Someone hit the CC3 as I was reversing in a supermarket car park.
He reversed out of his space as I was passing. Since I was on the 'road', I reckon I have right of way, which makes this the other guy's fault.
He got out of his car, said 'sorry', and 'I didn't see you', which tends to support me, but that's not what this is really about.
Damage to the CC3 is a cracked rear light lens, and a bit of colour off the edge of the plastic bumper where it meets the lens.
After brief negotiations with the other driver, I took £40 off him for my trouble and went on my way.
I've stuck the corner of the lens back together, and might touch in the missing paint, although it is not too noticeable and won't rust because it's plastic.
So is the £40 a reasonable result?
My car really needs a new rear lens/light unit, and I don't suppose the £40 will cover it.
But if I try to claim off his insurance, I'm sure he will claim off me for the minor damage to his car.
Even though I say it's his fault, what I say doesn't matter, and it seems to me any claim on insurance, fault or no fault, costs me money at renewal time.
So even if I have to put another £40/£50 towards the new lens, I reckon I've not come out of this too badly.
If this is where the matter lays, a lot of phone calls, correspondence and traipsing around have been saved, which is another bonus.
Do you think I've done the right thing? And what would you have done in the circumstances?
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At one level I think you have done the right thing. At another I think he got off lightly. I had to buy a rear lamp cluster for a Signum last year and I'm sure it was more like £80.
Anyway, probably preferable to an insurance claim.
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>> So is the £40 a reasonable result?
Not if you got in a mobile paint sprayer (eg chips away) to do a smart repair on the bumper, as well as having to replace the light unit.
£100 to £150 would have been a more acceptable fee. I think you let him off lightly.
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the other driver has now reported this to his insurance company, and you are due for a whole shedload of agro because you havent reported an incident to yours.
Sorry to say this is possibility.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 7 Mar 10 at 17:29
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...I think you let him off lightly...
Yes, but the alternative as I see it was for me to claim from his insurance company, with uncertain results.
He was mumbling about damage to his car, so even though he was a reasonable enough guy, I don't think he would have maintained his admission of guilt to his insurance company.
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>> He was mumbling about damage to his car so even though he was a reasonable
>> enough guy I don't think he would have maintained his admission of guilt to his
>> insurance company.
which makes my assertion above even more so
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Difficult to say without being there and judging the integrity of the other driver and the circumstances at the time.
swmbo did a similar to your antagonist a few years ago and accepted full responsibility in a car park, the other chap was elderly and she told him she would pay whatever it cost, the chap got a quote about £250 istr and forwarded the bill to her and she paid up pronto...the letter of thanks from him that followed was quite moving.
Maybe you let him off a bit lightly, i'm inclined to think you did but you've got something towards the cost and haven't had to involve insurance at all...probably done ok as once people leave the scene and think about it their initial admissions often get changed along with the story, people with swmbo's honour and honesty are few and far between these days.
Zero has a point, did you exchange details or were there any independent witnesses to you not clearing off, i don't supose for a minute he'd try it on but these days you never know.
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...a whole shedload of agro because you havent reported an incident to yours...
Yes, I was thinking about that.
But it was only the most minor of scrapes.
It's the sort of damage often done to a parked car when the owner's not present and the other guy drives off without leaving details.
Should you report an incident like that?
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>> Yes but the alternative as I see it was for me to claim from his
>> insurance company with uncertain results.
What's there to be uncertain about? He reversed out of a parking space into you. No different than if he reversed out of his drive into you. He should have given way, but didn't.
Trouble is, by accepting money from him for the repair, you've come to a gentlemen's agreement with him and that is something you will have trouble retracting.
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..What's there to be uncertain about?..
As gb says further up, he changes his story to him being parked and this loony in a CC3 veering into the back of him, or somesuch.
He wrote a receipt for the £40, which he kept. Paying £40 is a good admission of liability, but there's scope for him to deny that as well.
Neither of us have any independent witnesses. Because it was a minor coming together, it didn't attract much interest from passers-by.
There was one guy who I do recall standing and looking.
With hindsight, I should have collared him, or at least taken his reg number.
