Wife called this morning to say that a bloke in a brand new Jag XF had reversed into her this morning

They had both turned onto a side road with a car behind my wife. The chap in front pulled up sharply to get a parking space, so the missus and the car behind both stopped - she did say she would have reversed a bit to give him some space but the car behind was too close. The chap in the XF then reversed backwards and despite the fact my wife beeped him, he continued to reverse into the missus car - it wasn't a hard impact or anything but he just nudged the front.

Chap got out and said he didn't think he'd hit her because his parking sensors didnt go off, but then checked both cars and said there was no damage. They have exhanged details and she's taken his reg number. She didnt take any photos or anything but he did. She also told the bloke she would be in touch once she has had the car looked at.

Now the advice required is exactly how to handle this. Your supposed to report an incident to your insurance immediatly, but I'm guessing if there is any damage (which the wife says there does not appera to be) it's not going to be an aweful lot and he would probably want to settle rather than push through insurance. Issue is I'm not going to get a chance to get the car looked at until Thursday at the earliest so what's the best thing to do ?? If we do get it looked at and he wants to put it through insurance are they going to get funny that we didnt report it immediatly ??

One of those difficult situations - so suggestions welcome......

Cheers Mav

 

Trouble with telling your Insurance Company - even if you don't claim - is that it goes on the DataBase ... and you will have to declare it for 5 years on every car insurance you/she is involved in. And Insurance Companies load the premiums regardless, in these cases.

It's a no win for something this small ..... but it is your call.

The owner of the Jag may all of a sudden develop neck pain, I happens all the time! He will claim your wife hit him in the rear. And it all gets rather messy.

It's a hard one to call to be honest. So, I'm not much help!

 

If theres nothing visible on the outside then theres unlikely to be anything on the inside

- i guess insurance/adresses were exchanged , i think you should tell them immediatley if your worried and then ask their advice on repairers .

otherwise you could just go round and rustle him for a few notes

 

Did your wife not get the details from the witness in the car behind? If not forget it as the XF guy will claim your wife drove into him when he stopped.

 

Very minor impact according to the wife. Wife said the guy didnt even realise he had hit her and she had to wind down her window after he'd parked his car and tell him what had happened.

My guess is there is no damage, but she's booked it in to get someone to have a quick look at it tomorrow morning. Unless they come back and say the bumper mounts are shot and it needs a new bumper or something stupid like that I should imagine we'll just let it drop.

Cheers for the responses

 

It wont go down as a claim if she just seeks advice. A claim is not phoning your insurance and speaking to them, its them actually having to pay for something etc. Dont be afraid to speak to them. You dont have to declare phonecalls to them, just claims.

Get a bodyshop to look at the car and see if there is anything worth repairing. If they say there is, then by all means report it.

Immediatly in insurance terms really means as soon as reasonably possible.

If the bodyshop say touch up and polish, £80 then I too would speak to the guy direct if possible and see if he is willing to settle.

 

Only possible problem is that if he hit something else with his rubbish reversing he might just try to blame it on you saying you drove into the back of him.

I would report it to your insurance so you are covered in that respect, you dont get charged anything unless you claim and it is your fault. It is a non accident from their point of view.

I would report it to the police too just to be sure you remain in the clear.

Les

 

get yourself a roadhawk camera system in your car and these scammers wont have a leg to stand on if they try blaming you instead they will go to court for fraud

I will definately be getting one just incase

 

Driver assists FTW Tell him you couldn't have driven into him cause your airbags didn't go off

Hope its just a buff and move on fella

 

If that's the case, how come I had my car premium increased by £30 last year for failing to declare?

All I had done was phone my then insurance company for advice, after I'd stopped my bike using the bumper of the woman in front of me (old bike, brakes went awol in the rain ).
There was no damage to either vehicle or party, no claims were made by either of us, and the only reason they knew about it at all ws from my phone call