Lorry reversed into wife's car

[harvin1975]

Hi,

A Lorry started reversing down our road when it realized it was closed half way down. Despite my wife beeping horn it didn't hear or see her and reversed into her car causing crack to the bumper.

The guy admitted fault and she's said to him that she would happily avoid insurance if he will pay to get it fixed privately.

Although I've been bitten by my insurance going up nearly 200% due to a non-claim incident I'm wondering whether she should inform her insurance. No doubt they will raise her insurance even though it was not her fault.

She has photos of the damage and only a verbal admittance of fault from the other driver.

What should she do - phone insurance and advise them of incident?

 

[MancMike]

I wouldn't. It'll cost you. Always does in one way or another. Collect monies to fix damage and forget about it.

 

[Driver15]

Get a proper quote, not just a quote to fix the outer skin damage..

 

[Cannnon]

use it for an AMG front bumper

(If its not one, or if its not a Merc dont worry)

But I would get a few quotes from places and take an average weighted towards the more expensive, if its cracked the bumper you dont want them to plastic weld it back together, be better to get a new bumper and get it blended into the bonnet, wings and other components so it all matches properly

 

[harvin1975]

use it for an AMG front bumper

(If its not one, or if its not a Merc dont worry)

But I would get a few quotes from places and take an average weighted towards the more expensive, if its cracked the bumper you dont want them to plastic weld it back together, be better to get a new bumper and get it blended into the bonnet, wings and other components so it all matches properly

Fortunately she wasn't driving the Merc - it was the Golf.

 

[Stratman]

If she does it without involving the insurance companies and if/when she changes her insurance company or maybe just changes her car and wants to insure the new one, what will she answer when asked "Have you been involved in an accident in the last however many years"?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Tricky situation.

You will be tempted to go to the best bodyshop in town, their quote will be expensive and the lorry driver will elect to go through insurance after all.

Your/her insurer will as you to declare any non-fault accidents regardless of whether insurance was involved or not.

Personally, I'd just go through the insurance anyway, a private arrangement could end up being a major **** ache - bounced cheques, car not released until bill paid, all sorts of aggro.

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Same happened to the missus' car yesterday although it was another car that hit her. The guy said he'd rather pay for the damage rather than claim via insurance

Body shop quoted a decent price all in and have told her to keep all the text communications back and fourth wherein he has admitted fault

Now just to see if he keeps his end of the bargain or if the boys need to be sent round

Get it in black and white (the driver admitting responsibility) at least just to cover yourself

 

[ringway]

Some truck companies self insure or have a huge excess to pay and if presented with a quotation, will probably pay out.
A lorry hit my E430 at Ollie's GTG a few years back and the kitchen manufacturer who owned the truck, coughed up almost £1,300 for the damage with no questions asked.

 

[Blue Moon]

use it for an AMG front bumper

(If its not one, or if its not a Merc dont worry)

But I would get a few quotes from places and take an average weighted towards the more expensive, if its cracked the bumper you dont want them to plastic weld it back together, be better to get a new bumper and get it blended into the bonnet, wings and other components so it all matches properly

Sorry, this is appalling advice. Why on earth would you want to paint the bonnet, wings etc when none of them are damaged ? But why stop there ? If you're painting the wings, you'd need to paint the doors to match the wing that matched the bumper, and then the rear 1/4 panels to match the doors..........If you apply your 'all matches properly' logic, to ensure that was the case you'd need to paint the whole car

Insurers are leaning more towards repair if possible rather than replacement. It's more cost effective, a properly welded plastic part is at least as strong as the original, if not more so, and it's kinder to the planet as no scrap plastic going to landfill. With respect, how the repair was effected is surely not as important as how it looks when finished ? Plastic welding is no panacea to all cracked and split panels, but don't dismiss it out of hand as it could be an appropriate solution. IMHO

 

[harvin1975]

Thanks everyone for your advise.

If she does it without involving the insurance companies and if/when she changes her insurance company or maybe just changes her car and wants to insure the new one, what will she answer when asked "Have you been involved in an accident in the last however many years"?

and the answer to this will be simple - I'll leave it at that.

Tricky situation.

You will be tempted to go to the best bodyshop in town, their quote will be expensive and the lorry driver will elect to go through insurance after all.

Your/her insurer will as you to declare any non-fault accidents regardless of whether insurance was involved or not.

Personally, I'd just go through the insurance anyway, a private arrangement could end up being a major **** ache - bounced cheques, car not released until bill paid, all sorts of aggro.

Yeah - this is what I've been thinking. However, a non-claims incident is now costing me around £200 per year in increased premium and needs to be declared for next 5 years. So - in all £1000. Scratched another car by accident and they decided in the end not to claim. However, insurers raised my premium regardless because I notified them. (Already discussed in another thread). I've learnt a valuable lesson here though!

Same happened to the missus' car yesterday although it was another car that hit her. The guy said he'd rather pay for the damage rather than claim via insurance

Body shop quoted a decent price all in and have told her to keep all the text communications back and fourth wherein he has admitted fault

Now just to see if he keeps his end of the bargain or if the boys need to be sent round

Get it in black and white (the driver admitting responsibility) at least just to cover yourself

Good idea - we'll get it on paper!

