My car was hit in a car park

Elessar

So I was parked up my car in a car park yesterday waiting on a family member, listening to some music when another driver decided to drive into the space next to me but cut it too short and scraped the corner of my front bumper. I was p*ssed obviously but he was genuinely remorseful and we swapped insurance details. Mentioned we could sort it outside insurance or just use insurance whatever suits. My car is a 2017 BMW 330e MSport.

The scuffing isn't too bad but on closer inspection I can see the headlight casing has a small crack in it and is also scratched (also noticed condensation in it which I hadn't seen before, I assume this is from the hit). I would have been happy to find a scuff repair place and just get it sorted quickly without involving the insurance company but seeing as the light is cracked this might be a bigger job. Coincidentally I have the car booked in for a service with Joe Duffy BMW this week so I will ask them to take a look and give me a quote. I suspect the cost will be eye watering, so it might be an insurance job.

I've never really been in this situation before so just wondering what next steps should be. I keep my car in immaculate condition so this is a real PITA as you might imagine. I just want it fixed - as mentioned I wouldn't mind the scuffing (easy job to remedy) but the crack in the headlight has me worried. If it was my own doing I might just leave it but trying to sell this on in a few years will be a hassle if I dont get it fixed.

If I claim from the other drivers insurance, will that affect my premium?

Wondering what best to do here...

magicbastarder

if you claim off someone else's premium it won't affect yours. the issue would arise when there is a claim made against you.

User1998

Obviously its up to you if you want to go through insurance or not, but a second hand headlamp is not expensive, and can be replaced easily in a bodyshop

Elessar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121002879#Comment_121002879

For resale value, I would prefer sticking to the BMW brand. I suspect its an insurance job so.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121002853#Comment_121002853

Aren't there questions on each renewal along the lines of 'Have you ever made a claim regardless of who was at fault?' - I hope it's not the case anyway.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003018#Comment_121003018

BMW won’t repair the car themselves, they just send it to a bodyshop and add their margin on top.

But if you want to go that route, its definitely an insurance job.

PsychoPete

Go through insurance and have the car repaired properly. Have seen too many people getting stung by not going through insurance when someone else is at fault

bazz26

If it's the headlight that are full LED then I can tell you know that they are pretty expensive even second hand. If it's cracked then water will find it's way in there and eventually the LED module will fail. A brand new one from BMW will be a few grand plus the labour to install it. Scratched/scuffed bumper proper respray is probably about €400 these days.

By all means get a quote and give to the other party but I'd bet what they think in their head it will cost to repair when thinking of not involving insurance is a nowhere near the actual cost to do it. Any hums/haws or stalling from them and just go direct via their insurance.

mickdw

Photos if possible for best comments.

A 3 series headlight might not be too dear new depending on spec but some bmw lamps can be multiple thousands.

I'd be more worried about the paint work than the lamp. A used lamp would be perfect if you could find the right spec one. Might even be a better match in terms of wear compared to new one which can stand out alittle.

bazz26

If it's a 2017 M Sport then it's a LCI model so more than likely the headlights are full LED so there is no chance of them being cheap. If they are the adaptive headlights then they are even more expensive and second hand options are even more limited. You need to be careful as a lot of the second hand ones found on the likes of ebay have scratches, cracks or damaged lugs, etc that sellers don't mention but are still looking for mad money for them.

knucklehead6

The only thing I’d advise in this situation is NOT to let the other party take care of the repair. Almost invariably in these situations the other party “knows a lad who can fix it for half the price you’ve quoted”

Get it quoted. Give the quote to them, if they play hardball claim off their insurance. You should also notify your company anyway, just in case.

Educate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003018#Comment_121003018

Yes there are questions about whether you've ever made a claim, even when not your fault. Both my partner and I have made claims against other drivers. We communicate this when renewing or taking out new policies with new companies. Both incidents were admitted by the other party as their fault. Both were bad enough accidents that they were fully investigated with call outs by insurance people for witness interviews. Both led to our cars written off. Both of these were five figure claims. Neither has had any impact on our insurance premiums what-so-ever. It's not your fault, then it won't impact your premium.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003154#Comment_121003154

I would agree with this 100%.My wife was involved in an accident. The other driver was a young lady who was at fault and admitted her mistake to the gardai. All apologies and she told my wife to get a quote for repair. 2 quotes from reputable garages were passed on and my wife received an abusive call from the young lady's father.

