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Original poster

Husband just crashed the car... Any advice please?

56 replies

YetAnotherUsernameToday · 07/02/2022 14:30

My husband just drove into the back of someone at low speed yesterday and they drove off before he could get any details. A bit odd as it was his fault.

He took car to bodyshop today and they quoted £2k to repair. Slight crack in the bumper and slight bend in bonnet. He is devastated and thinks we need to claim on insurance as he loves the car, but I think he's being sentimental.

As it's a 2011 Skoda Octavia, I think - just leave it as long as it's safe! You can buy new bumpers on eBay for less than £100 and my BIL could help him replace it, so I think let's just do that forget about trying to make it perfect. We have an MOT already booked this month so they can make sure there is no other damage that makes it unsafe to drive.

Am I missing something here or would you do the same? I'm guessing we will need to get the bumper painted so there is some extra cost I've not factored in yet.

What would you do in this situation. We don't have £2k.

OP posts:
christmassausages · 07/02/2022 14:39

Have you reported tge accident to your insurance company? Also maybe the police.

TwigTheWonderKid · 07/02/2022 14:41

You are legally obliged to report the accident to your insurance company regardless of whether you actually make a claim.

purpleboy · 07/02/2022 14:41

Yes might be worth reporting to the police in cause the other party tries to say he drove off.

But I would do as you suggested and keep the cost down. 2k is a lot to tidy up a bumper!

Original poster
YetAnotherUsernameToday · 07/02/2022 14:41

Not insurance as we haven't decided to claim yet and we obviously don't have the other person's details now.

Yes to police as the person drove off.

OP posts:
FKATondelayo · 07/02/2022 14:43

Feel like there's some other key information missing here as I can't for the life of me think why you would report to the police (if your husband was at fault) and not your insurance company.

Original poster
YetAnotherUsernameToday · 07/02/2022 14:44

@TwigTheWonderKid okay, thanks will do

OP posts:
Quartz2208 · 07/02/2022 14:45

Report and claim on insurance

InTheNightWeWillWish · 07/02/2022 14:45

Firstly, you need to report to the police and state the other drive off without giving their details. Given your husband was at fault, it’s likely they have no insurance and wouldn’t risk going to the police. However, you can’t be too careful.

You then need to report to your insurance company, even if you don’t claim for the work you still have to let them know. Although, personally I think you need to be careful getting the work done, make sure everything is above board for when you want to sell your car otherwise you will have saved a bit of money but made your car unsellable. I think it would be best to claim through your insurance if you can’t ensure that the bumper from eBay is going to be 100% right. If you don’t have the money for the repair, that’s what insurance is for.

Pootles34 · 07/02/2022 14:45

Possibly they aren't insured, and don't want to be found out? Or they don't have a license, or it's a stolen car or something? I might be being dramatic here to be fair!

LIZS · 07/02/2022 14:45

Do you think it was a crash for cash? Was there damage to other car?

Original poster
YetAnotherUsernameToday · 07/02/2022 14:47

@InTheNightWeWillWish

Thanks, that's useful. Have done police, will do insurance next. Seems such a tiny amount of damage and such a lot of admin and cost so I guess just got to accept that now. We wouldn't sell the car, we have always run ours until they are scrap, so I wasn't worried about that.

OP posts:
HeddaGarbled · 07/02/2022 14:48

I’d certainly get it fixed properly and claim on the insurance. I don’t really understand people who pay out insurance premiums for their entire adult lives but seem to have this terror of using the service they’re paying for.

Original poster
YetAnotherUsernameToday · 07/02/2022 14:50

@HeddaGarbled yeah I know what you mean. I guess I wondered how much more the insurance would go up by. I have heard it can triple after making any claim, it's just been an expensive and traumatic year so far and I think this has taken me over my emotional load!

OP posts:
InTheNightWeWillWish · 07/02/2022 14:51

Yeh it’s huge amounts of admin for nothing. The problem is that if you don’t do the admin it could very easily bite you in the arse both from the police and insurance perspective! I’ve been through it myself and it’s a pain. It’s also a pain when you have to argue with the insurance company for the next 3 years because you didn’t actually claim.

