A bus drove into me (my fault). What now?

[gonegrl]

Completely my fault. I made a mistake on a roundabout and had a very minor collision with a bus. No one hurt, no damage done but still 100% a stupid move by me.

When we pulled over the driver was understandably very angry, and I apologised. He asked for my insurance details, which I gave. There was no damage to the bus but some yellow paint had rubbed off on my car from the bus. I wiped it off with a baby wipe, no damage underneath.

The bus driver was still very angry and said that he was going to follow it up with my insurance because of the damage to my car.

I've never had something happen like this before and I'm a little confused now. If there was no damage to the bus (the driver even took photos of my car but don't take any of the bus as there was no damage) then what will happen when he goes to my insurance with this? There is no longer anything visible on my car either. Will they just increase my payments? He said he also had the CCTV of it and would be using that.

I'm really sorry for the stupid question but I'm not sure what's going to happen.

I'm new to all this so following with interest, but I'm pretty sure that you should contact your insurance company yourself - do you have the bus/drivers details? I am under the impression that you should swap details, so you get theirs as well as them get yours no matter who's fault it was.
But awaiting more knowledgeable responses!

Did he also provide his details? You should notify your insurance yourself and provide his details. Most likely he will have to get the bus checked properly for damage once back at the depot & you should really check your car over properly as not all damage is obvious initially. He could claim against your insurance for any damage / personal injury, it may be their company policy to report every incident to avoid it coming back to them down the line. Your insurance will increase for a fault claim yes and for any claim you will lose your no claims bonus (or just a year if you paid to protect them).

If there is no damage to his vehicle and he doesn’t want to make a personal injury claim you will probably never hear anything about it again.

Thanks @Mrsttcno1 for your knowledgable response. I had hoped this wouldn't be the case but sounds like that's most likely it. He didn't give any details to me. He did ask whether I would be claiming for the accident but because there was no damage to either vehicles or to any travellers, I said that I wouldn't be making a claim.

I would just inform your insurance just incase and then try to forget about it for now. It is almost definitely his company’s policy to get insurance details when an accident has taken place to cover their backs, and the cctv is their insurance really so that you aren’t able to claim non-fault.

Your insurance company will be able to let you know if there’s been any claim made x

A bus took my wing mirror off once while I was sitting in my car, he wrote all the details on a card and gave it to me with the bus company’s insurance company number for me to contact directly.

It doesn’t sound like the driver is following procedure, did you get the bus registration number to follow it up with the bus company yourself?

To be honest, he was probably scared you were going to make out that it was his fault later and get him into trouble, no matter what you were saying at the time.

I used to be a bus/coach driver from 2001 - 2011. I worked for 5 different companies during that time. They all provided official accident report forms on every vehicle/driver's kit (which had to be filled in and signed by both parties at the scene) and disposable cameras (before all mobile phones had good cameras) which we were required to use immediately, on the spot, before leaving the scene. We also had to call in what had happened to our operations manager before leaving the scene. Obviously technology has changed a lot of procedures since then, though.

The bus driver isn't going to 'follow this up' with your insurer, they're just angry and talking shit.

They will pass the information to their company, who will check for damage to the bus and (if they find any) claim for it off your insurer. This is about money, and will be a straightforward financial affair that you'll hardly be involved with.

What might be more within their control is whether they or the company report to the police with a view to getting them to investigate you for careless driving or similar. The CCTV will be relevant here.

A lot can happen, passengers sometimes will come forward later and claim they were injured in the accident, any incident no matter how small involves a lot of admin. He was probably mad because now he has to spend ages filling out a massive form.

Driver will file an initial report, then an investigation, cctv will get pulled, bus will have to be checked, any witness statements etc.

It can be possible to seek prosecution for driving without due care and attention, although I've only known that happen once, only you know whether that's relevant to you.

There's no way to know what's going to happen, but insurance will deal with it. It's not always about visible damage at the scene.

This sounds like an aggressive man taking it out on a woman if you ask me. I bet he wouldn't have acted like that if you were a 6' bloke built like a brick shithouse.

Your biggest risk here is that you didn't take pictures of his bus to prove that there was no damage.

I would contact your insurance company. tell them what happened and that you have no intention of claiming as there was no damage to your car. Also that there was no damage to the bus. Then frankly, forget about it until they contact you if he then tries to claim.

Oh, and if he does try to claim, your insurance company will deal with it. It was your fault apparently so they'd have to pay out if it was agreed the damage was as a result of your actions, B ut it's not like you're going to be hauled off to jail or something.

Thanks @AutumnLea that makes sense about people coming forward later, I guess I was looking at it in a very basic way in terms of damage.

I mean, the reason for the accident was extreme tiredness because my toddler had been up most of the night but I guess that's not really an excuse! I shouldn't have been driving if I was that tired and I know that but I also need to work.

Good point @JonVoightBaddyWhoGrowls I really should have. I think I was just in panic mode.

Perfectly understandable. But it's another reason to call the insurance company now while it's all still fresh in your mind. That way they have it on file if and when his insurance company contacts yours. As it is a bus, it may be that they HAVE to go through a complex admin process.

Similar thing happened to me this morning..What later happened, would love to know