Front end shunt: get the insurers involved?

Snipped.

If it's TPF&T then you can't claim for damage to your car. Only on fully comp can you do that, as is my understanding. Obviously you'll have to inform your insurers and your NCB will be affected and if you have an excess then you'll have to pay that.

I'll leave it up to others to comment on driving technique.

-- Malc

Rubbish! You only pay excess if you are putting in a claim for the insurers to pay for damage. In this circumstance the original poster can't claim on his insurance to pay for damage as he is only covered for third party, fire and theft. So he wont pay anything extra to his insurance company apart from more expensive premiums NEXT YEAR !!

Is it a Fire? No. Is it a Theft? No. Is it a Third Party? No.

(You and the insurer are the first and second parties).

So the answer is no. This is why you paid a lower premium than if you'd had fully comp (you didn't think you were getting something for nothing did you?)

If it were the other driver's fault, you could claim off their insurance - you'd be the third party in this case. But it isn't, so you can't.

How much was your car worth? How broken is it?

You say there's just cosmetic damage - are you sure? May be worth getting this checked.

You really don't want to go to insurance-specified repairers - you're footing the bill.

(If you can get a bonnet from a scrappy, headlamps should be possible too. But there's almost certainly more to fix than that).

cheers, clive

bruce phipps (bruce snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

And you didn't see the police car?

True.

Terminal.

No.

No.

A new car.

rid of it to

Glad to be of service.

Their repairers are already as involved as they're going to get - fixing the Pug.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, bruce phipps decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Then learn to drive. When you complain about the cost of car insurance, remember this. It's half because of low life scumbags nicking cars, and half because people who can't drive have a bump then try claiming whiplash for a crash they could have avoided.

You'll remember this at renewal time :-)

Just put the Micra in the scrapyard. They might give you £20 or £30 for it if you're lucky. Spend it on lessons.

HTH

Also sprach bruce snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com (bruce phipps):-

No. Your insurance covers damage to the other vehicle or persons or property, not yours. Oh, and fire and theft, obviously!

Fair enough, happens to us all.

N reg Micras are still fetching a grand (surprised me as well!), so it might be worth repairing if it was in good nick pre-accident. As other posters have said, you won't get anything from your insurers, apart from higher premiums next year, but a decent independent bodywork repairer should be able to point you in the direction of a supplier for second hand bits and give you a quote for straightening (and if you're unlucky, re-jigging), fitting and painting. Had a minor bump in the Micra last year and the headlight cost about a tenner IIRC. Was probably a bit cheaper than usual as I removed it myself - great fun on seized bolts, outside, on a car stacked on top of another, on 2nd January :o)

Actually, he'll have to pay the excess when his insurers pay out the other party.

Erm....

Don't think I'll insure with whoever it is you're with, cos if your insurers pay the other party out, they cover their excess, not you.

HTH

One reason could be pedestrian safety.

cheers, clive

In article , Clive George writes

I thought of that - so why no lower the back bumpers to match?

I would have thought styling aside, higher bumpers make more sense for the car occupants. Especially since the things which will hurt most, ie big stuff, will have higher front bumpers. And styling says higher at the back looks better.

cheers, clive

Well in the past when I've had TP insurance the insurers have always said that there would be an excess of whatever if I wanted to lower my premiums. As tp ins. doesn't cover damage to your car ipso facto the excess must be for damage to others.

Also sprach "JackH" :-

Also, the front ends of cars are far more complex, less like the strong box-shape of the rear end. The energy has to be absorbed somewhere, and bumpers aren't very good at this - so it doesn't entirely matter where they are.

Anyway- they aren't really much lower.

Also sprach David Mahon :-

Because very few people get reversed over at speed!

No. The excess is there to reduce your premiums. You pay the first £50, £100 or what ever of any damage that occurs. I haven't had TP ins. for many years but that is how it was explained to me by several brokers.

This must surely depend on the insurance company concerned and the schedule/policy document at the time of agreement.

I know mine has zero excess on TP claims and voluntary excess on own damage claims.

Lee

Explain this:

Why can you select the level of excess on a third party only policy?

Don't know about modern Peugeots but the first series saloon 405's have fantastic bumpers - front and back. Hearsay is that the normal proceedure in Paris if parking space is tight is to ram into the car in front to shunt it forward - put it in reverse and shunt the car behind. Result is a parking space for your vehicle. Can't say I would recommend it!

Having reversed into the corner of a (low height) concrete pillar, I was fully expecting to replace the whole unit. I had to look really closely to find a very small indentation in the chrome trim running round the bumper.

Recommendation - don't shunt a peugeot 405.