Car accident - Believe the guy is ripping me off

theTinker

About 6 weeks ago, I was involved in an accident. I was in a fairly cheap 96 Opel Corsa so the damage sustained wrote my car off.
(Insurance Company break down service brought it to the authorized garage).
Radiator at the front + lights broke.

Today however, I received a call from the person in the other car.
Claiming over 1.3k of repair costs. Now when the accident occurred 6 weeks ago, The damage looked very minor. Nothing more than a few scratches on his rear bumper. The guy slammed on his brakes because he missed his right turn.
Anyways, Now the figure is far higher than i anticipated so i think i will go through the insurance.
I've never done this before so i'm not sure about position I have.
If the guy has already fixed his car, How can my insurance company verify the damage done?
Will it be his word against mine?
If it hasn't been fixed yet, will my insurance company evaluate the damage themselves?

javaboy

The cost of a minor hit in the back of a car can be surprisingly high. My gf was hit by someone else and despite there being very little visible damage, a trusted repair garage was quoting 500 (with a discount) for repairs.

is_that_so

I agree, it is expensive. I got whacked twice some years back. Cost the insurance over £2K each time.

seamus

theTinker wrote: »

Today however, I received a call from the person in the other car.
Claiming over 1.3k of repair costs. Now when the accident occurred 6 weeks ago, The damage looked very minor. Nothing more than a few scratches on his rear bumper. The guy slammed on his brakes because he missed his right turn.

You really would be surprised. The thing with accidents is, he's entitled to have his car returned to the state that it was, before you hit him. So even though it might look like a bad dent, a crack and some scraping, he can opt to have his entire rear bumper replaced. Often when they do things like this, they will need to respray other parts to make sure that it matches up. Yes, it does work out stupidly expensive. Car manufacturers no doubt charge way over the odds for front and rear bumpers, because these are very common accidents.

Ask him for a detailed estimate or repair invoice. This should give you an indicator of where the money's going that he's claiming.

L1011

He could also have had suspension damage or other 'under the covers' structural problems. Ask to see the receipts for the work to see what was actually done.

-Chris-

If he's had the damage repaired before he's come back to you and told you that he wants you to repair it (or how much it'll cost), I'd find that unacceptable and slightly dodgy.

If you pass this to your insurance company (which you should if he starts playing hardball), they'll probably give him no end of grief as they've had no chance to assess or repair the damage.

JimmyCrackCorn!

Get reciepts.

Making a large assumption if you broke your rad you prob broke more

e.g
bumper
bumper bar
Slam panel
Chassis Legs may have bent and needed straightining

You should have been told what needed doing and if you weren't you need to ask.

iceman777

I do agree that you should get receipts of the damage and your insurance company will look for these as well.

It is extremely costly these days for car repairs e.g. I had another driver "tip" into the back of my car about 18 months ago while at a red light and the damage was virtually unseen apart from a scrape, but I had to replace the rear bumper. It cost €1286 and €500 of that was for labour.

delly

Just as a flip side on this, a couple of years ago a Micra driver slammed into the back of my 05 Golf. His car had a crumpled bonnet, smashed headlight and the bumper was dislodged. My car had no visible damage bar a good few scratches and a marked numberplate. I brought it to the VW dealer who stuck it up on the ramp where I could see that a metal frame was pushed in about 4 to 6 inchs from the bumper which showed how heavy the impact was. The VW guy said this frame wasn't structural and could be bent back without too much bother. Net result was I rang the guy to say all was well and not to worry about it, but he was very surprised considering the damage done to his car.

These type of incidents are Karma related I reckon, if you ride somebody unfairly, you'll hopefully get bad payback in the future.

theTinker

I've called him back up for the list of estimated damage. I've decided to go through my insurance since ive just bought a replacement car for myself, I cant really afford to pay that kinda cash without destroying my plans(moving into an apartment).
At least if when my premiums go up, it will be 8 months away at next renewal.

Insurance company said they will send out an assessor to check the damage claimed is consistent with the accident report I gave.
They didn't like that he waited 5-6 weeks to get the quote done. Anything could of happened in that time, Hell, he could of been hit again, and charging both people for the same damage.

Unfortunately, people around the office seem to believe that the insurance will just pay out since its cheaper for them to do that and charge me than it is to try fight it with a solicitor.

What do you all think? Is this the way it usually goes?It does make sense i guess.

Im very glad my new car has ABS now

theTinker

delly wrote: »

These type of incidents are Karma related I reckon, if you ride somebody unfairly, you'll hopefully get bad payback in the future.

I wish this to be true!
I was on the M50 yesterday and a four car pile up happened right in front of me. Smartly though, Since my bump mentioned above, I drive WAY back from everyone else. I stopped with plenty of time spare. Very nearly however, the car behind me was only a small bit away from me.
I hate people who drive to close. Its far too dangerous and it serves nothing.

