Neighbours handbrake failed

We are on the same page: the premium went up. You may have meant to reply to someone else :)

OP before you decide, do a comparison of renewing your insurance now and see the difference because I'm certain there will be one.

Either go through insurance with your eyes open that your costs will go up, but that you will be sure that there is no more damage than you can't see, or accept that yes, she should hire you a car but she probably won't. And if she doesn't, are you better off paying for that yourself compared to what your premium will go up?

Entirely up to you what you do, but be informed of cost, risk and how far you will dig in.

You do, but you don't have claim through them or pay your excess - the other insurer can sort all your repairs.

Yes, that's true.

Your insurance states you need to register the claim

Not if you by pass your own insurer and claim directly off the other party.

As someone who has been crashed into several times now I can assure you that even as the non-fault party your premiums definitely do go up. This is because on the national accident database (reported to by the insurers) it just registers you as having been in an accident not who is at fault.

As @SaladSandwichesForTea states if you quote both declaring a non fault accident and not declaring an accident the premiums do differ.

Failing to declare an accident that has been logged with an insurer will get you declined for insurance for failing to declare a registered accident.

As the person that has been hit (multiple times) I have never had to pay any excess, the at fault party has to pay their insurance excess only.

Why wouldn't you just let her insurance sort it out

Always go through your insurance.

1. if you don't tell them about the incident (ie. break the 'non-disclosure clause in your insurance contract, your insurers could potentially void/invalidate your existing insurance coverage or refuse you insurance in the future ( and other insurers will black mark you/charge you more);
2. you're not to blame for the damage, so neither your premiums or no claims bonus will be affected;
3. the work done on your car will be covered by guarantees on workmanship/parts etc;
4. you can get a hire car through your insurers or their repairing garage at no cost to you, BUT
5. If your neighbour arranges the repair, then she's the customer, and the repair contract is with her. What if it's shoddy work or limited to repairing bodywork when something else also needs doing? You wouldn't know if the car is safe or not.

Do it properly and don’t feel bad as she was wasn’t bothered about having you inconvenienced without a car.

Go through your insurance.

My premium has never gone up in these circumstances. Even when I have been 'at fault'.

As for her - what does she pay insurance for? She is prepared to pay a few hundred pounds to stop her premium gong up by £50? Dft.

And you need the guarantee/ accountability that the job is well done.

And you can either get a courtesy car or take your car in at a time of your convenience.

Text her now and say that doesn’t work for you. You want the insurance to handle it in case there’s unseen damage.

Did her handbrake really ‘fail’ or did she carelessly not have it back in place ??

I’d tell her you’ve taken advice and are going through insurance.

I would get the garage to assess the damage and give you a quote, and get something in writing that she’ll pay it. That way you can be sure that they’ve checked it thoroughly and there’s no hidden damage.

I don’t know what she’s talking about when she says her car’s manufacturer will pay. I suspect that’s bollocks.

Regarding insurance, sadly insurance does go up after a no-fault claim. It’s not meant to, but it does. I had a car badly damaged by a speeding driver. My car was parked outside a friend’s house , I wasn’t even in it. But I still had to declare it on all subsequent insurance quotes, and it definitely went against me. Several insurance agents have told me that premiums are higher if you’ve had claims in the last 5 years, even if they weren’t your fault. I think they have a “no smoke without fire” attitude, thinking that even if it wasn’t your fault, you still must have done something that increased your risk. That’s insurance for you!

Oh, I know, I was just giving an example of when a non-fault accident led to a massive raise in premiums. I rang to cancel and they asked why, and I said "well, I can get it for less than half price with x" and the lady at the other end of the phone genuinely said "oh, that's fair enough" lol.

They don't need an excuse to put your insurance up by £300 a year, as proved by my recent renewal quote (Hastings).🤬. No claims or accidents. Luckily, shopping around brought the premium down.

That's never been my experience. I've had a fault and a non-fault claim with (both with different insurers) and all I had to do in both cases was fill out an online form and send over some photos. They dealt with everything else and just e-mailed me when the claim was sorted.

If it's drivable I would tell her to book it after the holidays. if not, insurance/courtesy car

Maybe it depends who you're insured with.

In 20+ years of driving, I've had 3 no fault claims. I've never done anything more than tell them what happened and provide photos. They did everything else.

@SaladSandwichesForTea, yes I did and made no difference at all either time. I did not pay a penny, had a courtesy car delivered and picked up etc. Obviously depends on your insurance provider, but on both occasions the other party were obviously with quite a lot of damage. Also to echo other people, I know someone who have had a minor bump when some reversed into them at low speed and did not go through insurance. They thought there was no damage and then had his bonnet catch fail and fly up whilst doing 70 mph on the m1 in the outside lane. They were lucky to safely get to the hard shoulder.

Go through the insurance.

Your premium won't go up because you were parked.

Your insurance ecompany will provide a courtesy car if you pay for that option.

There maybe be damage that isn't immediately obvious if it made a significant dent.

Definitely go through insurance, these kind of accidents can cause a lot more damage than you think. A learner driver rolled back down a hill and hit my car at a junction, it seemed like a small dent on the bonnet, there was actually over £1,000 of damage and this would have been at early 2000’s prices. You certainly shouldn’t have the inconvenience of being without your car anyway.

say "no thanks I'll go through insurance so i can have a hire car"
And do it.

Dealing with insurance is such a massive faff and the responsibility will be on you to sort things/chase things up, I’ve had two insurance claims that weren’t my fault, no change to my premiums but dealing with them both was a complete nightmare both times, I had to deal with 4 separate departments and I’m still awaiting a payout from one nearly two years later.

“going through the insurance” is not the easy solution people think it is!

tell her if she can’t arrange something more convenient you’ll have to go through insurance, but to be honest I wouldn’t recommend it.

Sadly that's not always true. My car was written off by a Royal Mail van over five years ago, and my insurance shot up by £300 a year. I switched insurers and got it cheaper in the end, but it wasn't an automatic thing.