.

You need to inform your ins company as the other driver may suddenly decide that their damage is worst that it was or they have an on set of injuries.

If its any help these are my claims history:
1998 - got hit by 3rd party - there fault but took 3 yrs to settle(1 of my no claims used - till tell settled)
2002 - gt hit by 3rd party -car write off - none fault, but took 6 months for liability to be admitted ( 2nd no claims gone)
Walking on fresh air
By 2001, both accidents had been settled therefore got both my no cliams back
2002 - hada hit and run - as no witnesses - one of my no claims gone.

Worth paying bit extra to getno claims protected, once youhave full no claims allowance and thecouple of quid fro legal assistance - theyve been a god send.

The only difference in my ins over that time period about £20.00

Hope that puts your mind at rest xx

Crabman

You should also inform the police of the incident within (I think) 48 hours as the incident appears to have occurred on a public highway.

If it transpires that she doesn't have insurance/MOT/licence the police will also prosecute you for not reporting it within the timeframe. Silly, I know, but it can only help you to report it to them.

mum2one

You have to notify the police with 48 hrs of an incident, they will ask you to produce ins, mot and driving licence, the there give you a crime ref no, its unlikely they will take action.

Another suggestion, is go back to the scene of the accident taking photos from all angles, and markings on the road, the ins company may want them, abd photos are better than trying to describe a road to someone who doesnot know the area.

You need to do everything by the book, reprt it to police, report it to ins company, then wait and c and go from what the ins company suggest.

LandyAndy

Reminds me of when someone reversed into the side of my car as I waited to exit a car park. She got out of her car and said........"You must have come up quick. You weren't there when I looked".:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: .

I took great pleasure in quoting that on the insurance claim form. I had no witnesses but her insurers took full responsibility.

Wig

mum2one wrote: »

You have to notify the police with 48 hrs of an incident, they will ask you to produce ins, mot and driving licence, the there give you a crime ref no, its unlikely they will take action.

You don't have to report an accident to the police unless a person was injured.

Wig

mum2one wrote: »

Bear in mind that the other thread is peoplesincidents, as long as you are fully comp and have your no claims protected, dont worry.

Doesn't stop them raising her premium though.

Wig

To OP,

You don't say how old your car is or how much it is worth. If it is an old car and you don't intend selling it. You could ask a friendly garage for an opinion on whether the damage is likely to cause an MOT failure.


You could if you decide you don't care about getting a repair phone up the person who hit you and agree that neither of you will make a claim, it wasn't your fault but the hassle of claiming means you are not going to pursue it.

If it is a nice car then as the accident was not your fault, and you have a witness, then it will be worth claiming. You were in a stationary car, the other driver didn't look where they were going, case closed, you will win hands down. If the other driver starts to lie, then hopefully the witness will tell it how it really was (she did actually see what happened right?).


Your insurer cannot charge you extra premium for the policy inforce now, come expiry date they will maybe bump up your renewal premium but it is a free market and you can get loads of quotes and take your policy elsewhere to someone cheaper. And you can phone up your current insurers retentions department and ask that they match the lowest quote you got elsewhere - they will drop the renewal by some amount.


Hopefully your insurer will recover your excess for you from the other insurer, (do you have legal protection?). If they don't you can do it yourself through the small claims court.

Once you have recovered your excess, you will be given back your full no claims status that you have now, and if this has all dragged on into your next years premium you will be then given a refund on the premium you paid because your no-claims has been put back to what it was before the accident (plus 1 year).