Reversed into car by accident

Drummerboy08

If this guy is serious about his claim then wait until you get his estimate. You can then ask for an independent asscessor to look at his (and yours if you feel the need) You will then at least know you are not being ripped off. It might cost a few quid, but it is better than losing your own NCB. Bear in mind, your own insurance co might want to have their asscessor look at his car too if you make a big deal about it.

At the end of the day, if you get your insurance co and/or an independent asscessor to look at it, and if you genuinely didnt do the damage you wont be stung. If you get this done, and you did do the damage, then unfortunately it is your problem.

coylemj

But if the other guy sends in an estimate for 200-300 euros the insurance co won't send out an assessor, it's not worth it, they will tell the OP to pay up or they'll pay and screw his NCB.

Morlar

In my experience anyone who makes a point of saying they are 'not out to screw you' - are out to screw you.

I had something similair once where there was a ding - literally barely noticeable in terms of the sound. My car had absolutely zero damage and the othercar had a slight mark where the paint was scraped for a few inches. She walked into her local garage and said the magic words 'insurance claim' and the garage went 'KA-CHING'. €1400 later my insurance company sent an assessor and basically their approach was its not worth contesting and paid out. Basically she had her car serviced, headlights re-aligned and anything concievably related was fixed at top dollar. I didnt have a camera phone at the time either but it would have been useful.

Morlar

Morlar wrote: »

In my experience anyone who makes a point of saying they are 'not out to screw you' - are out to screw you.

I had something similair once where there was a ding - literally barely noticeable in terms of the sound. My car had absolutely zero damage and the othercar had a slight mark where the paint was scraped for a few inches. She walked into her local garage and said the magic words 'insurance claim' and the garage went 'KA-CHING'. €1400 later my insurance company sent an assessor and basically their approach was its not worth contesting and paid out. Basically she had her car serviced, headlights re-aligned and anything concievably related was fixed at top dollar. I didnt have a camera phone at the time either but it would have been useful.

why do people do this to other people?? it's so f*cking mean.

Drummerboy08

But if the other guy sends in an estimate for 200-300 euros the insurance co won't send out an assessor, it's not worth it, they will tell the OP to pay up or they'll pay and screw his NCB.

In this case, you can still bring in your own asscessor, it might cost you the 300 quid but if your right and think your right you wont lose your NCB.

dade

OP you said there was very Little visible damage. could you have driven over something that actually caused the noise? maybe a bottle or something. just a thought. Oh and if yer man comes back with an astronomical cost no harm asking can you have your garage assess the damage if he's reluctant he could be getting mate's rates or something

best of luck with it

DonJose

The Mustard wrote: »

He is entitled to be compensated for whatever damage that you did to his car unfortunately.

What do you mean by unfortunately???

OP get your tax in order ASAP!!!

L1011

coylemj wrote: »

But if the other guy sends in an estimate for 200-300 euros the insurance co won't send out an assessor, it's not worth it, they will tell the OP to pay up or they'll pay and screw his NCB.

Depends on the insurer, but this is very true these days. Zurich didn't send an assesor for an initial claim of about €1100 I made (came down to about €900 when all sorted, but still). Even that much money wasn't worth querying in their eyes.

professore

Morlar wrote: »

In my experience anyone who makes a point of saying they are 'not out to screw you' - are out to screw you.

I had an interesting experience too in a car park, my 8 year old daughter opened the back door and banged it against the car beside us. Fair enough there was a slight mark on the other car's paintwork and I would have no problem paying up (but was obviously a bit annoyed).

The passenger in the other car who looked like a guy who was selling drugs got out and immediately began effing and blinding in a Del Boy accent about "the f**king car was destroyed by your f**king sprog" etc etc. I felt like thumping him tbh for being so ignorant about the whole thing especially in front of my kids but that's against the law nd would prob end up knifed or something

Instead I whipped out my camera phone and took pics of the damage from several angles. We also swapped insurance details. Strangely the driver, a guy who looked 18-20, sat in the car all the time, and he was apparently the owner of the car.

Anyway, never heard anything after. My guess was that the young guy was doing something he wasn't supposed to be and if he claimed against me his family would find out. In any event his "mate's" reaction was uncalled for.

There's no point reacting like that anyway - you are just opening yourself to some sort of threatened assault charge and it won't improve your insurance claim.

BTW OP that guy sounds like an a**hole and people like that cause wars.

Flaccus

So assuming yer man makes an outrageous claim which I have the gut feeling he will, and my insurance company think it's not worth sending an assesor and decide to pay out and send my no claims up in smoke, am I at least notified before they proceed ? As it stands now I have only notified the claims specialist. They are not sending out any forms or doing anything unless yer man makes a claim.