Some truck companies self insure or have a huge excess to pay and if presented with a quotation, will probably pay out.
A lorry hit my E430 at Ollie's GTG a few years back and the kitchen manufacturer who owned the truck, coughed up almost £1,300 for the damage with no questions asked.

Yup - guy been on phone with my wife today. Bodyshop have said for new bumper and grill it could be around £1000. Guy has already said he'd rather settle that through a bank transfer - knowing that price could go up if other issues are identified.

 

[MancMike]

I settled a claim to avoid insurance myself from the other side of the fence.

A few years ago (on xmas eve would you believe!) I had my RX8 and was on my commute to work. A corsa in front at a junction which I've seen the exact same accident happen about 5 times (so god knows how many more times it actually happens) since I've worked here the last 4 years. Cars are turning right coming towards you, and you're turning left. So you filter together like a zip. The car in front was on the brakes, then brakes off, she went for it, so I looked to the right to judge my maneuver, then looked forwards again and the girl had slammed on, hesitated as she didn't get the start she'd hoped for so I slammed on but bumped her a bit, no airbags deployed it wasn't hard.

It'd have been my fault in any claim, but I wasn't "at fault" per se. I have done that junction 1400+ times now, and it's a common accident on a badly designed junction.

Anyway, as I was already paying nearly £4500 a year insurance (clean licence, no points, just not had it very long, and highest insurance postcode there is), a claim on my insurance would have made me pretty much uninsurable. (£4.5k is uninsurable in most people's eyes).

So I offered to settle the bill. We exchanged details anyway and took photos, I took photos of existing damage to make sure I'm not footing the bill for that (things clearly not caused by me, like a scrape on her drivers' door mirror).

On a 57 corsa for a new bumper, new impact bar, etc came to £500 at a decent body shop, which was an absolute bargain and it's not affected either mine, nor the other young driver's insurance.

A small white lie to avoid being shafted when the incident really wasn't a black mark on my driving ability, attitude or ethics really isn't a big deal.

 

[harvin1975]

Anyway, as I was already paying nearly £4500 a year insurance (clean licence, no points, just not had it very long, and highest insurance postcode there is), a claim on my insurance would have made me pretty much uninsurable.
QUOTE]

£4,500 a year in insurance!!

 

[Mulberry]

Fortunately she wasn't driving the Merc - it was the Golf.

Clearly your wife's fault. Lorry driver could obviously not see her in the cloud of smog which the Golf was generating

 

[MancMike]

Anyway, as I was already paying nearly £4500 a year insurance (clean licence, no points, just not had it very long, and highest insurance postcode there is), a claim on my insurance would have made me pretty much uninsurable.

£4,500 a year in insurance!!

It was actually £4905. First payment was £890, then 11 payments of £365 per month. That was with Adrian Flux who was the cheapest btw. My mrs pays £200/month for her Mini Cooper's insurance with no points, clean licence etc, although that is with one small 50/50 bump on it.

Yeah, so it's a bit irritating when people moan their £200/year premium has gone up by 10 quid...

Was stupid of me really but but wanted a flashy car and didn't have the patience to have a few more years on my licence.

I pay £109/month now (with 3 points) for the Merc, and coincidentally £365/month for the loan I bought the car with. Upshot is i'll own the car when it's paid off, previously I owned the RX8 and the huge sum every month was just insurance... So somewhat more sensible now.

 

[markjay]

1. Aviva told me that there would be no increase in premium if I reported a no-fault accident for which no claim was made by any party.

However this is only valid for no-fault accidents - and they did request full details (my version of events) so that they classify it internally as no-fault - and said that unless they are happy that it is indeed a no-fault accident (again, based on my description) then the premium would increase, if this makes sense.

As said this was Aviva, not sure what other insurers' policy is though.


2. Having only verbal acceptance of fault is not great, especially if there are no witnesses.

Unfortunately some people do change their minds after the event.

I would try and supplement it very quickly with written/recorded evidence.


3. Personally, as a matter of policy I never go for private compensation arrangements, and always insist on settling matters properly via the insurer (mine or theirs as the case may be), even where there seem to be a potential cost involved to self (though luckily so far it never cost me to do so).

It's just not worth the hassle - some people are honest, but others can be a nightmare to deal with...

 

[zipdip]

With a £4900 car insurance I would walk,and yes I moan like F--k when my w221 gets a hike from its £214 a year comprehensive cover

 

[MancMike]

The thing is, it was £3.5k for my Ford SportKa I had before it, so I justified it as a huge leap in car, for not a great deal of a leap (per month) in insurance cost. As it was a huge leap in car.

I only did it for a year though before I realised a merc, as it's a saloon not a sports coupé was much cheaper to insure, especially with another year under my belt.

Anyway, don't want to derail the thread...

 

[ShaunB]

With a £4900 car insurance I would walk

Yeah, me too