Advice on car insurance claim?

[Spinkey]

I’m a disabled driver. Someone parked badly in the Asda car park during the Xmas rush and I bumped their car while trying to reverse out. Totally my fault, if I couldn’t get out I should have got the driver to move their car instead of trying to squeeze past.

Asked them to announce it on the tannoy in Asda and the driver came out. He was perfectly pleasant, exchanged details, said he would get a quote for repair and let me know the cost. I’ve never had an accident before so this sounded fine.

He’s got in touch with the quote and it’s more than expected. I thought I just broke the front light and I would pay maybe £150 in cash and avoid making a claim. But apparently the bumper is dinted as well, which means the repair will cost four figures. My excess is £200 so obviously I replied and said it’s more than I can afford so it will need to go through insurance.

Anyway it turns out he has already had it done and paid for it. So he is very annoyed that I won’t refund him the cash. DH says we are fucked if I send the quote to my insurance and they won’t accept it or insist on a different garage. I’m chewing myself to bits with worry because I can’t possibly pay for it.

Don't panic, this happened to me once (although they only got a quote not the work done). You just ring the insurance company give them the details, they'll want his details and the photos you took as well.

Then he will most likely get a lovely phone call from his insurance company asking what has happened. That's happened to me to, the only reason why I hadn't already told my insurance was because as far as we where concerned there was no damage. The other party ovously decided to claim for a bumper respray.

I would email him back say sorry but you can't aford that amount and have had to contact your insurance, or you could just leave it in the hands of the insurance company.

Nothing really I suppose. Apart from my skill at manoeuvres is limited due to my disability. The car park was full so he had parked in a stupid place right behind me which prevented me reversing out of my space. And I know I should have gone in Asda and got them to send the driver out to move his car, but I was in a hurry to pick the kids up from school and I thought I could squeeze out. What sort of twat parks right behind a disabled driver’s car anyway 😡

You’ve got another thread on this elsewhere.

Who is your insurance company? Are you sure you didn't tell him you would pay at any time.

Please stop being so hard on yourself @Spinkey this is the first time you've had to deal with insurance. Perhaps he doesn't want to go via insurance as even though you're at fault, his premium will go up too. I experienced this myself last year. Somebody hit my parked car as they blacked out. Admitted full liability and repair too expensive to not go via insurance and when my new premium came in my insurance increased as apparently insurance now sees me of parking or driving in high risk areas. If there is no way you can afford it, you will have to go via insurance, there is nothing that can be done about it. He said he would send you quote, not go ahead and get work repaired so he didn't really hold up his part of agreement. Hope it gets sorted for you.

You can admit fault and it go through insurance, just give them a call to report and ask what information they need to process a claim. You pay the excess and it may increase your premium next year. Do you have a no claims bonus and is it protected?

It’s not his fault you hit him even if he did park like a twat.

you need to inform your insurance company if you’re involved in an accident even if you don’t intend to claim, so just give them a call this morning and let them sort it out.

I was initially asking why you mentioned being disabled as I wondered about motability as obviously they have their own insurer for the fleet, however, it's raised another point- be very careful about using your disability as a defence - you mention it affects your ability, this could end up being a bigger problem. If a disabled driver hit me and said they couldn't safely drive because they were disabled I would report them to the DVLA.

I'm not saying this to have a go, but you need to be very careful what you say.

It is likely that he doesn't want to make a claim via his insurance because it could affect his no claims discount (no claim, not no blame). I would do nothing, it was a minor accident, no injuries and not too much damage. Like many people would in that situation you asked him to get a quote. I assume you did not say 'get it repaired and send me the bill'. He got a quote, and you cannot afford it so he now needs to claim via his insurance, who in turn will contact yours. TBH in your position I would do nothing at all just yet, wait and see what happens. Your DH is being very unkind. You have not made a mess at all, these incidents happen quite often.

A no fault claim would have no impact on his NCD.

She won’t pay any excess if not claiming for her own car.

Honestly, just ring you insurer and explain. They’ll tell you what to do.

The worst possible scenario is you’re not covered and you end up paying the bill - which is exactly where you are if you don’t ring them.

My DH caught a van with his wing mirror last June, the guy gave us a quote which was too much for us to pay, so I reported to our Insurance company in August, he didn't report it to his insurance until November, there was no problem on either side, and the claim was settled.
So, it's certainly not too late to report to your insurance company.

Having read more updates from you, this sounds very suspicious.
Call your insurance company.

Because he went ahead without contacting you first about the cost, they may wash their hands of it and you shouldn’t pay because he didn’t consult with you before getting an expensive job done.

There is no way he got his car repaired that fast. Body shops are booked up for weeks at the moment so he's either taking the piss or got his mate to do it.
Just ring your insurers give them all the info and leave it to them. Make sure you send the photo.

You don't have to pay anything. You will lose 2 years no claims bonus if it's not protected.