Bumper damage to company car

BlazingSaddler

Hi all. The wife pranged a parked car this morning driving out of a car park space. Some heavy scratches on the bumper were clearly caused by her but the bumper also had quite a large dent in the same area which I can’t see how could have been the result of this incident. Anyway, she did the right thing and left her phone number. As expected the call came back saying there was no previous damage and requesting insurance details. Ideally we wanted to steer clear of insurance as it drives me nuts that it’ll probably end up in a 2k claim when the real damage is only a few hundred. An added complication is that the damaged car is a company car so apparently his hands are tied. Any options??

richardsheil

BlazingSaddler wrote: »

Hi all. The wife pranged a parked car this morning driving out of a car park space. Some heavy scratches on the bumper were clearly caused by her but the bumper also had quite a large dent in the same area which I can’t see how could have been the result of this incident. Anyway, she did the right thing and left her phone number. As expected the call came back saying there was no previous damage and requesting insurance details. Ideally we wanted to steer clear of insurance as it drives me nuts that it’ll probably end up in a 2k claim when the real damage is only a few hundred. An added complication is that the damaged car is a company car so apparently his hands are tied. Any options??

Give insurance details. You have no choice really.

bazz26

You have two choices as I see it, either pay out of your pocket or let your insurance company deal with it. If you don't like the quoted price from the other party then let your insurance handle it. At the end of the day your wife damaged the other car so unfortunately you don't get to decide what is the cheapest cost to you.

Whocare

BlazingSaddler wrote: »

it drives me nuts that it’ll probably end up in a 2k claim when the real damage is only a few hundred. An added complication is that the damaged car is a company car so apparently his hands are tied. Any options??

That made me laugh few hundred you must living in 1970 .the rental car will cost that

mickdw

Just hand over details and forget about it.
Juat incase you dont know, you have no input into how or where the other party fix their car.

iwillhtfu

Send on your details and be thankful that no one was in the car at the time you could've be looking at tens of thousands. It's most likely a fleet car and they'll have it fixed up and back on the road asap but be prepared to have a bill of more than 2k. As someone already pointed out they'll replace the car with a rental for probably a week minimum.

Isambard

cheapest option may well be to pay for a new bumper, if they're colour coded at least. I doubt they'd accept a scrapyard replacement though. Worth checking it out and suggesting it perhaps.

colm_mcm

Leasing company most likely owns the car, so I doubt it will be handled outside of the proper channels.

Still waters

Should have said nothing

colm_mcm

Still waters wrote: »

Should have said nothing

Good lad.

BlazingSaddler

I actually got a couple of worst case quotes from very reputable body shops based on photos, not quite a few hundred! but much less than 1k so it will be interesting to see what the insurance comes in at. Resigned now to going through insurance, details handed over!

mickdw

Must be a cheapish car if the worst case is well less than 1k.
If the bumper is dented, they are entitled to a new bumper so it could amount to quite a few quid.
It is very very easy to damage headlight fixings nowadays too so a run along a bumper could mean a new headlight too

BlazingSaddler

mickdw wrote: »

Must be a cheapish car if the worst case is well less than 1k.
If the bumper is dented, they are entitled to a new bumper so it could amount to quite a few quid.
It is very very easy to damage headlight fixings nowadays too so a run along a bumper could mean a new headlight too

Rear bumper, not a cheapish car. The prices were for a new bumper

mickdw

What car was it?

endacl

bazz26 wrote: »

You have two choices as I see it, either pay out of your pocket or let your insurance company deal with it.

Not really. They have one choice, which it to follow the route to a resolution decided by the other party.

Casati

Sorry I don’t see why the op has to hand over insurance details, surely he can decide to pay for the repair himself and not run it through insurance?

harr

Casati wrote: »

Sorry I don’t see why the op has to hand over insurance details, surely he can decide to pay for the repair himself and not run it through insurance?

Other party can insist on going with insurance option and seen that it’s a company car they will probably want to go down the insurance route. If they did agree to let OP pay out of his pocket they will pick a main dealers to do the repairs and will want payment settled immediately.
Probably cheaper to let insurance deal with it.

ml100

The op has the option to just pay his insurance company the cost of the claim.

Still waters

ml100 wrote: »

The op has the option to just pay his insurance company the cost of the claim.

That won't make any difference to his next renewal cost, they'll still take into account that an incident happened and allow for it in their risk analysis, he might as well let insurance pay for it because he's going to be penalised anyway, once the insurance company knows about it they're going to screw him either way

Should have kept going op and say nothing, its **** like this that allow insurance companies to ride us and take advantage to keep rates up

colm_mcm

So if someone were to damage your new car and drive away - you’d just take it on the chin and be relieved that those pesky insurers weren’t getting their bit.

mikeecho

Casati wrote: »

Sorry I don’t see why the op has to hand over insurance details, surely he can decide to pay for the repair himself and not run it through insurance?

