Minor car accident

Hi guys,

I was behind someone at a roundabout who began to pull away but emergency stopped as she thought she saw a car coming. I hit the back of her car (early 2000 vw polo) and caused no damage at all to the front of my car but there was small marks on the back of her car.

The collision was at less than 5mph and there’s a few scratches and a small bump in the back of her car (it doesn’t look like it matches the height of my car so I don’t think it was from me).

Anyway, she has messaged today with her pictures showing the damage to her bumper and is claiming she woke up with neck pain - it was a 5mph hit so my gut tells me this is put on as a leverage tool.

I don’t feel it’s worth going through insurance as the likely damage to her car is a replacement bumper for a couple of hundred which is less than our premiums. Her car is only worth around 500 pounds too. She seems to be trying to rinse as much from me as she can and threatening to contact her insurance whenever I question her repair quotes/claims. I do genuinely want to get to a fair point between us as I did hit her car, I just don’t want to be screwed over!

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this and what would be the best way forward for me? I’m a young driver with three years no claims so I’d ideally like to keep that!

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Comments

  • Crazy_Jamie
    Crazy_Jamie Posts: 2,246
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    Robert95 wrote: »
    Hi guys,

    I was behind someone at a roundabout who began to pull away but emergency stopped as she thought she saw a car coming. I hit the back of her car (early 2000 vw polo) and caused no damage at all to the front of my car but there was small marks on the back of her car.

    The collision was at less than 5mph and there’s a few scratches and a small bump in the back of her car (it doesn’t look like it matches the height of my car so I don’t think it was from me).

    Anyway, she has messaged today with her pictures showing the damage to her bumper and is claiming she woke up with neck pain - it was a 5mph hit so my gut tells me this is put on as a leverage tool.

    I don’t feel it’s worth going through insurance as the likely damage to her car is a replacement bumper for a couple of hundred which is less than our premiums. Her car is only worth around 500 pounds too. She seems to be trying to rinse as much from me as she can and threatening to contact her insurance whenever I question her repair quotes/claims. I do genuinely want to get to a fair point between us as I did hit her car, I just don’t want to be screwed over!

    Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this and what would be the best way forward for me? I’m a young driver with three years no claims so I’d ideally like to keep that!

    Any help is greatly appreciated!

    Thanks
    I'm not convinced it makes any sense at all for her to use this as a 'leverage tool' in a situation where she has no need for leverage because you both know that you're liable for damage caused to her car in this accident. But in any event, as risky as it normally is to not inform your insurer of an accident, it is several times more so in a situation where the other party has complained of suffering injury. I appreciate that there are financial consequences in having a fault claim at this stage of your driving life, but there are things you can do mitigate that (such as paying the insurer back for their outlay, if it proves to be a manageable amount). By contrast, the consequences of not reporting an accident to your insurer that you know you should have reported are worse, and the chances of your insurer finding out are increased significantly (to the point of being virtually inevitable) if the other driver makes a personal injury claim. In my view it is very clearly a risk that is not worth taking in the circumstances.

    On a side note, you are clearly suspicious of the other driver's claim of suffering injury in this accident. Many others would be, and I'm sure many reading this thread will be. And it may be that the claim is spurious, or that the injury is extremely minor. But unfortunately you have neither the knowledge nor experience to properly rebut any claim for personal injury made in these circumstances. Your insurer does, which is all the more reason why you should be reporting this as you know you are obliged to.
    "MIND IF I USE YOUR PHONE? IF WORD GETS OUT THAT
    I'M MISSING FIVE HUNDRED GIRLS WILL KILL THEMSELVES."
  • McKneff
    McKneff Posts: 38,816
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    Dont even think about not involving your insurance company.
    Down the line if they find out you will find you cannot get insurance at all and any claim you make in an accident will be voided because you have broken the terms of your contract wiht your insurance company which include informing them of any accident,
    make the most of it, we are only here for the weekend.
    and we will never, ever return.
  • keith1950
    keith1950 Posts: 2,597
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    Forgetting about the possible injury....if the other party wants a 'proper' repair on their vehicle by a reputable repairer a bumper job ( bumper plus prepare and paint job) could easily exceed £500.....it doesn't matter that the car might only be worth £500 they are entitled to a decent repair.
  • Quentin
    Quentin Posts: 40,405 Forumite
    keith1950 wrote: »
    Forgetting about the possible injury....if the other party wants a 'proper' repair on their vehicle by a reputable repairer a bumper job ( bumper plus prepare and paint job) could easily exceed £500.....it doesn't matter that the car might only be worth £500 they are entitled to a decent repair.
    Well.... they are not "entitled" to a "decent" (ie expensive) repair on a vehicle worth so little


    If her car is worth only £500 then any repair needed will likely result in a write off being made! The settlement for the car will be £500 if that is the true market value


    The OP (or his insurer) won't be paying for uneconomic repairs!
  • keith1950
    keith1950 Posts: 2,597
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    Well that is obvious but the op shouldn't try to trivialise the damage just because the car is only worth £500 .
  • ValiantSon
    ValiantSon Posts: 2,586 Forumite
    keith1950 wrote: »
    Well that is obvious but the op shouldn't try to trivialise the damage just because the car is only worth £500 .

    It is only worth £500 in his inexpert opinion.
  • keith1950
    keith1950 Posts: 2,597
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    That's true.....it's just that the op wants to avoid using the insurance ( against his terms and conditions) so can't really dictate to the other party.
  • ValiantSon
    ValiantSon Posts: 2,586 Forumite
    keith1950 wrote: »
    That's true.....it's just that the op wants to avoid using the insurance ( against his terms and conditions) so can't really dictate to the other party.

    Yes, I wasn't challenging you, but rather wanted to point out that all of this talk of it only being worth £500 was irrelevant as the OP has just decided on that figure because they don't think it should be worth more.

    They need to inform their insurer of the accident, for which they are liable and accept the implications. They should not have moved when they did, so they are at fault. Once they have informed the insurer then they can decide whether or not to pay for the damage based on what the third party asks for, but they do need to protect themselves against the potential claim for injuries.
  • Money_maker
    Money_maker Posts: 5,471
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    Just tell her to put it through her insurance and you ring yours. She'll soon regret having her car written off and trying to find another on limited funds.
    Please do not quote spam as this enables it to 'live on' once the spam post is removed. ;)

    If you quote me, don't forget the capital 'M'

    Declutterers of the world - unite! :rotfl::rotfl:
  • Nasqueron
    Nasqueron Posts: 8,631
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    ValiantSon wrote: »
    It is only worth £500 in his inexpert opinion.


    If you look on ebay or Autotrader even a low mileage (under 65k) well kept trader seller Polo from 2000 is under £1000. A banged up old one just about running is under £500. It's not really a bad estimate and unlikely that £500 repair would be covered.


    Personally I'd call her bluff and tell her you'll go through insurance and let them write it off and she can hunt for a new one or take it as a low Cat write off
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