Someone hit me! Insurance or Private?

[A13x]

Just a quick one as i am unsure which forum to post in. I was filling up my car and someone just reversed into me! the side of my car down the passenger door is all dinted and the side wing mirror is scratched. The scratch and dint is about the size of my hand and the scratch is all down the wing mirror plastic. the girlfriend claims she saw the entire thing bend then snap back. Motor, indicator etc all is fine.

Do audi garages actually do body repair work?

I also assume you get 24hrs to report an incident?

 

[1inchpunch]

Not sure what you are asking here. I take it the person stopped and you got all their details? What was the damage to their car and did they mention insurance and did you swap details?

It's really the call of the other party. If they are prepared to send it to a body shop of your choice then don't bother with insurance. If it does go through insurance then you won't need to pay a penny and your no claims will not be affected BUT..... and this is where the real insurance con comes in. You will need to declare it for the next 3 - 5 years and despite what they say it WILL affect your premium. Insurance companies will look for any excuse to put your premium up.

 

[A13x]

Yes this is what i was thinking, i was wondering if i should take it to audi for body work if you guys know of another place that can get me a quote tomorrow for repair i will be more than happy to give them a call. Around manchester would be superb.

Does a new wing mirror cost a lot of money? i know changing the bulb does but its just a cosmetic mark on the plastic.

 

[1inchpunch]

I'd hazard a guess that the other party will be happy to fix without going through insurance. They will have around £300 excess to pay and their insurance will be even more screwed than yours for years to come if they do go via insurance.

 

[L80EWY]

Go to a solicitor like winns or whatever rather than your insurance! my insurance has gone ho a grand for claiming twice even though I won the claims

 

[Sheikh]

Yeah go to a third party accident claim specialist... wont affect your insurance at all! Had an accident last year, they didn't even tell my insurance company they just took the claim direct to the third party insurers, best thing was i didn't end up with a crappy courtesy car because most of them give like for like.

 

[asasprey]

Mate, use Europa Consultants Welcome to Europa Consultants on 0845 058 9966

They do not contact your insurance, only thr 3rd partys. It is completely legal and my family and friends swear by them. They send you a like for like car (my bro got a Lotus Elise).

See this :
Europa can offer, subject to availability, an extensive range of replacement vehicles to suit most requirements;
Group A - Nissan Micra 1.0, Ford Ka 1.0
Group B - Ford Fiesta 1.2, Vauxhall Corsa 1.2, VW Polo 1.2
Group C - Vauxhall Astra, Ford Focus
Group D - Renault Megane Scenic 1.5D, Ford Focus 1.6, VW Golf GT TDi incl. DSG
Group E - VW Passat, Ford Mondeo, Honda Civic 2.2D
Group F - VW Golf GTi
MPV - VW Touran, Renault Espace
Prestige - Audi A3, Audi A6, Mercedes C Class, BMW 3 Series, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E Class
4x4 - Land Rover Discovery 4 3.0 TDV6
Sports - Porsche Boxster, Porsche Boxster PDK, Porsche Cayman S, Lotus Elise S
Luxury - Bentley Continental GT, Bentley Flying Spur
High Performance - Lotus Exige, Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Europa also has access to commercial vehicles from small vans right through to 44 ton Articulated Lorries. Automatic cars, cars with tow bars and dual control vehicles can also be provided. Please ask for more details.


You will fall under prestige, so would get one of those on the list the next day. They are really polite and helpful and as it doesnt go through your insurance, it is the same as using a solicitor except you dont have to pay any fees.

Hope this was helpful mate, these guys are awesome.

 

[A13x]

Is there a cut off time when i need to claim or can i wait after 24hours as if i do not get a quote or them to offer to pay it privatly, i need to ring around and with it being weekend i dont want to invalidate my insurance as i waited too late.

All it needs is suck, paint and a new wing mirror

 

[Sheikh]

Its non fault mate.. you've got nothing to worry about.

 

[1inchpunch]

If you really think any claim with your name (even non fault) and car details won't affect you in future you are being naive. You will still have to declare it and it will put money on your premium.

How do you think these claim companies make money? Over priced repairs, hire cars and referral fees to ambulance chasers. Companies like this are part of the problem with insurance in this country (we're turning into America) and one of the reasons insurance premiums are going through the roof.

I had a knock for knock accident 3 years ago. I didn't claim my insurance as it was only £120 for a bumper respray and £350 excess to claim insurance. The other guy got his insurance company involved for his broken headlight and the claim cost £1200. The car hire company and bodyshop see it's an insurance claim so they quadruple the price. At the end of the day we all have to pay.

Sort it out one to one with the other party and only if that doesn't work then contact the money grabbing ********.

 

[danb986]

It's true, even if the accident isn't your fault then your insurance will still go up because you've been in an accident.

I had a woman pull out of a garden centre into the second lane of a dual carriageway, right in front of me when I was doing around 60. I had witnesses who all said it was her fault and her insurance company admitted liability too.
When my insurance came up for renewal it jumped up massively so I phoned them up to query it and the woman at Admiral said it was because I'd had an accident. I pointed out that it wasn't my fault and that the other insurance company paid the claim, but she said it didn't matter. She said that if you're involved in an accident no matter whose fault, then statistically you're more likely to be involved in another one. I argued that if you were sat at traffic lights for example and someone goes into the back of you then why are you more likely to have it happen again than someone else, but I was just wasting my breath.

 

[asasprey]

If you really think any claim with your name (even non fault) and car details won't affect you in future you are being naive. You will still have to declare it and it will put money on your premium.

