to accept this - car insurance related

[wimblehorse]

I was in a minor accident over the weekend. The driver on my outside on a roundabout turned into me, scraping the wheel arch of my car, breaking my wing mirror (& scraping her wheel arch, didn't look as bad as mine). I don't think she saw me at all. Admittedly I was in the wrong lane, as was she (I approached in middle lane for 3rd exit, she was in right lane for 2nd exit). No-one hurt & we exchanged insurance details & I took pics of the damage.

I notified my insurance company about the accident but the other driver has contacted me to suggest we settle it privately. I have a £300 policy excess which I think if she admits the accident was her fault, I don't have to pay. But otherwise I have to pay it & my insurance company will try to claim it back from her insurers. If she doesn't admit fault, I'm out of pocket the £300 & lose my no claims bonus. I know a garage I have used before that will charge £250 for the repair.

I'm happy in principle to sort it privately but if she is offering to pay some (or all?) of my repair bill. Am I even allowed to settle without going through insurance? What if she then tried to make a claim against me? Would it still affect my no claims?

Does anyone know?

You are free to settle it privately, but you will still have to declare it to your insurer.
I wouldn't tho. What is to stop her settling privately and then 'discovering' further damage and going thru the insurance anyway? At least if you go thru the insurance they will have the cars inspected and you know anything paid out is in full and final settlement and you don't have to worry about it any more.
People in my experience get far too worked up about claiming on insurance. I have had a claim in the last couple of years and the renewal price was higher, but not high enough to negate the payout.

Yeah I'm just a bit worried by the 'settling privately' thing. If she hadn' t got in touch, I would have just paid the £250 & got it fixed by my garage rather than thru insurance as their approved garage will be more & I have to pay £300 excess.
I don't really think she has a claim on me because she turned into me, it's just if she wanted to make up a bogus whiplash claim or something and I hadn't been all above board with my insurance could it screw me up...

I've had a similar offer when the other driver reversed into my car when it was parked outside the friends house.
We refused because the repair would take a few days and we needed the hire car the insurance provided. Just something to think about.

Roundabout incidents are never easy to resolve fault, so they often get settled 50/50 - as you said you may both have been in incorrect lanes that sounds most likely in this case.

It would probably be cheaper to sort it out privately (assuming all goes OK), but if it were me I'd be tempted to stick with the insurance route, I get paranoid about things coming back to bite me later.

She hit you - she's at fault. Very hard to prove though and your insurers will probably insist you both go 50/50 which means you will both lose your excess and no claims.

I had a similar incident last year, I was definitely in the correct lane and she wasn't, plus she drew a diagram of 3 Lane roundabout when there were four lanes.

Mine was worth pursuing but as you were both in the wrong lane it's worth getting it settled privately. It doesn't affect either insurance.

She hit you - she's at fault. Very hard to prove though and your insurers will probably insist you both go 50/50 which means you will both lose your excess and no claims.

I had a similar incident last year, I was definitely in the correct lane and she wasn't when she cut in front of me and hit me, plus she drew a diagram of 3 Lane roundabout when there were four lanes (For the insurers) which didn't help her at all.

Mine was worth pursuing but as you were both in the wrong lane it's worth getting it settled privately. It doesn't affect either insurance.

I was hit by an uninsured driver on a roundabout and was told ALL roundabout claims go to their dispute department as they are so often found to be 50/50. This is despite the fact I was hit by an uninsured driver. That makes them legally at fault by virtue of the fact they are uninsured. So if mine went to dispute when there was no one to dispute with then yours will certainly go to dispute. This may be long and protracted before you recover your excess which is highly unlikely. My insurer actually told me to sort it directly with the uninsured driver who was offering to pay. I'd personally get it sorted privately.

I can manage without a car for few days while it's fixed so cheaper (for me!) sounds very tempting.

If I tell my insurer I'm not making a claim & she is above board and doesn't try to claim against me, I definitely keep my no claims bonus, right? They can't refuse it just because they know there was an incident.