There is a legal obligation to give the insurance details

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1961/act/24/section/106/enacted/en/html#zza24y1961s106

bazz26

Still waters wrote: »

That won't make any difference to his next renewal cost, they'll still take into account that an incident happened and allow for it in their risk analysis, he might as well let insurance pay for it because he's going to be penalised anyway, once the insurance company knows about it they're going to screw him either way

Should have kept going op and say nothing, its **** like this that allow insurance companies to ride us and take advantage to keep rates up

Just don't forget to take your own advice there when somebody hits your car and bolts.

BlazingSaddler

I'm as honest as the day is long but this stings that I'm going to be screwed on insurance for years (not just on the wifes policy, but on mine as she is a named driver). Remember part of the damage to the bumper I am quite convinced was there beforehand but I am not going to be able to prove otherwise and will end up probably thousands out of pocket in the long run. I should have just left an envelope with €600 in it with no name and number then at least my conscience would have been clear.

mickdw

BlazingSaddler wrote: »

I'm as honest as the day is long but this stings that I'm going to be screwed on insurance for years (not just on the wifes policy, but on mine as she is a named driver). Remember part of the damage to the bumper I am quite convinced was there beforehand but I am not going to be able to prove otherwise and will end up probably thousands out of pocket in the long run. I should have just left an envelope with €600 in it with no name and number then at least my conscience would have been clear.

Would probably be fair in this case but if everyone did that, you would have people badly misjudging cost of repair, on the low side in all cases.
If you had left cash, company car driver would likely have pocketed it and left company insurance to sort it out.

bladespin

Sounds incredibly cheap tbh, cost of a company car being off the road, even for a few hours, would be pretty high before any repairs were started.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

just be glad no one was in it , then you'd really be fooked

in any case if you pay the cost your self i cant see your risk going up,
ive reported a few incidents as a matter of fact to my company ( not all my fault - but some had been )
things like banging / brushing mirrors etc , and nothing came of it
and my insurance has gone down year by year even though i expected them to go up due to reporting .


anyone know what an inurance company would do to you if you had hit / or damged someone and legged it but were tracked down by guards ?

emeldc

Still waters wrote: »

That won't make any difference to his next renewal cost, they'll still take into account that an incident happened and allow for it in their risk analysis, he might as well let insurance pay for it because he's going to be penalised anyway, once the insurance company knows about it they're going to screw him either way

Should have kept going op and say nothing, its **** like this that allow insurance companies to ride us and take advantage to keep rates up

My OH had a fender bender about a year ago. €1200 i think. Insurance took care of it. Her premium didnt go up at all.

NewClareman

colm_mcm wrote: »

Leasing company most likely owns the car, so I doubt it will be handled outside of the proper channels.

Exactly, and they will insist on new parts and a recognised body shop. I was in a small tip, driving a company car and it ended up costing thousands. With two private drivers it could have been a fraction of the price.

NewClareman

mickdw wrote: »

Would probably be fair in this case but if everyone did that, you would have people badly misjudging cost of repair, on the low side in all cases.
If you had left cash, company car driver would likely have pocketed it and left company insurance to sort it out.

You have a very poor opinion of company drivers, which is not warranted. This sort of behaviour doesn’t happen in my circle, anyway. 🙂

Still waters

emeldc wrote: »

My OH had a fender bender about a year ago. €1200 i think. Insurance took care of it. Her premium didnt go up at all.

Was she found at fault

Stallingrad

Well done OP on doing the right thing.

Karma will catch up with the idiots here who suggested doing a runner.

Still waters

Stallingrad wrote: »

Well done OP on doing the right thing.

Karma will catch up with the idiots here who suggested doing a runner.

You know karma is as real as unicorn teeth, don't you ?

i57dwun4yb1pt8

^^ it is real, im in no way religious .

there is always a balancing out at some stage - you have to sometimes have your eyes really wide open to see the connection
but for good or for bad , there is always a payback - experienced it way to many times for it to be a coincidence.

though i doubt it will get you for suggesting something !

Eggs For Dinner

Still waters wrote: »

Should have kept going op and say nothing, its **** like this that allow insurance companies to ride us and take advantage to keep rates up

An attitude like that contributes to the mess insurance in Ireland is today.

Galwayguy35

At lest the OP and his wife are honest people, someone backed into my car a few years ago in the shopping centre car park but they did a runner.

It's a scummy thing to do.

Still waters

Still waters wrote: »

Should have said nothing

There’s only one kind of person who would think that.

OP, fair play on leaving the details. Decent people do that kind of thing.

Casati

mikeecho wrote: »

There is a legal obligation to give the insurance details

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1961/act/24/section/106/enacted/en/html#zza24y1961s106

You’ve quoted the statue and I read it and it doesn’t not state you have a legal obligation to give insurance details

Casati

BlazingSaddler wrote: »

I'm as honest as the day is long but this stings that I'm going to be screwed on insurance for years (not just on the wifes policy, but on mine as she is a named driver). Remember part of the damage to the bumper I am quite convinced was there beforehand but I am not going to be able to prove otherwise and will end up probably thousands out of pocket in the long run. I should have just left an envelope with €600 in it with no name and number then at least my conscience would have been clear.

