Cracked windscreen and now a minor accident!

[novacaine]

Not sure whats going to happen to my poor car next! :/

This morning I was almost fully backed into my parking space and a lady shot round the car I was parking next too and has scrapped along the front of my car. Not a lot of damage, but it has caused the paint to form stress cracks along the front of the bumper and on the front of the clam. So even for the small amount of damage I am going to have to have the full clam and bumper resprayed

The lady wanted to avoid going through her insurance, so I went to my local trusted bodyshop and got a quote of ~£480+vat. Now it sounds as though she wants to go through her insurance as she thinks it will be cheaper for her. surely in the long run this would cost her more? I mean this claim will be on her insurance for the next 5 years and I imagine her premium would go up with it.

I haven't contacted my insurance regarding the issue yet, should I contact them even if she is intending to pay for the repairs without her insurance? I'm not sure what to do :/

[John_W]

Really bad luck.
Best to inform your insurers and give them her details.
That keeps everything above board and how it should be done.
John

[novacaine]

My insurers know now.

She gave me a ring an said she wants to go through her insurance as her excess is only £100 pounds and that my car isn't worth the cost of the repair. Seriously insulted me, I know the elan isn't worth as much as it should be and besides that its worth more than just money to me.

I can just see her trying to swing it the other way now and blame me, despite the fact there was no damage to her car.

[lotusflasherman]

my car isn't worth the cost of the repair.

Ha Ha - not worth £576 ! Tell her to just buy you another one then... stupid cow! Perhaps she should drive more carefully too.
What car was she driving?

[novacaine]

my car isn't worth the cost of the repair.

Ha Ha - not worth £576 ! Tell her to just buy you another one then... stupid cow! Perhaps she should drive more carefully too.
What car was she driving?

64 plate Nissan Qashqai

[lotusflasherman]

my car isn't worth the cost of the repair.

Ha Ha - not worth £576 ! Tell her to just buy you another one then... stupid cow! Perhaps she should drive more carefully too.
What car was she driving?

64 plate Nissan Qashqai

She was sitting high enough that she should have seen you over the other car then - wonder what her car will be worth in 10 years.

My daughter had a Qashqai as a courtesy car while somebody's insurance repaired her Audi A4 Avanti and concluded she wouldn't have one if it was given to her - quite big but couldn't carry 2 kids and all 'their bits', all style and no functionality and a complete load of rubbish. She also thought it the ugliest car she'd ever seen and I don't disagree.

[Enright]

Hope you were parked slightly better than in your avatar and sig file, or it might undermine your case a tad!

Seriously though, always best to take pics ASAP to back up your claim (and of the other vehicle if you can get them too). This is where camera phones come into their own.
I had an incident 2 years ago while in the daily driver in which a woman going in the same direction as me half turned off the main road, but then changed her mind and drove into the side of my car as I went through on the inside. The road there was national speed limit and had been specially widened to let traffic staying on the main road pass safely on the inside. She was in her 50's and smartly dressed with a council id badge so I thought she would be honest, but how wrong was I? She hit me so hard that she pushed her wing back into her door, but then tried to blame me for running into her, and wouldn't provide details until I was forced to get the police involved. Fortunately the pictures of the damage supported my case and I got a full recovery.

Then, almost exactly a year later a guy on his mobile phone drove into almost exactly the same point on my car as I turned right into a junction that he should have been waiting at. Again I took pics of the damage, and I also reported his actions to the police as he tried to accuse me of cutting the corner (which incidentally would have taken me over a bollard)! The police initially weren't that interested as nobody was injured, but they changed their tune when he started putting in whiplash claims for him and his son, and producing some very dubious "witnesses". So they obtained his mobile phone records and have since charged him as I could back up the exact time of the incident by what was playing on the radio at the time.

In short, think laterally because any legitimate evidence you can use to support your case is gold. Hopefully you won't need it though, and it will all be straightforward. Then she can weep into her increased renewal letter!

PS I think the Juke is even uglier than the Qashqai - a friend of a friend referred to it as "looking like a downs syndrome kid", which I thought was one of THE most shockingly un-PC comments I've ever heard, but I still can't get the image out of my head every time I see one!

[Kathryn]

It just goes to show that no matter how careful a driver you are there is no accounting for the actions of others.
I had a really scary near-miss last month when someone pulled out infront of me, really shook me up.

So if you had an accident that wasn't your fault and claimed on the other persons insurance it wouldn't affect your own premium? I didn't know that. I had an accident (single vehicle - therefore my fault ) three and a half years ago and I'm counting down the months until I can get a decent insurance quote and really don't want another! Quite aside from the fact that I would be devastated to lose the Elan that is very precious to me, being the only car* I not only wanted but vowed one day I'd own for about 20 years.
(*Not strictly the only vehicle but by the time I can afford a Splitscreen Samba bus I'll be about 80!)

[Simon_P]

Don't trust insurance companies to act in your interest!
Make sure that you go to the repairer of your choice, and one that specialises in, and has a reputation for Fibreglass cars - If you don't you will see why in a year or so.
Your insurer will want you to go to their approved repairer - They are not paying the third party is, and you want your car fixed properly.

(*Not strictly the only vehicle but by the time I can afford a Splitscreen Samba bus I'll be about 80!)

Don't worry you will grow out of that, but you will always want the Elan!

[TrevorB]

Hope the theory of things come in three's does not happen Jon and eveything gets
sorted very soon.

Trevor

[novacaine]

Cheers for all of the advice and support.

As long as the third party admits fault all should be fine. I'm hoping my I'll be able to go through my local garage that I know can do the job properly.

I had the insurance companies accident repair garage come round and to access the damage, not sure the lad even knew what he was looking at. He seems to think that only the damaged areas will need to be re-sprayed. Personally with how far the "stress cracks" have traveled across the bumper and clam, I would expect the the full thing to be resprayed and I'd be very impressed if they manage to blend the paint on the front of the clam without painting the wings.