Accident - advice on how to proceed with other party paying

setanta1984

Hi
Last night the OH had a very minor tip at a junction - other driver fully at fault and has admitted liability and their willingness to pay for the damage to our car outside their insurance.
The other woman was very quiet, and she was the one who offered both at the scene and on the phone afterwards that she would like/rather to pay herself without going through insurance.
We contacted our insurance company this morning and gave them all the details, and as the damage to our car appears to me to be largely aesthetic, we and our insurance company are happy to let her pay for any repairs.

My question is, what is the best way to go about this? Never dealt with anything like this before. We have her details - name, address, phone number, insurance.
Should she be present at any estimates or when the job is being done? Should we have her pay the garage directly while she is present?
I'm not sure I trust paying for it ourselves and posting her a bill or something? Then she would do a bank transfer or something? I dunno.

The damage is mainly to our drivers' door - scratches to the paintwork and what seems a very small long dent below the handle which flexes a bit when pushed.
Scratches to the paintwork down to the wheel arch too (its a 3 door car.)
No idea how much that would cost to repair tbh, don't know much about cars.

Thanks to anyone who could provide advice

bazz26

I'm usually a bit cynical about dealing with the other party directly when it comes to them paying for it themselves rather than going through the their insurance company. The reason I am cynical is that at the time of admitting liability people are all good and well telling you they will pay for it themselves and not to involve insurance companies. The problem arises when you produce a quote that is for alot more than what they imagined it would cost to repair. They then hum and haw about it being expensive and then they suggest bringing the car to a guy they know down the road who can fix it for alot less. Remember you are entitled to get it repaired at a body shop of your choice not somewhere that suits the other person's pocket better.

But give her the benefit of the doubt and get a written quote from a body shop of your choice and give her the option of paying the body shop directly to do the work or if she is not happy with that then you will be dealing with her insurance company directly instead. I wouldn't spend more time and effort than that if no result as it usually means they are stalling hoping you just go away or compromise on who does the repair work.

Atlantic Dawn

What you should do is get 3 prices for repair, 2 from places you choose and 1 from them. Most likely that entire side of the car will need to be resprayed for a proper fix if door and above wheel arch are damaged. Sometimes it might look to some people like a €200 fix but when they actually see what needs to be done it could go north of a grand very quickly.

ShaunieVW

I've been there, done that. The bill is always a shock. People always think it'll be cheap. I was reversed into 18 months ago and the owner of the car wanted to pay for it privately. Luckily I had all his Insc details because as soon as the estimate came through he backtracked and went through his insurance. But not before offering to by my car at a reduced price as sure it's damaged and I wanted a run around anyway he says. You go get your estimate tell her the price and say you want the money there and then. Otherwise go through her insurance. No matter how nice they seem you don't want to be bitten and be left out of pocket. After all you're the damaged party in this.

screamer

Did you get her insurance details? You need to call the garda station to report it also for records. My advise to anyone in this situation is to say no. We had this happen a few years ago. luckily the garda came out and took details. Car was badly damaged guy said he'd pay admitted liability there which actually means SFA. We got the quote he said thats ok and then refused to pay. we had no car for 4 weeks. Our insurance company said to claim off them fully comp but wed lose NCB i said feck off it wasnt our fault. We had to call the garda he gave us the other guys insurance details. I called them.he hadn't even reported the accident. Then they tried to tell us there was muck on the road your man was claiming against the farmer and if that was successful theyd pay us. I said no way thats his problem. Anyways 8 weeks and a solucitors letter later his insurance finally paid out. not worth the stress. If you have their details get into their insurance company.

setanta1984

Thanks.
We hate all this hassle to be honest - if it is very very expensive to repair I'd nearly rather leave it all alone and leave it as it is. Talking to our insurance company today if we decide to go down a claims route and they don't immediately accept liability then this could drag on with investigators and split claims resulting in our insurance being affected. He did say that was worse case scenario but I hate the whole stress of dealing with insurance.

The car is 7 year old Fiesta, not very valuable and we are tossing up whether it would be worth all the hassle if it was an expensive repair. My principles say I want satisfaction and not be out of pocket, but I also can't be dealing with the stress of it all - just want it sorted fast.

So the best course of action if we get a reasonable quote which we think she will pay, is to get the garage to bill her directly? Do garages generally agree to that? I'm wary of us having to pay the garage and then being stonewalled even for only a few hundred.
Thanks again.

screamer

Do you have ncb protection? If so id not back out. It is stressful but you're paying a premium for a reason. Get your car fixed.

setanta1984

screamer wrote: »

Did you get her insurance details? You need to call the garda station to report it also for records. My advise to anyone in this situation is to say no. We had this happen a few years ago. luckily the garda came out and took details. Car was badly damaged guy said he'd pay admitted liability there which actually means SFA. We got the quote he said thats ok and then refused to pay. we had no car for 4 weeks. Our insurance company said to claim off them fully comp but wed lose NCB i said feck off it wasnt our fault. We had to call the garda he gave us the other guys insurance details. I called them.he hadn't even reported the accident. Then they tried to tell us there was muck on the road your man was claiming against the farmer and if that was successful theyd pay us. I said no way thats his problem. Anyways 8 weeks and a solucitors letter later his insurance finally paid out. not worth the stress. If you have their details get into their insurance company.

