Rear shunt damage - options?

JohnB47

I've just been rear shunted while coming out of a garage onto a busy main road. Typical problem, driver behind not waiting until I had moved on. Very apologetic. Damage to his car minimal. My rear bumper (Honda Jazz) is dented and with a small crack. Not major but noticeable. So annoying.

So I took details (he was driving his daughters car) and I'm now thinking of what to do. My insurance excess is likely to mean I pay for any repair but what repair? Is this sort of thing repairable - who to go to?

I'm reluctant to go via insurance - likely ongoing costs to both of us.

Any advice?

prettyandfluffy

You inform your insurers and make it clear that you want to claim from his insurance, not yours.  Get the car checked as modern cars can hide expensive to repair damage. 

daveyjp

Before going anywhere near insurance get a quote for the bumper repair. Filling a crack and a respray may only be £200-500.  Once you have a quote tell the other party and its up to them how they deal with it.

chrisw

Go via insurance. If they're liable then you can claim your excess back from them and the impact on your premiums is likely to be small, if anything. 

JohnB47

Thanks guys. I have this suspicion that, if I tell my insurance company and even if the other drivers insurance pays any costs, my insurance premium will go up in future years. Is  a rear end shunt included in 'have you had any accidents in the last xx years?'

DullGreyGuy

JohnB47 said:

Thanks guys. I have this suspicion that, if I tell my insurance company and even if the other drivers insurance pays any costs, my insurance premium will go up in future years. Is  a rear end shunt included in 'have you had any accidents in the last xx years?'

Yes it is, but it is irrespective if you go through insurance or not... obviously with insurers not involved is less likely they will find out about it if you "forget" to declare it. 

Some insurers a single non-fault incident wont impact your insurance at all if you are otherwise a good risk. For others they may apply a small loading. If you are already a bad risk or have multiple prior claims then the compound nature of insurance will mean it has greater impact.

Obviously there are two parties involved here so you need to have a conversation with the other party and what their intents are. Whilst you may want to keep it outside of insurance they may want to have their insurers earn their money and deal with matters for them. You cannot force them to deal with it privately. 

prettyandfluffy

daveyjp said:

Before going anywhere near insurance get a quote for the bumper repair. Filling a crack and a respray may only be £200-500.  Once you have a quote tell the other party and its up to them how they deal with it.

I would advise at the very least you get a good garage to check you car.  Some years ago someone rear-ended my OH in similar circumstances, at a very slow speed with no apparent damage.  2 days later his car caught fire because of damage to the insulation around the exhaust (sorry for the poor technical description!).

JohnB47

Thanks for the advice. I suspect the other driver is hoping it will all go away. He didn't seem interested in looking carefully at the damage to his daughters car, or mine actually. He did seem shocked and apologetic though, so I don't think he's going to be difficult, whatever I decide to do.

I've sent a couple of photos to a local repair place, to get a quote. I'll also contact my usual MOT and service guy and see if he has any recommendations.

I'll then send the driver a text saying what I'm doing and ask what he would like to do.

Ganga

Are you sure he was insured to drive his daughters car? did he exchange names,addresses etc.

JohnB47

I've got the car make and registration, his name and his mobile number and we've been in touch via text. I realise now that I should have got more information and taken photos at the time. I must get a checklist of what to do, print it out and keep it in the car. Perhaps that will ensure that it never happens again!

He initially said he would have to check with his wife and now things have gone a bit quiet. I've sent him another text to say that I'm now thinking it would be best to go down the insurance route. If I don't hear from him by end of today, that's what I'll do. 

Presumably I need to get his insurance details before I contact my company? Or maybe I could go ahead with the info I have at the moment.

DullGreyGuy

The more data you have the better but your insurers can find out the official insurer of the vehicle at the time from MID however as others have said he may have been driving under Driving Other Cars of his own policy rather than his daughters and that will add time to resolve if he doesn't give you the details in advance