Insurance, claim or not?

crusoe

I made a very little damage to someone's car. It was my fault. I was tired, etc... (I hit on it's side in a carpark). And I didn't run away like most people, I went in the restaurant and I looked for the owner. (Yea I know i'm lame)

I told the owner I fix his damage, and told him that maybe we should leave out insurance companies, because I heard that its better that way ..no claim bonus, etc.. He agreed.

This happened 2 days ago, he called me and he said someone offered to fix it for €1200 which is ridiculous high price.

My friend (who knows more about cars) says the damage is less, maybe €400-€500, but he has a friend who may fix it even cheaper 2-300, but have to see it first.

Have to fix few little dimple and repaint it after. (In next few days, maybe tomorrow we'll get his friend car-painter have a look and give us a cheaper price).

Now my insurance policy is just 2 months old, its my 1st year I have insurance in Ireland. And its for "excess €450". My questions here:

1. I'm wondering if I should claim for money from insurance company or no?
(I guess if the price is less than 450 I shouldn't claim, I have to pay 450 anyway, and the company pay the rest, yes?

2. If the amount exceed 450, let's say for example 750 . should I claim for that 300 extra? Someone told me my insurance will go up next year like twice more If I claim for 300 I'll pay 600 more to the insurance companies... so better no claim.. is it true?

3. my insunrance already pretty high €1222 for two people, me and my brother, is it possible they will only insure me for €1800 just because I claim €300 that sounds ridiculous for me....?

goz83

If you can avoid claiming, I say do it, as long as you can afford to. What you will save with a no claims bonus will be a a reasonable amount. It is very unlikley that the owner of the car you hit will allow you to dictate who fixes the car. The owner might just decide to claim from your insurance if you mess around. There is no harm in asking, but I wouldn't push it. If your insurance is claimed from, your policy next year will be loaded, plus you pay the excess anyway and lose out.

By tthe way. Fair play for looking for the owner of the car you damaged. It will cost you, but it shows good character, which is something we don't see enough. I wish you the best of luck.

Supergurrier

Sounds like other party has you by the short and curlys, see if you can reason with him on the repair cost and ask for invoices/written quotations and a final invoice. He might be abit cheeky and just want cash so he can make something on it to cover his hassle/sense of entitlement after you hit his car. Straightest way is to just go through insurance and you have to inform them you were involved in an accident anyway even if you let them know you are sorting it yourself

MugMugs

You don't pay the excess on third party claims. As such, there is no excess payable should you claim from your insurer.

You're also obliged to inform your insurer that you've had an accident irrespective of your intentions with the claim. Should you allow your insurer settle the matter, you can choose to pay your insurance company back before renewal and not have to lose your ncb or suffer a claim on your policy.

crusoe

Even if there was no garda report or anything? He cannot even proove that I made the damage I guess... its only my words. I definiately won't fix €300 damage for €1200.

MugMugs

crusoe wrote: »

Even if there was no garda report or anything? He cannot even proove that I made the damage I guess... its only my words. I definiately won't fix €300 damage for €1200.

I won't attempt you evade your responsibility. You asked for advice and that's what you got

knucklehead6

if you hit his car then he's entitled to have it fixed to his satisfaction, not necessarily by some lad who a friend of yours knows.

Not being smart, but if someone hit your car would you let them take care of the repairs and tell you who is repairing it or would you tell them where you are getting it repaired?

I was hit in the passenger door about 18 months ago, the girl in the other car tried telling me that the damage would be fixed by her mates boyfriends father. I asked her to send me a quote and i got 2 quotes, one from a main dealer, the other from a crash repair specialist. My 2 quotes were similar enough (there was about €150 in the difference... both were over €2.5k) she gave me a quote for €500.