I took the phone to be told there was a con job going on and he knew someone that "could dicky up that dent".We ended up going through the insurance who had no issue with either quote. It turned out that the young lady was a named driver less than a week, was driving unaccompanied and never reported the accident to their insurance.

The ironic thing was we only wanted the damage repaired properly but we were given a replacement car that we didn't want and didn't drive. It sat at home and added €600 to the costs.

Elessar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003151#Comment_121003151

Yeah these are LCI full LED, shadowline edition so they are darker in colour. No way I will be getting second hand. This is sounding more like an insurance job for sure. I would prefer to keep everything within BMW directly (even though I know they outsource) as the car has a full BMWSH and the extended insured warranty that I intend to renew every year.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003316#Comment_121003316

This has eased my mind a bit!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121002853#Comment_121002853

It most certainly does affect your premium if you try and change insurers as i have found out to my cost.

If you try and change insurance in the next 5 years every company will ask have you been involved in any accident regardless of blame in the last 5 years and the answer is yes.

OP do not go through insurance if it can be avoided.

Eggs For Dinner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003666#Comment_121003666

If nothing is paid (or pending) on your insurance, it cannot affect your premium. To be technical, when another party is at fault, HE claims under his policy for funds to compensate you. YOU are not claiming and do not need to declare it. You need to declare an ACCIDENT, if specifically asked, regardless of fault

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003459#Comment_121003459

In that case call your insurance company tomorrow morning

Elessar

Should I call the other drivers insurance company in the morning?

It will be a few days until I get a quote for the work, but should I inform them anyway and just not initiate the claim yet? I.e. Are there time limits on these things

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003450#Comment_121003450

Similar happened my Sister. Her car was hit and she spent a few days chasing up quotes and hire cars. She sent the person the quote for €xxxx and got the same "That's stupid money I've a friend who can fix it for €xxx". I'd already told my Sister this would happen so as soon as she got the text she went to her insurance and the repair was a few thousand more.

OP just go through your insurance. If the other person wants they can repay their insurance. Either way it's not your problem

Former Former Former

The OP has a bigger problem in that he's now claiming for damage that wasn't pointed out to the other party at the time.

If I was the other guy, I'd be very suspicious of this, particularly if the cost is ballooning as a result.

John_Rambo

When I was a young inexperienced driver a middle aged Clontarf Gaeilgeoir reversed out of his driveway straight in to the side of my car. He was fairly rude and didn't want it to go through his insurance. I got a quote from a friend (good deal) and a quote from Fiat (expensive). When the quotes came through he hit the roof and told me "this is what's going to happen"... proceeded to tell me that I was to go (with him) to a body shop of his choice & get the car repaired and he'd hand over the money to the business because he felt I wouldn't get the car fixed and would keep the money for myself.

Called his insurance company and the cheque (for the Fiat garage) was in the post the next week.

If the driver is dishonest they could use the fact the accident was in a private carpark to her advantage. Just go through the insurance quickly.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121004785#Comment_121004785

I was so annoyed at the accusation I tried to follow up that she should not have been driving on her own. The gardai didn't want to know.

kirving

I am not the OP

Recent damage to my 2016 330e. Front wheelarch was buckled - needed to be fixed too, but in total this was €3,800.

Of that, parts cost €1,875, which consisted of Bumper Bracket Kit, Left Headlamp, Front Grille and Left Front Panel Support. The headlight was obviously the vast vast majority of that.

kanuseeme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121006830#Comment_121006830

Your not having any luck at all with that car.😲

For the OP, I had one insurance company refusing to quote me because of a no fault claim,( they said I do not meet there criteria) the usual crap when ringing insurance companies for a quote, "had you any claims in the last 5 years " gets tiresome when explaining it was not my fault.

