Settling with car owner without reporting to insurance

[gathermewool]

The front bumper on my Forester hot hit worse than that. It was $800 to match the color perfectly (lifetime warranty) and whatever a week with a rental cost.

if the roles were reversed I would have worked to pay that out of pocket and have my lawyer jin up a quick no-further—liability something or other document.

I had a buddy who once told his wife to do something similar, but it all occurred without a single quote, on the spot, right then and there. She wrote the guy a check for several hundred dollars and then my buddy drove over and handed the guy a few hundred more just to make sure he was satisfied. That‘s a little too loosey goosey for me, but it worked for him.

There’s a reason why my insurance coverages are nearly maxed out, while my deductible is, as well. If it’s under a grand or two I’d rather pay for it out of pocket. By that, I mean the kind the OP and I experienced. When it comes to an actual collision with people involved, my first action to make sure everyone is ok and my second or third is to call insurance, depending on whether law enforcement needs to be involved.

 

[eljefino]

My wife got "love tapped" by a terrible driver who had several claims already. It was basically a hole in her plastic bumper cover caused by his license plate screw.

Other driver reimbursed his own insurance for the payout to fix my wife's car so it wouldn't count as a claim.

You may be able to use this avenue.

 

[gman2304]

Sad we have to pay out of pocket to keep our rates from going through the roof! I’m insurance poor, full coverage on almost every type of insurance I have because you never know when you might need it.

 

[vw7674]

that's a $1,100-1,500 repair depending on local market.
your insurance provider expects you to get one speeding ticket every three years, an incident every 5.5. (they don't tell you this but it's what they expect) meaning they won't rock the boat if you get ticketed on time & claim on your policy at that rate.
so yeah it's your choice, but a legal paper trail is valuable in most circumstances.

 

[paulri]

From the responses, its beginning to sound like I'd be best off just reporting it. It would cost nothing out of pocket, and even if the policy did go up, it would probably be a lot less than paying for a bumper replacement or repainting.

 

[philipp10]

The sign says compact only to prevent this exact situation. The Subaru has culpability for this, too. They need to pay at least half of the repair.

I kind of agree. Notice the yellow line and he is sticking WELL past it? This is a parking garage, which are tight to maneuver even when staying within the yellow lines. IMO, the guy almost deserves to be hit.

 

[AZjeff]

The sign says compact only to prevent this exact situation. The Subaru has culpability for this, too. They need to pay at least half of the repair.

Pretty sure if you hit a parked vehicle it's going to be your fault....you misjudged and you hit it.

 

[mk378]

If another guy comes along and really smashes that same corner, he doesn't need to leave a note, it's already covered by the OP.

 

[Leo99]

Pretty sure if you hit a parked vehicle it's going to be your fault....you misjudged and you hit it.

Insurance will often assign partial blame to multiple parties. If you park where you shouldn't park, you have some of the blame if you get hit.

 

[Nick1994]

No deductible to pay for damage caused to other cars. Only if you get your car fixed.

 

[Number_35]

Our '07 Dodge Grand Caravan was hit a few weeks ago while my wife was stopped at a light. The low-speed collision dimpled the plastic rear bumper cover a bit, and scratched the paint.

Per my wife, the other driver, a middle-aged man, was apologetic and pleasant and asked that we allow him to pay rather than going the insurance route. (We have mandatory public insurance here.). They exchanged contact information, and my wife got photos of the damage and of the other vehicle.

I removed the plastic bumper cover, and was pleased to see that there was no damage to the steel bumper, plastic, or styrofoam underneath.

Took the bumper cover to a fellow who works out of his garage. He did a good job getting rid of the deformation in the plastic, and repainting the entire unit. Charged me C$300. Because the bumper had some minor scratches on the pain on the other side, I'm going to ask the other driver to pay half (C$150).

Life's been crazy with a lot happening, but I expect he'll be glad to get off that easy.

