Just been hit by a car in Co-op

[KeyboardCat]

I've just been hit by a car reversing into me in a co-op car park while I wasn't moving, waiting to go into a space that someone was leaving. It's only a small car park (one line of cars) so as I was waiting to reverse into this space a bloke reversed out of his and hit me.

He admitted fault, messaged me his details and said that we shouldn't go through insurance and he'll take care of any costs. He gave me his name and sent me his email address and it looks like he's a partner in a fairly high key professional company. Because of this (and the fact he has a 22 plate car) I'm thinking he's not short of a bob or two and would rather avoid the headache of going through insurance.

The damage isn't huge, a fairly sizeable dent to my back bumper, his car was fine. My DP is knowledgeable about cars and says it shouldn't take much to fix it just cosmetic.

I have never been in any kind of accident before, is it sensible to just send him the quotes and have him pay for it? I have high anxiety and could do without going through all of it too!!

Thank you for any advice.

Don't trust a complete stranger with this. Ever. Far too many people have been bitten on the arse by trying to do it cheaply. You pay for insurance, use it.

Similar thing happened to me. Woman admitted fault.

she wanted to pay for damages rather than insurance. So I went away (with her details)

and got a quote from garage, sent her it. She met up with me. We both signed our own written version of agreement (in case I made one she never paid ect)

and job done!

Do you have child seats in the car? As they may need to be replaced, if it's made a dent in the bumper.

Yeah I would just let him pay. Don't forget that a certain number of non-faults becomes a fault (I think it's 3?) with regards to NC and insurance premiums. I found this out this year as I have been hit about 4 times over the last 3 years, all no-fault, but it hiked my insurance premium up 20% and a number of insurers refused to insure me, when speaking to one who refused to insure me, I was totally perplexed as I have never had any points on my licence, only ever had 1 accident I was at fault for and that was a number of years ago now, and she told me it was because I'd had too many non-faults so I'm flagged up as being unable to effectively judge or get myself out of situations.

Inform your insurance. Legally you have to and if it emerges later on that you didn't you can have your insurance stripped and find it difficult to get insured again.

I've been involved in two accidents where someone has driven into my car and I've been 100% blameless. Both declared to the insurance company. I just renewed my insurance for £132 a year.

You can still deal with the man privately, but definitely report to the insurance. If he starts messing you around you can just re-open the case and file a claim against him.

I'm all for settling privately but if you check the t&cs of your insurance policy, you will see that you are obligated to advise your insurance company.

Given that situation, what would be the point of risking someone not paying up, however plausible they might be, compared to one phone call to the insurance f

Insurance company and let them sort out everything with no risk to you, given you have to inform them.

Why take a risk? There are no benefits for you, to not use the insurance company.

It won't scent going against your no claims bonus once all costs have been recovered.

whats your excess-you will get it back but if its alot i woldnt bother with the insurance as long as your dh think its just the bumper

@when2become3 yeah insurance companies will really push for you to use their approved garages etc but they cannot force you to do so.

Always go through your insurance, that's why you pay them, but as others have said you don't have to use who they suggest, whatever they say to you

Just let him pay and get the damage fixed.
you don’t need to worry about his damage as it’s his fault.

This happened to me always go through insurance. I fell for the "it's cheaper to not go through insurance" and the bastard stung me. £300 to fix it.

We had a similar issue and they hit the bumper, the unseen damage caused the car to be written off. Be careful with settling outside insurance.

I would go through the insurance and contact the Co-op for video footage ASAP. If I had a quid for every time a thread starts like this and a month down the line the other party fails to pay up....

They do not want to increase their premium or possibly have to declare damage on a leased car. This is not your problem.

You have to go through your insurance. Don't breach your policy - that is not a good idea. Take a day to rest and hope you feel calmer tomorrow

Go through insurance
Damage might well be deeper
You'll need a hire car for a week or more when yours is bring repaired

Not to mention the other party might contact their insurance company saying you were at fault somehow. Then it will not look good on you for not telling them to begin with. Trying to save a few pounds is really not worth the risk here.

Or he might do what one bloke did to me: admit it was his fault, apologise and say he'd pay, then when asked to pay up, ignore, ignore, ignore. Then get his insurance company to send you a letter saying you refused to give your details and that it was your fault.

Many diagrams later, and cctv from the shop,it was down to be his fault(reversed out of car park space into me) and he had to cough up. Utter twat. But it taught me a lesson. I'd only been driving a few months too.

Presumably you’ll not be expecting your insurers to stick to the agreed contracted terms either, as you aren’t.

I was also reversed into on a co op car park. They hit the side of mine a cut a big gash in it. It was a work van and the boss sorted it all out, including hire car and a lift home when I dropped the hire car off.
So when someone slid into the back of me in snow a couple of years later I again agreed to sort it privately. It has been a disaster and now my solicitor is dealing with it months on.
Never again will I not go straight to the insurance.

Make sure he covers the cost of car seats if you have any in the car. No matter the impact of the bump, seats are only good for one incident.

This happened to me once. I sent a quote to the person that hit my car and they sent through the money. Once I received the money, I then had the work done.

If they don’t pay up quickly go through your insurance.

I work in insurance. Nothing wrong with giving him the chance to pay for it himself , lots of people pay for damage to other vehicles without either side involving insurers . Get 2 quotes give them to him along with your bank info . If no money within a week say you will be contacting your insurers .

I declared damage to my car when I hit a fox - told my insurer, had to pay for it myself anyway - and then had it on record for 5 years/6 years which affected my premium - wish I hadn't bothered? If he's willing to pay then I would accept that.