I wasn't happy with that and wouldn't have been happy with the standard of repair being offered if there was a €2k difference, so we ended up going through insurance.

visual

I had some one reverse in to my car put big dent above wheel. They too wanted their mate in a tyre company to repair it. Then offered 200 euro and said take it or leave it. I went through insurance got new wing fitted resprayed and car check and wheel alignment along with a free rental car for the week. Total cost 10 years ago was 1750 euro

Looking back I wasted 3 weeks with this tosser trying to worm out of his responsibility and do it on the cheap and the insurance company dealth with it straight away and I had loan car so not inconvenience.

I wouldn't accept a back street repair to save someone else money after all it my car that I will be left with if the repairs are substandard and I take another hit if I wanted to sell or trade it later.

goz83

crusoe wrote: »

Even if there was no garda report or anything? He cannot even proove that I made the damage I guess... its only my words. I definiately won't fix €300 damage for €1200.

Actually, in all likelihood, your car paint is on his car. There may also have been cctv. In either case, you did the right thing by admitting it. Don't try to weasle your way out now. If you have to, go through your insurance. as MugMugs has already said, there is no excess when the claim is being paid out to another party.

You are supposed to inform your insurer, even if you are not claiming. I did not know this in my first year of driving and I had 2 minor tips, which cost €1000 & €1600 respectively. I paid out of hand. I know that the repairs on both vehicles were likely done on the cheap, but I coughed up to avoid a claim on my history. Had I claimed, my insurance would have gone from €4,700 (yes, much higher) to nearly 10k. I didn't claim and my insurance dropped by 2k the next year. I'm thinking if the insurer knew I had 2 little accidents, my insurance might not have been dropped as much, but I genuinely didn't know I had to report it.

mikehammer67

if someone reverses into you or whatever
-they're at fault and no other witnesses

how do you make sure they, or their insurance pays?

Supergurrier

Get policy number and failing that a reg

mikehammer67

Supergurrier wrote: »

Get policy number and failing that a reg

and how do you prove it a day later if they change their mind and say you drove forward into them?

just wondering?

crusoe

visual wrote: »

I had some one reverse in to my car put big dent above wheel. They too wanted their mate in a tyre company to repair it. Then offered 200 euro and said take it or leave it. I went through insurance got new wing fitted resprayed and car check and wheel alignment along with a free rental car for the week. Total cost 10 years ago was 1750 euro

Looking back I wasted 3 weeks with this tosser trying to worm out of his responsibility and do it on the cheap and the insurance company dealth with it straight away and I had loan car so not inconvenience.

I wouldn't accept a back street repair to save someone else money after all it my car that I will be left with if the repairs are substandard and I take another hit if I wanted to sell or trade it later.

If my painter gives me a "written" offer they fix that damage for €400 and the owner decides to fix it for €1200 at other garage, he'll be in trouble. That's my friend sounds like corruption. This is my opinion.

What I'm offering is not "back street" repair. It's a legal car-paint company, with big garage, in the industrial park, they only do it cheap for me because my college's friend is working there (most polish people work cheaper than irish ).

fergiesfolly

You damaged his car. You either get it fixed at the garage he specified or get your insurance company to take care of it. Stop whining and moaning about it here. And stop defaming the guy on here, when you've no proof he's done anything wrong, except for your "friends" say so.And for gods sake, stop congratulating yourself for finding the driver and admitting your fault. The alternative would have been illegal and immoral.

goz83

crusoe wrote: »

If my painter gives me a "written" offer they fix that damage for €400 and the owner decides to fix it for €1200 at other garage, he'll be in trouble. That's my friend sounds like corruption. This is my opinion.

What I'm offering is not "back street" repair. It's a legal car-paint company, with big garage, in the industrial park, they only do it cheap for me because my college's friend is working there (most polish people work cheaper than irish ).

It's up to the owner of the other car. State your case and maybe offer him go faster stripes on his car, courtesy of the garage you're trying to pull a fast one at.

knucklehead6

crusoe wrote: »

If my painter gives me a "written" offer they fix that damage for €400 and the owner decides to fix it for €1200 at other garage, he'll be in trouble. That's my friend sounds like corruption. This is my opinion.

What I'm offering is not "back street" repair. It's a legal car-paint company, with big garage, in the industrial park, they only do it cheap for me because my college's friend is working there (most polish people work cheaper than irish ).