How do you think these claim companies make money? Over priced repairs, hire cars and referral fees to ambulance chasers. Companies like this are part of the problem with insurance in this country (we're turning into America) and one of the reasons insurance premiums are going through the roof.

I had a knock for knock accident 3 years ago. I didn't claim my insurance as it was only £120 for a bumper respray and £350 excess to claim insurance. The other guy got his insurance company involved for his broken headlight and the claim cost £1200. The car hire company and bodyshop see it's an insurance claim so they quadruple the price. At the end of the day we all have to pay.

Sort it out one to one with the other party and only if that doesn't work then contact the money grabbing ********.

You will love this then mate : Audi A3 damaged salvage CAT D Accident claim | eBay

Apparently you can use their service as a full time job!

 

[danb986]

It's people like him that are pushing our insurance prices up even higher. Somebody nudges bumpers and you've got 2 people claiming thousands for whiplash, which causes the insurance companies to charge more so they don't lose out.

 

[1inchpunch]

You will love this then mate : Audi A3 damaged salvage CAT D Accident claim | eBay

Apparently you can use their service as a full time job!

Such services should be criminalised if you ask me. The vast majority of claims are massively over exaggerated so are basically fraud.

 

[jamessg1962]

Regarding the insurance issue, if you have had an accident and its not your fault and you make a claim on the third party's insurance your insurance premium is not affected.
The reason peoples insurance premium go up is because of fraudulent claims by "no win no fee" company's who tell claimants to exaggerate their injuries to get more money from insurance company's.
So everybody ends up getting a hike on premiums to cover these costs.
At the end of the day insurance company's need to claw it back some how.

 

[1inchpunch]

Try putting your details into any comparison site with no claim added. Then put exactly the same details in but add a non fault accident. The premium will go up.

It's crap, but as James says, fraudulent and over exaggerated claims push everyones premiums up but the insurance companies will also look for any excuse to add a little extra to claw even more money back. Being in a non fault accident is a great excuse to claw back some of those lost £££s.

 

[jamessg1962]

Sory 1inchpunch your wrong !
For a start it ask's you if it's a non fault claim, Try it, it makes no difference if you put on "not at fault claim" or no claim at all .
My premiums were exactly the same.

 

[jamessg1962]

Of course it may depend on what insurance company you use .

 

[Ash187]

if your not at fault and the third party has agreed fault then just take the car back to Audi.

I have been told by Docklands Audi that if i ever have an accident that isnt my fault i can go to them and they will do the repairs, give me a like-for-like courtesy car and get all the costs from third party insurance without it going to my insurance... i wont pay any excess or need to declare it in future insurance quotes.

otherwise just use a accident management company to sort it out and they will do pretty much the same as what i said Audi will do...
I prefer going to Audi as you know then they should do a good job on the car!

 

[paddy]

Well it made me smile

topic title..someone hit me, insurance or private

Reply from..itwasntme

 

[Farhan]

Settle it private, Dont go to these third party firms. Do you know what the cause is for our rising insurance prices???

its these third party companies and this whole like for like courtesy car stuff, This solicitor firm will work on a no win no fee which will absolutely rip off the third parties insurance!

They need to make there money, So they will charge extortionate sums for the courtesy car to the other insurer. IE 200 a day for something like a ford ka!! (Youll get like for like so it will probably be more)

So the solicitors firm will make there money the insurance companies again will be out of pocket and all our insurances will go through the roof.

Settle this privately with your choice of body shop or play it properly and go through your insurance...Dont mean to come across as someone who moans but if we all played our part in avoiding third party accident management lawyers we wouldnt be paying massive premiums

 

[NHN]

Certainly I would have some legally reported log of the accident, I'm not sure if you can report accident to the Police now without them being on site or if other driver didnt stop/give details, but so if you need to refer back to something, then the Police option is there anyway, just because you report to the Police, doesnt mean you have to go through insurance, but you can advise the other party you have got a Police report for the accident & handed over there details, so they will think twice about not paying up or accepting there was an accident.

As for insurance or private, if its done properly by a good bodyshop, which are few & far between these days, then private, but as stated have a legal path incase other party starts playing games, I would also grab a photo of the cars & the person who hit you, next to their or both cars so you have a form of identication of said person.

 

[1inchpunch]

The petrol station will have cameras so the whole thing will be on tape if the other party starts playing the ****.

 

[NHN]

If they run a system of overwrite after a period of time say 7 days, then doubt it very much.

 

[Padtwo]

I also had someone hit me in a petrol station. Rang them that night to ask about video and they said they had it. Result. Went back the following day and they couldn't give it to me or my insurance company due to data protection, they could only give it to the police if they requested it. As it happens there was a police station next to the petrol station so I went in there to to explain things, but as nobody was injured they weren't too concerned.

Fortunately for me the first letter I got from the other party's insurance was one saying, sorry our fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nearly fell over!! And it was a couple of days before I went away on holiday, so the plan was car in bodyshop for two weeks, I come back to a shiny repaired car. Now I don't do body repair but having had the car for almost 2 weeks I get a call asking where my locking wheel nut is. I had been told previously that the repair was almost complete, with the repair being a front wing and bumper? I asked had they not taken the wheel off to take off bumper and wing, check for damage and fit the new wing? Apparently they wanted to take the wheel off to apply tyre shine to the inside of the tyre because they wanted to do a proper job....... and you say our premiums are going up.....

To the OP, hope it all get sorted quickly to your satisfaction.