Should we settle privately after a rear-end crash involving a young driver?

[Lollipopsicle]

Hope there's some insurance experts on here who might be able to help.

We were rear-ended by a van earlier this week in a queue of traffic. We stopped and a really lovely young guy got out of the van and apologised (it was obviously his fault), gave his name and telephone number, we took photos, all good. Anyway, he then begged us to not take it through insurance, as he was 18 years old - obviously his first job - and the insurance had already cost £7k and he said it would likely double if he claimed and would probably lose his job. I have to stress that we're not here to ruin his life and, having had 2 sons years ago who had accidents at a very young age (one at fault, one not), I'm feeling particularly maternal and want to do the right thing as much as I can. As I said, lovely lad, very smart, first job and kudos to him. We told him to leave it with us for a few days to get quotes and we'd get back to him and he was so grateful.

So, we have had two estimates now. One from a workshop local to my DH'S workplace, where they were able to assess the damage to a degree, and my DH has sent a lot of photos to the workshop attached to the Hyundai dealership. Both have come back with figures in the £3,500-4,000 range. I'm also going to get a third quote from a local body workshop very close to where our main address is when we get there tomorrow. I expect it will be a similar price, but thought it only fair to get 3 quotes so this young lad can see we've tried, but I also think he will still be surprised that it's come in as much as that. I don't know, because we haven't had that conversation. Anyway, it's very clear that he wants to pay rather than have his insurance increase hugely.

My question is, is it likely that his insurance really would double to £14,000, or would they just slap something like a £2,000 increase on next time? I'm just trying to figure out if it would actually be worth both parties going through our insurance companies? It doesn't matter to us who pays because we weren't at fault, but I'm trying to work out whether it's worth him personally settling if his insurance premium isn't going to increase that much?

I really do feel bad for him - we both do. There's been no question of him trying to duck out of his responsibilities. However, if we do have to go through insurance, I also have evidence of him apologising in a recorded telephone call (he knew it was being recorded), plus he's texted me and thanked me for trying to get this sorted between us.

Can anyone offer any professional advice on what the insurance company is likely to do come renewal time?

As PPs have said, you have to notify your insurer.
The man is irrelevant to you, crashing into the back of other vehicles is entirely optional.

And collude in insurance fraud. It's unfortunate that his insurance is so expensive, but presumably he didn't need to get a brand new van, he could have got a cheaper and lower group vehicle that cost less to insure.

It could open a whole can of worms if your insurance company find out. It could also be that when the repairs are started it costs more due to damage that isn't yet visible, what happens if the cost increases significantly? He thinks he's going to pay you £3.5k and can stomach that, but what if it ends up being £5/6k or more?

Also if it goes through the insurance, you can also claim for a courtesy car, while yours is off the road - I know people where they've had to wait weeks or months for parts to become available.

Tell him that you're very sorry but due to your car being new and on lease (so not yours) you're required to do things by the book and suggest that he does too.

Quite. Also if it is a work van then work take care of the insurance!

@akkakk Thank you for taking the time to explain all that. It's really interesting.

I have been in this situation

They turned quite menacing

I went through insurance, they likely didn't have insurance themselves which isn't my problem

Even if you settle privately, you are still supposed to tell your insurance company. If you hit a post in a car park and get it fixed yourself, you are still meant to tell them as it affects the risk. If you don't tell them about something that would have altered next year's premium, and they find out, they could cancel all or part of your insurance.

It’s really not your problem if his insurance doubles. You need to claim via the insurance.

If it's a lease do you not have to go through the insurance so it is repaired to the lease company's satisfaction. I'm fairly sure I have to

You have to go through insurance 🤷‍♀️

Maybe this will make him a better driver.

No, go through the insurance otherwise if something is found to be wrong later you will be the one footing the bill.

Insurance is there for a reason, use it as intended

Breach of contract: Most policies state you must report any incident, regardless of fault or whether you plan to claim

Policy cancellation: Discovering an undeclared accident can lead your insurer to cancel or void your policy for non-disclosure

Check the small print of your car insurance

not a problem - it is a salutary lesson, but always worth remembering that insurance companies exist to make money for them - despite the cosy images they present in advertising, they are not on your side, they are on their side!

