[Solved] Car Crash, I'm at Fault. Can I Reimburse His Excess without Paying My Excess?

ty99234 on 17/07/2018 - 09:42
Last edited 18/07/2018 - 09:24 by 1 other user

Last night I didn't properly look left when I tried to do left turn. Then I bumped into a Nissan on its right door. There is no severe damage. Both car have scratches. But his car has more scratches than mine.

I feel like I'm definitely at fault and I feel very sorry for it.

We are both at NRMA. However, my excess fee is extremely high so I'm feeling like asking him to claim insurance only and reimburse him with his excess fee. OR go to local smash repair and pay him the repair fee if it is lower than his excess fee.

Is this solution feasible? Will I be forced to pay my excess fee?

Cheers!

Automotive

closed Comments

  • TheBilly on 17/07/2018 - 09:45

    I don't think he will accept that, I wouldn't, the only way you can do that is if he accepts fault and you tell a bit of a lie. He will then affect his premiums for future policies. Best bet will be to just get a quote from a smash repairer and compare that quote to your excess and pick one or the other.

    • ty99234 on 17/07/2018 - 09:50

      Thanks for your suggestion!

    • Scrooge McDuck on 17/07/2018 - 14:10

      Plus that's insurance fraud1.

      1. Which, given the nature of insurance companies, I'm not arguing against by the way, but you should be aware of what you're getting in to. ↩

  • salmon123 on 17/07/2018 - 09:48
    +2

    I'm feeling like asking him to claim insurance only and reimburse him with his excess fee

    Then his insurance will just chase you for the payment at which point you'll have to make a claim on your insurance … probably not the best out come.

    OR go to local smash repair and pay him the repair fee if it is lower than his excess fee.

    Yeah - you can get a single panel repaired and resprayed for a few hundred bucks, but if the other guy starts asking for a rental car, etc … the bill will blow out to a grand at which point you might as well make an insurance claim.

    • ty99234 on 17/07/2018 - 09:50

      Thanks for your suggestion!

  • HighAndDry on 17/07/2018 - 09:49
    +8

    We are both at NRMA. However, my excess fee is extremely high so I'm feeling like asking him to claim insurance only and reimburse him with his excess fee. OR go to local smash repair and pay him the repair fee if it is lower than his excess fee.

    That's not how insurance works. If he pays his access, his insurer pays him his damages… and then recovers that from you because you're at fault. Only if he lied to his insurance to say he was at fault would you not have to pay for the damage (and he won't, because that would mean higher premiums for him, etc).

    You can ask if he's willing to take cash to have it repaired instead of going through insurance though, but it's up to him if he agrees or not.

    • ty99234 on 17/07/2018 - 09:50
      +1

      Thanks for your suggestion!

  • Randxyz123 on 17/07/2018 - 09:50
    +1

    I'm definitely at fault

    However, my excess fee is extremely high so I'm feeling like asking him to claim insurance only and reimburse him with his excess fee.

    Why would he accept that ? His insurance would go up and he would be essentially saying he was at fault.

    OR go to local smash repair and pay him the repair fee if it is lower than his excess fee.

    It’s up to the not at fault party. You can ask if he’ll get local quotes but he can say “no” and go through insurance.

  • Ryanek on 17/07/2018 - 10:30
    +5

    You want the other driver to take the blame? Crikey mate.

    • [Deactivated] on 17/07/2018 - 10:35
      +1

      Crikey! What a beauty!

    • pogichinoy on 17/07/2018 - 10:35

      To save a couple of bucks bro…

      Best to pay the excess or find a cheaper price from local smash repairs and hope the other party will be happy with this.

      • Randxyz123 on 17/07/2018 - 10:45
        +1

        It’s amazing what people will do to avoid paying.

        Had some idiot rear end my 3 day old car. Had the audacity to ask me to “backdate” the incident so he could buy insurance that day and put a claim in.

        • HighAndDry on 17/07/2018 - 11:20
          +5

          Let's not pile on here - I don't think OP realized the other driver would have to lie about being at fault for the insurance to take care of everything (without charging OP). I think a lot of people think of insurance as "Pay excess, get damages, done" - because they don't see the other parts (of the insurance company recovering from the at-fault driver, etc).

        • Eeples on 17/07/2018 - 11:31
          +1

          Well if the idiot has no money to pay you for the damage …. perhaps you might consider it.

        • HighAndDry on 17/07/2018 - 11:42
          +1

          @Eeples: Unless knick007 has comp insurance themselves, in which case they claim with their insurance, and the insurance goes and hounds the other driver.

          Whereas if you backdate the accident, you claim with your insurance and get denied when they find out.

        • Randxyz123 on 17/07/2018 - 13:49

          @Eeples: Why would I commit insurance fraud to help someone out ? Not my problem they don’t have basic car insurance. If you don’t have money to pay then you can’t afford to drive.

          In this case the OP probably didn’t know how insurance works which is fine. Now they know.

          If you search for “I crashed into someone and have no insurance” the amount of threads that have people trying to get out of paying is unbelievable.

        • HighAndDry on 17/07/2018 - 13:56

          @knick007:

          If you search for “I crashed into someone and have no insurance” the amount of threads that have people trying to get out of paying is unbelievable.

          Yup.

          OP is honestly a breath of fresh air, just asking for how to minimize costs while doing the right thing.

          And just to go back to Eeples' hypothetical, to me someone who's asking for you to commit insurance fraud is probably also willing to just get out of paying altogether, which wouldn't be that hard. Insurance calls them up and says "You were involved in a crash with our customer on [so and so date]." They reply "Nope, I wasn't even in that area on that date - couldn't have been me." Bam - claim denied. (simplified, but a real risk).

        • Well Wasted on 18/07/2018 - 08:11

          @knick007: if i crashed into your car without insurance… would it then be your problem?

    • HighAndDry on 17/07/2018 - 11:18
      +5

      I think OP just didn't know the ins and outs of how car insurance works. I don't think they were trying to dodge responsibility since they already accepted being at-fault and was willing to pay - just trying to minimize how much they had to pay, which to me is fairly reasonable.

      (Also, I can't believe I typo'd 'excess' as 'access' further up…)

    • Scrooge McDuck on 17/07/2018 - 14:21

      You want the other driver to take the blame?

      At least OP is being honest with us by admitting fault.

      Usually this would be presented as, The Other Guy Opened His Door Into The Front of My Car, HELP!

  • garffi on 17/07/2018 - 11:15
    +2

    I don't see why he would pretend to be at fault when he doesn't know you personally and there's no benefits for him whatsoever. However, you can negotiate with him and ask if he can get a few quotes from other mechanics. Explain that you have a high excess fee so that he would be more understanding.

  • dasher86 on 17/07/2018 - 11:30
    +1

    If you don't want to pay your excess you don't have too.
    wait until you get a bill from his insurance company.
    do sums then decide if you pay it or put it through your insurance.
    You will pay for damages to your car on your own unless you go through your insurance.

    or request nicely to offer him quotes…

  • Moderatorscrimshaw on 18/07/2018 - 09:23

    OP marked topic as solved

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