How will he be in trouble? Are you threatening him after crashing into him now??

Sadderday

Be careful going this route... a friend of mine did the same thing.... paid for the fix (not going through insurance), a couple of weeks after the man called to say that he had a bad back and needed money to see the doctor... turned into every couple of weeks trying to get a few quid... you either pay up or go to the insurance.. at least through insurance when its sorted - its sorted.

I did the same thing, tipped someone and they sped off... went to the guards and gave them my details incase they contacted them because i felt terrible and was eager to put things right... I never heard anything...

So maybe the person I tipped wasnt meant to be driving, wasnt insured in the first place or suspended licence for all I know?

You could be in the same situation, your insurance company is there to protect you from things like this and ensure you only pay out if you have to. they say that you should never admit liability anyway?

Anan1

crusoe -Just so we're all clear here, the owner of the other car gets to decide whether or not to go through your insurance, and where to have their car repaired. If you're unhappy with the situation then let your insurance company handle it.

have2flushtwice

jeez lads ye are making a mountain out of this for the poor guy, and hes trying to do the right thing!

OP
lts like this, pay the damaged party directly - hes looking for 1200 you said? thats your cost, and he will have some change in it for himself.

or
go through the insurance, and your cost may be <500 including insrance hike, and excess.

save yourself the hassle.
thats what insurance is for after all!

crusoe

Supergurrier wrote: »

Sounds like other party has you by the short and curlys, see if you can reason with him on the repair cost and ask for invoices/written quotations and a final invoice. He might be abit cheeky and just want cash so he can make something on it to cover his hassle/sense of entitlement after you hit his car. Straightest way is to just go through insurance and you have to inform them you were involved in an accident anyway even if you let them know you are sorting it yourself

1. I've done that. Informed my company that im sorting it myself.

2. fergiesfolly, your comment is useless and not related to my question, plus its an abuse, you had no reason to say that... so I reported anyway

3. Everyone saying "its up to the owner" ... I think I told you already at first place, that the guy said he has no problem with it if I find someone to fix it

(Actually he ASKED me If I KNOW someone who may fix it cheaper that's whe I told him "maybe I know maybe not..I'll look after tomorrow, but he should get 1-2 offers too....)

I still didn't get the answer for my original question, anyway. Wether we should claim or not for that money, if I claim how will that affect my next year insurance... I know you can't answer that, nobody can... even my insurance company couldn't tell me.

(most of my friends say me don't claim, because I will pay for it next year my insurance will go very high... so I already decided anyway, I won't claim if I can fix myself cheaper... )

(this is for fergiesfolly kind of commenters: I only told u about the accident itself to see clean, not to leave comments about how good or bad I handle things. if you see this "?" its a question, answer it... if you see other signs its not a question, don't have to comment it)

djimi

If in doubt go through the insurance. If you suspect that the guy is trying to screw you then this will ensure that he does not get a chance to. If the cost really is €1200 then so be it. You can always repay the insurance payout before renewal and it should not affect your NCB/premium.

Anan1

have2flushtwice wrote: »

jeez lads ye are making a mountain out of this for the poor guy, and hes trying to do the right thing!

The right thing for the owner of the car he damaged, or the right thing for himself?

have2flushtwice wrote: »

looking for 1200 you said? thats your cost, and he will have some change in it for himself.

That's a very unfair accusation to make without a shred of reason, much less proof.

have2flushtwice wrote: »

save yourself the hassle.
thats what insurance is for after all!

I think this is good advice.

djimi

crusoe wrote: »

I still didn't get the answer for my original question, anyway. Wether we should claim or not for that money, if I claim how will that affect my next year insurance... I know you can't answer that, nobody can... even my insurance company couldn't tell me.

To answer this question; it was purely about the money (ie if the guy had come back to you with a quote of €500) then Id say try and sort it out yourself as it will most likely cost you more than that to claim.

