Accident advise please

[adyclemo]

Around 3:30 this afternoon the missisus and her mate called into a local pub for dinner. The parking spaces were tight so the missisus stopped while her mate got out. As her mate was getting out a car reversed into the missisus car. There was no damage to either car but her mate went full barels at the other driver and insisted on her details. Now her mate claims she is in pain from the incident and insists on us notifying the insurance company as she is going to claim.

As far as i know although they like you to it is not a requirment to notify your insurance. Im not going to as there is no need and told her mate where to go. The car park is a private carpark with cctv of which i hope to view tomorrow. Neither parties were injured but she now "claims to be".

I know she is only after making a quick few quid and clearly at anyones expense.

What i want is for someone to hopefully clarify whether the insurance needs to know as from experiance even if you do not claim they class a notification of a accident as a claim.

[Alchamist]

If her "mate" wants to claim, good luck to her. You should not feel pressured into informing your insurance company of anything if you don't want to.

Any claim would be against the other persons insurance anyway, so there would be no need for you to inform anyone.

[Big Dav]

My view is:
It may be best to notify the insurance just in case the woman does pursue matters as if the "friend" does push matters and you rely then on the insurance company to assist, they may reject a subsequent claim.

Although in a pub car park, if the public have access then it could involve the police having to be notified where injury has been caused. The other drivers name, address and name & reg number, address of the keeper of that car should also have been obtained.

If your car has been parked and the other car hit it then surely it would be the other driver that would be pursued.

[gregster]

If the area is a public space, such as a supermarket carpark that is accessible to the public, then normal roadtraffic law applies...
The accident needs to be reported to the police as someone was injured, and refusal to provide insurance details is an offence.
Granted you dont need to provide insurance details at the scene, but you are required to furnush the police with these details when you report the accident.
Sorry to give you bad news mate, but private property isnt really private if it is open to the general public. Your wifes car doesnt neccesarily need to be impacted to be involved in an accident.

Plus point though...if the 3rd party reversed into a stationary vehicle or person then its pretty much cut n dryed, but that all hangs on how many "witnesses" appear for the 3rd party, claiming they say your misses mate walked out behind her!

Get it reported mate...first thing 2moz...I think you have 24hrs to report to the police, good thing is though if the 3rd party doesnt report it then it strengthens your case somewhat as they have then commited an offence.

[Big Dav]

adyclemo, I've sent you a pm.

[adyclemo]

Her mate wasnt hit, the car was stationary when the other vehicle hit it. The other half has just been on the phone to the police who say they or the insurance do not need to be notified although they do prefere and have said it sounds like she is just trying to make a few quid.

Its only this last couple of hours her mate has been complaining of pain when she wasnt struck with anything, her mate was getting out the front passengers side when the car was nudged on the rear passengers side bumper of which isnt even scuffed. They even came to me at work about 5pm for me check the car over of which her mate was fine just bleep off.

[PaulHooligan]

and this is why car insurance premiums have risen by 35-40%. The yank style of ambulance chasing "where theres blame theres a claim" type of litigation has to be paid back from somewhere.
People think that because its the insurance companies who pay out its a victimless win/win situation. The costs have to be recovered somewhere and thats down to the likes of you and me... motoring Joe Public.

Gives me the hump. If she is a proper mate then you should attempt to talk her out of it because if it goes to court your Mrs will be a major witness and all sorts of crap can emerge. It really isnt worth the arse ache. Totally different matter if you have been side swiped by a myopic tool and broken bones tho..........

[bigdazz]

this happened to laura few years back in work car park notify your insurance mate you are not at fault

[adyclemo]

[bigdazz]

bloody insurance company's eh make it up as they go

[4x4 bobby]

If your friend was out of the vehicle then it should be up to her to go through small claims court for recompence as it was your vehicle hit not her and there was no damage to either vehicle then there is no need for her to insist on you telling your insurance. They would say its not there problem anyway as she was not in the vehicle at the time. Nothing to do with your insurance company, on the other hand if she was in the vehicle then it is.
I dont think this is a friend at all just a claim monkey that wants money for nothing. This is why our insurance goes up. By the way if you inform your insurance they have the right to load the policy until the claim is settled one way or another. So premium will go up.

