Best way to deal with crash not going thru insurance

boardsee

Just looking for the best way to sort this.

My sisters, boyfriend crashed his car on the day of the real heavy rain about 3wks ago. He spun the car coming out of a corner and the rear stepped out into the other side of the road and hit a 1992 opel.

Not an awful lot of damage done to either car, the b/friends needed a new boot, 2 rear lights and a bumper which were sourced/fitted for under a grand.

They mutually decided not to go through their insurance company`s. And the sisters bf paid the other guy a grand. He originally hinted at 2/3000 i believe but her bf insisted a grand was the max he`d offer.

Anyway, the above has all being paid/settled now, but my sisters b/f is just wondering on the best way to deal with this regarding his insurance company and a possible fuure claim. Should he report the accident to them in case the other guy decides he has sudden back pain in a yr and a half and wants to make a personal injury claim afterall.
Ps: the guards and an ambulance were called to the scene, but the ambulance wasnt needed.

Can anyone tell me the best way to deal with this please and thanks

jlang

The way I see it, all's settled so no need to go to the insurance company. They'll only screw him for it later. If he wants to, he could go to a garda station and get them to write down the details - they went to the scene, so there's probably a report filed somewhere already but won't do any harm to ask them if they want another.

seamus

boardsee wrote:

Should he report the accident to them in case the other guy decides he has sudden back pain in a yr and a half and wants to make a personal injury claim afterall.

Yes, and for exactly that reason. If the other guy does surface, looking for €15k for his "sore back", the insurance company can refuse to deal with it, because they weren't notified, so he'll be left trying to sort it himself.

The insurance company shouldn't load him for it. His NCB will remain intact. When I was ringing around for quotes, I was told that any claims settled for less than €2k tend to make little or no difference to your quote, so a claim that cost the insurance company nothing shouldn't make a difference.

He will also be obliged, under the terms of his insurance, to notify the company of all accidents. Though I've never heard of anyone having their insurance invalidated for not declaring a "no-cost" accident.

Best thing to do is:-
a) Try and get the guy to a solicitors, signing a legal document absolving your gf's brother of any further liability
b) Or tell the insurance company.

LegacyUser

I think he should definitely do what seamus suggests above.

x in the city

u need to tread carefully on this, i lost 3yrs ncb over a tiny addicent with a lady, she had a verbal agreement that i would pay for the damage in front of a cop. she never got back to me, and lo and behold, my premium shot up and my 6 yrs ncb was now 3. and 770 euro paid out.....! it was a dent that could have been sucked out and polished, i know about cars. so i was and still am going mad over it.

if you agree to fix up some ones car, get it done and have a statment from them, to clear it.

it was ridiculous for me to los3 3 yrs ncb over that, i could have sued her for neglect.

NUTLEY BOY

This should be reported to the insurance company.

Failure to report the accident is a breach of policy conditions. Questions of fault and private settlement are irrelevant and do not override the policy condition.

Settling claims privately is a risky business these days given the large numbers of opportunistic chancers that are around. If you do not get a signed agreement (a discharge form) the other party may be able to screw you two ways. He can claim that the money paid was paid on account. Secondly, where there is a possibility of injuries being sustained he can still come at as personal injuries are a seperate heading of claim from propery damage.

If settling privately NEVER pay off the other person in cash as you have no proof of the settlement transaction.

If there is no claim lodged against your insurance and you tell the insurers beforehand that you are settling it yourself there is little or no excuse for reducing your no claims bonus next year.

Oh Boy!

Yep, you're legally obliged to report it to your insurance company. Once he's settled the claim himself, it will not affect any NCB he has. The only thing that affects your NCB is your insurance company paying out money.

Most policies have a clause that means you have to report any "incidents" on the next working day or your insurance is not valid. But this clause would not affect any 3rd party claims, only a claim made by the policyholder, which they can refuse to pay out on. Insurance companies would still be liable for a claim made by any 3rd parties.

boardsee

Thanks for the replies lads and lassies
very helpfull info there! Hopefully ill never need it personally.
Anyway he paid the other lad with a cheque and got him to sign some letter. He informed the insurance company too of the incident, but didnt sya whos fault it was or anything to that effect.

LegacyUser

x in the city wrote:

u need to tread carefully on this, i lost 3yrs ncb over a tiny addicent with a lady, she had a verbal agreement that i would pay for the damage in front of a cop. she never got back to me, and lo and behold, my premium shot up and my 6 yrs ncb was now 3. and 770 euro paid out.....! it was a dent that could have been sucked out and polished, i know about cars. so i was and still am going mad over it.

if you agree to fix up some ones car, get it done and have a statment from them, to clear it.

it was ridiculous for me to los3 3 yrs ncb over that, i could have sued her for neglect.

This happened to me 2.5 years ago - except I was a few months short of a full ncb Nudged an Alfa Romeo which slammed on brakes at a roundabout. My fault 100%. The woman inside agreed to let me pay for the teeny mark on the car. As soon as the insurance company heard via 123.ie about it - they went and fixed it. I lost full ncb.

ALSO - keep in mind - if the insurance company DO choose to fix you CAN pay them back the money at the next renewal date. NOT loosing your ncb.
x in the city - you could have got your ncb back by paying the 770 euros back to the insurance company!! I didn't have the money to retrieve mine at the time - cause I had just bought a house Maybe you have time left / and 770 to get your back .. if so .. go for it .. cause it saves a premium hike!