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?

The best way to respond in this situation if you are insured fully comp is "I need to inform my insurer but you are welcome to talk to them about settling privately".

I'll let my insurance company sort it out.
I don't see point in paying for a service and not using it when it's needed. We've had the "I'll pay for the damage" and only had part of what they promised before, that was only a minor scuff when the car was parked.

If someone broke in to my house I'd be claiming for it on that insurance ASAP too.

Well obviously you don't have to and we've previously allowed a neighbour who dinged our car simply to pay for damage.

But of course you're well within your rights to go via insurance if it's your preference and she doesn't have a leg to stand on.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

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

Selfish to all of the other motorists who have to pay increased premiums to cover the cost of your fraud.

Good decision OP. The fact that the other driver scarpered is rather telling. Please keep us updated.

Yes, you have to have your insurance details on your car windscreen as well proof of Tax paid and your MOT date.

So in cases like the OP’s, where the other driver doesn’t want to involve the insurance, the OP could have taken a photo of the (insurance details) windscreen, before the car drove off. Very handy that!

As long as you have the licence plate, you can just input that into GOV.uk and find out if the car was taxed/insured in any case.

I had a car drive (very slowly) into the back of me a few months ago. My car is expensive and reasonably new. Minimal damage - my bumper was trashed and the exhaust was bent. Driver begged me to let him pay for a new bumper and exhaust. I refused and went through my insurance company.

My car sat in the insurers repair garage for nearly 3 months because it was impossible to get the replacement exhaust pipe. There were none whatsoever in the UK, and none in Europe, with a back order at the factory - this due to Covid and shortages. None available second-hand even; I am a car buff for my car marque, and I knew all the places to check.

For nearly 3 months my insurers provided me a brand new, mint, top of the range courtesy car. This probably cost the other insurance company well over £1500 a week.

Can you imagine the driver of the car that hit me agreeing, let alone being able to afford to pay for this?

For a £300 banger needing a dent popped out for £40, probably wouldn't involve insurance.

However, the damage described above is likely well over a grand. Any paint damage to door usually requires a full respray of the side. I've know several people needing £600 door respray after a dent little bigger than 50p - wouldn't pop out as on create so had to be filled, levelled and whole side sprayed to match colour.

Crease not create

Well obviously you don't have to and we've previously allowed a neighbour who dinged our car simply to pay for damage.

Well obviously you do have to inform your insurers of the accident. Your policy requires you to.

Not at all. When I had a crash, someone went into me, and then tried to get me to go private into a garage they knew!

The car was a complete write off, although didn't look that way! The insurance garage said that all the underneath was damaged beyond repair so what may look like a bad dent could be worse!!

I'd go through insurance I hope you're ok

What happened in the end op

@whynotwhatknot other drivers details were obtained so hopefully will be sorted quickly.

YANBU and it sounds like what she did now counts as a hit and run. However, I didn’t think it HAD to go through the insurance if the drivers could sort it amicably.

hope it's sorted soon