Car accident

[Northernladdette]

If you had a minor prang and gave your phone number to the other driver, how would you expect it to pan out? I might gave thought a telephone call after getting an quote?Other driver was keen not to make an insurance claim.
Fifteen weeks later my niece has had a letter along with an invoice for repairs already carried out.
She agreed to pay at the time of the accident, gave the other driver her phone number and registration. She heard nothing for that length of time and assumed maybe the other driver was uninsured and had decided against a repair. It was a twenty year old car so a good chance that it would be written off.

Exactly as you say quotes and verbal agreement — but the first advice is never admit liability. It’s best to let the insurance sort it out. I think I would inform the insurance and hand it over to them if the invoice seems high.

I'm afraid after being caught with these once too often, I now just hand it all over to the insurers.

I would not pay if you had not agreed an amount previously and it's usual under these circumstances to get 2 or 3 quotes.

That makes it sound like I have a lot of accidents! I've been driving 40 years, and I'm talking about cars belonging to me, DH, DC and my parents.

How much was the repair. Does she his car details.

@SaraHoliday
If another driver damaged my car I would not be getting 2 or 3 quotes. I would go to the garage of my choice and get it fixed by them.
Presumably the other driver has the op's nieces insurance details and will go to them if she doesn't pay. Hopefully she notified her insurers of the accident.

Always report to insurers and let them deal with it. They will be able to assess the damage and ensure all of the damage relates to the accident impact. It wouldn't surprise me if an injury claim is now pursued.

She agreed to pay, so I’m not sure why she would expect anything other than to pay. She should have informed her insurer with his registration number and not given her number or made any private arrangement.

She expected to be contacted sooner than fifteen weeks with a quote 😳

It really wouldn’t be wise to do this either. It certainly isn’t what happens if you do the proper thing and go through the insurers. They tell you where to take the car.

I would say shes be taken for a ride. Is she young by any chance? The other person not wanting to go through insurance on a 20 year old car is probably cause they would write it off. How much are they now claiming for??

But like I said, she agreed to pay. That was her mistake.

Yes, me too. Insurers asap.

Not true. They can try and insist you go to their preferred repairer but as long as you get a proper insurance quote (I forget the name of the system For insurance quotes) they can’t really fight you on it. So I would get a manufacturer quote and insist they did the repair.

I probably wouldn’t have done this either, but she’s a young driver and was worried about her premiums. It was a 21 year old car that was damaged so a good chance it might have been written off for a £450 body shop bill 😳 Just seems odd that she ( the other driver) made no contact at all.
From her description of what happened it might even have been 50/50, edged out of a side road over a two lane carriageway and the woman drove round her at speed instead of stopping, she just clipped her back wing as she pulled forward, not a mark on hers, barely realised she’d hit her according to her husband 😣

To be honest I’m not sure what she was expecting to pay as £450 is not a huge bill. I admit the process is odd by not agreeing a quote beforehand but someone put a small bump in my small car and it was more than that!

That said — that is definitely not an incident where she should have admitted liability. It’s not like she hit a stationary car

Always hand it over to insurance

I'd have always gone via insurance, but if it was "only" £450 I don't think anyone has tried to rip niece off. You don't get much bodywork done for that, and I imagine her excess would have been higher.

@court18
Oh absolutely I would go through insurance.

Agree, 💯🙂

Also just to add the idea that admitting liability means you are liable is a nonsense. The insurance companies decide who is liable, admitting or otherwise at the scene means nothing.

As a 21 year old your nieces excess is probably at least £500 so she could just pay it but should request a copy of the quote. Her policy will require her to notify her insurer even if she’s paying. Whether she does or not is up to her.

I don’t think anyone has said it makes you liable if you admit liability. But it’s absolutely standard advice never to admit liability (written in the policies I’ve had) and she was wrong to do so! Some insurance policies might try to get out of paying if you do; so it’s actually pretty important

She wouldn’t have paid an excess though, would she? These things are always best handed over to insurers, specifically to avoid scenarios like this.