Page 2 | Husband just crashed the car... Any advice please?

YetAnotherUsernameToday · 2022-02-07T14:30:32+00:00

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.

peboh · 07/02/2022 15:26

Even if you don't claim on your insurance, you're still required to inform them that an accident occurred.

Hugasauras · 07/02/2022 15:26

Yes that's a good point about write-off territory too.

ittakes2 · 07/02/2022 15:27

It could be that if he has electrics under there the bump might effect them.

Ozanj · 07/02/2022 15:30

If the other car had a dash cam they may drive off, fabricate a story, and come back and claim for huge damages. This is why you always report claims where the driver didn’t remain.

Triffid1 · 07/02/2022 15:33

2k for cosmetic issues seems high. I'd be inclined to go elsewhere and/or get an itemised breakdown of repairs. For reference, DH was sideswiped by someone a while back and the body work damage was significant, and there was an issue with the steering. The insurance company fixed it but at one point we were looking at them paying us and then us getting it done privately - the damage was expected to cost, via our private garage guy, approximately £3000. So much less than yours and ours was much more serious.

I also agree - you should alert the insurance company because while it's likely the other person doesn't have insurance, I'd be worried about them popping up 3 months down the line and claiming they're injured or something.

Bear in mind currently though that car repairs and parts are a nightmare. Our guy told us it wouldn't cost a fortune but would take ages, and that was using second hand parts. The insurance company took MONTHs to fix it as they were getting brand new parts.

Triffid1 · 07/02/2022 15:34

Sorry, we were quoted £2000 so similar to yours, but more damage. Not sure what that sentence was about!!!!

But I will add that for a 10 year old car, if you claim, they may insist on scrapping it and just giving you the cash towards a new car.

Kazzyhoward · 07/02/2022 15:34

@Quartz2208

Report and claim on insurance

The insurance co will write off an old car like that. They won't do repair work that's more than around 60% of its market value. And of course, they only use "proper" bodyshops so the repair costs will be high as there'll be no corner cutting, cash in hand jobs, scrap yard parts etc.

IncompleteSenten · 07/02/2022 15:35

You must report it.

What if it is a scam and they come back and claim your husband hit them from behind and took off?
There will be evidence of the damage to his car and he won't have reported it and who will believe the legally blameless party is the one that took off and not the one who hit them and didn't report it?
Add a whiplash claim and your husband is in the shit.

ILoveAllRainbowsx · 07/02/2022 15:40

@HeddaGarbled

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.

Because their premiums will rise for the next few years once they report the accident, even if they don't make a claim.

But they do need to report the accident to their insurance company even if they don't make a claim unfortunately.

IncompleteSenten · 07/02/2022 15:41

I am a very cynical person and obviously that is worst case scenario but I am a 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst' sort

SirGawain · 07/02/2022 15:41

I bumped my car about 25 years ago and bent the plastic bumper. A simple repair I thought. I fact I had done serious damage to the structure and it was quite expensive to fix. Would get it checked out by a garage and make an insurance claim.
Could it be that the other driver had some irregularity in his licence or insurance and didn't want too many questions asked.

ILoveAllRainbowsx · 07/02/2022 15:41

It is likely that person he hit didn't have a licence or insurance or both.

SpaceDetective · 07/02/2022 15:42

I imagine it will almost certainly be a write off if there is 2k of damage.

My dad's car was written off with that amount of damage despite being worth 2.8k

bigbluebus · 07/02/2022 15:44

When DS pranged the front of his car (no other vehicle involved) we were considering getting it fixed ourselves. We spoke to a friend who runs a number of accident repair centres in another part of the country and he said that there are all sorts of electrics inside bumpers these days which could also be damaged and equally make the bumper expensive. So we opted to go through the insurance in the end.

nellly · 07/02/2022 15:54

@HeddaGarbled

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.

Erm because a small accident can inflate your premiums for years and you can often have damage fixed cheaper

ILoveAllRainbowsx · 07/02/2022 15:56

@desperatehousewife21

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.

