Non fault accident, what to do?

[keybored]

I got rear-ended hard by a van while travelling between jobs this afternoon. Tailgate and bumper are going to need replacing and the park pilot sensors are throwing errors and not working. Hard to tell if there could be any underlying damage to the chassis.

The driver of the van is a young tradesman, seems honest enough and is very keen not to go through the insurance as it's going to make his premiums massive. It looks like I'm obliged to report the accident to my insurers anyway. Within 24 hours? Their website is vague ("as soon as possible").

I haven't reported it yet but will probably need to in the morning otherwise could my right to a claim be nullified? From Googling it also looks like I might have to pay the excess if I go through the insurance and even if I then decide not to make a claim my premiums could go up, which is taking the piss. I'd be more than happy to do this off-the-books but I don't see how I can get the car inspected, get the quote over to the other driver and have him stump up the cash in such a small time frame, even if he has the money.

Thoughts?

 

[planetgeli]

Ring him up, demand he comes round with £2000 in the morning and you'll give him the change from the bill.

Or go to insurance.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I'm a bit out of touch on this, but if (as the circumstances suggest) it's his fault, you - or your insurers - should be claiming off his insurance, rather than just you claiming off yours.

i think that if you've got comprehensive insurance, you can opt to claim direct against the other person rather than claim off your own insurance

the not reporting it and hoping he will sort it out can all go wrong if he decides not to play once it's too late to report it to your own insurers.

 

[baldrick]

His premiums aren't your problem. If you try and be nice & then have to spend time gathering quotes & he starts quibbling over what might be a substantial bill - just save yourself the hassle now and ring your insurer.

For a minor scrape of the paint or a door mirror you may well want to be obliging but this sounds like it will be more than that tbh

 

[Guineveretoo]

When similar happened to me, I agreed not to go through the insurance, but I did report it to them. I reported that I had been pranged but would not be claiming against my insurance. They took the details, and didn't seem surprised that I was not claiming.

And the other bloke did pay up. Although he was pissed off at how much it cost.

 

[keybored]

I agreed not to go through the insurance, but I did report it to them

Did this affect your premiums/no claims?

 

[keybored]

Ring him up, demand he comes round with £2000 in the morning and you'll give him the change from the bill.

Or go to insurance.

I think this is what I'll do, I'm working in the city he lives in tomorrow so he'll have the opportunity.

His premiums aren't your problem. If you try and be nice & then have to spend time gathering quotes & he starts quibbling over what might be a substantial bill - just save yourself the hassle now and ring your insurer.

For a minor scrape of the paint or a door mirror you may well want to be obliging but this sounds like it will be more than that tbh

I get what you're saying but I'm not doing this solely for his benefit. I've never made a claim (apart from a windscreen or two) and it'll piss me off no end if I end up stumping up more money every renewal for a few years for something totally not my fault.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Insurance

Fuck anyone who’s ’not keen to go through insurance’ - generally means they are not insured. If you go down that route they will fuck you around from here to kingdom come. Btw if someone goes up your arse it is 100% their fault.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

When someone hits you you get their details and pass them to your insurance along with details of the prang, that should be the last you have to do with any of it, your insurance takes it from there and it does not affect your premiums. If he wishes to settle directly with your insurers he can do so, not your problem.

 

[MickiQ]

Another vote go through the insurance, a) if you don't it will give them a future get out on other claims if they find out, b) you can claim your excess back off his anyway so it won't end up costing you any money and c) NEVER believe sob stories from people who have just done something wrong.

 

[Glitter]

Insurance

Fuck anyone who’s ’not keen to go through insurance’ - generally means they are not insured. If you go down that route they will fuck you around from here to kingdom come. Btw if someone goes up your arse it is 100% their fault.

I dunno. It’s usually that they don’t want their premiums to skyrocket ime. Especially if they’re young.

But it is a risk and if the damage is substantial you are better off going through insurance - this is why you have it after all.

Your premium will go up though. Which is dogshit, but there we are.

 

[Plumdaff]

I've handled the odd car park scrape 'off the books' because as long as the person isn't pissing about and we're only talking a couple of hundred to sort out it's usually easier all around. Insurance premiums are ridiculous and I would rather help a young driver out if I can if it's a minor incident.

I'm not sure I'd be as obliging if it was a more serious incident and likely to cost a lot of money to fix. I would also go to the insurers at the slightest hint of someone taking the piss.

 

[Spymaster]

His premiums aren't your problem. If you try and be nice & then have to spend time gathering quotes & he starts quibbling over what might be a substantial bill - just save yourself the hassle now and ring your insurer.

For a minor scrape of the paint or a door mirror you may well want to be obliging but this sounds like it will be more than that tbh

I'd be concerned that the other guy isn't insured. Going down the insurance route will cost you money if that's the case and it could be avoidable.

This happened to me a few years ago. The damage was light, just a scratched rear valance, and the lad didn't want to go through insurance. We were being polite to each other and I could see from the contents of the car and his clothing that he was a painter and decorator on his way home, so I didn't want to push his insurance up (assuming he had some). I took all the details as well as photos of him and his car and agreed that if he met me in my local that evening with £500 I wouldn't report it to the police or insurers.

He gave me the money, we had a pint, and that was that. I didn't bother fixing the car.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I dunno. It’s usually that they don’t want their premiums to skyrocket ime. Especially if they’re young.

But it is a risk and if the damage is substantial you are better off going through insurance - this is why you have it after all.

Your premium will go up though. Which is dogshit, but there we are.

They will always have the choice to settle directly with your insurers, which will keep their NCB. But they will still need to declare they have had a prang when they renew their insurance, failure to do so would invalidate their insurance.

