Minor 2 car accident - what options do I have?

Ron75

My wife (on my policy) rear-ended the car in front of her at low speed of about 10 mph when he suddenly stopped as the car in front of him stopped hard.

His car got slightly damaged and may need new rear parking sensors and perhaps/hopefully not more than a new rear bumper. So, perhaps anything from 500‐1,500€. Wild guess though at this stage.

The main damage is on our car and I guess the cost might be between 3-5k.

My wife's at fault and we reported the accident to our insurance. They'll give me a call in the morning.

We got Full Comprehensive with NCB of 6 years and Stepback Bonus Protection together with an excess of 300€.

Any suggestions on our best options are welcome. We don't really have the money to pay for the damage on our car which is crucial for the daily school runs.

● Use insurance to pay for the repair of both cars?

● Take out a bank loan to repair our car?

● Any other options ...?

Eggs For Dinner

Use insurance. It's what you paid for

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120660145#Comment_120660145

+1

Its exactly why you have insurance.

Granted your policy might increase, but it won’t be anywhere near the €4-5k cost of repairs to both cars.

alias no.9

If you think there is between 3 and 5k damage to your car, it's likely there is a lot of unseen damage to the other car. use the insurance.

Seth Brundle

I had the misfortune of rear ending a car a few years back. It was at an extremely slow speed.

Driver of the other car was fine. A month later he had really bad whiplash which the insurance company knew was BS.

He got €33k for his troubles.

Get your insurance company to sort out the claim because you've no idea if a personal injury claim is on its way!

mondeoman72

My wife did the same thing. The claim was inflated to 104k.

It was on dash cam as well

Ron75

Thanks all, much appreciated. Insurance it is then.

For the repair on our car, would the amount of the repair make any difference? I wonder if I should bring it to our free garage who look after our car for years or to the dealer to get it done? Perhaps Insurance may have their own garages this needs to go through?

Sorry for all the questions, but it's my first car accident.

coylemj

Some insurers will apply a lower excess if you use one of their 'approved' garages. Check if that is the case with your insurer. If not, it won't matter where you get it repaired i.e. the cost of the of the repair won't make any difference.

Just make sure that you get approval from your insurer before getting any repairs done. Typically, you will get an estimate or two, inform your insurer, they then send out an assesor to inspect the damage to your car and decide if the estimate(s) are reasonable.

Zatoichi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120660344#Comment_120660344

Anyone else in a similar situation ^^^ this all the way. Even if they claim they're fine at the time, I believe they have two years to file a personal injury claim. There's no point letting that hang over your head, let the insurance companies worry about it.

Ron75

Thanks all. Quick update.

Insurance advised I can pick my own garage, but if I choose my own garage the towing cost won't be covered and some garages will charge you for the time your car remains on site until they got green light from the insurer to go ahead with the repair. Those charges are not covered either.

We also got an allowance of €200 for a rental car with their chosen rental partner which shall cover up to 8 days.

We agreed to tow the car to their own garage. However, the assessor rejected the claim as our NCT expired and the profile of 1 of the tyres shall be below the legal limit. Called Insurance and was told that the NCT issue might be disregarded if I can provide proof that we're actually scheduled, which we were. However, the tyre issue has been passed on for management review. None of our garages mentioned this to us and we got it serviced around 4 months ago.

In addition, as my wife got her own car insurance that covers driving other cars they're also very likely to reject the claim asking for my wife to raise it with her insurer.

Despite the chance that we may need to cover the repair cost ourselves, I'm getting really worried in case the other party raises a personal injury claim as that probably won't be covered either.

I'll keep you posted...

Eggs For Dinner

If your wife has driving of other cars on her policy (and she caused the accident), her insurers are the ones on the hook for the 3rd party aspect of the claim. The 3rd party will be compensated by her insurers, but they may reserve the right to recover their outlay from her, if they can show the vehicle was in an unroadworthy condition which a reasonable person should have been aware of.

I'm presuming that your wife is named under your policy, so your insurer handles your own damage. If they consider that the worn tyre contributed to the accident, they may repudiate your claim

Ron75

Yes, that's exactly the case. RSA still haven't made a decision. Apparently they'll discuss this week. Fingers crossed!!!

db

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120701943#Comment_120701943

She is most likely not covered by the driving other cars on her policy when driving a car owned by her husband. It would also be very unfair to split the claim across both policies hitting both NCBs.

Eggs For Dinner

It may be unfair, but that's the way it works, subject, as you say, to the wife's policy not excluding DOC of the spouse's car

Ron75

Thanks for all the comments and feedback. The claim has finally been completed. Insurance has lapsed in the meantime and I also learned that it is quite difficult/expensive to get a new one while the claim is still open. What a journey and I'm glad it's over.

On a positive note, over the past few months we've learned to function with only 1 car and will now put it up for sale. The cost for taxis actually was actually less than what we pay for Insurance and tax.