Young driver accident - what to do?

[diamondpony80]

18 year old DS, driving for 6 months, had an accident. He crashed into someone and it was his fault. Only a minor bump and nobody hurt but both cars will be expensive to fix.

The other party has given us the option to pay her garage bill to save her claiming on his insurance as it's already very high due to his age. DH thinks we should give her the money (nearly £1500) so that she won't claim on his insurance (we won't either). That's a lot of money considering we'll probably have to pay a similar amount for his car.

Surely his insurance won't go up that much? Or will it due to him being so young? His current policy was the cheapest we could find at £1700.

No guarantees she won't claim anyway!

The option is his, not yours.

Oh goodness don't go handing over £1500 to a complete stranger only for them to pocket the cash and go through the insurance anyway. So the right thing here. It's unfortunate but he was at fault and a great life lesson is owning your faults.

Or try scam you for other 'damages'.. Once scuffed a bumper - literally reversed at school gates and touched it.. No mark.
The df was very civil and suggested he get 2 estimates and I could just pay . Tbh wasn't sure what I was looking at. Sent him a cheque for £90. His dw started sending me abusive texts claiming I had to pay her a hire car while the manufacturer checked for other damages...I still blank her at school..
Your ds should learn dealing with the proper channels is vital.

Do the right thing

@Easterisoffeggstooexpensive

No guarantees she won't claim anyway!

Same thought had crossed my mind! Yeah it doesn't make any sense to pay for her car as well as DS's.

I’d be doing it properly through the insurance. No chance of any come back then.

Do it properly, your DS needs to report it himself, not ideal but an important life lesson to him.

£1500? Go through insurance.

Go through insurance, especially for that amount.

Well it is legitimate to settle your own claims but you still have to report the "incident" to the insurer which makes it pointless as they still increase the premium. However, that's prob why they would be happy to settle as it means they don't report it either which despite it not being their fair, causes a significant premium increase

You have to declare incidents for 5 years, so the premium will increase for that time but I expect not to the value of £1500 PLUS the cost of his car. Or it may come out similar to what you'll be paying cash anyway. I'd go through insurance and take away the stress of "what ifs".

Always go through insurance.

I wouldn't claim for anything under £2k but as per previous when reported to unsure then this negates it. I few years ago I claimed for £1000...pre8mum increases over 5 years were over £1500 at least

Please go through insurance. A friend settled by paying cash and didn’t tell her insurer. The awful other driver pursued her relentlessly even after she’d paid for the small ding for all manner of additional payments claiming whiplash and mental scarring. Can’t even remember how it ended but it was a very stressful time for her (and all totally needlessly)

A friends ds wrote his car off his first year driving and she reckons his renewal wasn’t much more than his initial year. 🤷‍♀️ I wouldn’t pay 3k for his car and hers. I’d use insurance.

@QuebecBagnet

A friends ds wrote his car off his first year driving and she reckons his renewal wasn’t much more than his initial year. 🤷‍♀️ I wouldn’t pay 3k for his car and hers. I’d use insurance.

I can confirm this happened to my family member. Insurance premium only increased slightly, when we thought (assumed) it would be ££ hundreds more at renewal. Not a bad accident, but their car financial write off. Other car £1000+ repair bill. Go through insurance.

The son of a friend of ours had a couple of accidents after he passed his test. He's now 21 but his insurance premium (for a dull small car) is just over £5k a year...