Oh..and I will get my tax sorted. Just haven't got around to it. The guy gave me a lecture on how you must have your car taxed within 5 days, and he doesn't want to screw me but could ring the cops if he wanted. When I disputed his so called facts (politely I might ad, I suggested no visible damage on either car) I got accused of being a mechanic, a lawyer, and being thick, and shouted back at incidentally. Other derogatory comments were made at my mother as well. While this will turn out to be a relatively insignificant ordeal in the grand scheme of things, it has resulted in me changing my attitude dramatically when it comes to dealing with arrogant, nasty people such as this person.

what insurance company are you with? If it's Quinn Direct, you're probably screwed. But either way, most insurance companies have a clause in their t's & c's saying that they can pay out on claims without notifying you.

Tea drinker

You reversed into him, cough up for:
1 Check to ensure his vehicle is in roadworthy condition
2 And repairs found necessary as result of these checks relating to your incident.

It's tough that you made a mistake, we all make them. Live with it.

The fact he is an ass will be his life long problem, but if heard a crashing noise after being reversed into, then get out and the guy who did it tells me there is no damage - I would be annoyed.

The bumper could be all cracked to sh1t and brackets bent damaged etc.
I reckon maybe a grand (just for his damage- if your's is equally damaged double that), but then that's what your insurance is for.
Check and see if you have NCB protection on your policy - I used mine recently.

Best of luck with it.

coylemj

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

But if the other guy sends in an estimate for 200-300 euros the insurance co won't send out an assessor, it's not worth it, they will tell the OP to pay up or they'll pay and screw his NCB.

In this case, you can still bring in your own asscessor, it might cost you the 300 quid but if your right and think your right you wont lose your NCB.

Hang on a second - if the 'injured' party sends in an estimate for 300 euros it makes no sense to send in your own assessor, you just pay up, end of story or do like I said earlier, do not report the incident to your insurance which forces him to negotiate with you, I did that once and the other guy just went away.

What's the point in paying 300 euros to be proved right? Even if your assessor reduces the claim to one euro, you're still losing.

Jo King

coylemj wrote: »

Hang on a second - if the 'injured' party sends in an estimate for 300 euros it makes no sense to send in your own assessor, you just pay up, end of story or do like I said earlier, do not report the incident to your insurance which forces him to negotiate with you, I did that once and the other guy just went away.

What's the point in paying 300 euros to be proved right? Even if your assessor reduces the claim to one euro, you're still losing.

The insurance company cannot use the fact the their insured has not reported the incident to them to avoid paying out on a claim. Some of them try to, if the claim is not coming through a broker. They are obliged by law to indenify anybody injured by their insured and that cannot depend on anything to be done by their insured after the incident.

Flaccus

Tea drinker wrote: »

The fact he is an ass will be his life long problem, but if heard a crashing noise after being reversed into, then get out and the guy who did it tells me there is no damage - I would be annoyed.
.
.
.The bumper could be all cracked to sh1t and brackets bent damaged etc.
I reckon maybe a grand (just for his damage- if your's is equally damaged double that), but then that's what your insurance is for.

Thanks Tea drinker for the advice. I accept his car may be damaged. He wasn't in it at the time, but standing alongside my car watching me reverse into it. His missus was there as well by the way and mentioned she heard the crushing noise too. She was not too bothered and walked off. He made it very clear that the car is badly damaged cause he heard this noise and the security guard heard it from 10 feet away and everything under the number plate is pushed in and now his car is ruined over it. This is from a 6/7km/h maneuver over a 6 inch distance. I really doubt there is ANY damage to my bumper and I can't see how a bumper on a small hatcback is going to run 1k unless the damage is more serious or he tries it on. Anyway, it was after this rant from him when I politely commented that there does not appear to be any visible damage to either car and he is welcome to take my insurance and I can provide him with name/address etc.. He then got abrupt, screaming at me why I didn't stop when he started banging on my roof. Then the rant about the road tax. Refusal to give his details. Insults at my mother who actually stood up to him and asked him to mind his own business about road tax etc.. He even started giving out about the fact I left my window down when I went in to get the camera. To be honest, I'm surprised I kept my cool. The fact I was in the wrong, in the presence of my mother, and the chap was probably in his mid to late 60's held me back. But on a bad day, with a different person this would not have been the case and I'd be posting a different set of problems on another forum.

I'm guess I'm annoyed at this guys insulting manner and the expectation he is going to exaggerate the claim. One things for sure...my opinion of people has gone down greatly.

you should do him for damage caused to your roof from him fisting it!

Flaccus

I believe he may used the palm of his hand. No damage anyway.

