Interesting, not once have you really appreciated the fact that a potentially fatal situation has turned out well. Instead you are looking into "blaming and claiming". Yep, you may be out of pocket but both of your Mrs's and you are okay. What's that worth?

oh he didn't die so he should be thankful?

er no, mates or not he was too close to prevent hitting you in an emergency, end of story.

Cove – wind your neck in, we have all had a good chat and we appreciate what could have happened. I've been down the road on numerous occassions in my 30 years of riding motorbikes, lost a few mates, know lads who have been paralysed – so don't need any "helpfull" reminders that nobody died.

Sounds like you've taken the sensible approach. Your mate won't get charged unless you press for it and that's not going to happen. He may been too close but that isn't necessarily illegal. Get your claim moving, it'll take long enough anyway and if the insurance company get even a whiff of something they think is dodgy they can get really funny. Unless asked don't even mention the fact that you know the other driver involved.

my mates wife reversed into the side of my (new at the time) car causing that biggest dent ever. We chatted about it, decided that we didn't want to involve insurance so i found a repairer, got it fixed and gave him the bill (which in fairness he suggested). Although no millionaire myself, he also had just had his first child and so recognising he was on the poorer than normal situation our compromise was that i would pay it, and take cash back when and if he could afford it which he did over a couple of months

Lesson: dont let wimen drive 😛

Don't need to pull my head in, as opposed to your "mates" I have had a Father, Brother, Cousin and Nephew all killed on bikes. I hope that puts my comments into context.

On a diffrent note, make sure the haematoma gets checked out and dealt with properly. I recently had 4 ops in a week and spent much of that week with my thigh hnging open from hip to knee to deal with an (admittedly very very) large haematoma. Expect an ultrasound to see it and assess the size and maybe a small op to drain it. From my own experience though I would say at all costs avoid an epidural for the op, as thanks to that I had no idea of the rebleeding they caused which was the source of my bigger problems. Cracking scar left over though, but then I'm not a woman to worry about that sort of thing.

cove-transition-genesis – Member

Don't need to pull my head in, as opposed to your "mates" I have had a Father, Brother, Cousin and Nephew all killed on bikes. I hope that puts my comments into context.

Sorry to hear that. Not that it has any bearing on this incident, but sorry, nonetheless….

If I were your friend I'd expect you to claim against me. That's the reason why I'd be insured.
Yeah, my premiums might go up, but again, an accident has occurred so it needs due process.
Reason for this – as a friend I'd not want you to be out of pocket. Also, if several years time when/if there's complications then the slate is clean…

In fact, I did rear end a mate – he slammed on the brakes and ducked into a driveway avoiding a ****t comming the other way on a lane. I braked but slid into the back of his car with mine. Anyway, he came down later with his Dad (long time ago) expecting all sorts of hassle with me saying it wasn't my fault – I just asked how much… But then there was no personal injury so a lot easier in the long run.

There's nothing spurious about making a claim in this situation

You would definately make a claim if it wasn't your mate

So ask yourself this, why are you considering NOT claiming simply because it's a mate who caused you to claim?

Your mate shouldn't have any issues with you claiming against his insurance, he WAS to blame he DIDN'T leave enough room for an emergency stop, hopefully now he will next time

Give the old bill a go at finding the suicide driver