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.

Mine did when I was rear ended.

I didn't make a claim but I had inflated premiums for three years.

Their justification was that if you're involved in one crash you're statistically more likely to be involved in more crashes.

Yes I think that’s the logic. A bit like houses being burgled. If your house is burgled, it means you’re more likely to live in a place where houses get burgled, despite it not being your fault.

Rather like the neighbours car 😆

In case no one has mentioned, did you have kids car seats in the car at the time of the incident? They may need to be replaced for safety reasons if so, in which case make sure she pays for the replacement ones (or claim via insurance if she says no!).

It’s £60-£80 a day here.

If she doesn't want to go through insurance then she needs to provide you with a hire car for those two days.

Or you could just get yourself a hire car to avoid the hassle and unpleasantness, and then go about your life knowing that your neighbour is an arse and that you won't be doing her any neighbourly favours in future.

I wonder if she doesn't want to go through insurance because her MOT is overdue, which is why her handbrake failed.

I wonder if an insurer would question the alleged handbrake failure. Either an overdue MOT, or carelessness.

I'd be sorely tempted to report it to the police as if there is no MOT, it might be deemed as driving without insurance. As you note, someone who can be difficult.

Be glad no one was injured.

How?

That's a good point - I wonder what happens if you have an accident and your insurer finds it's because you've not been maintaining your car properly - eg. bald tyres or things failing which should have been fixed?

I’d go through the insurance. As a PP said, there could be unseen damage. Unless she’s also covering a full inspection and a courtesy car, you need to claim.

If the manufacturers are picking up the expenses of getting yours fixed, they can pick up hire car costs too

It's very common for insurance to go up after a non-fault accident. They have to claim their costs back somehow!

She doesn’t get to decide this. Insurance all the way.

This. If your insurance company find out you may become uninsured or worse uninsurable. Check your policy....

@ShelleyCarpenter When I asked the insurance company they told me its because statistically if you are involved in an accident that isn't your fault, you're more likely to be involved in one that is your fault.

This.

How much do you trust this woman?

A friend’s husband had an accident with a delivery driver on a bike/moped.
It was the delivery driver’s fault as they were in a red light and he drove into them.
they agreed not to go via the insurance and then, the driver notified his insurance of the accident.
Friend’s DH got into trouble.

It's you that will have to pay your excess though, her premiums will go up and she'll lose her no claims

This may be incorrect, the op was not at fault. They should claim against the third party's insurance. I've personally not had to pay my excess for accidents which were not my fault.

This

With my insurance, I think that's the case, hastings

But hopefully not though for the op, hardly seems fair!

Your insurance will likely go up though. DH got rear ended at a roundabout and insurance went up significantly as it has to be declared (we checked how much it would be without the declaration for comparison sake when renewing and it was £100 less)

Always go through insurance.

Go through insurance. Your premium won't go up. A rear bed bump can hide a lot of other damage. If costs and time mount up, then how long is your neighbour happy to keep paying?

The delivery driver in this case did absolutely the right thing. He didn’t know your friend’s husband from Adam - why would he risk his own insurance policy for a stranger, especially for an at-fault accident that could potentially cost thousands?

The fact that your friend’s husband chose to break the terms of his own insurance is his own issue.

I was in a similar situation some years ago. Neighbour reversed in to my car and didn't want to go through insurance. Time and time again she promised me the money to get it fixed. Months passed and I never saw a penny. I would insist on going through insurance before it's too late. Plus your premium won't go up as is wasn't your fault 🙃