So, while market competition may work to reduce premiums - any excuse the insurance company can find which might justify increasing premiums will be used. It is a balance and not all companies will be the same in how they apply their logic, but there is enough similarity that some thing will apply in a similar manner across all companies - however they may still weight the logic differently, so it is always worth a comparison at renewal.

A grown up has arrived

Wow did not know you hve to declare in cases of no fault.

Sorry for derail but what happens if you are rear-ended in a hire vehicle in another country? This happened to us in the summer and I can't see how the insurance company logic @akkakk laid out works there - different vehicle, different location and even on a different insurance to our personal car.

Yep and guess how many insurers will take on people who have had their insurance cancelled? Not many. And those that do make you pay through the nose for it… plus most people would be pretty pissed off if their work contract was defrauded, or their home purchase was defrauded, but are fine and dandy with defrauding their car insurance. This is why in some countries it is the law to report any incidents to the police.

You report it to the hire company with as much information as you can garner and they take it from there. It’s their insurance.

On OP's question I would probably be tempted to go off insurance for all the reasons you've given, but hadn't considered things like repairs costing more than the quote. That might change my mind tbh

Either way, it might teach him a lesson to drive more carefully in future.

Oh of course we did all that, it did go through our hire insurance too. My question was about whether I have to declare it to my own insurer for our personal vehicle.

Go through your insurance.
I had a young lad hit my car whilst I was parked. Said he'd contact me etc. Didn't.
So i went through insurance, ended up having to block him and his Dad because they started harassing me to drop it.
Nope. You had your chance to fix it and I don't care how much your premium will go up.
It looked like a cracked numberplate, but underneath the bumper was all squashed in (bumpers are pretty much single use these days and stuffed full of collision/parking sensors etc.)
I think he was shocked at how much a new bumper would likely be and decided to pretend i didn't exist until I went away. Nope. Pay up. Be more careful next time.

This
never ever do this
what if the work is more
what if there is any ongoing issues
just a big fat no

but the insurance logic would still tie it in and say that if you are someone who has this happen to you once (irrelevant of country / car / etc.) statistically you are likely to have it happen again.

Let's take an example

• Driver A reacts very last minute to things - the lights change as they are about to cross and they slam on their brakes / they spot their turning almost too late and slam on their brakes and turn without indicating...
• Driver B is perhaps a little close to driver A, but that is because normally it is not an issue - they get away with their driving because most drivers react more gradually / slowly and give better indication, so they have time to react

but put B behind A and there is a accident waiting to happen - late decisions by A and too close by B = rear-end hit.

Arguably the fault is both A & B - but with a rear hit B will take most of the blame...

In another scenario (e.g. the OP)

• Driver C is driving well, plenty of notice - everything done right but...
• Driver D is distracted (phone / music / something outside the window / avoiding a child or bird or spider on the road!) and D hits C.

Arguably the fault is only D and D will take most of the blame

but in the computer world of an insurance company, it is very difficult to analyse those nuances, and if you did the statistics will probably show that in most scenarios, both drivers have played a role in that accident happening, however it is expressed in the telling - so the computers put a weighting on it - higher on Drivers B & D, but with some blame attached to A & C

And that is why anyone involved as either party will see an affect on their insurance...

A neighbour’s son damaged my car years ago so we agreed to settle it privately. The neighbour took my car off for repairs but the guy buggered up the respect and I was left with a bonnet with the paint peeling off. So, based on my experience, I would go through the insurance.

Anyone I know who has done this has regretted it. Odd odds on that he will get back to you saying that he can get a quote for it to be done cheaper. Massive stress.

I’ve settled privately twice for minor scratches/dents (both my fault, other cars were stationary) and in both scenarios the quotes were c.£400. I was happy to go with the preference of the car owners which was to do it privately. However for more serious damage as is the case with yours, no way would I go private. The insurance of his company will cover it. My car was rear-ended while parked another time, went through insurance for that, but no major increase to premium.