Insurance and accidents

[AdamJames]

I had an accident at the weekend in a car park. I was reversing and went in to the side of a car that was pulling in to the road i was reversing in to.

I firstly believe that it is my fault as I reversed in to her even though she was pulling in to the road.

In order to get my insurance premiums down I opted for an extremely high excess charge of �1250. The damage to the other persons car will probably cost around �400 - �500 to a max of �700 including a courtesy car for a week.

If the individual wants to go through their insurance, can I settle with their insurance company by paying myself rather than using my insurance as I will loose my no claims bonus and my excess will definatly be higher than than the cost of repair.

I know the individual wont claim for whiplash as I had a police officer with me in the car at the time.

If i had my NCB protected I would use insurance but dont.

Is their any legal requirement that means I cant settle this myself either with the party or the insurance company and thus not having to involve my insurance provider.

I would appreciate anyones views

[Buenchico]

If you cause damage to someone else's property, through your negligence, you are liable to meet any reasonable claim for repairing the damage. That applies to all situations (e.g. kicking a football through the glass of your neighbour's greenhouse). Motoring accidents are no different. It's still your duty to ensure that the damage is repaired. The fact that you have insurance (as required by law) doesn't change the position. You may claim on your insurance but, as long as you meet the claim, you will have discharged your obligation. (i.e. you're not forced to claim on your insurance).

However, it's a standard condition of all insurance policies that you're required to notify your insurers of any accident which you've been involved in (irrespective of who was at fault or whether a claim is made on anyone's insurance policy). So you should still contact your insurers.

Chris