Car crash not my fault

[Shibby585]

Just wondering people's thoughts on this. Been driving for 15 years, 12 years no claims on my own policy. Was hit by a young driver from behind as I was waiting to pull off at the roundabout, she was really upset and I said its OK. I got her to pull over, told her to put hazards on and checked our cars.

There was more damage to hers than mine, I have some scuffs and some paint mark. I told her again not to worry and asked for insurance details, she said she didn't know them. She was upset so I also spoke to her dad and said there was only a bit of damage and we were both OK. I told them. I had the car in for a service the next day so would get it checked for safety. Dad also apparently did not know insurance details.

Got the girls number went home and messaged all my details, again she apologised and said if there were any repairs she would pay. I said that's fine I probably just need a new car seat it's probably not worth repair.

I asked again for details to cover myself in case of injury or something turned up wrong with the car she again refused. Then her dad got involved and started messaging saying he didn't have to provide details and they would pay for the car seat. I said if I didn't get them I would notify insurance and police. He said he's already made a police report.

I had to take the day off work and had to take it today, so I've been and got checked I have whiplash. In the end I got sick and rang my insurance and have asked them to deal with it all.

I feel really bad as her insurance will go up and the damage wasn't major, but I got sick of asking and I am actually injured and there is damage to my car. Am I the asshole here?

YANBU.

Except for use of the term "asshole"

YANBU. Going through insurance will be less hassle for you. I thought that refusing to give your insurance details was an offence? I would report this to the police.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

Except for use of the term "asshole"

Am I The Asshole is a well-known Reddit forum, it’s not just an Americanism.

OP, it’s their own fault. When my brother hadn’t long passed his test, he got 3 points for a parking violation and then another 3 because he rolled into the back of someone in a traffic jam. He was done for driving without due care and attention and he lost his license due to having 6 points in the first year. He had to resit his theory and practical tests, and his insurance premium, even years later, is abhorrent because of it. That’s how it goes. He did those things so he has to, literally, pay for it.

Just because something was an accident it doesn’t absolve people from the consequences, as nice as that would be!

@Intravenousbitch

YANBU. Going through insurance will be less hassle for you. I thought that refusing to give your insurance details was an offence? I would report this to the police.

This.

It sounds like she either wasn't insured on the car / wasn't insured without a parent or something similar - can't understand why else the dad wouldn't know insurance details if she didn't! Insurance details are easy to find, either on an email / letter / online account.

You did nothing wrong!

Step one - reporting to insurance, done.
Step two - report to police. Shouldn't insurance be mandatory? There's no way they don't know the details - not sure how it's in the UK but the disc with my insurance details is on my front screen over here.

Informing your insurance was of course the right thing to do. Don't respond anymore to her Dad if he contacts you.

Nope you've been more than reasonable and were nice to the driver.
Big daddy then steps in to sort it all out 🙄 they won't want you to claim because the drivers premiums will shoot up.
You did right given the details to the insurance company, let them sort it out

That's why you have car insurance, so that if you have an accident they sought it out for you which means less stress and hassle for yourself.

Something dodgy going on from their side, plus it’s usually a condition of your car insurance that you report any accident to them, even if not your fault. You definitely did the right thing.

I'm on the fence here - I don't think you've done anything wrong and they shouldn't be messing you about when it comes to insurance details.

But conversely I've been involved in a couple of similar incidents over the years (one where someone went into the back of me and one where I hit them) - both minor bumps with minor damage to fairly old cars - and in both cases the person at fault just paid the garage directly to fix the minor damage, and this seemed a lot more straightforward and cheaper than going through insurance! That said, insurance is probably the safer option!

I appreciate that damage was minor but as they refused to provide me details I had no way of knowing if this person was actually insured. What if I hadn't reported and this person was uninsured and went to do it to another person. That was my thinking and had they provided the details I would have maybe just gone down garage repair route and just report it as info only.

@daimbarsatemydogsbone sorry its off reddit 😂

You can check their insurance for a small fee here

www.askmid.com/askmidenquiry.aspx

You should never agree to settle this type of accident claim outside of insurance, that's the whole point of mandatory insurance! By allowing people like this to go around the system, their insurance (presuming they has any) won't know the full extent of the risk to insurance them, because it's highly unlikely they'll retrospectively report the accident having settled with you privately. At least it's reported now and given that it's a rear shunt incident, there should be no dispute over liability.

Just give your insurance company her reg and let them crack on. Anything else is a waste of time. You pay them to deal with this, as for being an asshole - she hit you and insurance is for that purpose. Don't worry yourself about anything else.

@EerieSilence

Step one - reporting to insurance, done. Step two - report to police. Shouldn't insurance be mandatory? There's no way they don't know the details - not sure how it's in the UK but the disc with my insurance details is on my front screen over here.

In the UK we don't have discs in the windscreen for anything. These days you are unlikely to have any physical paperwork; everything is online.

Sounds to me like she’s not insured for whatever situation the accident happened in.

It’s always best just to hand things straight over to your insurers to handle. I’ve never given anyone my own details in an accident (I’ve been driven into three times!) - just those of my insurer, and my name and policy number.

Put it in the hands of your insurance company.
Not everyone carries insurance details with them and online certificates don't help.
Accidents happen upsetting the bang is always the same.

She's maybe hoping you'll not claim but there could be more damage than you think. Check your boot floor isn't crumpled.

Accident was her fault and sounds like not insured so I would contact police.
But what's up with your seat? How does a minor scuff turn into needing a new seat. Sorry if I've missed something

Insurance company can check if car and driver was insured. Wonder if they have been fronting?

You say about feeling bad about her insurance going up, but you do realise your insurance will also increase, especially as you're making a whiplash claim

Why did the dad file a police report, on what grounds? He's hardly going to have reported his own daughter for not exchanging details. You only need to exchange details so if you got a reg, name, address and mobile number that should suffice. Just go through your insurance save you the headache they sound like a pita.

You've done absolutely the right thing.

Technically all incidents should be reported to your insurer, although small bits of damage often get dealt with 'on the quiet' of course I've absolutely never done this

But this isn't a small bit of damage, it's a personal injury claim as well as vehicle damage. There will probably need to be a hire car while yours is off the road, plus the repairs and then there's whiplash - I can tell you from personal experience that this can get protracted. There'll be referrals, treatment and assessments, all of which will be chargeable to whoever's at fault. If the insurers are involved, they thrash this out between themselves. If you and/or your insurer are trying to sort this out with the driver directly, that has the capacity to get horrendous - I should well imagine that they'll dispute everything. After all, they've not exactly been reasonable so far, so when the bills start to stack up they'll get even more so.

Hand it to your insurer and let them deal with it; it's what you pay them for.

A final word on whiplash - get it treated quickly and properly. Mine took several weeks for a referral/treatment to start and the physio was not only newly qualified but did more harm than good. I ended up paying for private treatment years down the line because the original injury had never been dealt with properly and I was still in pain, despite the whiplash being relatively mild. If you can - and check with your insurer first if you're wanting them to help you recover the money - go private now, and claim the money back through the rest of your insurance claim against the other driver's insurer.