However, its no longer just about the money. If you feel that he is trying to screw you over then going through the insurance affords you the most amount of protection, as they will handle everything for you and there is little chance of him being able to screw the insurer over.

crusoe

have2flushtwice wrote: »

jeez lads ye are making a mountain out of this for the poor guy, and hes trying to do the right thing!

OP
lts like this, pay the damaged party directly - hes looking for 1200 you said? thats your cost, and he will have some change in it for himself.

or
go through the insurance, and your cost may be <500 including insrance hike, and excess.

save yourself the hassle.
thats what insurance is for after all!

I don't know if it will be 500 maybe 800, its possible I made a mistake when I "guessed" that price. It's possible not only 1 piece damaged but two. Then the price is maybe double of my guess.

And now I just repeat myself the owner looked friendly, and he asked me If I know some garage who can maybe fix it cheaper.

And I said I look after, and I found out my college (Who deal with cars all the time, he buy - (fix) - then sell cars every time, like 6-8 times a year to make a little money on it) so he has lots of friends in car business (car repair people, painter, etc. who work cheaper for him. but most of things he do himself, like change oil, etc. to save money)

S he bring me yesterday to his painter (he lost his number so we went to their garage). That garage looked nice, it was a "pretty big" garage with lots of cars inside, not someone's porch or something, its a real car-painting repair place. The owner of the car has to be happy when he will go there and see it.

They do it cheaper for me only because they r "friends", not because its a "do it yourself" type fixing....

Everybody is friendly in this case, the damaged car's owner, my friend who try to help me fix. My colleges all say my insurance will go up. I already decided.

Why I'm still here and asking you? Reason is only my brother (we insured the car for 2 drivers, me and him). So he doesn't understand why we have to pay even €1, why we bought kinda "premium" pack insurance and paid extra like €200 (for 1st year) if we dont claim? He say thats why we have insurance, doesn't we? If we have accident, company should pay and our insurance price shouldn't change next year (he agree we wont get discount, but he say insurance should be same price next year). I just want to kinda show him that best way is to pay ourselfs and leave out insurance company... and show him that we (hopefully) can build up some "no-claim bonus" in the future this way... to make our €1222 price insurance half price or even less.

ps. sorry for my bad english

crusoe

djimi wrote: »

To answer this question; it was purely about the money (ie if the guy had come back to you with a quote of €500) then Id say try and sort it out yourself as it will most likely cost you more than that to claim.

However, its no longer just about the money. If you feel that he is trying to screw you over then going through the insurance affords you the most amount of protection, as they will handle everything for you and there is little chance of him being able to screw the insurer over.

I don't know what to feel, just when I called him out, to show the damage I made he answered (kinda without hesitation), oh its a small damage, maybe €150 worth. So looked like he know someone to fix it. Then next day he ring me and say he went to a "company" and got an offer of €1200. Maybe he just told this high price to make sure he don't have to spend his "expensive" time to look after cheaper fixing and make me do it.

Ok. No more comments.:D (from me)

djimi

If he is sticking to his guns on a price of €1200 then you are better off going through the insurance. Id be amazed if any increase in insurance premium over the next couple of years works out to be more expensive than that.

have2flushtwice

Anan1 wrote: »

The right thing for the owner of the car he damaged, or the right thing for himself?

for both parties.


That's a very unfair accusation to make without a shred of reason, much less proof.

from experience buddy!

I think this is good advice.

best thing you said all day!

bobin fudge

Perhaps if you give the details of the place you want to get the car fixed (your friends place) to the owner of the damaged car he might be more inclined to do so if he sees the place for himself and that it is a professional place

Also has the car actually been out to the garage as maybe once your friend sees the car for real it might be more expensive than first thought or he could be right

Somtimes what seems like small damage can actually turn out to be alot more expensive, hopefully not the case with your mishap

Anan1

have2flushtwice wrote: »

for both parties.

Not so. The right thing for the owner is that they get to choose where to have their car repaired.

have2flushtwice wrote: »

from experience buddy!

