Hi all, once again after the sage advice of the Ozbargain clan.
I was involved in a minor accident this morning at the hospital car park where I was not at fault (at least I believe). Was 90 degree reversing into a space as the ute in space beside me was reversing out. Tried to beep my horn for the ute to stop but no luck. Have sustained a dent and scrape to my front right fender and minor chip to edge of driver side door.
Driver was not the owner of the vehicle and on an international license. The owner of the vehicle came down (was a patient at the hospital), he didnt have his license on him but I have his phone number (confirmed, sent me a message which I received) and his license plate. The owner of the ute offered to circumvent insurance companies as his excess is 2k and said he has mates who are panel beaters that can fix up the damage.
I've never been in any accidents so don't have much experience in this but is this usual practice? Anything I should be weary of, or any red flags I should be on the lookout for? Am I better off just going through insurance?
I'd be more than happy to take him up on his offer to make his life easier so long as I dont get gypped.
FWIW, I searched the utes rego and the details of the vehicle lines up but says rego was suspended since March 2024. Not sure if this in and of itself is of any concern?
Thanks in advance for any replies.
Go and get a quote done wherever you want. You DON'T have to use their repairer.
Send the at fault party a letter of demand and set a time limit on it. If they ghost or fail to make payment by the set date, just hand it over to your insurance company. (You will need a name and address of the at fault driver and name and address of the owner of the vehicle, not just a "phone number")
Involving your insurance company does not automatically invoke theirs. They will still have the option to not use their insurance and just pay your insurance company out of their own pocket.
If the vehicle was unregistered, this is why they want to deal with it outside of insurance… That's fine, so long as you are made whole, but I would be making a police report or at least ringing your local station and asking them if it needs to be reported that the vehicle was unregistered.
Long story short… International driver's license, shifty "use my guy", asking to not use insurance and unregistered vehicle… It's red flags all the way down… just go direct to your insurance company and let them deal with it.