Car crash - advice needed

Karlitto

Hi all,

On Saturday my car was involved in a collision in a super market car park.

My partner was driving (named driver on my insurance and her own policy covers her to drive my car), basically, she pulled into the car park, whilst driving up the car park someone reversed out of a parking spot and straight into the side of my car.

The damage consists of my wing mirror being smashed, passenger side door has a massive dent and a lot of scratches with some torn metal, the back passenger door has a slightly smaller dent with the same sort of scratches and torn metal, and the back panel and bumper are also scratched and dented.

My partner was driving, my brother was in the passenger seat, and only the driver was in the other car. No one was injured thankfully. My partner called me to come to the car park, so I did, I took the drivers name, mobile number and address and car registration. The driver told me he "knew a guy" who would do this on the side and he would cover the costs (I am skeptical about this, but will comeback to it later). Immediately I went to my local Garda station to report the incident (just incase I got a nasty call from my insurance company on Monday) They took the details of all parties involved and made the report.

Between yesterday and today I have asked a couple of crash repair garages for an estimate and have come back close to 1k (some over some under). I have tried to contact the driver by phone but did not get through so I sent a detailed text message asking for information on the "guy he knows" so I could get a quote and explained that I have gotten a couple of quotes already.

Now, I have not heard back from the driver (I sent the message about 2 hours ago, but I am reasonable, I do not expect a call back straight away) so, my question is, how long should I wait before assuming he does not want to talk to me? Thus me going down the insurance route. (I have notified my insurance company just to let them know what happened)

Also, I am happy to have this sorted outside of the insurance, but, I simply cannot do without a car while mine is being repaired, furthermore, I have a dog, and need to take him in the car to go to the place I walk him, I would assume most car rental places would have an issue with this. So, can someone advise me if we do this outside of the insurance, should he have to cover the cost of the rental, and if so, what should I do if the dog is not allowed in the car?

Just to go back to the point where I said I was skeptical about "the guy he knows" who can "fix it on the side". The term "fix it on the side" to me suggests a "nixor" to me, and my experience of nixor's is that they can take much longer than normal to get the job done. So, would you advise going with "the guy he knows" or going with a garage I have gotten a quote from.

And here is the kicker, the quotes I have gotten are considered an economic write off.

Does anyone have experience of this or can anyone provide me with advice?

Anything at all would be greatly appreciated.

chris85

Karlitto wrote: »

Hi all,

On Saturday my car was involved in a collision in a super market car park.

My partner was driving (named driver on my insurance and her own policy covers her to drive my car), basically, she pulled into the car park, whilst driving up the car park someone reversed out of a parking spot and straight into the side of my car.

The damage consists of my wing mirror being smashed, passenger side door has a massive dent and a lot of scratches with some torn metal, the back passenger door has a slightly smaller dent with the same sort of scratches and torn metal, and the back panel and bumper are also scratched and dented.

My partner was driving, my brother was in the passenger seat, and only the driver was in the other car. No one was injured thankfully. My partner called me to come to the car park, so I did, I took the drivers name, mobile number and address and car registration. The driver told me he "knew a guy" who would do this on the side and he would cover the costs (I am skeptical about this, but will comeback to it later). Immediately I went to my local Garda station to report the incident (just incase I got a nasty call from my insurance company on Monday) They took the details of all parties involved and made the report.

Between yesterday and today I have asked a couple of crash repair garages for an estimate and have come back close to 1k (some over some under). I have tried to contact the driver by phone but did not get through so I sent a detailed text message asking for information on the "guy he knows" so I could get a quote and explained that I have gotten a couple of quotes already.

Now, I have not heard back from the driver (I sent the message about 2 hours ago, but I am reasonable, I do not expect a call back straight away) so, my question is, how long should I wait before assuming he does not want to talk to me? Thus me going down the insurance route. (I have notified my insurance company just to let them know what happened)

Also, I am happy to have this sorted outside of the insurance, but, I simply cannot do without a car while mine is being repaired, furthermore, I have a dog, and need to take him in the car to go to the place I walk him, I would assume most car rental places would have an issue with this. So, can someone advise me if we do this outside of the insurance, should he have to cover the cost of the rental, and if so, what should I do if the dog is not allowed in the car?

Just to go back to the point where I said I was skeptical about "the guy he knows" who can "fix it on the side". The term "fix it on the side" to me suggests a "nixor" to me, and my experience of nixor's is that they can take much longer than normal to get the job done. So, would you advise going with "the guy he knows" or going with a garage I have gotten a quote from.

And here is the kicker, the quotes I have gotten are considered an economic write off.

Does anyone have experience of this or can anyone provide me with advice?

Anything at all would be greatly appreciated.

I would just go through the insurance now, why should you be waiting around?

Had a similar small crash last year, other persons fault, rang insurance immediately, told them needed it fixed asap, dropped into their garage the next morning and they had rental car waiting for me, drove off in that and came back a few days later and car was done. My insurance sorted chased the other insurer for the claim. Done quick and easy with the least hassle possible.

Karlitto

chris85 wrote: »

I would just go through the insurance now, why should you be waiting around?

Had a similar small crash last year, other persons fault, rang insurance immediately, told them needed it fixed asap, dropped into their garage the next morning and they had rental car waiting for me, drove off in that and came back a few days later and car was done. My insurance sorted chased the other insurer for the claim. Done quick and easy with the least hassle possible.

Brilliant, thanks a bunch, I recon I will give him until the end of the business day to return my call/text and pick it up in the morning with the insurance.

smemon

Yep, **** him. If it was you that crashed in to someone, you'd be quick to respond and doing your best to get a cheaper quote and proactively involved in the whole thing... trying to get a move on for fear of the other guy going through insurance.

You're the one doing him a favour by even putting up with the idea of some guy on the side fixing it. If he doesn't have the decency to get back to you ASAP, plough on the proper way and you'll be gauranteed peace of mind.

As for another car while yours is being fixed, yep you're entitled to it. From the sounds of it, the other guy won't be too happy when you bring it up. Another reason just to go through insurance and let them sort out a problem you didn't create.

Karlitto

Fair point, why should I be "inconvenienced" by something I didn't do?

Once again, thanks a bunch!

Boom_Bap

I had something similar, except the guy tried to give me €20 on the spot to cover the cost of the damage....it turned out to be about €800 to repair.
But, it took about 9 months to get the money back from his insurance company as they couldnt contact him. I guess when it came to renewal time he was eventually caught up with and they paid out.

Always go through insurance if there is anything sketchy about the situation.