[Closed] Somebody just drove into me, he doesn't want to involve insurance.

Yes.

Did you get his details?

It might be that he doesn't have any insurance.

Yes. Far too many scams about and he drives like an idiot if your telling  the truth!

I've got his name, phone number and registration.

If youre feeling charitable then Get a quote ( not estimate) for repair from your chosen garage (not his) , show him the quote, if he still wants to pay himself then get cash off him before instructing the garage to start work.

My gut feeling is that when he sees the quote he will think its too expensive and want to start negotiating the price, dont do any negotiating, if he does this then involve the insurance co at this point

If notfeeling charitable then just go straight through ins co, either route will be hassle though.

Even if his insurance paid up it'll still affect your premium. If you are convinced he's genuine then.it could be a risk worth taking. We had a similar issue last year when my Mrs clipped a car in a car park. She found the owner and settled up privately by paying the garage bill.

I have had this twice, i completely understand why people don't want to involve their insurance companies. Both times the other person paid the repairs no problem.

Go with your gut feeling.

My gut reaction if he's not got/doesn't want to involve insurance that other things maybe amiss..

Sounds like he might be trying to hide something..

Have you checked the DVLA website with his reg number to see if the car has MOT etc etc.... ?

If you can settle to your satisfaction with cash, do that. If not or the story changes, insurance.

Any witnesses?

Had this at Christmas. Hit by a hire van from a local company.

I got a quote locally, he wanted to use a different garage as his company had an account there.

The garage he wanted to use turned out to be a top class place and totally legit. Everything replaced with genuine new parts, warranty on the repair etc.....

I triple checked everything before agreeing to proceed, pita but it's saved me a few quid.

This happened to my brother on his bike, he was at a junction at the bottom of a hill, started to move away, then stopped because a car was coming from his right, the driver behind was looking to his right and not at my brother and hit the back of his bike, smashing the rear light, mudguard and some other bits, and offered to pay cash. After my bro got a quote, which came to somewhere around £650, the bloke rapidly changed his tune and did it through insurance. He wasn’t too inclined to argue with my brother, he’s 6’4”, around 18st, and has a short fuse... 🤬

There can be perfectly legitimate reasons why someone may want to pay for the damage themselves rather than involving an insurer, but it's worth you making sure you know where you stand with *your* insurer if you don't reportn a collision to them.

I've had a couple of incidents where the other party has offered to pay to fix damage directly, and generally it's where the damage is about the same sort of cost as an excess. I've also made a claim against another party that ended up increasing our insurance premium significantly - even though there was absolutely no fault on my part (we were hit by debris that was thrown across from a collision on the other side of the M40). I was pretty narked by the insurer (a maorcompany, as well) doing that, and even more narked when they wrote to me (and apparently a bunch of others) to say my details had later been stolen by one of their employees and sold to ambulance chasers.

That said, I'ds check your Ts & Cs and with Citizen's Advice about not reporting something to your insurer, as not reporting may leave you without cover.

Random police force guidance on reporting RTAs - quite nicely explained, as far as I can see:  https://www.northumbria.police.uk/faqs/who_to_contact/who_to_contact_about_road_traffic_collisions/

It's all too common.  I had exactly the same thing happen to me in London with an impatient taxi driver who'd been on my bumper for a while.  Mirror, signal, manoeuvre, and he decided that was the perfect time to try to boot it past me with hilarious consequences.

These days I'm a lot more diligent with double-checking mirrors when making that sort of turn.  There's a traffic island near my house which I regularly use to U-turn round.  I'd hazard that the number of drivers who come past me from behind when I'm indicating to turn right is probably about 50%

Car is taxed and MOT'D.  I think he's genuine and thinks a new door for my van will cost less than the excess and insurance increase for his BMW.  Think a call to my insurance later on is probably best just to keep me in the right.

I've paid for some damage direct I caused too. Insurance companies do nothing but **** you whether it is your fault or not. If it is minor damage usually better to sort it out yourself. Quotes Given to a insurance company are massively over inflated.. I would go up to about a grand over insurance.

If he is genuine don't tell your insurance they will **** you.

I don't see why you'd want to involve insurance companies if you don't have to for minor damage, bumps and scrapes. If the other person accepts blame, and accepts your quotation for the repair work, get the money from them in advance then everyone's happy. Involving insurance companies drags things out, limits you to where you can get the work done and just generally a PITA.

Of course if you don't trust the guy or suspect anything remotely dodgy or it is significant damage that will be expensive to fix or might have caused any structural damage then go with the insurance companies. If you do decide to go outside of your insurance company I can't see why it would be a problem with them...its a liability they don't have to pay out for. If you go donw the route of not using them, then it goes pear shaped and you then decide to go to the insurance company to sort it out, then they might be within their right to walk away, hence get quotes quickly and get money up front.

Did you check over your shoulder before turning? The other drivers insurers will try to claim you should have checked before starting to turn and will then try to split the fault between the two of you. Insurance companies always want to minimise potential cost of someone making an expensive injury claim years down the line. I had an almost identical incident nearly 2 years ago and it's yet to be settled because the car I was in was 3rd party and therefore our insurers don't give a shit about the outcome - the car is still parked on my friends drive awaiting repair...

Just to play Devils Advocaat....

You were indicating right, but you moved to the left ?

I think you would be better off not involving insurance companies to be honest.

You might find yourself liable 😉

Irrespective of how you choose to deal with it, your insurance policy will say that you should inform your insurers about it. If you don't, you run the risk of your renewal being declined for non-disclosure and a lot of trouble in the future getting insurance.

