Work car hit while parked - insurance impact

[AyBee]

My car was hit while parked yesterday (salary sacrifice Tesla) resulting in minor scrapes to the front bumper. The third party is known and was apologetic. I suspect the majority of the damage will come out with a polish and the rest with a smart repair so if it was my car, I'd probably keep it away from insurance given repair cost will be minimal and the impact on my future insurance, but it's not my car, so:

Questions:
- Am I better off keeping it away from the sal-sac provider and dealing with it privately given the low value of the claim which will only be massively inflated by going through insurance? My only concern with this route is that I want to avoid being picked up for repairs at collection time in a couple of years although suspect this is unlikely.
- Do I actually need to declare this on the insurance of my other car since I wasn't in the car so haven't had an accident and I've not made a claim on any policy since it's not my claim because it's on a fleet policy through the sal-sac provider (i.e. it would be the sal-sac provider who owns the car making the claim)?

[tomsugden]

Can you not just ask the person that caused the damage to make good?

[Bobupndown]

If it's minimal a smart repair will likely have it looking as new. Get the guilty party to pay and say nothing to insurance co.

[AyBee]

tomsugden said:

Can you not just ask the person that caused the damage to make good?

They have offered to, it's just the unlikely scenario of it being picked up by the sal-sac company later on (it's my first lease car so no idea how diligent they are on collection?) and the potential for these things to escalate if the repair isn't done properly. I also can't be without the car for any time without a replacement.

[Lester H]

Lester H said:

Bobupndown said:

If it's minimal a smart repair will likely have it looking as new. Get the guilty party to pay and say nothing to insurance co.

Also try to select a so-called smart repairer by word of mouth recommendation. A lot of these ‘Man in Van’ operations are franchises, so the quality of repairs varies. I have seen a few distinctly poor smart repairs. Obviously part of the outcome depends on how hard the leaser examines the car,

[ChrisNic]

What would you do if the repair is picked up when the car is returned and they question the quality?

Ultimately it isn’t your car and the owner should decide how the damage is dealt with. That way if there are an issues now or in the future then it’s up to them to resolve.

[AyBee]

ChrisNic said:

What would you do if the repair is picked up when the car is returned and they question the quality?

Ultimately it isn’t your car and the owner should decide how the damage is dealt with. That way if there are an issues now or in the future then it’s up to them to resolve.

Yes, don't know, hence the reservation in my initial post. I'll take it to a bodyshop at lunchtime and see what they say about likely cost to repair.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

AyBee said:

- Do I actually need to declare this on the insurance of my other car since I wasn't in the car so haven't had an accident and I've not made a claim on any policy since it's not my claim because it's on a fleet policy through the sal-sac provider (i.e. it would be the sal-sac provider who owns the car making the claim)?

Yes, you do need to declare it. If it's kept away from any insurance provider, I wouldn't, but one should.

[The Cardinal]

Your car's lessor will have some kind of checklist on return, which will allow for fair wear and tear - this will specify things like numbers of kerb markings, panel dents, scratches etc that are considered "normal".

I wouldn't worry much. Many cars receive minor PDR-type repairs before being handed over to their first owners, so unless it's a shocker of a job then it's not likely to be picked up on return.