Car accident advice

[AladdinSane]

Hey everyone!
Just after a bit of advice as I've been up all night stressing.
Last night, I didn't stop in time at a set of traffic lights. I was slowing down and unfortunately, didn't judge the space in front of me very well and bumped the other car, which was a taxi.
There is no visible damage to either car and I was travelling at a maximum of 10mph but slowing down.
We exchanged details and he is going to report it to his taxi company and we will go from there.

Has anyone been in this situation before? I've never had to contact my insurance company about an accident so I'm not sure what the process is or what the timeline is looking like.I've been up all night feeling sick with what comes next so any reassurance would be great.

Thanks!

 

[Gossip101xoxo]

Hey everyone!
Just after a bit of advice as I've been up all night stressing.
Last night, I didn't stop in time at a set of traffic lights. I was slowing down and unfortunately, didn't judge the space in front of me very well and bumped the other car, which was a taxi.
There is no visible damage to either car and I was travelling at a maximum of 10mph but slowing down.
We exchanged details and he is going to report it to his taxi company and we will go from there.

Has anyone been in this situation before? I've never had to contact my insurance company about an accident so I'm not sure what the process is or what the timeline is looking like.I've been up all night feeling sick with what comes next so any reassurance would be great.

Thanks!

I was in an accident last year. Report it to your insurance company as soon as possible. Give them as much detail as possible. Then let them deal with it as that what you pay them for. Try not to stress, the insurance company won’t judge you as they deal with these things day in day out. Everybody has accidents and you didn’t mean to hit the car on front so try not to worry about it.

 

[Tinksby99]

Report it to your insurers, look on their website for the claims section or report an incident section.

I used to work in PI RTA, claimant & defendant. Hopefully it’ll just be a straightforward claim for any repairs & that’ll be it.

 

[AladdinSane]

I was in an accident last year. Report it to your insurance company as soon as possible. Give them as much detail as possible. Then let them deal with it as that what you pay them for. Try not to stress, the insurance company won’t judge you as they deal with these things day in day out. Everybody has accidents and you didn’te. mean to hit the car on front so try not to worry about it.

Thank you. I've spent the whole night panicking that there'll be an investigation and I'll lose my licence. I've got pictures of both cars and there is absolutely no visible damage.
The taxi guy started filming me as well which scared me as I've never been in that situation before either.
I've never been the one driving into someone, it's always been the other way around.

 

[Gossip101xoxo]

Thank you. I've spent the whole night panicking that there'll be an investigation and I'll lose my licence. I've got pictures of both cars and there is absolutely no visible damage.
The taxi guy started filming me as well which scared me as I've never been in that situation before either.
I've never been the one driving into someone, it's always been the other way around.

you won’t lose your license don’t worry! Especially as there was no damage they will see you weren’t speeding or anything like that so try not to worry. The insurance company is used to processing accidents so they know what to do. Once it’s reported you can just get on and if they need any more info they will call you.

 

[AladdinSane]

you won’t lose your license don’t worry! Especially as there was no damage they will see you weren’t speeding or anything like that so try not to worry. The insurance company is used to processing accidents so they know what to do. Once it’s reported you can just get on and if they need any more info they will call you.

Thank you. That's such a relief. I've tried Google for advice but there wasn't much of it

Yes no damage
I'm going to check again now its light but I couldn't see anything. I must have been traveling at about 10/15 mph if that. I just didn't stop quickly enough and my brain just didn't engage to emergency break. I have no idea what happened

 

[AladdinSane]

Report it to your insurers, look on their website for the claims section or report an incident section.

I used to work in PI RTA, claimant & defendant. Hopefully it’ll just be a straightforward claim for any repairs & that’ll be it.

Thank you!
That's reassuring.

Do you have any idea roughly when I would be likely to hear anything from the guy whose car I bumped insurance? I've never had this happen before so have been really panicking about the whole thing.

 

[Lollylaylow]

Thank you!
That's reassuring.

Do you have any idea roughly when I would be likely to hear anything from the guy whose car I bumped insurance? I've never had this happen before so have been really panicking about the whole thing.

You might get a claim for whiplash. This happened to my daughter was going at a slower speed than even you were and nothing was said at the time, no damage both drivers were fine, my daughter said she barely felt it and her car was a much smaller cheaper car than the other car, and then a few weeks later they other party put in a claim for whiplash. Insurance don't even question it these days and pay it out without even looking into it.

 

[Tinksby99]

Thank you!
That's reassuring.

