Report bump to insurance or not?

[cb31]

My son reversed into a friends car last night in a car park. The friends car was a Mazda 3, initial quote from Mazda to fix was £2.4k based on pictures. Damage is front corner so will need new bumper and paint plus all the brackets and so on. Son's car is a Mazda 2, back bumper is broken, will need replacing along with paint so probably around £1200 or so.

Dilemma is son has just turned 19 and his insurance is already around £2k. Initial thought was we pay for both cars to be fixed and not tell the insurance but the friend reported it early this morning. He withdrew the report and they said it hadn't yet gone to son's insurers so it was all good but can I rely on the insurers keeping their promise?

Worst case is we pay for everything then get in trouble for not reporting an accident, even though it was a 3mph bump, and he then suffers massive insurance premium rises. Other thing is if the friends car goes to Mazda under an insurance job, quote goes up and then they write it off as it is only worth £9k. He was also talking about a hire car so the final insurance total could be massive due to a dented plastic bumper.

Any advice or thoughts?

[swisstoni]

I dont think there’s any chance the insurers haven’t got this info already.
It’s not like it has to go via the next stagecoach.

I hope i’m wrong. Perhaps someone can look it up on the database.

[alscar]

cb31 said:

My son reversed into a friends car last night in a car park. The friends car was a Mazda 3, initial quote from Mazda to fix was £2.4k based on pictures. Damage is front corner so will need new bumper and paint plus all the brackets and so on. Son's car is a Mazda 2, back bumper is broken, will need replacing along with paint so probably around £1200 or so.

Dilemma is son has just turned 19 and his insurance is already around £2k. Initial thought was we pay for both cars to be fixed and not tell the insurance but the friend reported it early this morning. He withdrew the report and they said it hadn't yet gone to son's insurers so it was all good but can I rely on the insurers keeping their promise?

Worst case is we pay for everything then get in trouble for not reporting an accident, even though it was a 3mph bump, and he then suffers massive insurance premium rises. Other thing is if the friends car goes to Mazda under an insurance job, quote goes up and then they write it off as it is only worth £9k. He was also talking about a hire car so the final insurance total could be massive due to a dented plastic bumper.

Any advice or thoughts?

No one was injured I assume ,so as such no need to report to the Police.
Paying out £3,600 to fix both cars seems a lot when you already have Insurance.
Post the Insurance claim no one can say what the premium will be increased by - it may go up a bit or a medium amount or indeed if a write off ,a large amount.
But at that stage depending on the renewal quote you could shop around.
If the amount to repair the friends car is as you say then that won’t be a write off anyway.
Sounds like the friend was a bit quick off the mark but equally not even sure why he was even talking to his Insurer as your son would be claiming off his ?
Personally given the circumstances I would be claiming off your sons policy and would suggest your son contacts them and just puts the circumstances to them and let them get on with it.

[zarjaz1991]

There’s reporting an incident, which both parties are probably obliged to do, and then there’s putting in a claim, which your son and his friend may or may not decide to do.

Your son’s friend has already told his insurers about the incident, he can’t un-tell them.

At renewal the answer to the question “any accidents claims or convictions” now needs to be yes, even if no claims are made.

[Limpet]

The issue here is it's already been reported. Even if the friend did subsequently withdraw it, the claim has been logged with the insurer, and presumably your son's details shared, so there is very likely to be a record of it somewhere. Insurers all have access to (and can update) the MIB database, so worst case scenario, it may find its way onto there. The risk is that if you then resolve the situation privately, and fail to declare the incident, and a future insurer checks the database and it's discovered, your son could end up having insurance refused or cancelled, which then has to be declared on every application for the rest of time (and will load the premium accordingly).

An exercise that may be worth doing is having your son submit a Subject Access Request to the MIB database (this can be done free of charge on the MIB website) to see what information it holds on him (including claims history), but this takes up to 30 days to be fulfilled. Plus you may want to wait a while to ensure the database is up to date when your SAR hits.

If it's not too financially hefty, I'd be tempted to settle it privately, then check the insurance database to see if anything has been recorded against your son, and go from there. The risk of course is that you end up paying for the fix, and still have to declare a claim or incident.