BoardsRanger

Flaccus wrote: »

I believe he may used the palm of his hand. No damage anyway.

Sounds like he was trying to get you to stop before you did more/any damage. understandable really.
Everybody makes mistakes, thats why you have to be insured! If he makes a claim, then so be it.

Flaccus

Oh yeah..that's definitely true..he was indeed trying to warn me, and no problem with that. It's just the aggressive attitude and probably fact I took it is what's annoying me.

Voodoomelon

I wouldn't worry too much about the large crunch, I reversed into the rear corner of a large van a few months back at less than 10kmph and to me it sounded like a very large bang and smash. Shat myself and drove forwards again.

Got out and there wasn't a mark on my car, but then again I have a massive boot. All i'd done was break his tail light that was already in tatters and I gave him €50 for it, he didn't give two hoots.

Either of your bumpers could have pressed in and then popped out again, making it sound worse than it was.

Flaccus

Yeah, I suspect most of the noise was his license plate which is what I pressed against. But it won't stop this lad making an exagerated claim. Could be wrong, but his dimeanour suggested a person out to screw someone. So be it. If he puts in a large claim, I guess I'll here from my insurance company soon enough. At least I have them informed now of the situation.

Tea drinker

Flaccus wrote: »

I'm guess I'm annoyed at this guys insulting manner and the expectation he is going to exaggerate the claim. One things for sure...my opinion of people has gone down greatly.

Yeah, it's upsetting to hear that he was insulting your mother - sounds like an awful ignoramus TBH, and I can assure you we all come across them. Take solace from the fact you are not alone in your suffering.


edit - just looked at your rig - you got a lotta nice stuff..... you must use it for more than posting on Boards!

eth0_

andrewh5 wrote: »

Someone did exactly that to me at traffic lights. The basically reversed a 4X4 onto my bonnet. You are entirely at fault and he can (and should) deal directly with your insurers to get his car repaired. Take it on the chin and move on.

Did you bother to read the post? There was NO DAMAGE.

Seth Brundle

eth0_ wrote: »

Did you bother to read the post? There was NO DAMAGE.

you mean...
Did you bother to read the post? There was NO visible DAMAGE.

MarkR

Flaccus wrote: »

Yeah, I suspect most of the noise was his license plate which is what I pressed against. But it won't stop this lad making an exagerated claim. Could be wrong, but his dimeanour suggested a person out to screw someone. So be it. If he puts in a large claim, I guess I'll here from my insurance company soon enough. At least I have them informed now of the situation.

Not your job to worry about it. You've notified your insurance company, you have no further input into it really. The assessor will decide whether they are milking it or not.

Similar thing happend to me before, lady used my bumper to tell her when to stop reversing. Didn't look bad but bumper clips had to be replaced, only cost about 80 to fix. Happened to me again in traffic, knocked my licence plate clean off. I didn't think it was that bad, but the bar behind the bumper was bent. 1300 to fix. And didn't look too bad visually.

Flaccus

Here's hoping no big payout like 1300 but knowing my luck I checked my policyand I have full no claims bonus protection as opposed to stepback.

eth0_

kbannon wrote: »

you mean...
Did you bother to read the post? There was NO visible DAMAGE.

You would reverse into a spot in a shopping centre car park at <5km/hr.
The damage you could do to another car if you hit it is minimal...scratch or dent paintwork, smash a light or push in the bumper a bit.

it sounds to me like the OP just pushed in the bumper, which then popped out again, hence the 'awful noise'.

Seth Brundle

eth0_ wrote: »

You would reverse into a spot in a shopping centre car park at <5km/hr.
The damage you could do to another car if you hit it is minimal...scratch or dent paintwork, smash a light or push in the bumper a bit.

it sounds to me like the OP just pushed in the bumper, which then popped out again, hence the 'awful noise'.

Whilst its more than likely, we don't actually know for sure!

I.S.T.

Flaccus wrote: »

Here's hoping no big payout like 1300 but knowing my luck I checked my policyand I have full no claims bonus protection as opposed to stepback.

Any damage could easily cost €1,000 by the time they add in parts, labour plus car hire for him while his car is being repaired. Anyway a claim is a claim and you will lose your no claims discount if the claim is €1 or €1,000,000. It doesn't really make any difference to you how much the repairs cost. Let the insurance company sort it out and don't be worrying about it.

Edit: just realised you have full protection, then STOP worrying about this, you are not going to take a hit fincially for this.

I.S.T.

eth0_ wrote: »

it sounds to me like the OP just pushed in the bumper, which then popped out again, hence the 'awful noise'.

As I said earlier there can be a lot of damage under the bumper. They are designed to break easily as it absorbs the impact in a crash and gives you more protection.