Do you have any idea roughly when I would be likely to hear anything from the guy whose car I bumped insurance? I've never had this happen before so have been really panicking about the whole thing.

Report it to your insurance company & then it’s for the two insurers to deal with. If you hear anything directly from the taxi driver/firm, pass it to your insurers. Don’t be agreeing to anything with him outside of the insurance company.

They will deal with it, whether there’s a claim for repairs or PI etc, it’ll be them sorting it. I know there was no visible damage but sometimes there can be damage inside the bumper, they’re designed to absorb an impact. Working on both sides, I’ve seen it all. PI claims where there is a scratch the size of your thumb, bogus passengers, claims from impacts at less than 5mph etc. Speed doesn’t play a part, if there was contact then there was an impact.

Did you take any pictures/video of the damage to the taxi or who/how many were in the taxi?

 

[AladdinSane]

Report it to your insurance company & then it’s for the two insurers to deal with. If you hear anything directly from the taxi driver/firm, pass it to your insurers. Don’t be agreeing to anything with him outside of the insurance company.

They will deal with it, whether there’s a claim for repairs or PI etc, it’ll be them sorting it. I know there was no visible damage but sometimes there can be damage inside the bumper, they’re designed to absorb an impact. Working on both sides, I’ve seen it all. PI claims where there is a scratch the size of your thumb, bogus passengers, claims from impacts at less than 5mph etc. Speed doesn’t play a part, if there was contact then there was an impact.

Did you take any pictures/video of the damage to the taxi or who/how many were in the taxi?

I have pictures of the taxi and of the front of my car.
He's been in contact today to say there is a dent in the bumper and some paint scratches.
He offered to settle privately without going through insurance. I have informed my insurance company and am awaiting advice.

I'll be honest, I didn't know how many people were in the taxi. None of them got out and they had to be rushed off as they were late going somewhere.
---

You might get a claim for whiplash. This happened to my daughter was going at a slower speed than even you were and nothing was said at the time, no damage both drivers were fine, my daughter said she barely felt it and her car was a much smaller cheaper car than the other car, and then a few weeks later they other party put in a claim for whiplash. Insurance don't even question it these days and pay it out without even looking into it.

Oh gosh! What a nightmare. Did she report everything to the insurance as well? I've never ever been involved in something like this so it's brand new territory for me

 

[CrimsonCountess]

Insurance don't even question it these days and pay it out without even looking into it.

I just wanted to say this bit isn't really true so try not to worry. They have really clamped down on whiplash claims now and brought in a whole new reform of the act covering it. It is now a tiered system and you would have to really be able to prove that you have been affected by it. I was in an awful car crash last year, I had to be examined by 2 independent medical experts and was diagnosed with severe whiplash among a lot of other injuries, but because they expected it not to last any longer than 6 months I was paid just over £500 for that part of my claim. The days where everyone could claim it willy nilly and get a lot of money are long gone, and now people who do have it and are severely affected are hardly paid anything for it

https://www.truthlegal.com/legal-guide/a-guide-to-the-2021-whiplash-reforms/ There is a chart at the bottom of this page saying how much you now get, so if they do try and claim they've got whiplash they will have to prove it

 

[37BBL]

A similar thing happened to my husband. His drive home from work included a small ish hill, with a lay-by in. It was rush hour and he was creeping no more than 5 - 10 mph. A car pulled straight out of the lay-by without looking and he went into the back. The driver was horrible to him and said her neck hurt straight away. He had a claim made against him, even though he took photos of both cars and there was no damage. She claimed for whiplash and was successful.
He had protected no claims but his premium still went up, and mine did as he's named on my policy. It's just listed that a claim was made.

I've never had an experience of settling privately. I suppose it depends what your excess is and whether it will be cheaper to do that. If you did, I would ask for copies of any quotes from the body shops so you know they're genuine. If it's a couple hundred pounds and you would pay more than that in excess then it might be worthwhile.

 

[cowtastrophe]

I would not settle privately because you open yourself up to the person coming back later for more money or ripping you off with a dodgy quote. Particularly in this case as you hit him. Definitely go via insurance, it’s what you pay them for.

 

[Sure…Media!]

Different rules in Australia but as it’s a taxi, the demand can extend not only to the repair but also loss of use when it’s off the road. Get your insurance to advocate for you. I’d never deal with a taxi company directly!

 

[bogusgasman]

Helloooo I’m so sorry I hope you don’t mind me popping on this thread, I know this happened a while ago now but just wanted to let you know I work for car insurance and deal with claims/liability of claims on a daily basis, did you manage to get this sorted? If not I’m more than happy to help xx