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?

Absolutely this! And always be prepared for your premiums to go up even if a crash isn't your fault. Almost 5 years ago I was hurt and my car written off in a crash that wasn't my fault. I got the market value of my (very old) car within a few months but I'm still waiting for the personal injury payout. I'm not sure I'll ever get one despite pushing my insurer (who is a household name that regularly advertise on TV!).

Even with the hassle of going through insurers I would never settle privately.

increase will last years. £4k is a one off.

I would settle privately.

No because the incident didn't occur in a vehicle that is insured with your insurer. Think of it like this - if you buy a can of soup from Sainsburys that turns out to be contaminated, you wouldn't take it back to Tesco.

It’s also possible this young van driver has been in a (or more🤔) similar accident before —which may explain why he knows so much about why he doesn’t want insurers involved now. Obvs OP must contact her insurers .

On this side of the Atlantic, insurance rates do not go up unless the insured is at fault.

correct in terms of sorting out that incident - it is not the responsibility of your personal car insurer...

potentially incorrect in terms of notifying your personal car insurance to be added to your profile / account - if you read the small print of your insurance it is extremely likely that you will need to notify them of any accident even if not in the car you are insured on / the country / etc. - it is still an indication of driver stats which are used to create your premium - if you don't let them know then they are potentially able to cancel insurance or refuse to pay out if for example they have reinsured you at lower premium than they might have done otherwise...

some insurers will want to know immediately -others on renewal - but you will probably find that your statement of fact will need to include any accidents you have been involved in...

Fair enough, I don't have to declare on mine. But you're right, it might be different for others.

The real problem with settling privately is the element of trust required on both sides to a total stranger. As you are both effectively defrauding your insurance companies, you can hardly draw up a contract.

So he pays you £4k upfront and trusts you to quietly get the work done, and not claim on insurance anyway. Or maybe, have a friendly garage actually charge you 3k and give you a paper estimate for 4k.

Or you get your car repaired and trust him to pay £4k afterwards and he prevaricates, part pays , or doesn’t pay at all.

The thing is, in what other circumstance would you totally trust a complete stranger over that amount of money?

I agree. Unless the car has been properly assessed through an inspection at a garage what might look like cosmetic problems could be hiding expensive and more importantly potentially dangerous damage.

I have experience of being the mum of the young driver. My ds went into the back of a car when he was 18 and had been driving around 6 months. The claim was made on his insurance and he was classed as at fault despite some questionable driving by the car in front (I’m not saying it wasn’t his fault, he didn’t brake in time but the history may have impacted the result). It wrote his car off as the repair costs were more than its value, but it was easily repairable. He had to pay about £150 when he got his replacement car and he had a large excess, but when he came to renew his insurance the price was actually similar. So it might not be as bad as he thinks, especially if he’s otherwise proving to be a good driver.

My car was hit by a distracted driver. My premium went up on renewal. Something to do with "more likely to be in an accident" even though it was not my fault nor avoidable and the other driver accepted liability. I had protected no claims.

If it was minor damage then yes, this sounds expensive so I’d let the insurance company deal with it. I guess you could let him know how much it will be to see if he can pay upfront but he needs to be honest. However if it’s a works van rather than his own personal vehicle, it will be covered on the employers insurance policy.

I was rear-ended at a roundabout by a young driver, 3 weeks after she had passed her test. Her car was a write off, the damage estimate was over £3k for my car so I went through insurance even though her dad tried very hard to pressure me to take the £3k and sort it privately. However, I refused, went through insurance and when the garage took my car apart to fix it, there was damage which hadn't been visible on the first inspection which resulted in another £1.7k on the bill. But as it was under insurance, the insurance company paid and provided me with a courtesy car. I doubt her dad would have stumped up more money.

Some insurance policies require you to notify them of accidents even if you don't make a claim. Check your policy wording because if it contains this clause and you don't make a declaration, you could be storing up future problems if you have an accident later.

His insurance will go but but nit double and can shop around. Black box etc. my dd went up £60 she did simikar to a parked car. Give him 24 hours to trabsfer and report. Say you very ill migrane unable to report earlier you need to explain the dekay.

Insurers oblige you to report an accident or crash. It could invalidate your insurance if you don’t. I’ve reported accidents in the past when I am not making a claim and it hasn’t put up my insurance.

OP go through your insurance, it is what it is for.

This.

Thanks to both you and @akkakk. I will check the small print 😃

It does go up a lot, yes, so I'd be as flexible as you can for a youngster trying their best. Things are much harder for them than they used to be.
Also, if you go through insurance yours might go up! I wouldn't have believed this, but when someone crashed into my car (totally his fault and he admitted it) my next bill was higher. Queried and they said if you're involved in a crash, even the innocent party, you are statistically more likely to crash. So avoid if at all possible.

Same happened to me a young driver hit my car at a junction and he pleaded with me to not go through the insurance, it looked like superficial damage I got his details anyway and it turned out the damage was far more than first thought and he actually contacted his insurance company before I contacted mine. He must’ve felt bad. I accepted liability and I got a courtesy car for 2 weeks whilst they fixed mine didn’t have to pay a penny. I felt bad for him but at the end of the day that’s what insurance companies are for, I can’t imagine his insurance would double .

Same happened to me. I rang up to query the process on making a claim as someone hit my stationary car in a carpark as a shopping centre. I didn’t end up claiming I just got it repaired and paid for it myself. The following year I renewed my insurance with another provider and they would only offer me a black box insurance!!. I was 37 at the time and had been driving with 13 years no claims and my insurance sky rocketed. I had to ring previous insurers to draft a letter up confirming i made no claims. They put up the premium
as I ‘made them aware’
of an ‘accident’..

As the mother of two similar age sons (with unblemished driving records) I would do this too.
I did in fact once for an older lady who rear ended me. Didn’t want to risk a risk in premium. No issues.

Thank you everyone for your advice/comments. I’ve taken it all on board and have today notified my insurance company. I let the young guy know as a matter of courtesy and he was very polite, didn’t pressure me to change my mind, and said he understood. He’s since notified his insurance company as well and has done the decent thing by admitting liability. I know this because they’ve been in touch with me as well.

Thanks again. 💐

Are you in America? Because in the uk they 100% go up. Unless three different insurers have lied to me. Had protected ncb every time.

Ex insurance claims weighing in!
Unlikely it would double and he doesn't know that either. I don't know how many years no claims he has but you only lose two years at a time for fault accidents, not the whole lot.

There is no reason that YOU can't go through YOUR insurer and they can seek settlement directly from him if he wishes to do that.

He is actually committing fraud by not telling his insurer about the accident he is responsible for. Insurers require you to report all incidents to them so they know what they could be liable for in the future (for example if you had to claim through them if he failed to pay up), and so they can correctly calculate risk and premiums.

If he chooses to pay for the work, his insurer won't have to pay anything, so it won't affect his premiums much at all, so there is no logical reason for him not to tell them.

It sounds like he is panicking and not acting very honestly or logically.

Given the large amounts involved, I would probably claim through my insurer and let them speak to the driver themselves to sort out who will pay them back.