Minor road accident - do you involve insurance

MCMP13 · 2025-12-17T10:47:09+00:00

Ive been involved in first minor road accident and not sure what to do - noone was hurt. The lady who crashed into me took full responsibility for it and offered to pay any damages. We’ve took each other’s details. My car is damaged - still drivable but also will need to go in for repairs. Is it best to just go through insurance? Or is it common to let her pay privately. Also - if I go through insurance does it affect my no claims bonus if it wasn’t my fault? Will my insurance cost be affected in the future

OnTheBoardwalk · 17/12/2025 10:50

Yes! Always tell your insurance company

LoserWinner · 17/12/2025 10:53

There may be invisible damage to the chassis. Tell insurance and get it checked.

LeroyJenkinssss · 17/12/2025 10:55

Tell your insurance company. It’s far too much hassle to not. She may be perfectly fine and pay whatever is asked, but she may turn round and say that it’s too much, her brother/uncle/friend of a friend can do it so much cheaper or it’s not worth it.

JaneIves · 17/12/2025 10:55

Your premiums could go up, yes.
Several years ago my almost 3 year old car was written off - it was parked and I wasn’t even in it. No fault claim but my premium increased quite considerably, when I questioned my insurers, it was because of the no fault claim!

If you decide to not go through insurers and do it privately, get a couple of quotes for repair first, and pass those details on to whoever will be paying for the repair.

LeroyJenkinssss · 17/12/2025 10:56

ive had my car totalled by a truck who was deemed at fault (rightfully so!) and my insurance didn’t change at all

Rollercoaster1920 · 17/12/2025 11:03

You need to notify insurance. But decide whether you want to claim from your insurance (if fully comp) or from the person that hit your car's insurance.

If your car is a few years old your insurance company may write it off because insurance approved repairs are so expensive. Approx 3-4 thousand for a bumper!

You can buy the car back from the insurance company (I paid approx 30% of the write off value) then get it fixed yourself, or live with the cosmetic issues.

Or go to a trusted garage, get a quote to fix, and go to the other party's insurance with that quote and see if they will pay.

Flowerslamp · 17/12/2025 11:07

Lots of people will ask you to settle privately so that they can avoid going through insurance and affecting their no claims, bit legally you should tell your insurer abiut any accidents, even if they aren't being asked to pay.

IME, yes it will affect the cost of renewal. Someone hit DS's car whe he wasnt even in it (parked). They owned up and it was settled through their insurers, but it still counted as a claim for his insurance.

Personally, I'd go through the insurance for anything except something so insignificant I wasn't worried if it didn't get fixed.

HangryBrickShark · 17/12/2025 11:09

I opened my car door in a gust of wind and it dented neighbours car door. I was parked up at the time in my allocated space. I fessed up immediately, offered to pay for damage (small scratches and dent on door). Initially i said I'd go through my insurance but then thought it would be better to just pay it out of my own funds.

She said she'd ask her husband whether it needed repairing. He said it did and got a quote, said it would cost £350 as it needed a new door and sent me a copy of a "quote' which was actually a screen shot of a text message. I duly sent the money to the couple via BACS totally trusting their integrity. I asked her to send me the paperwork to say the garage had carried out the repairs but never heard from them again.

We then moved house. Two months later I've been back to our old road and sneaked over to the car to see if the door had been repaired and it hasn't. I took a video of it and its still the same as it was when I'd done the initial damage. I'll never do that again, I'm really cross as I trusted them to fix it and two months is enough time to get it repaired.

Livelovelaughfuckoff · 17/12/2025 11:09

clairm through their’s if they are accepting full responsibility. When DS’s car was hit the damage didn’t look too awful from the outside but the chassis was bent and the other drivers insurance wrote it off straight away and made an offer. They also provided a courtesy car while he looked to replace his.

Personally I would t want the hassle of using my own time to seek quotes, liaise with the other driver and be without my car whilst it’s fixed.

Livelovelaughfuckoff · 17/12/2025 11:11

HangryBrickShark · 17/12/2025 11:09

I opened my car door in a gust of wind and it dented neighbours car door. I was parked up at the time in my allocated space. I fessed up immediately, offered to pay for damage (small scratches and dent on door). Initially i said I'd go through my insurance but then thought it would be better to just pay it out of my own funds.

She said she'd ask her husband whether it needed repairing. He said it did and got a quote, said it would cost £350 as it needed a new door and sent me a copy of a "quote' which was actually a screen shot of a text message. I duly sent the money to the couple via BACS totally trusting their integrity. I asked her to send me the paperwork to say the garage had carried out the repairs but never heard from them again.