You know from your experience that the owner of the other car is trying to gouge the OP? What utter nonsense.

fergiesfolly

I don't know what I said that was abusive, so you might get back to me on that.
Moving on...
Original post;
"This happened 2 days ago, he called me and he said someone offered to fix it for €1200 which is ridiculous high price"

"My friend (who knows more about cars) says the damage is less, maybe €400-€500, but he has a friend who may fix it even cheaper 2-300, but have to see it first"

Later post;
"I don't know if it will be 500 maybe 800, its possible I made a mistake when I "guessed" that price. It's possible not only 1 piece damaged but two. Then the price is maybe double of my guess"

So basically, you havn't a clue what it costs to repair the damage. But the other guy is ripping YOU off!!!

Earlir post;
"What I'm offering is not "back street" repair. It's a legal car-paint company, with big garage, in the industrial park, they only do it cheap for me because my college's friend is working there"

Later post;
"And I said I look after, and I found out my college (Who deal with cars all the time, he buy - (fix) - then sell cars every time, like 6-8 times a year to make a little money on it) so he has lots of friends in car business (car repair people, painter, etc. who work cheaper for him. but most of things he do himself, like change oil, etc. to save money)

he bring me yesterday to his painter (he lost his number so we went to their garage). That garage looked nice, it was a "pretty big" garage with lots of cars inside, not someone's porch or something, its a real car-painting repair place. The owner of the car has to be happy when he will go there and see it."

"They do it cheaper for me only because they r "friends", not because its a "do it yourself" type fixing...."

So your friend is doing a nixer(not an official job going through the company) which will hane no guarantee or come back for the owner of the car, should he not be satisfied.

Also;
"Everyone saying "its up to the owner" ... I think I told you already at first place, that the guy said he has no problem with it if I find someone to fix it"

From what I can see, you never mentioned that in earlier posts

Sorry, but you wouldn't fill me with confidence, if I were the owner of the other car.

Lastly.

"And I didn't run away like most people, I went in the restaurant and I looked for the owner. (Yea I know i'm lame)"

"Even if there was no garda report or anything? He cannot even proove that I made the damage I guess... its only my words"

"If my painter gives me a "written" offer they fix that damage for €400 and the owner decides to fix it for €1200 at other garage, he'll be in trouble. That's my friend sounds like corruption. This is my opinion"

Comments like these don't help your case on here.
This, by the way is an open forum and unless a moderator tells me otherwise, I'll post what I think is appropriate

visual

I gave a good example of a guy that hit me and wanted a cheap repair who wasn't able to understand that the car repair had to be done to a high standard and my reasonable expectations.
The choice of garage is not at the discretion of the guilty to decide but what is acceptable to the insurance company and or car owner.

If I was the other driver I would be getting tired of dealing with this and be considering to just let the insurance company deal with it.

He has gone got a estimate that you don't agree with. Has no obligation to use your friends garage. Has given you the opportunity to not go through insurance.
Yet you aren't happy that you have inconvenience this man enough that you want to deal with this on your terms. I think you are pressing your luck and forcing this down the insurance route.
You'll find as time goes on the other driver will become frustrated and just go through your insurance and like me feel he wasted his time and effort accommodating an unreasonable person.

crusoe

He just rang me and he said he find a new offer €900... we going down. But he wait for my friend's offer. Now, he seems friendly anyway.:D

have2flushtwice

Anan1 wrote: »

Not so. The right thing for the owner is that they get to choose where to have their car repaired.

You know from your experience that the owner of the other car is trying to gouge the OP? What utter nonsense.

Jump to to whatever conclusion you want to to try win a keyboard argument...
from experinece, and having this happen a few times to myself, the quote is got from a "buddie" in a garage, and there are monies added on.

Over the years I have had two claims against me. Each time i went to the garage where the claimant got the quote, and asked for a breakdown of the cost - watch them try working that out in a panic, to produce parts and labour costs, to calvulate the VAT included in the price, and make it round up to a nice even number of 1200 euro - not so simple then. so what more experience do you want ANAN1?

coolisin

This recently happened to my Dads friend, a person reversed into the side of the car, not a lot of damage on the surface. A few dents but the cheapest quote he got was €3000, and this persons friend in a garage, when he saw the damage and he said that will be more then I quoted over the phone now that I see it. And was €100 more.

