Involved in car accident. Go through insurance or have vehicle repaired privately.

Phlume on 27/11/2018 - 08:27
Last edited 27/11/2018 - 18:37

Early this morning I was involved in a vehicle accident where in the process of reversing, scratched a vehicle at a train station public car park leaving me horribly ashamed of the mess I made.

Driving home from work early this morning, I reversed my parked car into a parked vehicle at a train station and left a noticeable scratch mark on their front left passenger window. The impact was small and short but entirely my fault. With no way of contacting the owner of the vehicle, I left a note detailing the incident and with my contact details on their windshield and drove home.

I am a 21 year old Red P-plater and this is my first car accident. My vehicle has third-party insurance with an excess of $1500.

My question is, should I process this with my car insurance or negotiate with the vehicle owner if they would like their vehicle privately repaired instead. If I was to have their vehicle repaired privately, how would I do so? As this is my first accident, will my insurance premiums be greatly affected?

Pictures of the damage:
#1
#2

Thanks

Edit:
Contacted by the owner of the vehicle this afternoon. They were grateful that I did the right thing and left my details. Have agreed to organize and pay for a car detailer to their home during the week. I would like to thank all fellow ozbargainers for their responses and hopefully this will be a positive learning experience moving forward.

Poll Options

  • 1
    Insurance
  • 34
    Privately
Automotive

Comments

  • John Kimble on 27/11/2018 - 08:30
    +2

    You can only suggest to the other car owner to go privately, it's entirely their decision. There really isn't any benefit for them to do so, it would only be them trying to help you out.

    Worth a shot though, you've got nothing to lose.

    Best scenario for you is they go around getting quotes, provide those to you and then you choose one and pay for it.

    • tomsco on 27/11/2018 - 10:32

      Yep. Hopefully for the OP, the other party will appreciate they left a note and didn't do a runner, which seems sadly prevalent these days.

      All the best OP.

    • supersabroso on 27/11/2018 - 10:48

      Just find out how much it costs to repair and then you'll know, ask them for 3 quotes. If it's less than $1800 then it's probably not worth going through insurance.

      It's not up to the owner to decide how you pay for it, their legal entitlement only gives them the right to reclaim reasonable repair costs off you. You decide whether your insurance pays for it or not.

  • Nugs on 27/11/2018 - 08:30

    my guess, it is cheaper to get done outside of insurance, and long term your next premium won;t be affected.

    hope the other owner is easy to deal with.

    .

  • SmiTTy on 27/11/2018 - 08:41
    -4

    Comprehsbcie insurance is the one you need, not third party which relates to injury.

    If it's just a scratch sounds like you should go private. It still might cost quite a bit I'd say to repair everything but if u go thru insurance yes you'll need to pay the excess listed on your comprehensive plus your premiums will likely go up next renewal.

    Let the other driver know what you want to do and to get some quotes. I believe if the other driver doesn't have your license details, their insurance might want to charge them an excess too if they decide to claim thru their insurance (depending on the insurance company of course ) so they would probably be ok with the private route

    • Nugs on 27/11/2018 - 08:43
      +4

      based on OP's post, I would guess it is "third party property"
      .

      • Phlume on 27/11/2018 - 08:45

        Yes it is third-party property, not CTP.

  • pantsparty on 27/11/2018 - 08:46
    +4

    I once got my car repaired privately to help out a P plater. It was a pain in the ass - I wouldn’t do it again. Prefer to let insurance take care of it.

    • altomic on 27/11/2018 - 10:07

      yeah, though this damage appears so minimal that a detailer could rectify it.

    • brian77 on 27/11/2018 - 10:26
      -1

      Goon on you for doing so. Karma will reward you duly. Hopefully you’ve also saved the P-player quite a lot in their subsequent insurance premium increases

  • Ughhh on 27/11/2018 - 08:48
    +1

    will my insurance premiums be greatly affected?

    Most likely, besides from premiums going up, your excess might be $2000 next claim.

    The other party can choose to go through (their) insurance or settle it privately. If the damage is small and they don't really care about their car ie. Not a brand new car or lux car, they might like the money instead. Once they provide a reasonable quote and you pay them, make sure you get them to sign a statement that the matter has been settled.

  • SydEng on 27/11/2018 - 09:01
    -2

    Fix it yourself mate that scratch looks like $400 max and it can be buffed out. Claiming will cost more plus your insurance will go up for the next 7 years.

    • dasher86 on 27/11/2018 - 09:12
      +3

      buffing out a dent, that'a new one!

      • DazMon on 27/11/2018 - 16:56

        Says window.

  • Ryanek on 27/11/2018 - 09:13
    +8

    Wow a responsible P-Plater. Who woulda thunk it. Nice one mate.

  • dasher86 on 27/11/2018 - 09:15

    OP can engage with the affected party on going private.
    It's up to the other party to decide whether or not they want to go through their insurance or go private.
    If the other party goes insurance option - OP can wait for a claim against them and then decide if they want to pay direct to the other parties insurer or go through their insurance at this stage.

    If OP goes private ensure to draft a letter that limits liability going forward.

  • whooah1979 on 27/11/2018 - 09:45
    +2

    leaving me horribly ashamed of the mess I made.

    I would give you +1 for this if I could.

    Most of the posts on ozb is from members trying to find a way to blame the other driver for parking in their way.

    • Hirolol on 28/11/2018 - 08:48

      “The parked car came out of nowhere”….

  • arkie0 on 27/11/2018 - 09:47

    This happened to me when I was under 25. The excess + age excess would have made the excess about 1700.

    The damage was not worth 1700, especially on an old car like the one I had the accident with.

    I offered pay for quoted damages + $200 for the trouble. The other guy came back with a quote for $500 (probably could have gotten it fixed even cheaper), so I paid him $700.

    Still worked out cheaper than $1700.

    Make sure you get a signed statement saying you have paid for the damages.

  • Seraphin7 on 27/11/2018 - 10:37

    Whether or not the owner of the other vehicle wishes to go through insurance or not is entirely up to them.

    Whether or not you pay the resulting bill via your insurance or not is entirely up to you.

  • HighAndDry on 27/11/2018 - 10:54
    +1

    Everyone else has covered the main points:

    1. Avoid insurance if you can,
    2. Make sure if it's settled private you get that confirmed in writing/signed,
    3. Check the person signing is the actual owner of the car.

    But just wanted to say, props for being a decent person - many people would've just driven off in that situation.

  • altomic on 27/11/2018 - 10:58
    +9

    OP, I'm bitterly disappointed with you and the post because:

    (1) there isn't a MSPaint diagram.
    (2) You haven't tried to blame the other driver
    (3) You have accepted responsibility
    (4) You're asking for simple advice/solutions.
    (5) This post has not degraded into a shitstorm of idiocy.

    I'm left sitting here and shaking my head at what appears to be a genuine, civil and polite post.

  • Tech5 on 27/11/2018 - 11:35
    +1

    When OP is the culprit, people say go privately. When OP is the victim and culprit wants to go private, everyone says force them to use insurance lol

  • josetann on 27/11/2018 - 11:47

    General rule of thumb is this. If it's your fault, handle it privately. If it's their fault, go through insurance.

  • theguyrules on 27/11/2018 - 12:33
    +1

    I did the exact same thing at the exact same age.
    Settled it privately, no issues (aside from being out $1k but oh well)

  • afah0447 on 28/11/2018 - 16:17

    Wow such a small scratch. Defo go private if possible.

    PS. what does 'OP' mean?

    • John Kimble on 28/11/2018 - 16:19

      Either original post or original poster.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join