Last week someone drove into the back of my wife’s car at a roundabout, the damage is only minimal so I’ve got a quote from a local garage for the repair and the other lady has agreed to pay rather than going through insurance companies. How should we proceed with paying for the works? she’s offered to send a cheque, but should we ask her to pay the garage direct? If we take the cheque are we screwed if the works are slightly more expensive and if we ask her to pay the garage where do we stand if she later changes her mind? Thanks

You need to get a firm price from the garage and then get the money up front before moving forward. You give her a receipt saying she has paid all she owes and then you get the work done. Do not do anything unless you have her cash in your bank or hand.

Cheers Rockape, I’ll call the garage and get it as a firm price and then get a cheque from the lady which I’ll cash before booking the car in for repair.

I predict not going through the insurance will come back and bite you at some point.

I predict not going through the insurance will come back and bite you at some point.

Go on then, what does your crystal ball say will go wrong?

I’d go through the insurance every time. What if she doesn’t pay? You won’t then be able to claim on your insurance as they did not authorise the work-you’ll have to stump up yourself.

What if she doesn’t pay? You won’t then be able to claim on your insurance as they did not authorise the work-you’ll have to stump up yourself

Covered already in the second and post

Covered already in the second and post

Yes you did :). Apologies, tired and skim reading…

What happens if you realise in a fortnight that she has whiplash injuries?

What happens if you realise in a fortnight that she has whiplash injuries?

It was a very, very minor bump!

You’ll have to report the loss to your insurer. You need to consider how that will affect your renewal price.
I’d go through insurance.

You don’t have to go through insurance, many people don’t. A bumper can be £500 btw, new part and paint to colour match. Neighbour reversed into my wifes car and totalled her bumper, settled directly. We trust he as we’ve known him 10 years.

Yeh people can get get spooked if they expect a £100 and all of a sudden it’s £500.. and it can get messy.

You don’t have to go through insurance, many people don’t.

You don’t have to go through your insurance but come renewal time if you answer no to “any accidents in the last five years” you are committing fraud.

Would you, Jamba, be able to carry on your job if convicted of fraud?

It’s unlikely one would ever get found out, but is it a risk worth taking for a couple of hundred quid? The OP’s missus’s premiums would go up a bit for a while but the other lady would take the real hit. That’s her problem. She might learn to look where she’s going. Could be a baby Robin next time.

It was a very, very minor bump!

Maybe so, but can you be sure they’re not going to chance it?

“Hi. We’ve been informed that you’ve recently been involved in an accident that wasn’t your fault…”

Maybe so, but can you be sure they’re not going to chance it?

Yep, my wife won’t chance it (that would be fraud, same as not declaring to insurance co!) and it was clearly the other woman’s fault so no worry for us there!

Similar happened to my wife. We went to garage we trust and got firm quote. Showed it to the man who bumped her and said this is how much it is to fix. He said he could get it done cheaper which I refused. Said, we use the garage I want or I go via insurance. Ok he said. He didn’t want to give me cash (incase we pocketed it and never fixed the bump, fair enough) so i called the garage, he paid them there and then over the phone. I dropped the car in as it was all pre paid. Job done. No insurance involvement.

No suburban I appreciate your point but I am struggling to see how that scenario would end up with a criminal court case. A slap on the wrist from the insurer is extremely unlikely never mind anything else.

How many people have been convicted for fraud for lying on their mortgage applications even if that blew up the bank.

I should also say not to worry too much about not telling the insurance. 4 years ago my wife dinged someone on ice. No apparent damage, exchanged numbers and all went separate ways. 12 months later an ambulance chasing lawyer got in touch. We call our insurer from back then (we had changed since the bump!) and they sorted the whole thing. No issues about not telling them at the time, which I was sh!tting about. Thankyou AXA.

Andy4d, that’s a different situation. Your “incident” resulted in no damage to any vehicles or people. So there really was nothing to actually declare to the insurance company at all.

An incident that involves damage, that gets paid for by someone, is a different matter. And you would be lying on your renewal to say “no” to the previous accident Q

Not really. The lady in the car got out to shout at my wife for hitting her car and fell on the ice dislocating her shoulder. Off she went to hospital with a passer by. Wife called her the next day and was told car was OK it was just her shoulder and that was that. As I said 12 months later a lawyer called claiming 7k of repairs to car etc etc. As I said our insurance company were great and dealt with the whole thing. Thank God.

Righto, that’s a slightly different version from “No apparent damage, exchanged numbers and all went separate ways.”

But either way, no cars were damaged, and car insurance doesn’t pay out for pedestrians falling over. So there was nothing to report to the insurance.

Consider it as just normal wear and tear …