Trying to settle car accident outside of Insurance

preapproved64

Ok so this is a bit of a complicated one! Part of the problem revolves around the fact that I want to sell my car.

About a month ago, someone reversed into my car whilst I was stationary with my engine off. I was sat in the car at the time. 

The other driver was very apologetic and agreed on the spot that it was clearly their fault. We called our respective insurance companies and got the ball rolling. 

A week later I’ve not heard anything from my insurance (Hastings). I contact them and they say that it will be at least 10 weeks before they can arrange a repair. Problem is I was intending on selling my car the following week. So I agree with them that I will source the repair myself and they will refund me for the quote.

Due to a series of delays with Hastings (a whole other story) I agree with the other driver that we can sort out the cost of repairs outside of insurance. They will keep their no claims, and will simply pay me for the cost. I cancel the claim with Hastings.

I book the car in for repair and suddenly the other driver is coming up with every excuse not to pay. They don’t believe that my insurance company has made mistakes and essentially think I’m trying to con them. They are saying that I should put the claim back through the insurance again. 

My car has now been repaired and I’m out of pocket. 

My question is, can I reopen the claim? What do I have to gain from doing so? Will they be able to recover my costs? 

Is this a case for small claims? 

And most importantly, what happens if I want to sell the car? My policy renews in November, so can I keep the policy until then even if I don’t own the car? 

Grey_Critic

Either way it will now be on record with your insurers even if they do not recompense you and you will need to declare it.

When the car goes then so should the insurance

GrumpyDil

Grey_Critic said:

When the car goes then so should the insurance

I would expect OP to be able to transfer it onto any new car.

As regards the other issues I would speak to your insurance company and see what they say. 

shiraz99

Why don't you claim directly from the other party's insurer?

400ixl

You will really need to speak to your insurer, the problem you now have is that you have removed the evidence of the damage for them to assess.

You could I guess take them to the small claims court and they could pass that to their insurer to defend on their behalf. But speak to your insurer first.

ilikewatch2

Whilst this comment isn't going to be helpful to OP's situation, I would never again consider trying to settle without going through insurance - I've tried to do this twice in recent years and each has been an unmitigated disaster..

1st incident:
I was driving down the right of 3 lanes when a van in the centre pulled out and hit the side of my car, denting the front wing and passenger door. Driver apologised profusely and asked if I would speak to his boss on the phone - the boss asked how much I thought the damage would cost to repair and I told him that since it was a banger I probably wouldn't bother with a repair and drive it as it was - he asked if I would accept £200 for the inconvenience and to avoid an insurance claim and I agreed. It then took 3 months to get the money out of him because he was upset that I made my insurer aware of the incident and they must have notified his insurer.

2nd incident:
Guy in a company van (local water board) drove into the back of me when I was waiting at a roundabout in a 3 year old Yaris, he apologised profusely and begged me not to make a claim as he had already been involved in other accidents and would lose his job if I did. I agreed to price up a repair and he would settle up with me directly. By an amazing piece of luck a local scrapyard had a car identical to mine with a pristine rear bumper - I told the guy that if he gave me £100 (the actual cost of the bumper) I would fit it myself and that would be an end to the matter. He refused outright to pay for the bumper because he had found a scuffed one on eBay in a different colour on the other side of the country which was £40 cheaper and thought I was "trying to rip him off and pocket a few quid". I ended up going through his insurance and it cost nearer £3K after a new bumper, crash bar and paint...

Exemplar

Never ever settle outside of insurance no matter what the circumstances.