Regards Bobster.

[Retro Pedro]

As her mate suffering the 'pain' been to the hospital to have her injuries attended - surely that will either call her bluff or clarify that she as indeed suffered as a result of the 'accident' - don't get me wrong, in my opinion if she is out to make a few bucks and she is swinging the lead, for wasting peoples time and public resources she wants stringing up and reporting for fraud.
As regards possibly reporting to your insurance, if your not obliged to I wouldn't - reason is that last year we had a no fault claim - other party backed into our car whilst it was parked in on a garage fore-court. They started coming on about not reporting the incident and wanting a mobile dent remover sorting out the damage and them paying cash. For reasons of body work warranty etc. I didn't want any of that, so as a precaution I logged the incident with my insurance company in case it progressed to a claim. In the end, I claimed totally on the other parties insurance and didn't involve my insurance company any further.
The point I'm getting to is that when my insurance renewal came in it went up from £320 mark up to £580 - now I know insurance premiums have gone up but not by that extent so I can only assume it was because of the logged note on my files.
That said, they (Admiral, my insurance company at the time) got told to go and swivel and I ended up paying £280 with Adrian Flux - and yes I did inform them that there was a non-fault claim last year.

[adyclemo]

Cheers guys you have confirmed what I thought. I'm hoping to view the cctv of the pub car park later which hopefully will confirm all.

[mikovitch]

Having just recently had a shunt myself, All the guys are right. Call the insurance just to cover yourself. CCTV evidence will be a great help if you can get hold of it. Gregster is also right, call the plod. As long as you don't leave it too long before doing so. They can sometimes be a bit strange and wonder why it took you so long to report the crash.

I hope you get it all sorted out quickly and smoothly mate

[Lenny1969]

All the guys ARENT right.

FACT:

I have been involved with an insurance claim from a vehicle impact when both the driver and passenger were OUT of the vehicle at the time. They were standing next to it, but they BOTH got claims of compensation as they suffered minor shock from the impact of the accident.

You DO NOT need to be in a vehicle to make the claim for injuries or shock if the accident was the cause.

And in this case it clearly was.

Back to the OP.

Personally i would have a word with your girls mate. Your opening up a can of worms here, she will be called as a witness, have to make statements of fact etc etc and it WILL cost you money somewhere down the line. If your girls mate is prepared to lie and "big up" her injuries then she will lie on a statement to try and make things sound worse. Keep in mind your girl will have to sign and agree a true statement of affairs.

If the other driver gives it to their insurance to deal with, they are going to try and go knock for knock straight away, which means your insurance will be involved.
Then its going to cost you.

I'd have a word with her mate and explain the situation very very slowly to her.

[adyclemo]

Well unfortunately the insurance arent open till tuesday. I have tried to talk to her but she not interested, her words were if i thought you were going to be like this i wouldnt have got in the car. I have politely told her that any expense we occure as a result i will be expecting and she will pay.

And people wounder why insurance is so high grrrrr makes my blood boil. I can see the end to a friendship in the not so distant future, my eyes ache more from being awake all day working.

[purplerainbows1961]

That sort of friend is 1 your missuss really does,nt need...I really do hope everything is sorted out the end m8,but no wonder our premiums are going through the roof.. chin up eh.

[adyclemo]

We will see how things go, she is adamant that it wont affect us lol i tried not to laugh at her on the phone. Told the other half she aint coming round the house, getting in any of our cars or coming any where close incase she gets even a spec of dust her eye and tries to su, i aint taking the chance as if she does i would not be responsible for my actions.

I am apparently selfish because i am putting the cost of possibly my excess, increase in premium and for the missus to loose NCB before her or even how she is feeling. God i laughed so god damn hard i had to put the phone down.

[horses45]

well i hope it all work out for you ady and im sure i would be of the same thinking of where is she looking next for her accident to claim off