If you accept to 'avoid going through insurance' you can pretty much guarantee it will be a ball-ache; some prick crashes in to you, yet it is now down to you to traipse around gathering quotes, then passing those quotes on to someone who's a 'bit short until the end of the month', naturally, who'll then quibble away at the bill, 'my mate Dave's got a hammer, he'll sort it for you' and so on. Screw that shit.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I'd be concerned that the other guy isn't insured. Going down the insurance route will cost you money if that's the case and it could be avoidable.

Nearly all insurance these days has the uninsured driver promise, so it won't cost you anything.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Oh and if you get your insurance to sort out the claim for someone hitting you it does not affect your policy in any way at all and there is no excess for you to pay.

 

[Spymaster]

Nearly all insurance these days has the uninsured driver promise, so it won't cost you anything.

I don't trust those either. The promise is that your NCD isn't affected (mine's protected anyway) and you get your excess back. They still register the claim on the insurers database and the next year you'll likely get loaded for it.

If the damage is superficial, nobody is hurt, and I'm covered anyway, I'd give them a short window to cough up.

 

[Guineveretoo]

Did this affect your premiums/no claims?

No

 

[trashpony]

My premiums didn’t go up when someone went into the back of me. But the other driver did accept 100% responsibility (he was driving a company van so didn’t affect his premiums) - if he hadn’t they would have no faulted.

I’d find out how much it’s going to cost to fix before you agree to anything. And you‘re supposed to report to the police within 24 hours and to your insurers even if you don’t claim in case of any future claims.

I’d also see how you’re feeling today. A hard whack can really jolt your body and in my experience, it isn’t until the next day or so that it starts to hurt.

 

[Spymaster]

My premiums didn’t go up when someone went into the back of me. But the other driver did accept 100% responsibility (he was driving a company van so didn’t affect his premiums) - if he hadn’t they would have no faulted.

I’d find out how much it’s going to cost to fix before you agree to anything. And you‘re supposed to report to the police within 24 hours and to your insurers even if you don’t claim in case of any future claims.

I’d also see how you’re feeling today. A hard whack can really jolt your body and in my experience, it isn’t until the next day or so that it starts to hurt.

You don't need to get the police involved if nobody is hurt and everyone's behaving themselves.

 

[trashpony]

You don't need to get the police involved if nobody is hurt and everyone's behaving themselves.

OK I thought you had to

 

[Spymaster]

OK I thought you had to

Nah, not for small stuff. If there are injuries, or someone's acting the dick (being shouty etc) or refusing to swap details, call the police. Also, if you suspect an offence (pissed, speeding, running lights etc). Otherwise there's no requirement to.

 

[Glitter]

Oh and if you get your insurance to sort out the claim for someone hitting you it does not affect your policy in any way at all and there is no excess for you to pay.

It did with my brother. He was (legally) parked and not even in the car and someone knocked his wing mirror off and drove off. His insurance upped his premium and when he queried it they told him, ‘having been in an accident means you’re more likely to be in another’. He was livid

This was a while ago, things may have changed since then. And obvs is also anecdata but it does happen.

 

[A380]

OK I thought you had to

You don't need to report a collision to the police if you've exchanged details, nobody was injured and there are no allegations of driving offences.

More here

https://www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rs/road-safety/collisions/

 

[Ranbay]

Did this affect your premiums/no claims?

Will always be a rating factor. Fault or non fault.

 

[MickiQ]

It did with my brother. He was (legally) parked and not even in the car and someone knocked his wing mirror off and drove off. His insurance upped his premium and when he queried it they told him, ‘having been in an accident means you’re more likely to be in another’. He was livid

This was a while ago, things may have changed since then. And obvs is also anecdata but it does happen.

He made a claim though didn't he? so it cost his insurance company money they couldn't recoup. It's a no claim discount not a no blame one as I have had pointed out to me in the past.
So that would affect his premium, Direct Line (mine) now specifically states that things like won't affect your premium but they didn't use too, they've changed their tune at some point

 

[moochedit]

I got rear-ended hard by a van while travelling between jobs this afternoon. Tailgate and bumper are going to need replacing and the park pilot sensors are throwing errors and not working. Hard to tell if there could be any underlying damage to the chassis.

The driver of the van is a young tradesman, seems honest enough and is very keen not to go through the insurance as it's going to make his premiums massive. It looks like I'm obliged to report the accident to my insurers anyway. Within 24 hours? Their website is vague ("as soon as possible").

I haven't reported it yet but will probably need to in the morning otherwise could my right to a claim be nullified? From Googling it also looks like I might have to pay the excess if I go through the insurance and even if I then decide not to make a claim my premiums could go up, which is taking the piss. I'd be more than happy to do this off-the-books but I don't see how I can get the car inspected, get the quote over to the other driver and have him stump up the cash in such a small time frame, even if he has the money.

Thoughts?

If he hit you from behind it's his fault so claim on the insurence.

 

[moochedit]

I assume you made note of the other drivers reg? You can check if they are insured here:

askMID

 

[Guineveretoo]

I've handled the odd car park scrape 'off the books' because as long as the person isn't pissing about and we're only talking a couple of hundred to sort out it's usually easier all around. Insurance premiums are ridiculous and I would rather help a young driver out if I can if it's a minor incident.

I'm not sure I'd be as obliging if it was a more serious incident and likely to cost a lot of money to fix. I would also go to the insurers at the slightest hint of someone taking the piss.

That’s pretty much how I felt, but I did get pissed off at how much of an effort it was to sort out. Lots of phone calls, and trips to the garage, before it was all over.

Another time, I think I would leave it to the insurance people.

 

[StoneRoad]

Report details to the insurers ... even if you don't make a claim as such.
Although, in the circumstances described, I would claim - if you are rear-ended it is automatically the other driver's fault.

If you don't, and they find out, then they'll tend to hike your premium.