[cb31]

Many thanks, the MIB request sounds a good idea. Would anyone know what would happen if I pay for all the repairs now and not report to his insurer? Subsequently the MIB request comes back as accident in the system, can he then report the accident in say 2 months time without any issues? Or does he have to report it within 24 hours to avoid a problem.

Having cancelled/refused insurance can't happen, I would rather he get stung for 5 years on increased premiums than that.

[brillomaster]

you'll have to report the bump to your insurer. you don't have to make a claim.

it sounds to me, that if you make a claim, it'll write off at least one car, possibly both cars depending on what your sons car is worth. How attached are you to both cars?

personally, i wouldnt fork out £3,000+ to repair the cars, if there was insurance to cover this sort of thing - my threshold for covering the costs myself would be about £300 - any more than that and i'm going through insurance.

[CraigyMc]

cb31 said:

Many thanks, the MIB request sounds a good idea. Would anyone know what would happen if I pay for all the repairs now and not report to his insurer? Subsequently the MIB request comes back as accident in the system, can he then report the accident in say 2 months time without any issues? Or does he have to report it within 24 hours to avoid a problem.

Having cancelled/refused insurance can't happen, I would rather he get stung for 5 years on increased premiums than that.

You have to report it.

[alscar]

cb31 said:

Many thanks, the MIB request sounds a good idea. Would anyone know what would happen if I pay for all the repairs now and not report to his insurer? Subsequently the MIB request comes back as accident in the system, can he then report the accident in say 2 months time without any issues? Or does he have to report it within 24 hours to avoid a problem.

Having cancelled/refused insurance can't happen, I would rather he get stung for 5 years on increased premiums than that.

I believe technically that you can wait up to 3 years before claiming normally.
I have no idea how long the MIB takes to get updated but if it comes back as accident reported then I guess your son can still claim.
However as the friend was so quick off the mark is he prepared to wait anyway ?
Cancelled or refused only becomes an issue if you end up being materially economical with the truth with Insurers.
If the claim was a few hundred quid then you would have presumably just paid in cash and job done.
For potentially the amount you were suggesting paying in cash for what happened on top of why you buy Insurance seems ( to me ) much less sensible and saves any further worrying about what may or may not happen.

[cb31]

ok you've all convinced me and given me answers I didn't want to hear . We are going to go through insurance and take the pain, just not worth the risk. Thanks everyone

[mmm-five]

How new are the cars?

If that price is to get them repaired at Mazda using brand new parts, then how much less would it be to do the repairs yourself, or at an independent bodyshop, using new/used parts sourced elsewhere.

[cb31]

mmm-five said:

How new are the cars?

If that price is to get them repaired at Mazda using brand new parts, then how much less would it be to do the repairs yourself, or at an independent bodyshop, using new/used parts sourced elsewhere.

The Mazda 3 is 2018 and the 2 is 2017. All moot now, reported to insurance and will let them deal with it. Too much of a risk having his insurance cancelled or anything like that. He will just have to pay the consequences for the next few years whatever they are.

[zarjaz1991]

Bet that friendship’s dead in the water as well!

[cb31]

Sorry, one other question. The third party car is going to be fixed by insurance but we have to decide whether to get his car fixed by insurance or do it ourselves. His excess is £650, £250 compulsory, £200 voluntary and £200 due to him being under 25.

I spoke to someone who owns a bodyshop and he estimated £600 ish for the new bumper parts and just spraying the new parts and not blending. If we want a perfect job, as it is Soul Red, it would need the tailgate and wing blended in which apparently a nightmare with that colour so would be around £1100-1200.

We are torn, family runabout so probably doesn't have to be perfect. Pay ourselves and we get a less than perfect job for about £600, let insurance deal with it and we get a perfect job for about £600.

I know it is hard to predict but would his insurance renewal be less if we just claimed for the third party, would it make it worth our while?

[kuro]

cb31 said:

Sorry, one other question. The third party car is going to be fixed by insurance but we have to decide whether to get his car fixed by insurance or do it ourselves. His excess is £650, £250 compulsory, £200 voluntary and £200 due to him being under 25.

