To say a crash HAS to go through insurance

[Chelyanne]

So on the school run and bang... a woman reversed out in to the side of our car.
She asked me if we could not involve insurance and she'd pay for the damage (passenger door, rear wing, rear bumper, side trim and alloy all have visible damage). I said no it has to go through insurance and she left in a huff leaving me with no contact details, I did get a pic of her numberplate on and we have dash cams front and rear too. No injuries to me or 5 kids in the car, she had an adult passenger and they both looked okay too.

Do you think I was being unreasonable saying no to her?

OP's insurance premium will go up which is a pita, but she has been in a situation where an accident occurred - pp have said they've witnessed several bumps at their school at pick-up, if OP hadn't have been there then no accident. It's shit but it's logical. Same with travel insurance - if they loose your bag your premium would still increase as you took a suitcase rather than hand-luggage only, on an entirely optional holiday.

@kirinm

There is absolutely no legal basis on which you can force her to make a claim against her own insurance company. The OP is legally entitled to make a claim against her but it is up to her whether she informs her insurer.

That's not correct. Oo reports to fault drivers insurers so there fault drivers insurers are now informed Fault driver absolutely must report it

There also the risk of unseen damage which could have a Cristal effect on the future

Critical effect

You were perfectly reasonable as she was at fault. Sometimes it can be cheaper all round to settle without insurance so premiums don't go up, but that's your prerogative as the injured party.

Sometimes it can be cheaper all round to settle without insurance so premiums don't go up, but that's your prerogative as the injured party.

But you are still required to inform the insurers of the accident. It's not optional.

she gave no contact details at all?

So she wasn't going to actually pay the repair bill, was she?

Inform the police; she's probably uninsured, the car is untaxed with no MOT, , and she's not the registered owner .

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

I think you’re foolish op, even with it not being your fault your premiums go up. As long as it gets fixed I don’t see why so keen to go through insurance and fuck over the other person

As if the liable party is now the victim 😅 god i love mumsnet

As if the liable party is now the victim 😅 god i love mumsnet indeed got to love mn where no one has ever made a mistake ffs

Don’t even need the other persons details- take a pic of the other parties number plate the minute an accident happens

But you are still required to inform the insurers of the accident god live in the real world! I’ll do the right thing when it doesn’t cost me more

Most things like this cost a few hundred at least to fix, I question some people's maths that they figure by their premium rising (it will fall again over time) it's going to cost more than potentially £500 plus. Claims under a certain amount barely register anyway. The insurance companies must be laughing though, everyone pays for a service but most people don't want to claim on it if need be. Weird.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

YANBU - report her to Police 101 for leaving the scene without exchanging details. They won't be interested or do anything but it will at least be recorded. Then tell your insurers.

This. Don't risk your insurance because the other party's a dick.

reversing out into a ton of metal isnt a mistake is it what if it was a child

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

But you are still required to inform the insurers of the accident god live in the real world! I’ll do the right thing when it doesn’t cost me more

Incredibly selfish. Do you apply the same attitude to all aspects of your life?

@notangelinajolie

Be aware though, your premiums will probably go up if you go through insurance, even if it's not your fault.

Bemaware that your insurance will almost certainly be invalidated if you don't go through them....

I’ll do the right thing when it doesn’t cost me more

Depends how comfortable you are committing fraud I guess?

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

But you are still required to inform the insurers of the accident god live in the real world! I’ll do the right thing when it doesn’t cost me more

Is that the same for other stuff, like shoplifting, financial fraud etc?

@whynotwhatknot

reversing out into a ton of metal isnt a mistake is it what if it was a child

This happened to us.

Walking home from school with 3DDs - 8, 6 and one in a pram.

One of streets has a house on the corner. The owner decided to reverse out of their drive. With their music on full blast. So didn’t see nor hear that it was school run time.

I don’t how I managed it, but I threw the break on the pram, ran down and had to push my 6YO out of the way and I ended up on the boot of the car - the driver still didn’t notice.

She noticed when I started thumping her rear window and screaming like a lunatic at her.

I had a cracked rib.

Is that the same for other stuff, like shoplifting, financial fraud etc? how’s that comparable ? In this scenario the person hit ie. me on my decision, is the victim, if I don’t want to be penalised and am happy to let the perpetrator pay for the repairs, who suffers?

Incredibly selfish. Do you apply the same attitude to all aspects of your life? selfish to who?

if I don’t want to be penalised and am happy to let the perpetrator pay for the repairs, who suffers?

There are several examples on this thread showing that it's the victim who suffers when the repair is shoddy or the perpetrator ghosts them.

In the OP's case the woman who drove into her clearly can not be relied upon to pay up given she drove off.

@SoupDragon

In the OP's case the woman who drove into her clearly can not be relied upon to pay up given she drove off.

Agreed but she didn’t know that when she said I’ll go through insurance. Like I said first thing to be done after any accident is take pics of the other car, doesn’t matter then if you have their details.

So we’ve all had a huge debate … and the OP has not been back ..