Never judge a book by its mot and tax status

[pf85]

My girlfriend accidentally scraped the bumper of a car when trying to park so being open and honest as she is, she left a note apologising with her number. Someone at her work advised her to contact her insurance immediately and just let them know this has happened encase he later comes after her with a claim, so she did.

The guy contacted her and said not to worry about it but she said she felt bad and wanted to pay for whatever damage there may be - he then said fair enough and that he would be happy if she sent him £200 to get it fixed (his car is over 10 years old and is not worth much). She replied agreeing to send him £200.

I did a quick check on his car reg and it came up as untaxed and no mot, so it will also be uninsured. Her insurance is now asking her either his details or for confirmation that she has settled it privately with him in order to close the case.

Where does she now stand or what should she do in this scenario? I guess she will have a claim recorded against her regardless of the outcome and will put her premium up too?

 

[Daz500]

Doesn't necessarily mean the car isn't insured, just unlikely his insurance would pay if there was a claim. Last thing I was asked for was tax book and MOT certificate. However, it does seem odd the car isn't taxed, has no MOT and is out on the street. There could be other things in play such as MOT just expired and it's waiting to get a date so the owner took a chance and left it on the street.

There are three options as far as I can see:

1 - do the right thing & ask to go through insurance (guy might not want to proceed) but this option means your gf's NCB will be affected if he does proceed.
2 - do the right thing and just pay the agreed sum (gf accepts she was at fault anyway)
3 - do the ****ty thing and don't pay a penny

Out of curiosity, what sort of damage was it and how was £200 determined? Reasonable scratches requiring some paint would be less than £200 if you know the right people

 

[Odhran]

Run his reg through askmid. Not sure if that has any affect on the outcome but it will tell you if the car is uninsured I guess.

 

[natogreen16v]

No tax and no not doesn't automatically mean it's not insured

 

[pf85]

I ran the reg through askmid and it is showing as being insured, thanks I didn't know you could do this.

This happened before Christmas and as of today it is still not taxed or mod'd. He was travelling over 30 miles to Belfast that day and odds are he still is.

The car had a number of other scrapes on it, like I said it's quite an older run about car but I'm not sure where the £200 figure came from I'd have to ask her again. She just wants to put it all behind her and doesn't mind paying for it but what is the best play here in terms of her insurance?

 

[adzy]

If you tell your insurance about an 'accident' even if your not at fault or don't claim it will effect your insurance.

My mum clipped wing mirrors on a back road with another car, no white lines so atomatically a 50/50 fault. She or the other driver didn't claim but she informed her insurance and it affected the renewal, and even mine having her as a named driver

 

[Terry]

Let her insurance know that it's all been settled and she doesn't want to proceed with anything, but they can record it for information (as they will be doing that anyway, now that they know).

If it were me I'd send the guy the £200 and move on, that's not a lot of money to get a scrape fixed. And if he chooses to leave it as is, or to bluff a repair / pocket money then that's his choice. If it was all going through insurance her excess would likely be more and he could claim for a whole panel (also adding on god knows what else) and her premium would go up next year.

£200 is a small price to pay to put it behind you. You could have him sign paperwork (without prejudice) but she is freely admitting that she was to blame anyway. So the only unlikely risk I can see is that he takes the £200 and still goes through his insurance afterwards. In which case she's already notified her insurance and would 'only' be £200 down at worst, but could perhaps provide a paper trail (email or signed receipt) to have this taken off a final bill.

 

[big_pete]

£200 would be about the going rate to paint a bumper

 

[richie_mck]

On a side note, fair play to your GF for owning up. 99% of people would have no problem just driving off and leaving the damage.

 

[stevieturbo]

End of the day, she is at fault, what she hit or what a website says about it is irrelevant.

£200 is a small price to pay when the victim could still easily make a claim off her insurance etc.

 

[pf85]

Thanks for all the replies, I will pass those onto her and advise that she pays the 200 and closes it out with his agreement without going any further down the insurance route.

 

[NickR]

£200 would be about the going rate to paint a bumper

I paid around that to get the bmw bumper plastic welded and sprayed by AG.

 

[G N K]

And change the thread title, never judge a book by its mot and tax status! Or something like that...

 

[pablo]

tbf even if it was uninsured she did the right thing. fessed up and paid the man.

 

[NeilMcG]

Agree with the above, not an awful lot can be done in this instance but I think your girlfriend would be entitled to see a quote from a repairing garage to fix it rather than just pay £200 as it could work out less. Problem is now that it has been reported to the insurers they will have it on record which may result in increased premiums.

 

[DriftnSlide]

If he had no tax or MOT he shouldn't have been parked on the road. Probably the reason he wasn't concerned and is not likely to claim against her insurance.
I'd tell the insurance company it's sorted and give him £20 or £30.

 

[Turks]

I would pay him just to get it over and done with. I would also get him to sign something to say that she paid the £200 for the damage to the car.

 

[Eamo_vxr]

I'd tread carefully, a similar thing happened to a mate of mine. He nudged the back bumper of another car with just the driver in it and they agreed between them he would pay for the damage. Think it was around £200 also. He paid and that was the end of it, or so he thought. Got a letter about 2-3 months later from the guys insurance company, the driver and now 3 passengers were claiming against him for their injuries and damage to the car.

At the very least, get a receipt for the money paid and what it is intended for and the circumstances surrounding it I.e "the car with reg xxxxxx was stationary and unoccupied when the damage occurred"
Once he signs it your home free.

Seems abit much, but some people are capable of anything.

 

[NotKG]

how is a 10+ car not worth much?
a mate got hit in his 08 avensis and the insurance spent £3400 fixing it. its only a 4 door diesel with 102k.
i thought myself wtf !!
seen cheaper for sale in dealers.