I did swap details with the other driver, and I have taken pics of the damage to my car and to his.
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>> I did swap details with the other driver and I have taken pics of the
>> damage to my car and to his.
Good thats the big danger passed then, i think it will be left as it is now, if twer me in his shoes i'd be thinking i got off quite well and would be extremely pleased not to have an insurance 'life' lost over such a minor thing, i doubt he'd be daft enough to risk any other outcome.
Hindsights wonderful isn't it, get me a couple of gallons whilst your at the wholesalers will you IIH.
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-what would you have done?
Taken details and photos. Ideally, got the details of a witness. Got a quote for repair, and given him a chance to pay for it. Failing that, claim from his insurer and tell yours what you're doing.
This worked last time it happened to me - the third party wanted to avoid a claim and paid up against a reasonable quote from a local (low rent) body shop.
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...i think it will be left as it is now, if twer me in his shoes i'd be thinking i got off quite well and would be extremely pleased not to have an insurance 'life' lost over such a minor thing...
gb,
I am certain as I can be that is what will happen.
Plenty worse motoring mishaps about.
Dieselfitter,
Wise words, and that is what I would be doing if there was any bodywork involved.
I just don't think it's worth the bother for a light lens and a small scrape beneath it.
Also, this guy did offer a genuine apology and behaved in a reasonable and courteous manner.
That counts for something in my book, and if his good manners has helped get himself off a bit lightly, so be it.
Didn't think I was all heart, did you?
Mind, I might be singing a different tune after I've priced up a lens. :)
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The way I see it (and I do quite often see things a bit different) is that you were as much to blame as he was because you were also reversing = knock 4 knock.
So pocket the £40 and keep stumn.
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I'd have exchanged details and then claimed off my insurance. I'd let them sort it. That's what I have insurance for. I don't believe in having a dog and barking myself.
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>> I'd have exchanged details and then claimed off my insurance. I'd let them sort it.
>> That's what I have insurance for. I don't believe in having a dog and barking
>> myself.
>>
Not even if, every time the dog barks for you, you have to buy him all over again? At a higher cost?
Is CC3 a Citroen C3? Pretty common car, surely you could get a replacement lens from a scrapper?
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>> Is CC3 a Citroen C3? Pretty common car
Ouch, IIH's CC3 is a Focus Coupe Cabriolet...
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...Ouch, IIH's CC3 is a Focus Coupe Cabriolet...
Quite right. :)
Off to price a lens a later on, which will determine to some degree how I've come out of this.
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>> Not even if every time the dog barks for you you have to buy him
>> all over again? At a higher cost?
I have a protected NCD which allows me to make up to three claims in the three year period up to the renewal date without penalty.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Mon 8 Mar 10 at 12:08
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>> I have a protected NCD which allows me to make up to three claims in
>> the three year period up to the renewal date without penalty.
>>
No you don't. You have protected NCD which allows you to make up to three claims in the three year period up to the renewal date without losing your NCD.
It doesn't allow you to answer 'no' to the 'have you made any claims' question, and therefore doesn't stop them charging you more.
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>> It doesn't allow you to answer 'no' to the 'have you made any claims' question
>> and therefore doesn't stop them charging you more.
>>
I keep to the same insurer so when it's renewal time the question isn't asked.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Mon 8 Mar 10 at 14:26
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Eesh! You're just being difficult now!
Fine, despite your NCD remaining, your file will still show that you have made a claim, and this too can effect your premium.
A protected NCD does not in any way guarantee that a claim will not have any effect. You may have had an experience where you have made a claim, and the premium did not rise the next year - how do you know that, had you made no claim, it would not have reduced?
The plain facts of the matter are that claims have two effects:
1) Changes to NCD.
2) A note against your file that a claim has been made.
Both of those can effect your premium, and you can only protect against one of them.
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>> Both of those can effect your premium
Can but not necessarily do. It depends on the insurer.
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Have your insurer informed you that they will definitely never raise a premium based on claims as long as your protected NCD is in place then?
Or have you ignored this part of my post:
"You may have had an experience where you have made a claim, and the premium did not rise the next year - how do you know that, had you made no claim, it would not have reduced?"
