GF was rear ended (front of 3 cars in the same incident) after having to brake sharply on the A1. Only creased the dark plastic bumper part on her ’12 Yeti, so while it’s a few hundred £ it may not be worth claiming as she’ll likely run it into the ground.

Bloke behind her is blaming the guy that rear-ended him, this is bollocks Shirley?

How does claiming affect her future premium? Is is the only way to avoid any claim to get him to agree to not go through his insurance? Or can she claim from his insurer direct, without involving hers and affecting her premiums?

If he was pushed into her by the rear car it all falls on the rear car. Leave it with the insurance companies to sort the yeti may only look like superficial damage but metal structures behind the plastic may be damaged. Potential rust issues in the future if you intend to run it into the ground.

Scott v Warren isn’t it?

the yeti may only look like superficial damage but metal structures behind the plastic may be damaged.

This.  Plus, a bumper is designed to absorb an impact, once it’s done so it’s not going to do it again very well.  Get a garage to have a proper look at it before you / she makes any decisions.

In any case, if the bloke is already playing the “not my fault” card then he’s surely going to play silly bastards with a non-insurance agreement.  Not worth that hassle.

As a former claims manager, did she feel two impacts (hit by car behind who was then hit by car 3) or one impact (car 3 pushed car behind into her)

As the car at the front, she’s obviously the innocent party though. Get the car checked properly – bumpers can deform and pop back out whilst disguising damage to the frame underneath.

Cheers guys, she was only aware of 1 bump.

The damage is literally a crease in a narrow section of the bumper, it’s 2-3″ high at that point.

Won’t it affect her premiums? She has no NCB as her ex hubby had previous policies.

EDIT the middle guy’s brother is a solicitor so he may be being cheeky/aggressive unnecessarily

Sounds like the middle guy is as innocent as your gf, I’d be blaming the rear driver if it happened to me too.

Irrespective of whether she claims, she’s obliged to report it to her insurer who will put her premium up.

My advice would be to go through the insurance so they can be sure that she wasn’t at fault – her premium is still likely to rise though.

It’s rubbish, but there’s little you can do.

The damage is literally a crease in a narrow section of the bumper, it’s 2-3″ high at that point.

Have you checked?  There will be a deformable structure underneath, sometimes the car itself, or a metal beam that can be unbolted and replaced. Ours was squashed flat but the bumper had popped back out and looked almost normal.  (it had not only squashed flat, it had pushed the floor up slightly as well

She will probably be required to inform her insurance company of being involved in an accident (check your T&C you agreed to when you took out a policy, every one I have seen requires them to be notified of any change of circumstances/accidents regardless of blame).

Won’t it affect her premiums?

Yes it will probably increase her renewal (people involved in no fault accidents are statistically more likely to be involved in another accident)

Yes its not fair, but insurance is required if you want to drive, and they get to set the terms and conditions.

I’ll get a pic. I can’t imagine it is structural.

It’d be nice to avoid insurers, yes I know it’s not in terms of the contract but ffs…

Yes it will probably increase her renewal (people involved in no fault accidents are statistically more likely to be involved in another accident)

This really does my head in, isn’t that why we have insurance in the first instance?

On the flip side of several comments above, being rear ended isn’t immediately someone else’s fault (after 2 days non stop on the phone we got the decision to go our way) and our insurance didn’t go up at all.

Doesn’t matter if the middle person got pushed or not,

they caused the damage and any claim should be against their insurance, they will pay out then attempt to prove it was the fault of person 3 and claim back from them….

and report it to own insurance anyway, if it gets messy let them sort it, that’s what you pay premiums for.

Watches with interest.

Just had my car written off due to being hit from behind on a slip road – other party took full responsibility so I’m having his insurance deal with it so far – have reported as a no fault / no claim to my own.

2013 Passat, with essentially plastic damage, parking sensors knackered and a small crease to the boot lid. Written off as they wouldn’t / couldn’t guarantee suspension integrity. I can’t buy back and fix as it’s a covered by my company opt out – no Cat C/D allowed.

Haven’t had an offer yet and driving a hire at their expense but any advice beyond ‘don’t accept the first offer’?

My old house mate was the middle car in one like this.

The car in front claimed off his insurance and then his insurance claimed both lots from the car at the back.

Took a while to sort out as he had to insure a new car (this was a 70mph write-off rather than a scratched bumper) with a claim hanging over him. Was quite expensive (he got a Chimera to replace his written off Corado so wouldn’t have been cheap regardless) Oncee all sorted though his insurer removed the fault claim and dropped/refund part of his premium which had been based on having one pending. Right PITA.

Anyway, as I understand the OP’s GF should claim off the chap behind her, he hit her, and it’s then up to him/his insurance to claim that cost and his own from the chap at the back.

If it was me I would just ignore it though (had a similar one, friend ran into the back of me at some traffic lights, only cosmetic damage, so just left it. Can still take the piss a decade later)