Sized Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Morning all, Would appreciate some advice here please. As some of you may know I bought a runaround recently for me and my missus to share. Well, unfortunately she has managed to have a bump in it Classic new driver error of running into the back of someone at a roundabout, so fortunately nothing too serious. Anyway, she has swapped details with the other party, but didn't take any photos. The other party is now going away to get quotes for a small crack and dent in the bumper of her mini cooper. I'm hoping she will be honest and not try to sting us for a whole new bumper!! Having (touch wood) only been involved in one accident years ago myself, the question I have is what we should do next re: our insurance company. The car is insured in my girlfriend's name and as she is a new driver I obviously do not want to claim on my insurance under any circumstances. Do I need to tell our insurance anything? Or just wait for the quote to come back from the other party (and hope that it's not too massive), and then pay them the cash? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sized Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Update: my girlf has heard from the other party who is going through her insurance as the garage has told her there is 'a lot of damage'. This is blatant bullsh*t which is what I feared would happen, and without photos we can't prove otherwise Any suggestions guys? Much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 in theory and by the letter of the law you should inform your insurance company of any incident fault or no fault.... but who does that? crack and dent in bumper..... if it was me and my bumper i would be asking for a new one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 not a leg to stand on springs to mind.... sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sized Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Thanks Steve that's what I thought on both points. I guess I would be after a new bumper too if I was in the zed and someone did that to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanted Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Nothing you can do with regards to her wanting to go through the insurance. She is also entitled to go to a garage of her choice unfortunately, it is down to your insurance assessor to authorise the repairs. Its out of your hands without any photographic evidence. If you have the other partys address you could get some sneaky pics whilst its on the public road. Other than that all you can do is make your insurance company aware that you think they are pulling a fast one and they will give the assessor a heads up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Depends on the repair shop. My ex had some chav pile into the back of her car on his moped. She claimed of his insurance and the "insurance approved bodyshop" repaired the back of the car. Now... i saw the invoice they gave to the insurance company and it said new back bumper, new scuttle panel, repaint bootlid, bumper etc. etc. etc. etc.... Then because im quite experienced at repairing cars myself I had a look at what they actually did. They simply filled and repaired the old bumper, pulled the back of the car out a bit and resprayed the bumper. You could see the bumper should have had a rough eggshell like finish on her car, but it was now smooth and stood out a mile. Classic case of the repair shop doing as cheap & quick job as they can whilst fleecing the insurance company. On the plus side, a few months later my ex did the same classic run into back of someone on a roundabout as your missus did. Back of the car in front was hanging off. The driver got out, looked at it and said "dont worry about it" and drove off! I couldnt believe her luck. Im assuming they had no insurance or license or something like that and didnt want the hassle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Who drove into who? Your girlfriend drove into the other person? You must inform your insurer and let them handle it. If the policy is in her name then she'll lose any NCB unless protected. You don't need to do anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbeast35 Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I'm confused!! If the car is insured under your girlfriends name why would you have to involve your insurance at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sized Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Wow, apparently the other parties garage has said "£2000 and a week to repair. New bumper, respray whole rear of the car, rear wheel arch damaged". Now I'm angry, our car has a tiny scratch on the bumper and my missus was doing about 5mph in 1st, so how can that be true!!! Will be getting her to phone our insurance right away and explain that the other party is trying it on........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sized Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Ekona: my girlf drive into someone. Getting her to phone the insurance now. kbeast: when I say 'our' insurance I mean the policy that's in her name for the runaround car. I am a named driver but that's by the by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squee Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Just one of those annoying things that happen unfortunately...I did the same thing as your Mrs and went into the back of someone at a roundabout in my Zed last November. There was a crack on my numberplate and no damage to their car (a Fusion) but we exchanged details anyway...next day they rang me and said they can't open their boot and the Ford garage say it'll be over £1K to fix so they were adamant to go through the insurers It's still not been settled yet but my insurers have told me they've claimed for 8 days car hire so god knows what the final total will be. The occupants of the other car were all in their 80s (and on their way home from a funeral!) and it doesn't look like they're claiming for whiplash. They've since told me they wanted to go through the insurance and "do it properly" because I "looked far too young to be driving that Porche" I was a bit pi**ed at myself for doing it but first claim in 10 years and I had my NCB protected. As someone on this forum said recently "there's no harm in an accident as long as it's not fatal". Hope you get it sorted though matey. Big ball of stress innit!? S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 was a programme on the other week all about insurance companys doing this very sort of thing...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sized Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) Too right squee, really don't need this atm but hey ho. That's a bl00dy nightmare with your situation so hope you get it sorted soon. The other party also already mentioned that she will need a hire car! Edited February 7, 2013 by Sized Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabbitstew Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Wow, apparently the other parties garage has said "£2000 and a week to repair. New bumper, respray whole rear of the car, rear wheel arch damaged". Now I'm angry, our car has a tiny scratch on the bumper and my missus was doing about 5mph in 1st, so how can that be true!!! Will be getting her to phone our insurance right away and explain that the other party is trying it on........... Insurance company wont care less about it. They will just pay out. Then use it as a reason as to why insurance premiums are so high. My wife also did the same "run in back of car at roundabout" in her 206 Gti. The other car only had a scratch on it, but like with your guys, they claimed for everything possible so it had to go through insurance. My wifes insurance company jacked her premium up so much for the following year that she could no longer afford to insure her car and had to sell it and get an ancient old heap of a car which still cost twice as much as her old car did to insure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sized Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Wow, apparently the other parties garage has said "£2000 and a week to repair. New bumper, respray whole rear of the car, rear wheel arch damaged". Now I'm angry, our car has a tiny scratch on the bumper and my missus was doing about 5mph in 1st, so how can that be true!!! Will be getting her to phone our insurance right away and explain that the other party is trying it on........... Insurance company wont care less about it. They will just pay out. Then use it as a reason as to why insurance premiums are so high. My wife also did the same "run in back of car at roundabout" in her 206 Gti. The other car only had a scratch on it, but like with your guys, they claimed for everything possible so it had to go through insurance. My wifes insurance company jacked her premium up so much for the following year that she could no longer afford to insure her car and had to sell it and get an ancient old heap of a car which still cost twice as much as her old car did to insure. Yep renewal time will be interesting next year! Have calmed down a bit now - at the end of the day no-one was hurt and it will be out of our hands once my missus has spoken to the insurance Thanks for the speedy replies all. Top work by people on here as always Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docwra Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Dont immedately think you are being ripped off, I hit a BMW up the arse in an S14 200SX once - the bumper on the 200 was dented but there was no apparent damage to the Bimmer. Agreed that he would get it checked over, he came back saying it needed loads of work, my first thought was "taking the ****" As it happens it went to a mates bodyshop and really did have about 4K of damage, the 200 was written off as well, so about £7K from a 5mph shunt that didnt seem to hurt anything, its easily done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sized Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Crikey Docwra bet you were gutted about the S14 Will be having a look at our car later but my missues informs me that there is a v small crack in the bumper. The scratch she mentioned initially was already there Either way it's over to the insurer to deal with and I will be hitting the wine later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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