Do you think if I got her to sign something that she wasn't going to make a claim & I accepted her £whatever as 'full & final' settlement of the incident would that help stop anything coming back to bite me?

Was yours settled in your favour Wicker?

Settle privately but disclose to your insurers. Give them the facts. This protects you should she later decide that she has been injured and goes for a 50/50 settlement. As others have said roundabout accidents often settle on a 50/50 basis and with the facts you have provided if think this would also prove to be the case.

Also, should you have an accident in the future, a no augment fault accident say, and you have failed to disclose this accident then it could negate the policy. I think settle privately but just explain that you are just informing them.

That makes them legally at fault by virtue of the fact they are uninsured.

That's bollocks. It makes them an idiot (and lawbreaker) for not having insurance, but it doesn't automatically mean they are at fault.

X post freewee.
So your insurer told you to settle it? That's interesting. Mine haven't said anything about disputes, just took some details & asked about witnesses. Maybe because I said I may not claim for my damage & they hadn't heard from his insurer? Or maybe they are cheap & cheap Did they suggest any way to be sure the uninsured driver couldn't't make a dodgy injury claim or similar against you?

wimblehorse

Do you think if I got her to sign something that she wasn't going to make a claim & I accepted her £whatever as 'full & final' settlement of the incident would that help stop anything coming back to bite me?

I was wondering about that, but I don't think it would hold up. I have something at the back of my mind telling me a person can't sign away their rights to claim, no idea if there is anything of that nature. Anyway, she could always claim she was made to sign it under duress and it could throw up all manner of accusations.

I would avoid insurance claim if at all poss.
I was hit by another driver who admitted liability at the time yet the case dragged on for well over a year as the other drivers insurance tried every which way to try and make it appear to be my fault. This included false witness statements and photos of a different tesco car park to the one in which the accident happened.
Anyway despite eventual police involvement and settling in my favour I was left feeling really hurt and disillusioned by the whole process.
My insurance premium also went up considerably despite protected no claims bonus and absolutely no cost to my insurance. Their rationale was that even though the accident was in no way my fault I was statistically more likely to have another accident in the next few months.

Sorry to be so long winded. I would settle privately if it ever happened again. The insurance companies just complicated things.

Yes Tash that's what worries me if she 'decided' she was injured. I know from an accident 3 years ago (driver went into back of me at about 2 mph, I was stationery) that I was called for MONTHS by companies promising thousands in compensation, even when I said I wasn't't injured. She could see the $$ and change her story.
As long as I disclose it to insurer they'd be ok? I thought it would have to be a secret, can't believe insurers suggest it!

Yes mine went in my favour because I was like a dog with a bone and went out of my way to prove it, it also helped that she was in completely the wrong lane and wasn't even aware how many lanes there were on the roundabout.

As someone mentioned, ask her to sign for full and final settlement, that will come in handy although I can't see her coming back for more as she's in the same boat as you and doesn't want to lose her no claims. It doesn't look good on her if it's already been settled and then she comes back trying to then claim on the insurance, it looks suspicious.

You won't lose any no claims or excess if you settle privately as your insurers haven't had to pay anything out.

If I were you, I'd definitely settle private and save yourself the hassle of the paperwork, explaining yourself and the risk of it costing you your excess and no claims.

As for the personal injury claim at a later date, she could do that regardless of whether you go through the insurance or not so it makes no difference.

The insurance companies are becoming more savvy on people doing this now so she's unlikely to get anywhere with that.

If you sign something that says you have agreed the sum she has offered in full and final settlement then it means that you cannot claim at a later date.

Liability has not been agreed upon. You could argue that she was at fault, why else would she settle the vehicle damage privately if not but still it's not set in stone.

The difference that it will make will be that if she decides to claim for the accident later on down the line and you have already notified them then first of all they have a contemporaneous account of the incident to argue liability and secondly it will not affect any cover that you have/had if they find out about the accident but it may do so should you fail to.

Most policies include a condition where they're informed of any accidents. You are not claiming and therefore it should not affect your ncb or premiums you are simply informing them of a none fault accident that is being settled privately.