@desperatehousewife21

So what happens if you discover that someone has not told their insurance company about an accident?

noirchatsdeux · 07/02/2022 15:57

My exH had an accident last year...he claims he was run off the road into a ditch, but he's such an awful driver I'm not 100 percent sure that's the truth...the driver of the car that did also didn't stop. He damaged a wall and his car was written off...he claimed on his insurance, got £800 for the car (paid £2K for it 3 years previously) and about the same for the wall to be repaired...he's totally lost his no claims bonus and the insurance company have refused to renew his insurance when it runs out!

His well off father bought him a new car for £5K, but he's now thinking he won't be able to afford to insure it...I really don't think he should have bothered claiming!

Original poster

YetAnotherUsernameToday · 07/02/2022 15:59

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think as the bump was so small, and seemed so minor that the person didn't even want our details, at the time we didn't really think it was a big deal. I think I thought the body shop would just pop the bumper back and then bend the bonnet down and charge a nominal fee and we'd get back on with life 😂, after the quite came back I guess we've had a reality check.

Will be going via insurance as we do have our NCD protected. I know our premiums will still go up but we do want to get it properly sorted so it's safe and check for other damage underneath etc. Such a stress for one second's misjudgement! We've never had any kind of accident in 15 years so it's all new to me!

Appreciate all the guidance and sharing of your experiences.

OP posts:

Kazzyhoward · 07/02/2022 16:02

@HeddaGarbled

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.

It doesn't work like that. "You" don't get it fixed properly. If it's an insurance claim, THEY decide whether it gets fixed or whether they write it off.

Some plonker left their handbrake off and their car ran into the side of ours. It's 13 years old. Insurance company wrote it off without even seeing the damage - they didn't get a bodyshop to give a quote, they didn't get an engineer out to inspect it, they didn't even ask for pictures. Because of it's age, "computer says no" and it was declared a write off.

Original poster

YetAnotherUsernameToday · 07/02/2022 16:07

@Kazzyhoward

If they declare it a write off do you have to scrap the car or do they just pay the value of it? Sorry I have no idea how these things work and starting to worry they will write this car off now, which would be another nightmare!

OP posts:

Hugasauras · 07/02/2022 16:12

If it's a registered a write-off the insurers retain it and you'll get a cheque for whatever its value is judged to be in most cases.

Justlovedogs · 07/02/2022 16:33

@HeddaGarbled

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.

I agreed with this philosophy until I claimed on my car insurance for an attempted theft and it put my premium up by 50% the following year, even with protected NCB!

Report to both and fix as you see fit, as long as it's safe and MOT standard. Swapping a bumper is a few bolts, as long as chassis isn't bent, no problem.

EricScrantona · 07/02/2022 17:15

Depends what category they deem it. Old cars regularly get a cat b slammed on them but I don't think yours is old enough to have that unless it's got high mileage.

Who are you insured with? It will likely go to copart or other salvage site to be sold as a cat s/n to be repaired by a trader. Some insurance companies let you buy them back or take a lower payout and keep the car. It depends on the terms and condition of your policy. I'm not an engineer but if you want to post a picture I can hazard a guess at the cat.

BellatricksStrange · 07/02/2022 17:41

@YetAnotherUsernameToday

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think as the bump was so small, and seemed so minor that the person didn't even want our details, at the time we didn't really think it was a big deal. I think I thought the body shop would just pop the bumper back and then bend the bonnet down and charge a nominal fee and we'd get back on with life 😂, after the quite came back I guess we've had a reality check.

Will be going via insurance as we do have our NCD protected. I know our premiums will still go up but we do want to get it properly sorted so it's safe and check for other damage underneath etc. Such a stress for one second's misjudgement! We've never had any kind of accident in 15 years so it's all new to me!

Appreciate all the guidance and sharing of your experiences.

I don't know why people ask for advice when they completely ignore it and do the non-clever thing anyway. Just the increase to your insurance premiums will end up costing you more than the entire car is worth.

You're describing minor cosmetic damage, which you should easily be able to get sorted for max £600, and there is no structural damage there anyway.

CrinklyCraggy · 07/02/2022 17:43

I'd claim. You have to report the accident anyway and by going through the insurance you can take advice regarding any potential comeback from the other party.