Minor Accident Advice

zpua

About four weeks ago, I had a one mile an hour impact with another car at the exit to a shopping center. My car sustained no damage, but the other car had a minor 'scuff' on the rear bumper.

I exchanged phone numbers with the other driver, did not acknowledge fault, and he said it was very monor and that he probably would not do anything about it. He seemed like a sound enough person.

The driver has since been in touch saying that the mark will cost 220 to fix, this is fair enough, but I am concerned about this being the tip of the iceberg. What happens is he decides to develop whiplash now?

He has no details other than my mobile phone, the guardi were not called, and addresses were not swapped. I have a photo and video clip of the damage.

Should I just pay this bill, or should I contact my insurance - what would you guys do?

silverside

if it was your fault, pay him the 220 and stop being so paranoid.

if it wasn't, you could drag the insurance companies into it and fight it, but that would waste a lot of peoples time. If he had 'whiplash' no doubt he would have been on to the insurance company himself by now.

zpua

When it comes to car insurance, I am always paranoid :mad:

Too many friends have come to trouble over imaginary whiplash months later - not much I can do though.

Genghis

I think you are supposed to tell the insurance company anyway, but I can understand why you don't want to - they will almost certainly use that information to bump up your premium, claim or no claim.

The first thing I would do is ask the guy can you get an alternative quote - €220 seems a little high for a 1mph scuff (I appreciate you may be exagerrating, but there is never any harm in looking for a second opinion before you pay up).

Secondly I would pay the guy. However (and this is the tricky bit), I would seek to get some form of written agreement from him that this payment is a complete settlement of his case. You may well seek pofessional advice here.

If I understand you correctly, you may be worrying about something that will never happen. I mean the guy was happy to let you off without calling the Gardai, he only took your phone number, he didn't insist on insurance details, and he contacted you directly when he wanted it fixed. Also, he would surely find it difficult to prove any condition on the basis of the insignificant nature of the accident.

Kermitt

To be honest i would have bought him a can of touch up spray and told him to F**K off on his merry way.if the damage is as minor as you say and if he tried to develop a physical ailment i'm sure common sense would prevail, since you have photos of the incident. i was involved in a fair shunt but we agreed to incurr the cost of our own repairs. I hate people being so afraid of whiplash claims. it makes me sick that someone could try and shaft another person like that....... rant rant..........complain.........moan about insurance............blahh!!!

Sleipnir

Originally posted by Kermitt
To be honest i would have bought him a can of touch up spray and told him to F**K off on his merry way.

If someone who ran into me said anything like I'd look for the highest repair quote I could find.

I wouldn't worry about it and just pay up.
Saying "can i get a quote somewhere else?" will most likely just piss him off to the point where he says
"right so, let's go down the insurance road"
It would probably be better for him to get it off your insurance company so really, he's doing you a favour.

jongore

Pay him and chalk it up to experience. Don't get your insurence company involved and see if you get a copy of the invoice for the damage and a agreement that this settles your liability.

zpua

The guys car was scuffed by me, he is in the right to expect it to be returned to the condition it was in in before the accident. If this costs me 220, thats my hard luck, but I can live with it.

In all reality I am probably worrying about the 'personal injury' side of things too much - the 'claim' mentality really annoys me though (GPS Guided Bomb Type Annoyance)

kdevitt

Something like this happened to my dad, while he was driving my car..

You've got a few options...

1: Go through the insurance - they'll use their assessor, and you can opt to pay the full amount yourself and it won't affect your next years premium, as you, and not the insurance company, actually paid out.

2: Pay the company that do the work directly - ask the guy who you hit to pass on the details of the bodyshop and you can pay them directly. This is your right, and its illegal to demand cash from you in lieu of work to be carried out. You can't however ask him to get any other quotes, its his choice to get quotes from whoever he likes, if you think the work can be done substantially cheaper then go for option 1.

Unless the guy has medical records dated back to in and around the date of the accident, you won't be hearing any more about it. Judges are becoming wise to fraudulent claims from little tips like yours, so I honestly doubt you'll hear any more about it.

In my dads case the guy wanted €600 for a tiny bit of damage, then demanded cash which we wouldn't give him, he then reported it to the insurance company - the wrong insurance company I might add, so he'll be waiting a long time to hear back... we also made a complaint to the gardai about the guy.

Sleipnir

Well then it's just a question of "do I trust him"
If he seemed like a nice enough fella then just bite the bullet and pay him his 220.
Lot's of smiling and sorry for the trouble.

unkel

Originally posted by kdevitt
1: Go through the insurance - they'll use their assessor, and you can opt to pay the full amount yourself and it won't affect your next years premium, as you, and not the insurance company, actually paid out.

Never thought of that one - anybody any exerience with this option?

DaveD

Yes, you can let the insurance company send out their assessor who will agree a cost for repairs. You can then pay this amount, or let your insurance company pay it. If you choose to let the insurance pay for it, you can then pay them the money back they paid on the claim, this will then show no claims made on your policy and your premium will not be affected, guaranteed .

DundalkDuffman

I have had a few tips in my time and my biggest regret is not getting a loan to pay out the first time. My attitude was fcuk it I pay my insurance to not have me worrying about it. For the sake of 900 old quid I have been shafted on insurance since. Would have been much better just paying the guy.

€220 is not really a lot of money and I would just pay it out if I were you. Also from experience check your policy document, I think that you need to inform your incurance company. Chances are that if you didn't then they would never know but in the event that it ever came up again you could find yourself invalidated. Cost you nothing to let the gardai know as well. Just give them the details and let them know that you are settling with the other party. Technically you have left the scene of an accident. Knowing the boys in blue they have much better things to do than be bothered by you but at least you would have it on record should the guy turn out to be a chancer.

I know from hard experience that it is apain in the ass but put it down to experience and pay him or his garage on receipt of invoice (cheque not cash).

Turner

Originally posted by DundalkDuffman
Cost you nothing to let the gardai know as well. Just give them the details and let them know that you are settling with the other party. Technically you have left the scene of an accident. Knowing the boys in blue they have much better things to do than be bothered by you

For accidents where minor damage is done and no injuries are present and both parties have insurance cover there is no need to call the Gardai. Really annoys me when you see people stopping their cars in the middle of a road at rush hour and waiting for the boys in blue just because they have a dented bumper or broken headlight. Its a matter for your insurance company all you have to do is swap insurance details.

DundalkDuffman

Originally posted by Chief---
For accidents where minor damage is done and no injuries are present and both parties have insurance cover there is no need to call the Gardai.

That is all well and good but if zpua or anyone is afraid of dodgy whiplash claims then you can't really blame them for covering their bums. Personally I would rather annoy rush hour traffic for a while than be on the wrong end of a dodgy claim.

alleepally

"Yes, you can let the insurance company send out their assessor who will agree a cost for repairs. You can then pay this amount, or let your insurance company pay it. If you choose to let the insurance pay for it, you can then pay them the money back they paid on the claim, this will then show no claims made on your policy and your premium will not be affected, guaranteed ."


That just blows my mind. I never knew insurance companies would do that. So basically, what they are saying about "risk" when you get insurance is all BS really.

Victor

If you want, when you are paying, get him to sign "in full and final settlement".