Dinged Car - Settle Privately or Thro Insurance?

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caitR

Registered User
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I dinged a car about 3 months back. Broke an indicator light and scratched a couple of panels, my fault, pulled out in front of other driver while trying to pass a jeep + trailer stopped in middle of country road :-(.

Anyway, we both agreed at time that i would settle it myself, no need to involve insurance co, although we did swap insur co details.

So, I asked her (polish girl, seemd quite reasonable) to get quotes from at least two garages and to send them on.
Well she got the quotes alright, both approx 600euro, but never sent them on. I said i would pay garage directly when she was ready to get work done.
About 1.5months after I get another call from her to put the money directly into her bank account, I was suprised at this and said that I have no problem paying the garage directly, but was not willing to put money in her account....after all, how would i know that was it?

And I asked her again to send on quotes (twice)....nothing...

I heard nothing from her UNTIL i got a call from my insurace company just last Friday (again about another 1.5months on) saying she had made a claim......

At this point, it's registered as a claim and that can't be changed.

However, I can still try to pay her directly or I can let the insurance crowd deal with it and take the hit on my premium or pay the insurance company back.
Then I rang the other driver back, now she wants car hire too.....(while it's being fixed)....I know she's entitled to it, my mistake and all that, but somehow i feel i'm being conned here.
If I pay her directly (into her bank account) how do I know that's it? How do I know she won't claim against my insurance also?

Any suggestions how i proceed?
 
Why was her nationality worth a mention?
I had the same experience with someone a few months ago. He wouldn't get me a quote and got all offended when I said I'd turn up and pay the garage directly. Should I have been more or less suspicious if he wasn't Irish? I'm just curious for future reference.
 
Similar thing happened me. Was in London and tipped a guy on the behind, anyhow I was completely in the wrong. . I gave him my card and told him I'd pay for the damage. He told me it was a work car and they would be in touch.

Months went by and nothing, then one day I got a call from the company solicitor enquiring about my insurance details. I informed her I would be happy to pay as the damage was very little and probably wasn't too expensive to fix. she said grand and months went by with no contact.

Until one day my insurance company rang up and asked about the accident.I told them the story and said I had been willing to pay for the damage. They said the bill was around £500. The insurance company were happy to pay out or if I wanted it off my record that I could pay myself. I paid myself.

when my policy came up for renewel my premium had increased. when I questioned my broker about it he said "sure you had that accident last year" Anyhow to cut a very long story shorter, it had been put as a footnote on my policy but I had it removed so it doesn't affect my NCB now.

I think I did the right thing as I had a £200 excess so I really had more to lose by not paying out.
 
Cheeus - no, her nationality probably wasn't worth a mention. I suspicious of everyone! How did you end up settling it?

thanks for replies guys, i'm still in a dilemma over what to do.
 
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