In the accident mentioned above, I was about 3-4 seconds behind but was going down hill and it was lashing, Car didnt slow down one bit, just slid and slid and slid, it was the longest few seconds ever.

theTinker

Do I have much of a chance of having my car claimed for against his insurance?

I had another passenger in the car which can vouch for his sudden stopping? Or are these cases always open and shut with the one behind to blame?

MercMad

theTinker wrote: »

Do I have much of a chance of having my car claimed for against his insurance?

I had another passenger in the car which can vouch for his sudden stopping? Or are these cases always open and shut with the one behind to blame?

...........thats pretty much the way it goes. It doesn't really matter what the estimate is, the accessor will agree a "correct" repair price with the bodyshop anyway !

De Hipster

theTinker wrote: »

Do I have much of a chance of having my car claimed for against his insurance?

I had another passenger in the car which can vouch for his sudden stopping? Or are these cases always open and shut with the one behind to blame?

It's ulikely that this information will be of any use at this stage, unless garda attended the scene & this was mentioned then.

Similar happened to my dad, bloke stopped suddenly on main road, dad stopped, only to be hit from behind & pushed into the original driver. Driver admitted to cops on scene that he did indeed stop suddenly & without indication, he paid for the damage to the front of dad's vehicle, last into the equation paid for the rear...

lubie76

I tipped someone back in Novemeber while approaching a red light. I was a learner at the time and basically didn't hit the break in time and car slowly tipped the rear of his car. There was no visible damage to either car and he claimed to be fine. I wasn't surprised as i barely tipped him.

However turns out I apparantly done huge damage to his car although he wouldn't let my insurance company (quinn) assess it . Then I got a solicitors letter saying he was claimimg personal injury.

I was so convinced he was lying I contacted the insurance fraud people and they done an investigation which meant Quinn sent out an assessor to my car to check the damage and at that time he still wasn't allowing them to see his car. The assessor told me they would probably have to pay out anyway for the injury claim as it is too difficult to disprove these back neck injuries. Most doctors will just agree with someone with these injuries.

Have to say it made me mad as there are plenty of people out there are trying to get compensated for genuine injuries and having trouble and this guy is just taking the P***. Also annoyed at Quinn for paying out so easily particularly when it is so obviously fraud. I had heard they didn't do this but obviously because I hadn't any witnesses or even called guards ( Stupidly thought it was too minor) they had nothing to go by except my word against his.

ismynametoolong

delly wrote: »

Just as a flip side on this, a couple of years ago a Micra driver slammed into the back of my 05 Golf. His car had a crumpled bonnet, smashed headlight and the bumper was dislodged. My car had no visible damage bar a good few scratches and a marked numberplate. I brought it to the VW dealer who stuck it up on the ramp where I could see that a metal frame was pushed in about 4 to 6 inchs from the bumper which showed how heavy the impact was. The VW guy said this frame wasn't structural and could be bent back without too much bother. Net result was I rang the guy to say all was well and not to worry about it, but he was very surprised considering the damage done to his car.

These type of incidents are Karma related I reckon, if you ride somebody unfairly, you'll hopefully get bad payback in the future.

I agree !!

Mickk

theTinker wrote: »

Do I have much of a chance of having my car claimed for against his insurance?

I had another passenger in the car which can vouch for his sudden stopping? Or are these cases always open and shut with the one behind to blame?

If you genuinely feel it was his fault then deny responsibility with your insurance company. What ever you said to him on the day really doesn't matter. In cases like this generally the insurance companies agree its shared liability and you pay to fix yours, he pays to fix his... (it suits them down to the ground as it doesn't cost them a penny)

TwoShedsJackson

theTinker wrote: »

Do I have much of a chance of having my car claimed for against his insurance?

I had another passenger in the car which can vouch for his sudden stopping? Or are these cases always open and shut with the one behind to blame?

Forget it, if you hit him from behind you're at fault as far as these things go. No matter how suddenly the guy in front slams his brakes on and comes to a stop they'll say you should have been keeping a sufficient distance and speed from him to be able to come to a complete stop without hitting him in an emergency.

biko

theTinker wrote: »

I wish this to be true!
I was on the M50 yesterday and a four car pile up happened right in front of me. Smartly though, Since my bump mentioned above, I drive WAY back from everyone else. I stopped with plenty of time spare. Very nearly however, the car behind me was only a small bit away from me.
I hate people who drive to close. Its far too dangerous and it serves nothing.

In the accident mentioned above, I was about 3-4 seconds behind but was going down hill and it was lashing, Car didnt slow down one bit, just slid and slid and slid, it was the longest few seconds ever.

I was going downhill on snow/ice with lots of room in front of me when I see the cars in front start to brake.
Started braking too but it was sooo slippery. Even though I had maybe 10 car lengths between me and car in front and we were going slow I ended up just a few inches away from him.
Man, he must have been sweating