Russell19 · 07/02/2022 14:52

I'm guessing OP didn't notify insurance as they don't want premiums to go up or to lose no claims.

MoonlightFancy · 07/02/2022 14:54

Worked in car insurance. You should report it but all that happens is your premiums go up because of the accident, claim or not. If the other party go to your insurance company and let them know there was an accident, all your insurance company will do is ask you about it. From my experience it was never an issue that an accident wasn’t reported.

Lou98 · 07/02/2022 14:57

Driving in to the back of someone is usually always a fault accident so the other driver leaving without swapping details etc would say to me that they don't have insurance.

Legally you do need to report it to your insurance company - however, I used to work in motor claims and there was loads of people who never reported it because your premiums will go up regardless of if you actually claim or not. Sometimes not by much but sometimes by quite a lot, there would be no way of knowing until your renewal.
Having worked there and seen it, I personally wouldn't report an accident to my insurance company if I wasn't going to claim.

With the repairs, quite often damage can look superficial to the bumpers etc but it's really common for there to be more damage than you can see which can make repair costs high. I wouldn't drive it without making sure it is safe to drive - if it's found not to be safe and you're in an accident again, your insurance will be void and won't cover your repairs, only the third party's if you're at fault

Hugasauras · 07/02/2022 15:03

Personally wouldn't bother for cosmetic dmg on a 11-year-old car! You aren't going to recoup much money when you do eventually sell it on anyway, whether it has a slightly dented bonnet or not, and I'd rather keep my NCD and premiums lower. Just check it's safe to drive and do the bumper if it's cheap.

fabulousathome · 07/02/2022 15:03

I reckon the other car's driver had no insurance.

Please be careful of hidden damage and don't wait for the MOT.

My parked car was rolled into on a slight hill by a much larger car, the driver of which parked and left the handbrake off.

The result was bit of damage to two body panels plus a damaged axel. The axel part was over £900 on it's own. Unsafe to drive. Speed of the crash was virtually nothing.

HeddaGarbled · 07/02/2022 15:06

Firstly, lots of people have a ‘protected’ no claims bonus (which is a discount off the full premium), which means that they don’t lose their no claims bonus after one claim.

Secondly, if the NCB isn’t protected, you don’t lose the whole lot after one claim, usually one or two years, so instead of 60% no claims discount, you’d get 40 or 50% discount off the full premium. So the insurance will go up for a year or two but it won’t triple, nor anywhere near.

Yellow85 · 07/02/2022 15:10

Agree with PP regarding axel damage. I wouldn’t drive a car with damage to the main frame for safety reasons.

In terms of fixing, you really only have the choice of claiming through insurance, or, and you may be lucky as Octavian are reliable car so a lot of taxi drivers etc opt for them, call a round scrap yard and see if you can get the bumper/ bonnet from the a side/rear write off and have it fitted. You might get lucky with the colour.

desperatehousewife21 · 07/02/2022 15:10

I work in motor claims, the amount of people who don’t bother to report these types of claims is high. The only way I know that is because if we get an allegation from the other persons insurer we then write to our insured asking for their version of events.
In your situation if the other driver fled the scene it’s unlikely they’ll either a) tell their insurance (if they have one) and b) know your details to send the allegations to.

Kinneddar · 07/02/2022 15:12

@Russell19

I'm guessing OP didn't notify insurance as they don't want premiums to go up or to lose no claims.
Probably but realistically it's not going to go up over £2k.

I just don't understand this reluctance people have with claiming their insurance. I've claimed mine in the past and if it went up it was such a small amount I never noticed it and my NCB is protected.

Timperleybell · 07/02/2022 15:13

If you decide to claim for full repairs on your insurance a further potential issue is that you could well be perilously to right off territory. Im not sure where you have got the £2k repair cost but bit could escalate in the hands of an insurer's approved repairer. Unless the car is in exceptional condition or low millage they are being advertised at £2-4k on the Autotrader. Is the car made roadworthy worth more to than check for the cars notional value.

tara66 · 07/02/2022 15:17

Th other car's driver may have noted your vehicle's reg. number and will be in touch?

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