 

[paulri]

OK, assuming I'm going to be reporting it, would folks recommend I do it tomorrow, or wait 2-3 weeks before calling it in? A few comments above made it look like telling them about this isn't the same as filing something with home insurance.

Also, if in fact the other party chooses to contact me--assuming I can't count on the wind to help me out here -- I suppose I would need to just give them my insurance info, as in, what is on my CA Evidence of Liability Insurance card? Do I have any reason to demand their insurance info? I don't suppose it would matter, even if they were not insured, in this instance.

 

[paulri]

Well I do have pics of the car, so that would cover me to a certain extent. But the Subie owner might not believe that they were hit twice in the same parking period.

If another guy comes along and really smashes that same corner, he doesn't need to leave a note, it's already covered by the OP.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Since the Subaru's owner parked in a compact car only parking spot, could that be considered illegal parking? Me, I trust no one to be honest. I'd be afraid if it was settled between you and a total stranger, they could possibly pull some shady bs. I would contact insurance to legally protect me and the Subaru owner.

Now if they report it to their insurance, they get no penalties (at least here in Tx) as it would be considered a hit and run, and not the owner's fault.

 

[Nick1994]

I think it's irrelevant that the person was in a compact parking spot. Should they have been? Nope. But the OP hit a stationary object. If it was a school bus in that spot taking up the entire parking garage and he hit it, still his fault.

 

[PandaBear]

Since the other car has nobody inside they cannot sue you for injury, which simplify things a lot. I have settled with others a couple decades ago and things work out well, but only on older cheaper cars. These days if someone I hit has people inside instead of a parked car I would not chance settling outside insurance.

 

[Andrew1972]

Your deductible is absolutely irrelevant here. Your liability insurance will pay whatever they deem and body shop does to fix the bumper. Deductibles on your side cover if you damage your own vehicle where you pay the first $500.

You sound like a decent guy but in the past I have not dealt well with these avoid the insurance kind of people even those honest to report. They typically have no money to cover it and balk and scream at repair cost. They expect you to go see their body guy not a quality job. I have had minor hits to others like this a few times and my insurance never budged.

Also are you going to pay for his rental car? I pay $15/year rental coverage on my insurance to get a rental under these conditions.

 

[Andrew1972]

I’ve settled small stuff like this before. Sometimes it’s smarter to not involve the bean counters. Paid a guy $500 for a bumper tap doing under 10mph. He had a POS van and probably just needed some cash...

Well worth it to keep it off my insurance.

I got paid in college $4000 cash to not report about $1000 in damage on a $700 car (Subaru XT). The guy in a nice suit/shoes reeked of alcohol.

I paid my tuition bill for the year!

 

[Skippy722]

OK, assuming I'm going to be reporting it, would folks recommend I do it tomorrow, or wait 2-3 weeks before calling it in? A few comments above made it look like telling them about this isn't the same as filing something with home insurance.

Also, if in fact the other party chooses to contact me--assuming I can't count on the wind to help me out here -- I suppose I would need to just give them my insurance info, as in, what is on my CA Evidence of Liability Insurance card? Do I have any reason to demand their insurance info? I don't suppose it would matter, even if they were not insured, in this instance.

Part of me says reporting it to your insurance just in case right away is probably the best thing to do, just to cover your own behind. But if the Subaru owner decides not to get it fixed/the note you left somehow gets removed before the owner sees it and never reports it, no need to involve them.

Personally, I wouldn’t bother getting that fixed if it were my vehicle, I’d just give you a call to say thank you for being a decent human being and leaving me a note.

 

[paulri]

He just called me. He said he'll take it to get a quote, and see if they can just repaint, or if they'll replace the whole bumper. He'll get back to me in the next day or so.

OK well worse case scenario, I report it to insurance this week, and pay nothing out of pocket. Or if its just a couple hundred, I might want to settle privately.

Didn't expect him to contact me so soon, but oh well.