Crash / claiming on insurance

[jjcd]

Hi all,

I had a small crash this morning and wondered if anyone has any advice

I had a small crash where I went in to the back of another car this morning - it was the fault of a 3rd car who drove off as he wasn't actually hit and I assumed didn't know what happened behind (the car I hit swerved to avoid the 3rd car who pulled out in front of him at a roundabout and I could not stop in time so ran into the back of him).

The car in front (an early 2000's MX5) has a cracked rear bumper and I have a cracked front bumper (early 2000's Peugeot 106).

However I am 23 and have been driving 6 years (7 in May) and have 6 years NCB. I think due to the value of my car it would not be worth claiming for the damage - I could get a second hand bumper for £40. Do you think it would be worth offering to pay for the Mazda bumper replacement/repair or go through the insurance?

If there is a claim my NCB will go down to 3 years and obviously my premium will go up - from a quick look on Compare the Market my renewal will be £700ish with the claim against £300 without.

Any advice on what I'd be best to do would be welcome

[TwigtheWonderkid]

If there's a tp involved, put it thru your insurance. If you pay privately and he comes back in 3 months to say he's injured, you're completely fked.

Let insurers deal with it.

[jjcd]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

If there's a tp involved, put it thru your insurance. If you pay privately and he comes back in 3 months to say he's injured, you're completely fked.

Let insurers deal with it.

I hadn't thought about injury but that's a good point so the 3rd party (Mazda with broken bumper) can claim against my insurance.

Should I claim against their insurance for my bumper or just sort that out myself? It's only a cracked bumper but I'm worried they may write my car off rather than repair.

[mcflurry]

If you went into the back of someone, odds are the claim will go against you anyway

[toon10]

The only advice I can give you is for the next time and no use now. Get a dash cam! A similar thing happened to me. I was overtaking on a dual carriageway and an Audi TT pulled out behind me and decided to sit on my bumper. further up the road as I was still passing cars, a Peugeot pulled out as I was almost alongside. I slammed the breaks on and managed to miss him by millimetres. Still don't know how I missed him. The Audi went into the back of me. The car that caused the crash got away scott free and I ended up with a 90% fault on me as the Audi driver said I'd pulled out on him and with no witnesses, his legal team were better than mine! I did pull into the outside lane but a good 400 yards before the incident. A cam would have captured the Pug number plate and also established I had been in lane 2 a good while before the accident and not as the other driver claimed. A lesson learned, I'd never be without my trusty BlackVue.

[Red Devil]

jjcd said:

I could not stop in time so ran into the back of him.

That will mean you will bear most, if not all, of the liability unless you can demonstrate convincing reasons wto the contrary

jjcd said:

I hadn't thought about injury but that's a good point so the 3rd party (Mazda with broken bumper) can claim against my insurance.

The injury is neither here nor there. If the 3rd party wishes to put in a claim against you for the damage to the MX5 he/she can. End of: you cant prevent it.
You had better hope too that he/she isn't the sort to claim whiplash (assuming there was none)

jjcd said:

Should I claim against their insurance for my bumper or just sort that out myself? It's only a cracked bumper but I'm worried they may write my car off rather than repair.

Up to you. It depends on what it will cost you to fix it. If it less than your policy excess it's pointless claiming for own damage as you will have to stump up anyway.
As for your concern about it being written off, post some pics so that we se how bad it is.

[jjcd]

Okay thanks all for your help - I will have a look online for a dash cam for next time.

It sounds like I should have the other cars damage go through my insurance and I'll replace/repair my bumper myself.

Great start to Monday morning

[jjcd]

Last thing - assuming the other driver is going to claim on my insurance - I assume I call mine ASAP to report the incident (just report - I don't want to claim for my bumper)?

[Marvtec]

Dashcam wouldnt have helped here at all. OP you are 100% at fault for not leaving enough space to stop, simple as that. If the Mazda driver seemed reasonable and honest I would get in touch with them and ask if you can sort it privately at a bodyshop of their choice. Yes they 'could' try and submit a claim later but 99% of people wouldnt think to try, make sure you keep all receipts etc. Otherwise its at least 5 years of declaring a fault claim and loss of NCB also.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Marvtec said:

Dashcam wouldnt have helped here at all. OP you are 100% at fault for not leaving enough space to stop, simple as that.