You say aren't that worried about the van ....

So make sure the damage isn't a MOT fail and get a quote from your garage ... Give the quote to the chap, get the reddies and spend them on new bike bits, beer and a fish super.... Everyone's a winner

Good Luck

Chap drove into my trailor at the tip last week, did more damage to his car than my trailor.  As my trailor is already full of dents i was not bothered so we just parted compny on a handshake

Good karma all round.

I had the same thing recently - a young driver changed lanes unexpectedly on a roundabout & stoved in my passenger door. He wanted to go without insurance & pay up.

However going through insurance meant that the garage came to me for a quote so I didn't have to take time off work, they then also supplied me with a courtesy car, again, came to me & picked up my car. It was much easier for me to do it this way than get a quote & have the hassle of arranging the appointment etc...

The only reason insurance companies exist is to make money, so if you inform them they will try to make money out of it somehow. If you don't need to, then don't.

The damage is a big dent in the door which won't open from the outside, but can be opened from the inside and the window won't wind down.

Informed my insurer a few years back of a non fault incident that was being paid for by the other party. Being all good and doing as I believe we should (t&c’s). Come renewal they would no longer inspire me and my quotes elsewhere were higher. Considerably. Lesson learned for me. If I feel I don’t need to tell them I won’t.

Your view may vary but it’s a joke to penalise someone when you have done absolutely nothing wrong and cussed the insurer absolutely zero cost.

Hope you get sorted.

My two peneth. Mrs ws was hit whilst doing about **** all mph from behind on the right side of the bumper on a 4 lane interchange, she was on the left and indicating to move over to the right.I informed my insurance company and they immediately said if I could not provide witnesses and or dash can footage it would probably go 50/50 as they will say she pulled out to the right and that was a partial cause of the accident. Thankfully the other bloke took full responsibility but I could not believe how shit my insurance company were and how easily they rolled over without even being challenged.

Be wary if you do go down the insurance route that he is fully responsible and will admit to it....

I had a minor scrape in a lane on holiday in cornwall, it was my fault but if it had gone through insurance it would probably have gone down as a 50/50. I decided to just offer to pay for the damage as it would have cost me more in the long run, nothing dodgy, no insurance involved everybody happy.

Bodyshops don't cut any corners when they're sending bills to insurance companies so the £300 repair would probably have been £1000+ and knackered my no claims.

my van isn’t worth a lot, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if the door wasn’t fixed

The damage is a big dent in the door which won’t open from the outside, but can be opened from the inside and the window won’t wind down

Get a quote, get the cash then remove the panel and bash the dent out with a block of wood. Spend the money on cheap hookers.

Win

Just to add weight to the not involving insurance camp, I've had a few minor accidents and only involved an insurance company twice & it has been nothing but a pain in the a**e / cost me more in the long run & both were non fault on my behalf. For what you describe just get price from garage and cash from other party.

My mate had a nightmare with a guy in a Porsche SUV - reversed into my mate's recently restored 205 GTI. Only a minor scrape, but the Porsche driver pleaded poverty and insisted it went to a 'friends' garage, and even then tried to push the price down (all for just £250 repair).

Let him get it fixed or just leave it as is. Going through insurance is just going to increase your premium and if you are not that bothered about the van then why would you want to do that

Irrespective of how you choose to deal with it, your insurance policy will say that you should inform your insurers about it. If you don’t, you run the risk of your renewal being declined for non-disclosure and a lot of trouble in the future getting insurance.

Yes. Insurance is all about risk, and even a non fault accident affects your risk profile, so it is likely that non disclosure will breach your Ts and Cs.

Go through your insurer. If he wants to pay himself , he can pay your insurer or his to pay yours. His local garage might do a good job or they may not, what happens in six months if they don't? The best con men are always charming and convivial, that's how they get away with it.

Have you checked his number?. A colleague had his car hit outside his house and a neigbour got the number of the fiesta which hit his car. It was registered to a 7.5 ton Iveco lorry!

Been said above but

DONT TELL YOUR INSURER!

Your insurance will go up even though its completely not your fault.

Go through your insurer. If he wants to pay himself , he can pay your insurer or his to pay yours. His local garage might do a good job or they may not, what happens in six months if they don’t? The best con men are always charming and convivial, that’s how they get away with it.

It could be a garage of your choice too, just he pays. Then there is nothing with dodgy mates garage to worry about.

It could be a garage of your choice too, just he pays. Then there is nothing with dodgy mates garage to worry about.

He may then decide the OPs trusted garage is too expensive.

As far as I can see there are pros and cons for each side. I would risk a possible insurance increase to avoid a unexpected bill if he refuses to pay my garage or finding that his garage had done a substandard job (see the Touran thread for worst case), where I could find leaks/ rust etc down the line. Of course this may not worry the OP as he said his vehicle is not a big deal.

I'd be inclined to think you'll find yourself in a 50/50 if you go to insurance. Using a junction to turn around - it's not going to go well.

I too would go without insurance company involvement if possible and feel no concern about not telling them.

I'm not looking forward to my next renewal, as it turns out that me being knocked off of my commuter by some myopic **** appears as a motor claim on their databases (I claimed of the guy for my bike and mangled shoulder).

It popped up a couple of years after the fact, which was strange too, The company that I use for my motorbike insurance were baffled too, but fortunately it didn't affect my premium...

Slightly more concerning is that I've never declared it, as I wasn't using a motor vehicle at the time...