We then moved house. Two months later I've been back to our old road and sneaked over to the car to see if the door had been repaired and it hasn't. I took a video of it and its still the same as it was when I'd done the initial damage. I'll never do that again, I'm really cross as I trusted them to fix it and two months is enough time to get it repaired.

Why are you cross? You damaged their car and compensated them accordingly. None of your business if and when they get it fixed and I say that as a person who has also accidentally damaged a car sent the money and the owner chose not to fix it.

why are you taking video evidence what exactly do you think you can do about it?!

BadgernTheGarden · 17/12/2025 11:13

Sometimes people say this at the time, then when you present the bill they don't want to pay (you didn't have that much damage, it wasn't really my fault, my DH says I shouldn't pay, etc, etc) and it's a bit late to go to your insurers then. That sounds like fairly serious damage, if it was a few scratches I might risk it. Do you have no claims insurance, it's worth doing another time if not. And legally you should inform your insurance of any accidents.

Flowerslamp · 17/12/2025 11:13

HangryBrickShark · 17/12/2025 11:09

I opened my car door in a gust of wind and it dented neighbours car door. I was parked up at the time in my allocated space. I fessed up immediately, offered to pay for damage (small scratches and dent on door). Initially i said I'd go through my insurance but then thought it would be better to just pay it out of my own funds.

She said she'd ask her husband whether it needed repairing. He said it did and got a quote, said it would cost £350 as it needed a new door and sent me a copy of a "quote' which was actually a screen shot of a text message. I duly sent the money to the couple via BACS totally trusting their integrity. I asked her to send me the paperwork to say the garage had carried out the repairs but never heard from them again.

We then moved house. Two months later I've been back to our old road and sneaked over to the car to see if the door had been repaired and it hasn't. I took a video of it and its still the same as it was when I'd done the initial damage. I'll never do that again, I'm really cross as I trusted them to fix it and two months is enough time to get it repaired.

I think that's OK. You did damage that would have cost that to fix, and affect the value of the car. They decided not to have the work done, but you still owed them the money.

I would always go through insurance, but I dont think they did anything awful.

BadgernTheGarden · 17/12/2025 11:18

And of course sometimes they offer to pay because they don't have insurance at all, and I would want them off the road.

Badbadbunny · 17/12/2025 11:22

LeroyJenkinssss · 17/12/2025 10:56

ive had my car totalled by a truck who was deemed at fault (rightfully so!) and my insurance didn’t change at all

Likewise, my car, parked outside my house, was written off by the moronic neighbour across the road who forgot to put her handbrake on, so it rolled off her drive and damaged mine, bending the back axle. No affect on insurance premium for me at all. We claimed against and bought it from the neighbours insurers after write off, and repaired it at our cost and it's been on the road for the past five years, still going strong, and still cheap insurance, full no claims discount, no hikes at all, even though the accident and write off history was fully declared to my insurers.

BadgernTheGarden · 17/12/2025 11:22

HangryBrickShark · 17/12/2025 11:09

I opened my car door in a gust of wind and it dented neighbours car door. I was parked up at the time in my allocated space. I fessed up immediately, offered to pay for damage (small scratches and dent on door). Initially i said I'd go through my insurance but then thought it would be better to just pay it out of my own funds.

She said she'd ask her husband whether it needed repairing. He said it did and got a quote, said it would cost £350 as it needed a new door and sent me a copy of a "quote' which was actually a screen shot of a text message. I duly sent the money to the couple via BACS totally trusting their integrity. I asked her to send me the paperwork to say the garage had carried out the repairs but never heard from them again.

We then moved house. Two months later I've been back to our old road and sneaked over to the car to see if the door had been repaired and it hasn't. I took a video of it and its still the same as it was when I'd done the initial damage. I'll never do that again, I'm really cross as I trusted them to fix it and two months is enough time to get it repaired.

What are you going to do? Go through small claims to get your money back, although you did do that value of damage to their car? Not a leg to stand on! At least they saved you your no claims, which over the years may well be worth more than what you paid.

TennisLady · 17/12/2025 11:22

HangryBrickShark · 17/12/2025 11:09

I opened my car door in a gust of wind and it dented neighbours car door. I was parked up at the time in my allocated space. I fessed up immediately, offered to pay for damage (small scratches and dent on door). Initially i said I'd go through my insurance but then thought it would be better to just pay it out of my own funds.

