Crash.

[SimonsMerc]

So, some kid in a VW Polo just went into the back of me. We were on a congested roundabout, the car two cars in front of me stopped, the car in front of me stopped, I stopped, the car behind me didn't :-( My rear bumper is trashed, and the lip of the tailgate is scratched. He came off far worse - whole front damaged, engine making nasty noises (although he drove away).

He initially didn't want to give me his name and address, just exchange phone numbers and for me to take his registration number. When I started to call the police, he gave me a name and address. I'm hoping it's genuine and that he's insured (he claims he is).

Off to call the insurance company. I feel a little sorry for him - he was young and will probably lose his no claims, but that's the way it goes. In rainy weather you need to leave more space between you and the car in front..

*sigh*

-simon

 

[pammy]

Poo!!! At least no one was hurt. I do hope he is insured and that it all get's sorted quickly.

 

[gina2201]

Oh dear....lets hope he isn't one of thos idiots who has no insurance!!

Lets hope it gets sorted easily....I think it's more the hassle that annoys me than the actual damage.

 

[SimonsMerc]

So I phoned the insurance company and they suggested I talk to the guy first and see if he'd be willing to simply pay for a repair. Is that normal?

In any case, I gave him a call and he was overjoyed at the suggestion - he wasn't looking forward to losing his no claims (which I suppose implies that he's insured at least!). He is going to call me back this evening, and he has a garage that "he's been using for years" who can fix it. What would you do in this situation?

Cheers,

-simon

 

[gina2201]

First off do not let HIS GARAGE do the work! How do you know they won't bodge it? You call the shots here, get a quote from Mercedes, or a reputable garage you use, he gives you the cash, you sort the car how and as you want.

And no, didn't think it was the norm for an insurance company to advise you to not go through them. Up to you though.

Very similar thing happened to my mum, she gave the bloke a week to come up with the cash (he was uninsured and our neighbour) and after that was going through insurance and police. She got a quote for the work from Landrover, why should she settle for 2nd class work when it was someone else's fault? Get it done properly!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Sorry to hear that. I hope it all gets resolved swiftly.

 

[pammy]

No way - insist the insurance company do it all through the proper channels. It's fault he hit you. No way should you have any hassle.

 

[gina2201]

You could always get a quote for the work then up it a little for your inconvenience.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

erm, Was this crash in Cambridge by any chance? 100000 to 1 chance I know.

My friend has just crashed his Polo!

 

[pluggers]

What I've done in the past for small bumps is to go around 3 different bodyshops from a main dealer to an accident repair company and handed the quotes to the other driver who then stumped up the money for me to do the repairs at the cheapest garage.Belive it or not the cheapest garage for repairs at the time was the Main dealer.But I would never use a garage he suggests.

 

[glojo]

It's easy to give advice, but I feel for you as you are the only one that has seen the culprit.

I find the advice given by your insurance company very strange, but I was not privy to the conversation you had.

Warning
If you allow the other party to pay the costs of repair be VERY wary about costs. First off I would select the place of repair and do all the arranging. The problem with taking this route is that YOU are agreeing a contract for the repair and YOU are responsible for paying. The negative points with this are quite clear. You have the worry about payment. The plus side is you are always in control of the quality of repair.

Technically you have already informed your insurance company you have been involvrf in a non blame worthy incident?

What to do???

I try to say what I would do?
I would go to my repair shop, get a quote and show it to the third party. If they agree then I personally would give that option serious consideration, but ANY doubts would end that route.

Good luck with the decision.

John

 

[SimonsMerc]

erm, Was this crash in Cambridge by any chance? 100000 to 1 chance I know.

My friend has just crashed his Polo!

No, it was in London (but thanks for the thought!)

-simon

 

[SimonsMerc]

Well, I received a call from the lad's father just now. He asked if I would be able to get an estimate from a garage I trust and he would pay for the repairs. I was a lot happier at this, and agreed that I will find a couple of quotes next week (too late with it being a weekend) and get back to him. I will ask for the estimate in cash in advance, with an agreement to pay any difference if it is more (or repay if less). If they turn around and say no, I will simply go through the insurance.

The reason they'd prefer to do it that way is that the lad's excess is very high (I think £400 voluntary plus compulsory) and it would also badly affect his insurance costs. He's only had his license for a year and a half. They've adopted what I think is a fair attitude, so I see no reason not to help out.

-simon

 

[pammy]

That all sounds fair enough.

 

[SimonsMerc]

Technically you have already informed your insurance company you have been involvrf in a non blame worthy incident?

Actually I haven't - the lady at the insurance didn't take any details, and suggested that I should offer the other party a chance of resolution before making the actual claim.

Perhaps they want to cut down on their admin costs? We're with "Direct Choice", my first year with them...

-simon

 

[Flyer]

Any accident, even one that wasn't your fault, is a material fact. A contract of insurance is a contract of utmost good faith, i.e. you are bound by the terms of the contract to report any material fact to your insurers. Even if you aren't making a claim on your insurance, you are expected to report the accident for information purposes only.

Now, whether you do or do not, is up to you, but if the insurers did make a note of it, and you didn't officially report it to them, they have a possible get-out of any future claim. Cynical? Possibly, but you never can tell with insurance companies, as they have "utmost good faith" to rely on.

Bad luck by the way, hope you get it sorted. Seen loads of accidents (well, 5) over the last week.

 

[SimonsMerc]

*sigh*

Well, it's two weeks later, and I'm going to have to go through the insurance. I went to Mercedes and got a quote, and it came to almost £3000. I faxed it through to the guy's father, and spoke to him today, and he said "could you please go to my garage to get a quote". I explained about Mobilo Life and how I want to keep the repairs to a Mercedes Authorised garage, and he insisted that I should go to his garage.

I've actually been working full time the last two weeks (I spent a week in Orlando, Florida, and a week up in Edinburgh), so my wife has been driving around getting the quotes. We don't have anyone to leave the kids with, so she's been hauling them around, and frankly we've done enough. The accident was this guy's fault, I've tried to help him out but how much can he expect?

So, I've decided to go through the insurance. He said that he'll have to tell the insurance company that he tried to get a more competitive quote, I said that he can say what he wants but that I want the car in the same shape it was before the accident, and that includes not losing the warranty!

It's a bit depressing really. The damage doesn't *look* like £3000. It's a whole new back bumper with spraying, new moulding on the tailgate, and refitting parking sensors. Am I wrong in insisting that Mercedes do it?

-simon

John's advice was spot-on by the way - any doubts and I go back to the insurance

 

[SimonsMerc]

Here is a picture of the damage:

-simon

 

[pammy]

*sigh*

Am I wrong in insisting that Mercedes do it?

errrrrrrrr - simple answer no! You have to get the insurance to take this over now. You've done more than enough to be reasonable. You gave the guy's dad chance to put it right but he wants it done on the cheap - understandable from his persepective - but his lad hit a Merc - not a Ford - so the bill was always going to be considerable. You have your warranty to protect - that's their problem not yours.

Oddly - I'm not surprised it's got to this - people have a very blinkered view on what a car costs to repair but seem to think that the person they hit will just say - nah it's only a scratch we'll forget about it. Why should you.

Good luck in getting the repair you need. Keep us updated

 

[MBManInKen]

Am I wrong in insisting that Mercedes do it?

Of course not, you are perfectly entitled to get the repair done properly and in such a way that it will not affect the car's future value. Why would you end up footing the bill for the guy's error?