I spoke to someone who owns a bodyshop and he estimated £600 ish for the new bumper parts and just spraying the new parts and not blending. If we want a perfect job, as it is Soul Red, it would need the tailgate and wing blended in which apparently a nightmare with that colour so would be around £1100-1200.

We are torn, family runabout so probably doesn't have to be perfect. Pay ourselves and we get a less than perfect job for about £600, let insurance deal with it and we get a perfect job for about £600.

I know it is hard to predict but would his insurance renewal be less if we just claimed for the third party, would it make it worth our while?

I had a front bumper replaced and sprayed in soul red on my Mazda 3 a couple of years ago. I was told by my insurers at the time that the claim came to £895. Not sure if they did any blending but if they did I can't tell the difference between old and new. I think that colour has been around long enough for most bodyshops to get to grips with it.

[alscar]

cb31 said:

Sorry, one other question. The third party car is going to be fixed by insurance but we have to decide whether to get his car fixed by insurance or do it ourselves. His excess is £650, £250 compulsory, £200 voluntary and £200 due to him being under 25.

I spoke to someone who owns a bodyshop and he estimated £600 ish for the new bumper parts and just spraying the new parts and not blending. If we want a perfect job, as it is Soul Red, it would need the tailgate and wing blended in which apparently a nightmare with that colour so would be around £1100-1200.

We are torn, family runabout so probably doesn't have to be perfect. Pay ourselves and we get a less than perfect job for about £600, let insurance deal with it and we get a perfect job for about £600.

I know it is hard to predict but would his insurance renewal be less if we just claimed for the third party, would it make it worth our while?

Impossible to predict not just hard !
In effect you are debating adding £ 600 cost to yourselves on top of the third parties quantum in so far as what Insurers' may do on renewal.
Add the £600 to the existing Insurance cost and you still wont know what the claim will result in additional premium.
My best guess is that the Insurer will be using the third parties costs as the decider and your sons addition wont make too much difference either way.

[swisstoni]

Seems reasonable that the main factor is that the incident took place at all and it was Son’s fault.

The costs involved will carry some extra weighting but the bulk of it will be from the incident happening at all.

So it may be worth getting son’s car properly fixed up as it could at least keep some value up in the car?

[Pedro25]

My daughter had a very low impact bump into the back of another car, traffic police were behind her when it happened, paint to her front bumper damage to her car, no visible damage to the other car photos taken at the time, other driver messaged her a day later stating for £1500 he wouldn't put it through insurance, Police officer had confirmed to both that he couldn't see any visible damage to either vehicle but advised both to contact their respective insurance companies. Daughters car is in for bumper removal and painting she's had to pay her quite substantial excess but those are the breaks for young drivers. Haven't heard from the other insurer yet but she's got a police report with both vehicles detailed on it, my guess is that the other driver either is a scammer or had no insurance, the impact didn't cause any traffic hold up and I believe once the officer had seen no injuries or bits falling off the cars decided to let them sort it out as he advised. The costs the OP detailed do seem high for repair, and like others have stated it will be on the insurance database ticking away until an accident management company finds it and raises a claim.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

cb31 said:

I know it is hard to predict but would his insurance renewal be less if we just claimed for the third party, would it make it worth our while?

No. A claim is a claim and most of the time the cost of the claim has little effect. If you're dealing with the tp claim on insurance, deal with the whole claim on insurance, and pay the £650 xs towards the own damage repair.

[oldagepensioner]

zarjaz1991 said:

There’s reporting an incident, which both parties are probably obliged to do, and then there’s putting in a claim, which your son and his friend may or may not decide to do.

Your son’s friend has already told his insurers about the incident, he can’t un-tell them.

At renewal the answer to the question “any accidents claims or convictions” now needs to be yes, even if no claims are made.

If the claim is reported it will have a reference with the insurance company.I had something similar happen to me recently when i reported a small knock i had from someone who hit the back of my car in a line of traffic.I would guess his insurance may also now have a record as my insurance was able to confirm his name and address which i already had and who he was insured with.My insurance wanted to write my car off because they would insist on a new rear bumper even though it could be repaired at a fraction of the cost.Since we have decided to settle privately my insurance have closed the claim.My car is a 12 year old Astra by the way so the write off is understandable.