Anxiety after collision with another car

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I had a collision with another car about a month ago. I was waiting at a very busy junction, a car stopped to let me through, and then another car came seemingly out of no where and I drove (slowly) into it. She was going about 30+mph and there is quite bad damage to the side of her car. My car has a dent to the front but nothing major. No one was injured.

We've gone through insurance and now I'm just waiting around anxious. No idea how much our premium will go up. It's my partner's car and I'm the named driver, neither of us have ever been in an accident before and I feel like such an idiot. I feel horrifically guilty for potentially writing off this woman's car and also for having to put this claim in when it's not my car and it's on our history now.

Today I got an email to say that the other woman is claiming for injury. A month later. She wasn't injured at all at the time so unless it's mental health then who knows. This just adds to my anxiety. I wrote to them to tell them she didn't seem injured at all and that there is CCTV in the area if they need to check, but maybe I should phone them too to clarify what she's claiming? Will this affect my premium increase too-could it go up even more than just a standard at fault claim?

It's completely knocked my confidence and now I just feel anxious driving anywhere at all. Wondering if anyone has experienced anything serious and can empathise?

You don’t know if she was injured or not

If you hit her side on she could very well have developed whiplash

Leave it and let your insurance company deal with her claim

Unfortunately you probably won't ever know if she is just tacking that on as a way to make money. I have come across people who have done it. I don't really know how to ease your anxiety while you are waiting but I do think once it's all over this will ease. Don't stress too much about premiums right now. If they go up look to switch and you can probably bring it back down a bit. Also get a front and rear dash cam. They are really reassuring to have.

Thank you, the stress had eased a lot once I knew the insurers were sorting it, but the injury claim then just brought it all back again, wondering how/if I injured her and how that would affect things. I'll definitely be shopping around for a quote when it comes to it and. Just worried they'll say something ridiculous to insure our car. Last year it was about £495, what if this year it's £3000. You're right I won't know until it comes to it anyway!

I was hit from the side by a speeding car last year. Both cars were written off, my insurer declared it a “no fault” claim and my premium only went up by around £150. With regard to injury, an ambulance came and I was assessed but not taken to hospital so I’m sure the other driver would think I wasn’t hurt. However, the impact did cause a whiplash type effect to my right side and I still feel discomfort there a year later. I have no intention of claiming, but the injury is definitely there.

You can look up quotes now, just out the wrong date for renewal into price comparison sites. I was worried ours would go up as DH is a newish driver, I checked in January and the quotes are the similar price wise now I am actually renewing.

I think it’s a really automatic thing to do. I got rear ended at a traffic light. Wasn’t injured but I had the guys insurance phone me up and say basically I had £5k reserved for me but would need to do medical tests. I think it’s really automatic now, I didn’t claim in it because i genuinely wasn’t injured and didn’t want to get the kids premium even higher

There's no point checking insurance quotes now because you don't know what value will be put on the claim.

Why don't you book a lesson with an advanced driving instructor as a refresher and to help build your confidence back up? You'll probably learn stuff that will help you deal with a variety of different settings confidently.