She said she'd ask her husband whether it needed repairing. He said it did and got a quote, said it would cost £350 as it needed a new door and sent me a copy of a "quote' which was actually a screen shot of a text message. I duly sent the money to the couple via BACS totally trusting their integrity. I asked her to send me the paperwork to say the garage had carried out the repairs but never heard from them again.

We then moved house. Two months later I've been back to our old road and sneaked over to the car to see if the door had been repaired and it hasn't. I took a video of it and its still the same as it was when I'd done the initial damage. I'll never do that again, I'm really cross as I trusted them to fix it and two months is enough time to get it repaired.

I mean, your own fault really for doing that and paying up that much money (would your insurance have even gone up by that much? Doubtful!). Bizarre you videoed their car though… what was the point of that?

Badbadbunny · 17/12/2025 11:24

HangryBrickShark · 17/12/2025 11:09

I opened my car door in a gust of wind and it dented neighbours car door. I was parked up at the time in my allocated space. I fessed up immediately, offered to pay for damage (small scratches and dent on door). Initially i said I'd go through my insurance but then thought it would be better to just pay it out of my own funds.

She said she'd ask her husband whether it needed repairing. He said it did and got a quote, said it would cost £350 as it needed a new door and sent me a copy of a "quote' which was actually a screen shot of a text message. I duly sent the money to the couple via BACS totally trusting their integrity. I asked her to send me the paperwork to say the garage had carried out the repairs but never heard from them again.

We then moved house. Two months later I've been back to our old road and sneaked over to the car to see if the door had been repaired and it hasn't. I took a video of it and its still the same as it was when I'd done the initial damage. I'll never do that again, I'm really cross as I trusted them to fix it and two months is enough time to get it repaired.

Why? You damaged their car and rightly paid for it. Why does it matter whether or not they've had it repaired yet. At some stage it WILL need repairing or the PX they get when they sell it will be reduced accordingly. Fail to see why you're making a big deal of it!

HangryBrickShark · 18/12/2025 18:59

BadgernTheGarden · 17/12/2025 11:22

What are you going to do? Go through small claims to get your money back, although you did do that value of damage to their car? Not a leg to stand on! At least they saved you your no claims, which over the years may well be worth more than what you paid.

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No of course not. How funny. I've kissed goodbye to that money.

HangryBrickShark · 18/12/2025 19:00

TennisLady · 17/12/2025 11:22

I mean, your own fault really for doing that and paying up that much money (would your insurance have even gone up by that much? Doubtful!). Bizarre you videoed their car though… what was the point of that?

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Videoed it to show my partner. Has long since been deleted. Videoed or photo taken, no difference really. Just sad that I trusted them.

HangryBrickShark · 18/12/2025 19:02

Badbadbunny · 17/12/2025 11:24

Why? You damaged their car and rightly paid for it. Why does it matter whether or not they've had it repaired yet. At some stage it WILL need repairing or the PX they get when they sell it will be reduced accordingly. Fail to see why you're making a big deal of it!

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Err I'm not...i was just relaying the story. 🙄

Beedeeoh · 18/12/2025 19:03

Legally you should, in practice it's risky not to, but in the real world I didn't - I knew the repairs would cost more than the excess or (worse) my car would be written off, and premiums would probably go up. It's a case of weighing up the risks.

HangryBrickShark · 18/12/2025 19:05

Livelovelaughfuckoff · 17/12/2025 11:11

Why are you cross? You damaged their car and compensated them accordingly. None of your business if and when they get it fixed and I say that as a person who has also accidentally damaged a car sent the money and the owner chose not to fix it.

why are you taking video evidence what exactly do you think you can do about it?!

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For goodness sake. I wasn't taking it for evidence, it was just to show my OH as I had doubts in the first place they'd get it fixed. And it's easier to see on a video that you can pause. I often take videos so I can take stills. Usually the dog or horse so i can get interesting photos. 😀

Bhbhhnhnvvghk · 18/12/2025 19:08

Always insurance!!

people will say yes of course I will pay , then announce it’s too expensive 🙄

one lady that drove into me didn’t like a quote from our garage, and wanted me to drive to three different places and get quotes and get back to her 🙄 I just went though the insurance it’s not worth the hassle of dealing with people

Livelovelaughfuckoff · 18/12/2025 20:52

HangryBrickShark · 18/12/2025 19:00

Videoed it to show my partner. Has long since been deleted. Videoed or photo taken, no difference really. Just sad that I trusted them.

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Trusted them to do what though? When my son’s car was written off and he was sent the money there was no one checking up two months later to make sure that he’s used it to buy another car? I really don’t understand why you seem to think they have been dishonest 🤷‍♀️