Neighbours handbrake failed

[SkySmiler]

So her car rolled into mine and made quite a significant dent, she doesn't want to go through insurance as 'both' our premiums would go up.

So she's proposed arranging fixing and paying for it herself, so we took car to garage with her and they have said to drop it off tomorrow at 9am and it can be collected at 6pm on Tuesday.

It's the school holidays and she expects me to be without a car for 2 days whilst she experiences no inconvenience - apparently her car manufacturer will reimburse her the money she has to spend on getting mine fixed, so no inconvenience for her and she won't be out of pocket either and she can go on about her day(s) with no problems.

I would just go through insurance in case there's more serious damage to your car than the dent. If it's not your fault, I don't think your premiums will necessarily go up and if they do, car insurance is one of those things it pays to shop around for on renewal.

I don't know much about all this, but my DH accidentally damaged a nice neighbour's car recently and they both tried for ages to sort out some way of not going through insurance, but had to give up and take that route in the end.

I would just book it in for after the hols. But equally, I'd manage fine without a car for 2 days.

Quite a few car accident repair places offer a courtesy car, they are very used to people turning up and paying to repair the other person's car in this kind of situation. As long as you are sure it is just a small dent/cosmetic it will probably be quicker.
I had to do the same recently, by the time I'd repaired my car and the other guy's it was over £600, honestly I do wonder if I should have used my insurance!

You won't have to pay any excess if it's not your fault.

Go through insurance. That’s what it’s for!

Your insurance probably won't go up. Mine didn't when a moronic neighbour did the same to ours and wrote it off as it was an old car. I put it through her insurance, got a hire car for 2-3 weeks whilst they evaluated the damage before writing it off, and got a settlement far higher than I'd have got if part exchanged. I disclose the accident in renewals ever since, but not noticed any hike in premiums at all because of it.

That’s not necessarily true, it depends on your policy. Many of them require you to pay your excess up front and then they claim it back from the other party.

This is what insurance is for.

If your insurance would have provided a courtesy car then yes she needs to cover a hire car for you. If not then you’d have been in the same
position if you went through insurance so not really her fault if you’re without a car.

I’d definitely notify your insurance and take their advice of how to proceed. There can be more damage than initially meets the eye

Also - how long ago did this happen? You generally have 24 hours to notify your insurers even if you don’t plan on claiming. They can take down the details for “information only” so that it doesn’t come back and bite you in the future. I’ve done this a few times when people have hit my car and it never really had an impact on costs.

She’s a chancer. Do it properly, through the insurance

Use insurance. They send an expert to assess the damage. What looks like a small dent could be hiding other damage underneath.

You know she forgot to put the hand break on don’t you?

Oh really? When j called my insurance company to explain, he said that if they make a claim against me, I won't have to pay excess

When I googled, they have to pay excess and then claim it back?

As others have said, there may be more damage than you realise. They really need to look under the car and check things like whether the exhaust has shifted etc before quoting for the repair. There's probably no benefit to you to doing it as she suggests.

When people say to go through the insurance company, you don't need to use your own (although you should inform them). You can deal directly with her insurance company which means your policy excess is irrelevant-they'll look after you so that you don't end up with one of those accident claims companies which charge huge amounts. When you both report the bump, expect her insurance company to get in touch.

This yiu need to go through insurance simple as otherwise later on it could void your insurance

Yeah, hire car as well or insurance

You're right @mumofoneAlonebutokay.

You only pay your own excess if you're claiming for damage to your own vehicle - whether the other party claims (or not) is irrelevant.

Text her and say that’s fine but we still need a car during that time so either you can arrange a courtesy car for those days or indeed let me use yours for 2 days or pay for all Ubers but either way we need transport.

or I will need to go through my insurance. I would have gone through my insurance any way. She would have paid everything including courtesy car etc

I wouldn’t go to the hassle of hiring a car for two days. Carry on with your plans, get Ubers and say ‘I can’t manage without a car for two days Carole so can you reimburse me for the Ubers / taxis please?

Nah go through insurance..it's pretty obvious she's forgotten to put the handbrake on. Otherwise, hers would be going in the garage itself.

That happened to us and the car needed a new panel which took weeks to source, fit and do the respray. Luckily, the guy who rolled into our stationary car wasn't an arsehole, and put it through his insurance. We had a replacement car for weeks.

put it through your insurance, they will then claim off hers so it shouldn’t increase your premium. I wouldn’t be entertaining her nonsense.