Its hard for people to cough up 2000euro or more, when all they were expecting was 500 euro, offer them the quote, any hassle then straight to the insurance company.

kirving

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121007041#Comment_121007041

Tell me about it! Someone else bumped it causing almost identical damage on the right side, and then this happened when I had the car back about an hour from the repair shop.

Honestly though, Zurich were a pleasure to deal with. I couldn't believe how nice everyone was. They hand the entire repair management to an independent company who sort out rentals, repairer, assessors, etc, and it was all sorted in just a few day. Go via the insurance company OP. Even if you managed to fix it for half the cost in cash, it would never actually cost you (or the third party) a few grand in increased premiums.

Elessar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121006830#Comment_121006830

Thanks for this. This is almost exactly what happened to my car. Did the insurance company get the work done at BMW or somewhere else?

kirving

No, BMW don't actually do that work generally, unless it's straight swap of a part really. It wouldn't be worth their while running a paint shop, employing professional painters, have equipment to check body alignment, etc.

I can say Dennings in Dublin are excellent, and are approved by BMW.

_Kaiser_

My own (poor) baby was involved in a tip late last year when someone backed into it rather forcefully in a driveway.....

... no issues with insurance/liability thankfully, but I ended up getting it done by a garage I was trusted (which also does a lot of work for insurance anyway) rather than the crowd the other party's insurance wanted to use.

All sorted with OEM parts etc but was still over 5k worth of work/parts to put right!

RoboRat

When did you notice condensation in the headlight, was it at the time or a bit later? If it wasn't at the time, it may not be as a result of the collision as water would have to get in, then the heat from the light causes the water to evaporate, resulting in condensation.

It might be hard to get them to agree to pay for that if that wasn't originally noticed. Unfortunately, both the people who cause crashes and those who are crashed into can be dishonest.

enfant terrible

What would happen if the other person just denied been involved at all?

I'm assuming you need to take loads of photos when accident occurs.

Elessar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121007794#Comment_121007794

Right after the incident. Never noticed it before. Made me check a bit more around the light and lo and behold, there's a crack now right at the seam, where the collision was. The light seems a bit out of place aswell if I compare to the other side i.e. the gap between the light and the panel is bigger. There are also scratches on the light. I am not being dishonest - this is crash damage, caused by the other party. The fact I didn't notice it at the time shouldn't make any difference - it's there at the collision spot. I did notice the scratches on the light at the time regardless.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121007803#Comment_121007803

The other driver got out and apologised. Yes, take lots of photos. They seem genuine but anyway I will get a quote and make a claim on his insurance more than likely and let them sort it out.

RoboRat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121008616#Comment_121008616

I'm not saying you're dishonest and apologies if it came across that way.

I'm just looking at it from the other party's point of view. If there was condensation, it was there straight after the crash and I was the other party, I would argue that was existing. I'm saying this because as I said earlier, the water needs to get into the light fitting, then heated by the bulb, then it will steam and cause condensation. I'm not a mechanic, but any instances of condensation in a bulb that I have encountered, have been a small crack or problematic seal, and over an extended period of time - a mechanic would know better.

They may have also added to the damage with the collision however.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121010652#Comment_121010652

In my situation above the damage included a crack in the headlight (you can see it in the bottom right corner of the 2nd pic) with condensation as a result (which you can also make out under the LEDs).

Like the OP describes, the entire light unit was pushed in too (you can see it in the 2nd pic with the gap on the left and top right) so the mounts/brackets were gone. Entire headlight (as well as many other bits) needed to be changed in my case and i'd say the OP will be the same.

It won't be cheap but it'll need to be done.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121004530#Comment_121004530

It cannot affect your premium but If you go to change insurance and they ask have you been involved in an accident regardless of blame you have to answer yes and it does affect your insurance. I'm speaking from very recent experience.

Multiple companies told me they understood I was not at fault and no claim was made on my policy but I was deemed a higher risk because of it even though it was no fault of my own

newmember2

OP...if you have the other party's insurance details, contact your insurance company and tell them this person has crashed into your car.