To not know what to do after car crash

[autumn5678]

I went into the back of a van yesterday - completely my fault. I was stopped at a roundabout behind him, he moved off, I moved forward, looking right for space in traffic, finally move off and go into the back of him as he'd stopped again and I hadn't realised.

I was moving off from being stationary so less than 5mph, no visible damage to my car and a dent to the back of his door which isn't huge.

I said initially I'm happy to pay outright for the damage as it looks minor. He said he's busy at the moment so it might take a few days to get quotes, which is making me nervous as I want to just get it sorted. Is there a chance that he can report to his insurance while I'm waiting which can get me in trouble?

I've not been in this situation before so really don't know what to do. He seemed genuine but I'm worried!

No, you don't have to report to the police if no-one is hurt, provided you stop and exchange details with the other driver.

So do people who settle outside of insurance not declare it to their insurers? I phoned mine who confirmed that if I tell them about an incident without claiming it goes up!

I've done some renewal quotes online and it looks like my insurance would go up by about £300 next year, plus my £95 excess so it would be at least £400 all in to do it that way,

I'm going to phone him today and see if he's had any private quotes and then take it from there.

My husband hit someone at low speed in a car park last September. We notified our insurance but ended up paying privately for the damage. I got a letter last week saying that as they didn't pay anything out they were giving him back the 2 years no claims that he'd lost and refunding us £161 that had been the increase on our insurance in January.

You are obliged to report all incidents to your insurers anyway - whether or not you involve them in paying for repairs.

When you next come to renew your insurance, you will need to declare any accidents at that time as well.

Failure to do either of these will render your insurance null and void.

minionsrule - I bumped into the car in front recently, was completely my fault and I felt (still feel) horribly guilty over it. Stop/start traffic, didn't leave enough of a gap and DD screaming in back seat so was temporarily distracted, even though I slammed on the brakes when I saw the brake lights it wasn't enough. No excuse really.

Swopped details with the driver in front who wanted to report it to police (Because I had never been involved in an accident, I didn't know what the legalities were and didn't feel in any position to argue over it.)

When the police came and I admitted responsibility they issued me with a
fine and 3 penalty points for careless driving.

The damage was a bit more than the OP's crash though - the car in front (4x4) had a dent in their rear bumper, but the bonnet of my little car crumpled like tinfoil (guess they're designed to) even though it was a low speed incident.