The tp wasn't in front of the OP until he had to swerve in front to avoid some other idiot. Not sure it's the OP's fault, but his insurers will sort it. That's what they're paid for.

You don't buy a dog and bark yourself.

[Barkychoc]

jjcd said:

Okay thanks all for your help - I will have a look online for a dash cam for next time.

It sounds like I should have the other cars damage go through my insurance and I'll replace/repair my bumper myself.

Great start to Monday morning

Don't be dumb - you are going to get a third party claim against you - it's not going to make any difference if they fix yours as well - a claim against you is a claim against you. Unless you have a mahoosive excess (and I can't be arsed to see if you said) just get the insurance to fix it all up and pay the excess. Do not under any circumstances sign up to credit hire for a nice shiny sports car while yours is fixed - you are financing the car and the other insurance company may tell you to swivel - then you get a nice fat bill. Take the repair shop's crappy Ford Ka.
You may find things are a lot worse when the bumper is removed.

[xjay1337]

For a cracked bumper, outside of insurance, most people just want their cars fixed.

Supply a bumper, have it pained, £300 quid, easy.

[StevenB]

My understanding is, if you don't claim for your car you don't pay the policy excess.

[Jujuuk68]

jjcd said:

Hi all,



I had a small crash where I went in to the back of another car this morning - it was the fault of a 3rd car who drove off as he wasn't actually hit and I assumed didn't know what happened behind (the car I hit swerved to avoid the 3rd car who pulled out in front of him at a roundabout and I could not stop in time so ran into the back of him).

The car in front (an early 2000's MX5) has a cracked rear bumper and I have a cracked front bumper (early 2000's Peugeot 106).

Any advice on what I'd be best to do would be welcome

It doesn't make a lot of sense for the MX5 to be a vehicle to be used on a "staged" accident, so I really just post this to make other PH'ers aware that the "decoy vehicle" which doesn't get hit but gives cause through the manner of it's driving, for the impacted vehicle to "have to" slam on and get hit, is a fairly tried and tested insurance scam.

Look for VW Touran's, Ford Galaxy's or similar, or a Toyota Carina style vehicle, with up to 4 occupants, some of whom may be looking round at you a few moments before impact. However, as inusrers are wise to this, it's becoming more common to now have smaller cars/fewer occupants.

[fastbikes76]

StevenB said:

My understanding is, if you don't claim for your car you don't pay the policy excess.

Correct, just been through this with my son and confirmed with his insurance company that you only pay an excess if claiming for your own property.

[jjcd]

So as a bit of a conclusion for this...

The third party agreed to get a quote for sorting out the damage outside of insurance - it was much more than I'd expected (almost 4 figures!) and financially made no sense so it is now in the hands of the insurers.

It looks like it will be deemed as 100% my fault which is a pain (though I understand why), the good news is I will only lose 2 years of my NCB. Also I am not claiming for my cracked bumper because as was pointed out above (thanks!) the excess is not payable on third party only claims.

So far the insurance company seem very efficient and helpful so I'm optimistic this will be sorted quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Thanks all

[Gafferjim]

It is 100% your fault that you crashed into the back of him, doesn't matter what happened in front of him to make him stop, you couldn't! leave more room, remember the 2 second rule, it'll save you money & hassle in the long run.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Gafferjim said:

It is 100% your fault that you crashed into the back of him, doesn't matter what happened in front of him to make him stop, you couldn't! leave more room, remember the 2 second rule, it'll save you money & hassle in the long run.

Why don't you read the post. There was no one in front of OP, but then the tp swerved in front to avoid some other loon.

[jjcd]

Gafferjim said:

It is 100% your fault that you crashed into the back of him, doesn't matter what happened in front of him to make him stop, you couldn't! leave more room, remember the 2 second rule, it'll save you money & hassle in the long run.

I am well aware of the 2 second rule and always drive a safe distance as one thing that hugely annoys me is people driving a few feet off my back bumper.

However I was not driving too close! As per my original post there was nobody directly in front of me - the car I collided with was in front BUT to the left. Then when a car pulled out of them from the exit on the left they swerved to avoid it ending up in my lane whilst also braking hard. I obviously braked as soon as I could see what was going to happen but this was too late and I ran into the back of them. I hope this makes it clearer!

[Gafferjim]

It does, apologises, but without the evidence, or the other driver admitting that he made an emergency lane change, you'll have a problem proving it. (Then it would be his fault, and you claiming from his insurance)