Thanks, this is exactly what I am afraid of.
I did get their insurance details and we have already given them to our insurance company. And we did ring the police at the time - they simply said if noone is injured or road obstructed just exchange details. They weren't interested in anything else.

Obviously I'll need to wait until we get it looked at by the garage, but the damage to our car does seem very minor - just scratched and a dent in the door only noticeable by running your hand on it. If the garage says that no structural damage is done and it is all aesthetic, I'd be inclined to just leave it alone and forget about it if she refuses to pay a large bill for just paintwork.
I couldn't be dealing with the scenario you describe screamer

setanta1984

screamer wrote: »

Do you have ncb protection? If so id not back out. It is stressful but you're paying a premium for a reason. Get your car fixed.

I'd have to check with herself but I'm pretty sure we don't have any NCB protection.

readytosnap

I was in a similar situation many moons ago, I was rear ended at a red light ("sorry, I thought the light had changed to green") said the nice woman and heres all my info I will pay instead of going through insurance etc etc, so to be fair the damage looked minimal small dent about 8 inches across the bottom of the boot door. The door was a bit stiff to open, however when an assessor looked at the car he showed me the floor of the boot was bent ( supposed to happen, absorb the shock etc) I couldn't believe the size of the upward dent under the carpet in the boot, needless to say when yer one was told about the cost ( think it was over 2k) to repair, she first tried to say I was ripping her off, then threatened to call the guards on me so I just left her the estimate and told her I would go through the insurance, which I duly did and car was fixed, but the cheek of yer one.

Also missus driver door reversed into by a jeep, got the usual i'll pay meself no need for insurance, the dent looked big but it looked to me like it could be popped out, no broken paint or anything like that, however VW said it needed new door over 600 to replace and paint, even we felt embarrassed telling the guy that hit us, the cost. needless to say when he came out of the initial shock he went through the insurance.

You did the right thing informing your insurance company and the advice (which they could of given you) is get at least 2 estimates on your own and if the other party is not satisfied tell them they are welcome to get their own at a (reputable) garage of their choice I would definitely be using a main dealer ( unless the car is years old) and if they don't like it then put in your claim against them through the insurance, whatever you do do not let them (liable person) give you the runaround.

Voodoomelon

No point reporting it to the Gardaí after the fact, I did similar and they don't want to know, which I can understand.

Get quotes, provide to the other party. If they refuse all of them, insurance. However even if the other insurance company rules in your favour, you can loose your own NCB or introduce excess if you initiate the claim.

readytosnap

setanta1984 wrote: »

I'd have to check with herself but I'm pretty sure we don't have any NCB protection.

if you claim from your own insurance and someone else is liable then most likely your insurance company will claim off the liable persons insurance therefore getting their payment (to your repair) reimbursed. When that happens, your insurance company is no longer out of pocket so they should not remove your ncd. so keep an eye on that.

3curiosity3

I've only recently been involved in an incident myself, and after being stung before on a smaller incident I was very careful to make sure it wouldn't happen again.

I was rear ended, the other party immediately accepted responsibility. While he expressed interest in paying for any damages without his insurance, I still reported the incident to his insurance company. It was then between himself and the insurance company as to who would pay. He was happy with this and said his insurance gave him the option of paying out of his own pocket and not put through a claim if he wished. The reason I was sure to ring was to make sure that when the quote came through, and was most likely going to cost more than expected, that the incident was already on file with the insurance company if I had to go that route.

I'd say your next move would be to report it to the other insurance company, and to get a quote for damages from where you want your car to be fixed. Send this quote onto the other person and see if they are still willing to pay. If it does go through insurance they will likely send out an assessor to look at the car, before accepting the cost.

setanta1984

Voodoomelon wrote: »

No point reporting it to the Gardaí after the fact, I did similar and they don't want to know, which I can understand.

Get quotes, provide to the other party. If they refuse all of them, insurance. However even if the other insurance company rules in your favour, you can loose your own NCB or introduce excess if you initiate the claim.

Yeah seems to be a whole can of worms there, I really can't be bothered with a long drawn out insurance case. Most of all I don't want our insurance affected in any way shape or form after this. Increased premiums for who knows how long is worse than having some scratches.

