[TTMKENT]

Hi,

I have an issue which I am currently dealing with and I wanted some guidance/information on how to best handle the issue in question. I’ll keep everything I write as short as I can!

A few months back, I was driving my mum's car to pick up a friend at his home. I then parked the car next o my friend's Mothers car. As I was reversing backwards I scraped the side panel of the driver side on her car. I completely miscalculated the space I had between the two cars. My friend was inside the house and he had just come out and he saw what occurred. I immediately apologised to him and said I would pay any damage I caused. I then spoke to his mum and apologises and she was very calm and said it’s accident these things happen.

During the time I used my mum's car I purchased short term in an Insurance policy from an app called “Cuvva” they provide short term insurance from 1 hour - 12 hours and 1 day and 28 days.

Fast forward to now, I received a message from my friend a couple of days ago saying I need to pay £600 for the damage caused to the car. His Mother is due to get an upgrade/ new car and she’s been charged this by her Insurance company.

I’m still in my first year of driving and I don’t own a car, I just use my parents care and then buy short term insurance.
Since researching online I read that you should report an incident to your Insurance straight away. I was not aware of this as it was not a crash where someone was injured.

I thought my friends mum would go to damage specialist and try to get the damage fixed then contact me regarding the bill and I would then pay the cost.


Since the incident occurred I never reported to my short term insurance provider and neither did they do the same to contact their provider. Do I need to now contact my provider and explain to them what happened? Or do I need to wait for my friends mum to talk with her insurance and then wait for them to contact my short term insurance provider about the incident?

One last thing, I'm not sure exactly what day it happened because I stupidity didn't write anything. I can't just say what date it was without it been correct because I buy short term insurance policy for 1-2 hours. Once the policy has expired after let's say 2 hours I am not allowed to drive that car as I would be driving with (No Insurance). So I need the exact date, when this incident occurred.

I should have done something straight away once I caused the damaged. I should have been more cautious and observed more as revered the car. And I should have told them to do something about the damage to the car rather than let it come to this.

I’m just very stressed and unsure of what to do as I have never been to this experience before. Any help would much be appreciated as it would help me handle my issue!

Kind regards.

[98selitb]

You can still tell your insurer. There must be a way of working out what day it was, if you think back to what you were doing etc. and your daily schedule. It should also be on your insurance records somewhere! If you bought a short-term insurance policy then it has to specify the dates etc.

Going through insurance may result in more expensive insurance next time, but not to the tune of the £600 it would cost by going private. It's almost always better to go through insurance whenever you have an incident involving another vehicle.

[TTMKENT]

You can still tell your insurer. There must be a way of working out what day it was if you think back to what you were doing etc. and your daily schedule. It should also be on your insurance records somewhere! If you bought a short-term insurance policy then it has to specify the dates etc.

Going through insurance may result in more expensive insurance next time, but not to the tune of the £600 it would cost by going private. It's almost always better to go through insurance whenever you have an incident involving another vehicle.

Firstly can I say thank you for the swift reply and the information you have provided? I’m currently in the process of trying to obtain what day this occurred. Should I tell the insurer of the policy? Or should I wait for my friends mum to speak with her insurer and then wait for them to contact me before speaking to my insurer? When I spoke to them, my friend said his mum was looking for a cheap quote.

The frustrating, thing about this is I’ve never been in the situation with the car. I’m fairly new with the car world, as I’m still my first year of driving. It’s been kept me up night worrying, will be in trouble arrested etc.

From this situation, I will further heed to educate myself about car knowledge in general.

[Smurfy100]

If she has gone through her insurance, the only thing she would have to pay is her excess, however, she would be able to then recover this back from the insurers that were covering you at the time of the incident.

Her insurance will just recover everything else back from the insurers that covered you at the time, so they should have everything reported already, and have the date of the incident, they should have already attempted to contact you to get your version of events.

I would suggest you just contact the insurers you had the policy with and then tell them the details as they should already have everything reported.

I wouldn't pay anything directly as the likelihood is that your insurers haven't accepted liability as they haven't spoken to you, and thaty is why she had to pay her excess, once you tell them, she will then be able to claim her excess back.

[TTMKENT]

Thank you for your response. I have read everything you have said and it has given me a better understanding of how the process is like to go.

But I have question further to what you said. Let’s she has gone through her insurance, given date, damaged, size, driver of the car, etc.

Even myself I can remember the day it happened and she was not at her home. For example, let’s she said it happened on the 1st of September and she tell her insurance and they contact me. When buying my insurance it’s for a couple of hours etc. She CANNOT just give any date because lets I didn’t buy a policy that day that would mean I wasn’t driving with CAR Insurance!

Just to clarify I had Insurance when this incident occurred. My only issue I don’t remember the date it happened nor do I believe they know the date themselves. We can’t just say any date because they could give the date, but this date could be incorrect as I weren’t driving and did not buy the Insurance policy for the day.

It needs to be the exact date I brought the policy she needs to tell her Insurance company because that's the day the incident occurred. If she just says the day it wasn’t then, it would be as me driving without insurance even though that’s not the case.

I’m going through the dates to see when purchased the policy to remember when this incident occurred so it’s the right date.

Will I be in any trouble for this not been done sooner? I didn’t know I need to contact the insurer as my friend's mothers didn’t do anything her self. I don’t really know much information or Knowledge to deal with the issue at the time. I thought she would have done something since the incident but she never did.

[TTMKENT]

Hi All

Just did some digging around and found it happened in January. The Insurance app saves the date and the location I made the purchase. So I now-now when it happened and I did just notify my friend.

Should I wait for my friends mum to contact me back so it’s done through her insurance and wait for them contact m via my insurance??

Or should I contact the insurance company I used??

I don’t want to do anything stupid and careless I won't take the correct approach.

[Beelzebub]

You need to tell your insurer ASAP. You also need to tell your friends mother who your insurer is, otherwise your own mothers insurer may get the claim, which is an unnecessary complication.

[TTMKENT]

I'll call them tomorrow morning then! I thought I should wait for my friend's mother to contact me then call my provider of the policy cover.

They haven’t got any of the details of the car that I drove. All I know they got quote for the damage.

I’m waiting to call this evening from a friend to give me his mother’s car details and give them the correct dates.

I just don’t if I’ll be in trouble or have an issues as to why nothing was done in January when it occurred?

[TTMKENT]

Reason For Not Contacting Straight Awawy

I’m about to contact the Insurance company this morning. Do I need to have particular reason to why I didn’t contact the Insurance company straight away? It’s been 6 months since the incident happen. I thought my friends mum would of contacted her Insurance a company.

I don’t really know a reason I can to ask why I didn’t contact them when it occurred??? I was waiting to find out my friends mum wanted to do she never got back to me where’s now she has anyone have any ideas.. BTW nobody was in the other car just only me and nobody hurt or injured!