Advice on how to deal with a small car tip

[DeeFox]

I was in a small tip over two months ago. I was driving out onto a road from a small sidestreet and there were a lot of cars parked on double yellow waiting for kids to come out of school. My view of the road was blocked and someone waved me out - straight into an oncoming car. I was moving very slowly so it was a small tip - two dents put in passenger side. We exchanged details and he has just phoned me to let me know he has two quotes in, the cheapest of which is €1,350. I accept that this was my fault - my driving instrustor used say to be very wary people helpfully waving you on.
Have never been involved in anything like this before (luckily) and am looking for general advice.
Should I be concerned about the time lag between the accident and the quote - he said he has not had time before now to get this sorted? I am clueless about cars but would have thought that €1,350 worth of damage would nearly put a car off the road?
Should I ask to see a written quote of the damage before agreeing to pay it and should we meet at garage? Is that what people do in cases like this? I assume I pay the money direct to the garage?
I would rather not go through insurance and lose my no claims bonus although maybe I should - how would I work out how much this would affect me in increased cost of insurance (without alerting the insurance company that I have been in an accident)?
Incidentally, my own car is perfect and has barely a graze.

 

[SNOWBALL]

Hi

it depends on what type of car it as, for instance my other half got a tip on his X5 and to fix it was quiet a lot.It does depend on what type of car it is and if you get a professional job done.I would ask to see the written quote.

 

[Satanta]

Should I be concerned about the time lag between the accident and the quote - he said he has not had time before now to get this sorted?

As it was only "two small dents" I wouldn't have any problems beleving the person had waited until now to get around to sorting it (look around any car park and you'll see plenty of cars with bumps and bruises).

I am clueless about cars but would have thought that €1,350 worth of damage would nearly put a car off the road?

It depends on where the damage was done. Was it on a single panel/door? Was it spread over a couple of areas?

Modern cars give way on impact pretty easily (e.g. crumple zone type of thing) so that the impact isn't passed on to the occupant. A lot of the time, a very minor tip will result in the full panel/door having to be replaced.

Should I ask to see a written quote of the damage before agreeing to pay it and should we meet at garage?

If you would feel better you can certainly ask. You could also request to get an independant quote for the work from your own garage/mechanic.

I would rather not go through insurance and lose my no claims bonus although maybe I should - how would I work out how much this would affect me in increased cost of insurance (without alerting the insurance company that I have been in an accident)?

How many years NCB do you currently have?

Each year provides a % discount to your premium, up to a certain max percentage. To get a (very) rough idea, try entering your details for an online quote giving your current details (e.g. with your NCB) and then compare this to entering 0 years NCB. This is a very very rough calc, the impact will last (to a decreasing amount each year) for 5 years and as most companies aren't keen on taking on people with an accident in the last 5 years your ability to haggle over the cost is greatly reduced (note, all online quotes assume a history of no accidents... so even the online quote with 0 NCB will probably be a lot different to the real quote you'd get if you rang up with the exact details. This also proves an obsticle as you'll no longer be able to check online at renewal time).

 

[Cabaiste]

I'm no expert, but you should look to see written quotes before doing anything.

If you know of anyone in the business, you could ask them to have a look at them to see if they are reasonable!

But to be honest, it doesnt take much to rack up €1300 worth of damage to a car these days, especially as snowball says, if its a high end car!

As for claiming on your insurance, I would say thats what its there for! You need to calculate how much your no claims discount is worth to you vs the cost of the claim!

 

[Yachtie]

I was rearended by another car recently. To me there was a scuff on my bumper but the final bill for repairs was nearly 2k. Apparently the garage people see the damage where we don't (like dinges and bumps) and what often doesn't look like damage in fact is damage. Allegedly there is a lot of stuff underneath panels whih get easily broken, bent or dislodged.

On the same occassion I asked the other party's insurer if there was a time limit for repairs to be carried out and they said no. However, I am not sure if you can claim for damages two months after the incident if you haven't reported it straight away.

Personally, I'd always go with the insurance - that's what it's for. I can't imagine your no claims discount having 1.3k impact on your policy, not even over a few years but it does depend on your current premium. If I may, I would recommend No Claims Protection on your policy - it costs around €30 and comes in very handy in situations like the one you're in at the moment.