But remember if paint is involved they have to blend the other panels, and if you creased a panel its going to be expensive.
Unfortunately it is what it is to fix.
I would just let the guy get it sorted and go through insurance, you could pay the insurance back anyway.
Who is to say his insurance has not contacted yours already?
And he may have gone to the Gardai and reported the accident? ( I know I would have if it happened to me)
He just needs to notify the Gardai that it happened so there is a record of the event.

Anan1

have2flushtwice wrote: »

Jump to to whatever conclusion you want to to try win a keyboard argument...
from experinece, and having this happen a few times to myself, the quote is got from a "buddie" in a garage, and there are monies added on.

Over the years I have had two claims against me. Each time i went to the garage where the claimant got the quote, and asked for a breakdown of the cost - watch them try working that out in a panic, to produce parts and labour costs, to calvulate the VAT included in the price, and make it round up to a nice even number of 1200 euro - not so simple then. so what more experience do you want ANAN1?

?? How does this even begin to prove anything about the driver of the car that the OP hit?

crusoe

"So basically, you havn't a clue what it costs to repair the damage. But the other guy is ripping YOU off!!!"

I had a clue, painting one part is 50-300 usd depends the year, the car, etc. You can look after that on many sites. Two part was damaged so its 100-600 usd, definiately not €1200 or 900.

By the way, the door was a little bit different colour (probably from earlier accident they painted it bad) the different was so small i didn't even notice. So the painter decided to repaint 3 parts, and he didn't charge much for the door too. For my apologize I agreed with the painter to paint the door too.

On the weekend the painter done the work for €400, the owner was happy with the result, I was happy too, we both give the painter a good tip. Story over. Everyone's happy.

fergies sorry If I said anything bad about You, I didn't mean it, I just dont like irrelevant comments

Qualitymark

For future reference, you can actually add an extra to your insurance which will insure you against losing your no-claims bonus.

If this becomes an insurance investigation, by the way, I *think* that both you and he will lose your no-claims bonus, if you haven't got the type of insurance I mention above. So he may not want to do this.

And if it goes to an insurance company, if his car is old, the insurers may, of course, point out that the price he's claiming is more that his car is worth, and refuse to pay it.

None of this is in any way advice - I'm not qualified to give advice on insurance.

djimi

Qualitymark wrote: »

If this becomes an insurance investigation, by the way, I *think* that both you and he will lose your no-claims bonus, if you haven't got the type of insurance I mention above. So he may not want to do this.

You wont lose your NCB if you have to claim on someone else insurance for damage that they caused to your car.

Qualitymark

djimi wrote: »

You wont lose your NCB if you have to claim on someone else insurance for damage that they caused to your car.

Really? A garda told me and a temporarily crazy lady who had attacked my car that we could both lose our no-claims bonus if she tried to claim. (Poor thing rang me a year later to apologise and said she'd had an episode of some kind of unusual illness that caused her to have a hair-trigger temper.)

djimi

If you go through your insurance company to claim from the other party then you will have an open claim against you while it is being sorted out, which might affect your renewal if it comes up while the claim is being sorted, but once the claim is sorted and your insurer is able to recover the amount from the third parties insurer then you will not lose your NCB.

If you go directly through the other parties insurer then your policy will not be affected regardless.

MugMugs

Qualitymark wrote: »

Really? A garda told me and a temporarily crazy lady who had attacked my car that we could both lose our no-claims bonus if she tried to claim. (Poor thing rang me a year later to apologise and said she'd had an episode of some kind of unusual illness that caused her to have a hair-trigger temper.)

It's variant.

If it's a split liability case then yes, you could both lose your NCB

The Gardai are generally good at dealing with matters that involve them.

Taking their advice in relation to how Insurance works is just as effective as decorating your sitting room on their advice.