Minor collision. Should l claim on his insurance?

My wife was waiting to turn right at a junction, the car in front moved forward but was not able to go, and ended up blocking the junction.

So he reversed his van straight into our Defender. By chance there was another Defender behind my wife and he said he was "looking at that one in his mirror and did not see ours"

Anyway, the bumper was bent but that was all. Land Rover wanted £250 for a new one so l bought a Craddocks one for £50 and it is the same.

The guy won't pay the £50 "l only tapped your vehicle" but gave me his insurance details.

Should l claim from his insurance? It would be making a point really. But l am £50 out of pocket because he did not see a Defender sat right behind him.

re fit the old bumper and make a claim

thats what insurance is for lad! .... its odd that he wouldnt pay out the 50 quid rather than have a claim on his insurance though!? is he definitely insured?

If he's not willing to pay the £50 for a bumper then go through insurance and get a genuine Land Rover one, the Genuine version will be better quality. And Land Rover will also check over your chassis and the bumper mounts to make sure that the only damage sustained was to the bumper. Plus they might even clean it for you!

Regardless of how hard he thought he hit you, he is still at fault. If he doesn't want to pay, the extremely reasonable £50 then he will have to make a claim through his insurance (or if he hasn't got any, get prosecuted by the police)

Have you got witnesses?

+1 deffo claim

No witnesses, the guy initially drove off but stopped after my wife followed him and flashed her lights for him to stop.
My only worry is that he might claim my wife drove into the back of him, and not the other way round.

In that case it would probably end up 50/50.

He should really have paid the £50 before you paid out anything

My wife says he was friendly/apologetic at the side of the road but when l rang him later he had changed his tune a bit "how do l know the damage was not there before" he said.

report him for failing to stop at an accident.

If there were no witnesses, he could easily say you went in to the back of him.. ego your fault.

might be less hassle to let it go.

Say to him either you pay 50 or u will claim on the insurance and get the bumper from land rover

It's funny how these people always seem to change the story later. If you can, it's always worth getting an independent witness's details.

I returned to the scene of an accident recently as I witnessed an accident at a junction whilst passing at speed. I offered to give my details to the 'innocent party' and he appeared totally disinterested saying the other driver had admitted fault.

He had been rear ended in his gaylander - so he probably enjoyed it anyway! Fortunately for me he either had his brakes or handbrake on otherwise he would have been shunted in front of me and I had no chance of stopping.

You would think in this day and age that the first IA (what with mobiles having camera's ) would be to take pics of the accident at the time.
Not being funny but it's nearly always the case that after the guilty party leave the scene and are only in contact via phone they get brave and change their tune, not unlike keyboard warriors.

Pictures would not have proved who drove into who, in this case.

It would have needed a dash cam.
The guy has not yet changed his story, he is still admitting he reversed into the Defender.

But he thinks l am not going to bother claiming.

lightning said:

My wife says he was friendly/apologetic at the side of the road but when l rang him later he had changed his tune a bit "how do l know the damage was not there before" he said.

Click to expand...

Lesson for everyone get a Dash Cam, higher the quality the better.

Sad that you're having this hassle when you were willing to be thoroughly decent and only seek £50 to recover your costs

Police report - they'll do no more than make a note, but it strengthens your position and then insurance claim

Just need to check your own insurers don't then have this as a mark against you, thereby increasing your own premium next year

Make a claim directly to other party's insurance company. Even if he disputes it, there will be a black mark on his insurance file, particularly if he fails to inform his insurer about the incident.

claim

I agree you should claim but there are a couple of probs, first is the lack of a witness second is even if you do claim his insurance and its marked as a non fault, its still a mark against you and will follow you around for 5 years. I found this out recently when i changed bike insurers,

Someone hit my landy whilst it was parked up and i was in the house watching TV. made a difference to my insurance quotes for my bike

Not worth dealing with insurer's, police, arguments and explaining to every insurance quote for the next five years. He is lucky its so much hassle to do all of the above. Count yourself lucky it was only 50 quid and forget about it and move on with life