Car insurance for cosmetic damage - notify? Claim?

YBR

My car has been damaged by another driver manoeuvring in a car park, they kindly fetched me and I have details. The damage is cosmetic to one corner of the car but would still cost £400-500 to rectify. The driver has asked me not to claim via insurance, that they'll pay but I'm not sure they realise how much. 

Before I call the driver about this, will my insurance expect me to report it even though it is cosmetic and arguably does not HAVE to be repaired? I think I'm going to be asked not to report it as well as not to claim.

If reporting will it have a detrimental effect on both our insurance costs?

CliveOfIndia

Strictly speaking you are supposed to report it to your insurers.  And since there's a third party involved, I'd be inclined to go by the book, just in case.

YBR said:

If reporting will it have a detrimental effect on both our insurance costs?

Unfortunately yes - it might not make a huge difference, but it will almost certainly lead to a slight increase in premiums.

Off the record - if the other guy gives you cash in hand, then you might get away with not reporting it.  But if he decides it's too much money and goes through his insurance instead, you'll have no choice but to report it.

Not reporting it does sound tempting, but be aware of the possible implications should your insurance company find out about it in the future.  It's probably not worth the risk,

eschaton

As above strictly speaking you have to report but most people don’t. 

My Mum’s neighbour hit my car in July. She was prepared to stay outside insurance, as did I but the repair cost was going to be too high. 

Increased premiums again for 5 years through no fault of my own. 

Car_54

CliveOfIndia said:

Strictly speaking you are supposed to report it to your insurers.  And since there's a third party involved, I'd be inclined to go by the book, just in case.

YBR said:

If reporting will it have a detrimental effect on both our insurance costs?

Unfortunately yes - it might not make a huge difference, but it will almost certainly lead to a slight increase in premiums.

Premiums in general are reportedly falling, so possibly not. But they may not fall as much as they would otherwise!

The other party may see an effect on his/her NCD, but that's not the OP's problem.

BTW Not reporting to the insurer is fraud. Agreeing with the other driver is conspiracy, even if the planned fraud isn't committed.  10 years jail possible in either case

YBR

Off the record - if the other guy gives you cash in hand, then you might get away with not reporting it.  But if he decides it's too much money and goes through his insurance instead, you'll have no choice but to report it.

Not reporting it does sound tempting, but be aware of the possible implications should your insurance company find out about it in the future.  It's probably not worth the risk,

Thanks all, it confirmed what I thought.

I've always intended to report it as I know the implications, but I don't have to claim. Having explained this to the driver and shared the quote she's still intending to pay me direct for getting the work done.

She took the trouble to find me and let me know, and was clearly in shock so I'm grateful and sympathetic.

sheslookinhot

Car_54 said:

CliveOfIndia said:

Strictly speaking you are supposed to report it to your insurers.  And since there's a third party involved, I'd be inclined to go by the book, just in case.

YBR said:

If reporting will it have a detrimental effect on both our insurance costs?

Unfortunately yes - it might not make a huge difference, but it will almost certainly lead to a slight increase in premiums.

Premiums in general are reportedly falling, so possibly not. But they may not fall as much as they would otherwise!

The other party may see an effect on his/her NCD, but that's not the OP's problem.

BTW Not reporting to the insurer is fraud. Agreeing with the other driver is conspiracy, even if the planned fraud isn't committed.  10 years jail possible in either case

This is nonsense, do not frighten the OP with such rubbish. That will never happen.

OP, it’s all about whether you want your car fixed. If you do, then go through your insurance.

Alanp

I had a similar thing happen to me last year although mines a slightly different case, I work in a care home, one of the district nurses ( who visits regularly so easily traceable ) caught my car as he was parking, we agreed for me to get a couple of quotes from smart repairers, I sent over the quotes and he chose which one ( surprisingly the dearest) all repaired and the chap sent over the money , I seem to remember that you can inform your insurer of the incident for information purposes only just in case the other party changes their mind, it’s only noted so doesn’t affect your renewal costs, wether it’s true or not I don’t know, I would get a couple of quotes and pass this on to the other person and let them decide, it’s not fraudulent by not involving either insurance companies..

MyRealNameToo

Alanp said:

I seem to remember that you can inform your insurer of the incident for information purposes only just in case the other party changes their mind, it’s only noted so doesn’t affect your renewal costs, wether it’s true or not I don’t know, I would get a couple of quotes and pass this on to the other person and let them decide, it’s not fraudulent by not involving either insurance companies..

That will depend on their systems etc, certainly with us we had no "for information purposes only" facility so you just logged it as a claim and closed it straight away. Downstream can see that it never had a reserve on it so could differentiate from either a successfully defended claim or a claim we paid out and then recovered from someone else. In practice a non-fault claim and "info only" were treated identically in the pricing engine. 

There is certainly no guarantees that an info only won't impact your premiums. 

Alanp

MyRealNameToo said:

Alanp said:

I seem to remember that you can inform your insurer of the incident for information purposes only just in case the other party changes their mind, it’s only noted so doesn’t affect your renewal costs, wether it’s true or not I don’t know, I would get a couple of quotes and pass this on to the other person and let them decide, it’s not fraudulent by not involving either insurance companies..

That will depend on their systems etc, certainly with us we had no "for information purposes only" facility so you just logged it as a claim and closed it straight away. Downstream can see that it never had a reserve on it so could differentiate from either a successfully defended claim or a claim we paid out and then recovered from someone else. In practice a non-fault claim and "info only" were treated identically in the pricing engine. 

There is certainly no guarantees that an info only won't impact your premiums. 

As I said, I didn’t know if it was true or not, maybe it’s a loophole that’s been closed..

Suzycoll

YBR said:

My car has been damaged by another driver manoeuvring in a car park, they kindly fetched me and I have details. The damage is cosmetic to one corner of the car but would still cost £400-500 to rectify. The driver has asked me not to claim via insurance, that they'll pay but I'm not sure they realise how much. 

Before I call the driver about this, will my insurance expect me to report it even though it is cosmetic and arguably does not HAVE to be repaired? I think I'm going to be asked not to report it as well as not to claim.

If reporting will it have a detrimental effect on both our insurance costs?

This has happened to me twice.

First time I believed the guy when he said he would fix cosmetic damage. He never did. Claimed on my insurance - turned out other driver didn't have car insurance !

Second time I reported it straight away - turned out other driver didn't have a driving licence!

I learned to
1- not believe anyone 
2-  always report to insurance regardless 

Good luck 👍