I really think you should contact them and say you will pay yourself. The cost of the claim if it’s only a new bumper might not be more than the quote you got or even if it was say 1500 you’d be way better off paying it rather than giving it to the insurance

My OH had a small tip with 1200 in damage and went through the insurance.

She lost her bonus and basically lost the ability to shop around for five years. I would estimate the extra insurance cost to her was 2000 over the years till she built up the bonus again- and her insurance was only 400 quid in the year prior to the accident. In her case they found both parties 50:50 so the other party lost their bonus too. The insurance company (same one for both parties) made thousands out of the claim

The leasing company might have an approved body shop with agreed rates and the cost might be relatively small money. As long as no personal injury risk I’d do everything possible to avoid going insurance route

Sonny noggs

JayZeus wrote: »

There’s only one kind of person who would think that.

Scum?

R.O.R

If it's a Leasing company then it's unlikely they let the op pay cash to the body shop for the repair.

I'd say we've all been caught out at this stage and not willing to take the chance again.

Much quicker and easier to leave it with the insurance company.

Heres Johnny

I reversed into a Nissan almera 2006 car in about 2013 I think it was. It was at the speed an automatic car creeps forward I hadn't touched the accelerator. Not even a scratch on my car but the light fitting cracked on the almera and a hairline crack in bumper. Anyway I left a note and they called me the damage was 1500 euro. I was gutted but sucked it up and went through my insurance.

Changed insurance company the following year as I always do and as far as I remember I wasn't penalised much if at all.

Casati

Casati wrote: »

I really think you should contact them and say you will pay yourself. The cost of the claim if it’s only a new bumper might not be more than the quote you got or even if it was say 1500 you’d be way better off paying it rather than giving it to the insurance

It’s a company car, it’s not going to be an option to pay cash it won’t be acceptable to them.

Casati

Jaycee Tasty Pig wrote: »

It’s a company car, it’s not going to be an option to pay cash it won’t be acceptable to them.

If the OP is willing to pay the cost of the repair he can do so. Why wouldn’t they allow him to pay??? Either way it sounds like it’s too late

R.O.R

Casati wrote: »

If the OP is willing to pay the cost of the repair he can do so. Why wouldn’t they allow him to pay??? Either way it sounds like it’s too late

Because all too often people say they'll pay rather than going through insurance, but when the estimate is presented they go awol.

Highly unlikely the op would do that, but it's pretty much what always happens and once bitten, twice shy.

Marcusm

Casati wrote: »

You’ve quoted the statue and I read it and it doesn’t not state you have a legal obligation to give insurance details

The appropriate information includes the details of the insurance and the person to whom it must be provided is the owner of the property which has been damaged. You might want to read it again!

Marcusm

Casati wrote: »

If the OP is willing to pay the cost of the repair he can do so. Why wouldn’t they allow him to pay??? Either way it sounds like it’s too late

He can pay his own insurance company.

emeldc

Still waters wrote: »

Was he/she found at fault

Yes my wife was at fault, tipped the back of a car at a roundabout. A piece of trim fell off but entire bumper was replaced.

delly

I recall about 12 years ago I knocked my wing mirror off my company Vectra while on a back road, along with that of the guy going the opposite way. We both stopped and both said the other was too far over, but just agreed we'd sort our own out and drove on.

When it came to fixing it, my company, who had to follow the protocol from UK head office, wanted to go through our insurance provider! I had a ridiculous time convincing them otherwise and while they were deciding, I got the assembly from an Opel garage and fitted it, maybe €150 or so. The logic of an excess didn't exist when it came to corporate policy.

Casati

R.O.R wrote: »

Because all too often people say they'll pay rather than going through insurance, but when the estimate is presented they go awol.

Highly unlikely the op would do that, but it's pretty much what always happens and once bitten, twice shy.

Let’s say the OP slightly changes the story and states he hit the other car not with his motor vehicle but with his bike or wheelchair or similar vehicle with no insurance. Are you saying that the leasing company won’t process the claim and won’t take money off the OP??

R.O.R

Casati wrote: »

Let’s say the OP slightly changes the story and states he hit the other car not with his motor vehicle but with his bike or wheelchair or similar vehicle with no insurance. Are you saying that the leasing company won’t process the claim and won’t take money off the OP??

Yep. Through the insurance as an own cost claim in that case.

Damage repairs are labour intensive enough without having to continually chase people to pay up so it's always going to go down the path of least resistance to get it sorted quickly.

discodaveirl

Id say ring other party and ask them to give your number to hire company or ask for name of hire company. The drivers hands are tied and they will be liable if its not sorted correctly.

If you have more than one policy it might be cheaper, however OP consider maybe removing your wife from your car policy, would there be a finnancial gain from doing this?