Neighbours handbrake failed

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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.

She needs to pay for your hirecar while your car is in the garage. She also needs to give you lifts to collect and return the hire car, as well as to and from the garage.
As soon as things get complicated it's best to go through insurance.
It would be astonishing for you to be held at fault for another car running into your staionary car.
Some people don't see or value a problem until it becomes their problem.

Similar has happened to us. We were also advised to replace the children's car seats we had in the car.

Insurance all the way.

Insurance all the way.
Go to a decent garage that is approved by the insurance company.
There may be more damage than you think.

No, always go through insurance as you have no paper trail otherwise.

Honestly, just go through insurance. You are not at fault. I have only ever made 2 claims- I was not at fault either time and it was not contested. It did not impact on my premium and courtesy cars etc all sorted for the duration.

Your premiums won't go up since it's her fault, and going through your insurance would get you a hire car. She needs to provide the same as your insurers would.

To those saying your premium didn't go up, did you do a comparison of declaring an accident the following year vs not? Mine did.

This - it’s not your fault so there will be absolutely no impact to your premiums.

I’d be telling her you need a car and that she needs to sort it.

tbh if you car will be ready on Tuesday I’d see that as a bonus, going through insurance will take weeks and be a ball ache

It's probably true that both your premiums will go up. Someone crashed into the back of my car at a roundabout and even though it was very clearly his fault (and he admitted liability as he was looking at his GPS) my insurance went up too. You definitely shouldn't have to be without a car though when its her fault.

Sadly that's not always true. My car was written off by a Royal Mail van over five years ago, and my insurance shot up by £300 a year. I switched insurers and got it cheaper in the end, but it wasn't an automatic thing.

Dealing with insurance is such a massive faff and the responsibility will be on you to sort things/chase things up, I’ve had two insurance claims that weren’t my fault, no change to my premiums but dealing with them both was a complete nightmare both times, I had to deal with 4 separate departments and I’m still awaiting a payout from one nearly two years later.

“going through the insurance” is not the easy solution people think it is!

tell her if she can’t arrange something more convenient you’ll have to go through insurance, but to be honest I wouldn’t recommend it.

say "no thanks I'll go through insurance so i can have a hire car"
And do it.

Definitely go through insurance, these kind of accidents can cause a lot more damage than you think. A learner driver rolled back down a hill and hit my car at a junction, it seemed like a small dent on the bonnet, there was actually over £1,000 of damage and this would have been at early 2000’s prices. You certainly shouldn’t have the inconvenience of being without your car anyway.

Thanks all

Can't remember who asked but not a scratch on her car

And to the person who said it's not a problem until it becomes theirs, that resonates as she can be a bit of a difficult person

My MOT is due in 10.weeks so yes hadn't thought of unseen damage

Go through the insurance.

Your premium won't go up because you were parked.

Your insurance ecompany will provide a courtesy car if you pay for that option.

There maybe be damage that isn't immediately obvious if it made a significant dent.

@SaladSandwichesForTea, yes I did and made no difference at all either time. I did not pay a penny, had a courtesy car delivered and picked up etc. Obviously depends on your insurance provider, but on both occasions the other party were obviously with quite a lot of damage. Also to echo other people, I know someone who have had a minor bump when some reversed into them at low speed and did not go through insurance. They thought there was no damage and then had his bonnet catch fail and fly up whilst doing 70 mph on the m1 in the outside lane. They were lucky to safely get to the hard shoulder.

Maybe it depends who you're insured with.

In 20+ years of driving, I've had 3 no fault claims. I've never done anything more than tell them what happened and provide photos. They did everything else.

If it's drivable I would tell her to book it after the holidays. if not, insurance/courtesy car

That's never been my experience. I've had a fault and a non-fault claim with (both with different insurers) and all I had to do in both cases was fill out an online form and send over some photos. They dealt with everything else and just e-mailed me when the claim was sorted.

They don't need an excuse to put your insurance up by £300 a year, as proved by my recent renewal quote (Hastings).🤬. No claims or accidents. Luckily, shopping around brought the premium down.

Oh, I know, I was just giving an example of when a non-fault accident led to a massive raise in premiums. I rang to cancel and they asked why, and I said "well, I can get it for less than half price with x" and the lady at the other end of the phone genuinely said "oh, that's fair enough" lol.

I would get the garage to assess the damage and give you a quote, and get something in writing that she’ll pay it. That way you can be sure that they’ve checked it thoroughly and there’s no hidden damage.

I don’t know what she’s talking about when she says her car’s manufacturer will pay. I suspect that’s bollocks.

Regarding insurance, sadly insurance does go up after a no-fault claim. It’s not meant to, but it does. I had a car badly damaged by a speeding driver. My car was parked outside a friend’s house , I wasn’t even in it. But I still had to declare it on all subsequent insurance quotes, and it definitely went against me. Several insurance agents have told me that premiums are higher if you’ve had claims in the last 5 years, even if they weren’t your fault. I think they have a “no smoke without fire” attitude, thinking that even if it wasn’t your fault, you still must have done something that increased your risk. That’s insurance for you!

Did her handbrake really ‘fail’ or did she carelessly not have it back in place ??

I’d tell her you’ve taken advice and are going through insurance.

Text her now and say that doesn’t work for you. You want the insurance to handle it in case there’s unseen damage.