Should I pay direct or go via insurance?

[insuranceornot]

A few weeks back I accidentally clipped someone's car in a car park whilst reversing (at a very slow speed obviously so the damage to the other car was minimal). However because I'm an honest person I left a note on the windscreen with an apology and my name and number to resolve it. Person called and said they'd get a quote to fix the damage (which like I say, I personally had to squint to see at that time). We agreed to settle it that way rather than insurance depending on the quote the person came back with. They have now come back to me with a quote of several hundred pounds and I simply can't afford that right now. Should I just give my insurance details instead and go via them? I have 9 years protected no claims, will I lose these? No idea what to do, any advice welcomed. Thanks

Yes, go via insurance. You don’t want any more surprise demands further down the line. Using your insurer protects you from any scams.

Just to add, not sure if it's relevant or not (probably not), but the person wasn't parked in a space, either. Their car was abandoned in an area that is not an official space but all space were taken, so their car was in an awkward spot for me to get out, and that's clearly how I've accidentally hit it.

Did you take any pictures at the time, to show where they were parked ?

Thanks @DustyLee123. Just worried about how this will affect my insurance and 9 years of no claims ☹️

Did you take photos? And have you seen the quote?
If your answer is yes to both of these and you can't afford to pay then insurance is the way to go. If not then ask to see the quote to make sure that the car owner isn't trying to scam you

Sadly not ☹️ I just had a bit of a panic and wrote a note, I was in tears to be honest as I'd had an awful morning anyway and that was the icing on the cake. So I wasn't in a calm rational headspace afterwards to think to take a photo. I just scribbled my details down and drove off. Possibly part of me was worried about confrontation too if the driver came back, knowing I wasn't mentally in a good place to deal with that, if that makes sense

I have seen the actual quote breakdown, they've sent it to me. It looks legit.

You need to tell your insurance about any accidents you have. If the other driver decides to now go through insurance you could be in trouble for not telling them about the accident.

My policy says I have 24 hours to report any accidents.

If you have protected NCD, and haven't made any other claims that would breach your limit (usually you are allowed two claims in five years without losing your NCD), you won't lose your NCD.

Your premium will probably go up though, and all premiums are shooting up at the moment so you should budget for that at your next renewal. Your base premium will go up (because your risk status will have changed) but your NCD % will remain unchanged because you have protection.

My car was parked first, and their parking afterwards sort of behind me but to the side if you like meant I was partially blocked and had to do a several point manoeuvre to get out, so it was tight. Not a surprise I struggled. They shouldn't have left their car there that's for sure. But I have no way of proving how they were parked. No cctv covering it either, small private car park.

@Defiantlynot41 thanks. I'm thinking I'll go through insurance. Do you think the increase won't come into effect until my renewal then?? Or will it happen immediately?

Increase won’t happen till renewal. I don’t think it matters where they parked, you hit a stationary car. I slid into a car that stopped on the road in heavy snow. Something else was coming up the other side so I couldn’t go around. It was very slow, just cracked a light but it was my fault as they were stationary.