Advice please on not making a claim after an accident

[olddriver]

I was driving along a fairly straight narrow country road at under 30 mph, and an old lady drove from a road on the right, with dotted lines at the junction, did not stop and drove into the rear offside panel, to the rear of my Corolla passenger door.  There is a very shallow dent and if I polish out the scratches, the damage will be hardly noticeable.  She initially claimed that she had not come from the right hand road, but fortunately I have a witness who was driving behind her, although the witness is unable to confirmed if the old lady stopped at the doted lines.

 

My Corolla is probably worth less than £500 and I am reluctant to make a claim as it would probably write the car off.  She did not know her insurance company, but unfortunately I gave her mine, she did give me her name and address, I also gave her my phone no.

 

I have been thinking of part exchanging the car, so this will probably force me into it.

 

When it is cloudy I will go back and take some photos of the junction from her point of view, as it's too sunny to get a good picture at the moment.

 

I assume that I have to inform my insurance company, even if I don't make a claim.  Any advice regarding what I should do, will be gratefully received.

 

[Heidfirst]

35 minutes ago, olddriver said:

I assume that I have to inform my insurance company, even if I don't make a claim.  Any advice regarding what I should do, will be gratefully received.

 

I would say so, what if she puts in a claim with her insurance company? Even if you were to claim & co. wrote your car off & paid you market value for it you can probably do a deal with them to buy it back from them as it sounds like it is worth more to you & still very driveable.

[olddriver]

5 minutes ago, Heidfirst said:

I would say so, what if she puts in a claim with her insurance company? Even if you were to claim & co. wrote your car off & paid you market value for it you can probably do a deal with them to buy it back from them as it sounds like it is worth more to you & still very driveable.

Thanks, the car is in good condtion except for the laquer pealing off the bonnet, etc, best cost of a strip and respray was £500:-

 

I assume that she will make a claim, the nearside of the bumper is hanging off and it is a 15 reg.

[Heidfirst]

2 hours ago, olddriver said:

I assume that she will make a claim, the nearside of the bumper is hanging off and it is a 15 reg.

if she puts a claim in with her company they will share the information so your company will find out anyway, better that you tell them.

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hello,

Yes, most of the advice given by members' above is correct - it's worth just notifying your own insurers for reasons mentioned.

If you were to claim on your own policy be mindful that any potential settlement figure will be after your policy excess is deducted. You mentioned that the vehicle has a low value.

Thanks,

Dan

 

 

[olddriver]

Thanks guys.  

 

Yesterday, I took some pics that indicate that the other driver should have stopped at the give way line of double dots, especially as she was moving from a 30 mph road to a derestricted road, ie 60 mph.

 

Additionly, I got a repair quote of £450.

 

I have reported the accident to my insurer, explained my reluctance to have my car repaired which she seemed hapy with, and when I said the the value of the car was probably less than £500 and told her the repair cost was £450, she said oh, as though she understood my reasoning.  She also said that I can change my mind about having my car repaired later.