And just assumed this to be the case?
If the former, I'd be delighted to know who your insurer is for future use. But until you confirm otherwise I'm going to assume the latter.
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>> ........... I'd be delighted to know who your insurer is for future use.
>>
It's The Co-operative Insurance. At one time you could calculate the premium yourself from their prospectus by inputting the relevant number of points for each factor in the prospectus and then adding up the total. The premium corresponding to each total number of points was shown in a table. Everything open and above board.
I think they no longer have that system.
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>> I have a protected NCD which allows me to make up to three claims in
>> the three year period up to the renewal date without penalty.
I hope for your sake that that is true but many on here have found out otherwise.
The percentage NCD will be protected but the basic premium to which that percentage is applied will usually rise.
Last year I was hit from behind while stationary at a pedestrian crossing. Damage was minimal and I decided not to claim so as not to use up one of the "lives" of my protected NCD.
However come renewal time the Insurance company wanted 40% more because I had been involved in an "incident" despite there being no blame attributed to me or cost to the insurance company.
I was rather disappointed by this but the comparison sites showed that this was a common, if not universal, response.
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>> ........... but the basic premium to which that percentage is
>> applied will usually rise.
I can't comment on other insurers, but I know from past experience that the one I'm with doesn't do that.
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I have a protected NCD, but I have no faith in the insurance company not increasing the premium, as others have said.
Back to the matter in hand, the new lens is £90, and that includes a small discount after the Ford dealer took pity on me.
Am I downhearted?
Not really, the job is sorted without hassle, which is almost worth £50 in itself, let alone any possible increase in insurance premium.
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Fair enough. £40 did seem like a bit of an underestimate for a rear light cluster these days. At least it was a Ford, I'm sure it could have been worse.
As others have said, an insurer who does not increase your premium after a claim is a rare thing. After this happened to me some years ago with a top notch insurer, I haven't since bothered to insure my NCD. Which insurer, Escargot?
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Dunno about Escargot, but I reported a non-fault bump to swiftcover in the last year, and my renewal premium this month has not gone up.
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Considering the cost then I think you've come out okay from this. The £50 you're worse off probably was never worth the hassle. I once came back to a local park park where I'd parked on Christmas Eve and there were no other cars... when I got back someone had reversed into me and smashed the light.
If I recall they wanted to pay and I wanted it fixing so off the VW and all sorted that day. It was more than £90 and that was some years ago. I got rid of the Passat in 2003 and therefore this was probably 2000.
I've just got a witness form from the police for the collision I witnessed in a supermarket car park a few weeks back. They have written to her and if she does not respond they will probably take her car away to examine it. If only she'd owned up. Sorry thread drift.
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...Sorry thread drift...
No, no, please do.
I'm sure we are all keen to hear the latest on the Supermarket Smash.
Just given my car a bit of a belt, followed by a proper exterior wash, which in my terms means taking 30/45 minutes over it.
The old bus comes up nice enough.
I could even live with the cracked rear light, but will only have to do so for about a week, according to the Ford dealer.
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well done ifithelps you did the same as what i did last year when someone hit the back of my truck
they made a right mess of their pewgot 206 but i just got a cracked rear lens (an occupational hazard and cost £25 new)
i took a £20 off the chinese bloke and sent him on his way and put some silicone in the gap (still fine still working and i dont see it)
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The driver of the car bumped has found the other driver's details. But I cannot say how - but it was probably a bit illegal. I need to post of my forms as a witness (might end up going to court I guess and probably need to be interviewed).
If the bloke gets his car sorted and the other driver their come-uppance I will certainly post.
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>> ........... I reported a non-fault bump to swiftcover in the last year
>> and my renewal premium this month has not gone up.
>>
I'm pleased to hear that Swiftcover is as good as my insurer in that respect.
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...update...
Text on Friday from the dealer to say the lamp is in - four days, not bad.
Collected it today and fitted it in their car park - no tools needed, just one plastic wing nut to undo.
Comes with bulbs and holders, so I've now got a few spares.
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Minor parking bump - what would you have done? - Runfer D'Hills