If the garage confirms the only damage is aesthetic I think I'd just forget about it, as much as it would gall to let the other party "away with it"

setanta1984

3curiosity3 wrote: »

I'd say your next move would be to report it to the other insurance company, and to get a quote for damages from where you want your car to be fixed. Send this quote onto the other person and see if they are still willing to pay. If it does go through insurance they will likely send out an assessor to look at the car, before accepting the cost.

Should we have rang the other party's insurance company in addition to our own?

The woman to be fair has been fairly agreeable so far (its my OH who has been dealing with her) and she hasn't even asked for our policy number or anything.

screamer

setanta1984 wrote: »

Yeah seems to be a whole can of worms there, I really can't be bothered with a long drawn out insurance case. Most of all I don't want our insurance affected in any way shape or form after this. Increased premiums for who knows how long is worse than having some scratches.

If the garage confirms the only damage is aesthetic I think I'd just forget about it, as much as it would gall to let the other party "away with it"

It'll devalue your car though and you'll have to fix it yourself if you want to sell it. That's not fair. I dealt with that and I was 8 months pregnant but no way was I letting that guy away scot free. He could have killed my hubbie such was the speed and load he had and that's no exaggerating. If youre not at fault play hardball.

3curiosity3

setanta1984 wrote: »

Should we have rang the other party's insurance company in addition to our own?

The woman to be fair has been fairly agreeable so far (its my OH who has been dealing with her) and she hasn't even asked for our policy number or anything.

This is what I was advised to do. When I rang my own company it was just to note the incident, and while they said I could get it fixed through them and they would claim back from the other crowd, I didn't want to have a claim on my own insurance as it wasn't my fault (also Id have to pay the excess out of pocket!!)

When I rang the other persons insurance, again it was just to make sure it was noted, if the woman suddenly disappears. They will most likely ring the woman to confirm the incident, but she still doesn't have to use her insurance to pay, so it doesn't mean that there will be a claim on her insurance. I'd love to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but this is where I got caught before - person took ages with responding, and by the time I gave up on them paying out of pocket, they'd had their own car fixed and their insurance never knew of the incident, and so I was left out of pocket (had I fixed the car)

mickdw

Get a quote from your favourite bodyshop for a repair not going through insurance. Present quote to other party.
Get payment off her direct to yourselves.
It is then your business whether you fix the car, sell the car or drive on as is.
She is paying you for the damage caused.
Do not agree to anything else like letting her garage fix it or pay when it's fixed - it is none of her business other then to settle with you for damage caused.

If not happy with quote and up front settlement, just say that's fine you can go the insurance route.

Alanstrainor

OP you pay your insurance company large sums of money every year to deal with these situations. If you feel this is too stressful, you can just hand it off to them and never speak to this person again.

I appreciate that the other party is being nice, and would rather not go through the insurance. But if this is too much hassle then just let it go through the insurance.

bazz26

Alanstrainor wrote: »

OP you pay your insurance company large sums of money every year to deal with these situations. If you feel this is too stressful, you can just hand it off to them and never speak to this person again.

I appreciate that the other party is being nice, and would rather not go through the insurance. But if this is too much hassle then just let it go through the insurance.

Afaik the OP's insurance company will only deal with it if the OP makes a claim against his own insurance policy. If he does this then his insurance company can pursue the liable party's insurance company for reimbursement presuming they accept liability. However that can be drawn out and in the mean time the OP will have an outstanding claim on his own insurance which in turn could mean a rise in his premium and he cannot shop around for a more competitive price as no other insurance will touch you with an open claim.

Anyway I think this is over analyzing the situation at this stage. The other person hopefully will just want to pay up, move on and be done with the episode without involving insurance companies.

To Elland Back

bazz26 wrote: »

Afaik the OP's insurance company will only deal with it if the OP makes a claim against his own insurance policy. If he does this then his insurance company can pursue the liable party's insurance company for reimbursement presuming they accept liability. However that can be drawn out and in the mean time the OP will have an outstanding claim on his own insurance.

Correct, except it is a settled claim on his insurance while the recovery from the 3rd party's insurer is being pursued

setanta1984

Thanks to everyone who replied, much appreciated. We got an estimate today which comes in around €1100 - we're going to forward the estimate doc to the other party via email today, though I wonder at that price I think she might suddenly go silent. If she does we'll just go through insurance.

If she does agree to pay outside the insurance, what would people recommend as the safest/best way to get the money from her? She lives very far away, and I wouldn't like calling to meet to exchange cash anyway. I was thinking maybe a Paypal transfer? That way I only have to supply her with an email address and she only has to click a few buttons? What is the done thing in these situations? Thanks in advance.

Voodoomelon

Don't be surprised if they insist on cash, most people would rather deal in cash than electronic transfers. She'd likely also want you to sign a declaration that the matter is now closed, I know I would.