Accident advive
 

- Wife got into an accident at a red light, let gas off brake and bumped car in front
- No damages to my wife's car as licence plate took the impact and speed was not a factor
- car in front has minimal damage but still some damage mostly from the 2 screws from the licence plate that dented her bumper
- nobody claiming injuries, other driver said let's just settle outside of ICBC
- other drive got a quote already, it's in the high hundreds

My question is if my wife decides to just pay for the damages is there anything you would suggest to protect from the possibility of the other person coming back later and asking for more? Could you even draft up something for them to sign saying they can't come back and it's settled including both damages and injuries?

Any suggestions would be welcome. So far there is nothing to believe the other person is shady. I mean their first reaction from getting rear ended was to ask if my wife was ok and communication has been good so far.

Thanks!

what would be the hit to your premium if you go through ICBC? that's also worth considering. I believe there's a calculator you can use to at-fault claims.

Either a written letter signed by both parties saying you are willing to pay for the damages. Or emails stating you will pay for the damages. Pay the shop directly when the repair is done and get a receipt with their vehicle info as proof.

If you think the quote is too high just go through insurance and she can buy out the claim.

Legally, you have to go through ICBC to report the accident and let them know you both want to settle privately. That's one of the best ways to protect yourselves.

Like others have said, go through icbc, pay icbc back to fix the bumper and your premiums won't change.
Less work and stress this way for you.

What bcrdukes said, report it, have them report it... and then you have the option of claiming against your insurance or paying it out.

Any other way is leaving yourself hanging in the wind.

P.S. high hundreds for a bumper repaint is bullshit, my buddy's shop repaints bumpers all day for $3-400... but you don't have much say about where they go unfortunately.

Yea I looked at the quote it's in the $750 range and almost $400 of it is labor lol. Didn't know about the reporting to ICBC option and choosing to payout.

Thanks!

This could depend on the vehicles in question. i.e. a BMW vs. a Ford Pinto and a whole bunch of different variables like do you want it to just look good enough? Or look like brand new? etc.

Definitely work with the other party to report it both to ICBC and to see what both of your options are. Never hurts, otherwise, you are opening yourself to a black hole of liabilities and unforeseen consequences. Sorry, not trying to scare you, but people can be pretty shitty. I speak from experience where I was rear-ended, and tapped the car in front of me. The guy wanted to settle his "injuries" privately, but I went to ICBC and sent them pictures of the guy leaning and bending to show the cops how his car was hit, and how he was "seriously injured." He was nice and all (at the time) but sent me a letter from his lawyer, and ICBC told them whats up and everything was dropped.

The ONLY benefit to dealing w/out ICBC is that there's no claim on either car, which does make a difference when trying to sell the car. However, it does carry a certain risk to whomever is at fault, because as others have said, people can be pretty shitty.

I was rear ended low speed a long time ago by some N-sign girl, and I offered her either $500 for rear bumper repaint, or ICBC. I told her I'd prefer the cash because I didn't want a claim on my vehicle, but that the choice was hers. Exchanged info and told her to talk to her family or whatever and get back to me in a few days. 2 days later we met at a McD parking lot and she showed up with like 3 older brothers, who looked at my rear bumper, gave me $500 in cash, and some poorly written document written in word saying it's case closed. I fixed my bumper, and that was that.

So, it does work, but be very weary as the risk is almost all on the 'at-fault' party.

Same thing happened to my wife. Both called claim centre, other parties car was fixed. We got a letter in the mail stating we had 30 days to pay for the claim out of pocket ($650) OR file
an insurance claim.

In her situation she would have went from 40% discount - 20%, over the next 4 years it would have cost some thing like $2100.

Thanks guys, yea I'm telling my wife to just do it, there really isn't any negative aside from the claim on file as it offers protection, the other guy still gets fixed, nobody is paying any added premiums etc etc I can't see much of a reason the other party would deny other than maybe if they were driving without a licence or something shady because at the end of the day their bumper will get fixed without her paying any deductibles etc.

they may not want a claim on their car.
I can't think of a reason why going privately would benefit you.

Yes, true on the claim part. Already contacted the other party see how they respond.

You don't need to report damage below $2,000 when selling a car anyway, who cares if there's a bumper claim.

If someone told me they weren't buying my car because of a bumper claim, I'd laugh at them and wait for the next buyer.

Unless the buyer notices that it's been fixed but there isn't a claim to match, then the car seems more sketchy.

While you don't need to report it, it'll still show up on carproof or whatever.

And it's a bigger disadvantage when trading in because of stealership games. They'll lowball you since it's not "claim free" and then when they sell it they'll downplay it as it's under $2k, blah blah.

^ Better than not going through ICBC and leaving yourself open for 7 years for someone to come back at you through ICBC with no recourse if they increase the damage or lie about injuries or say you never paid them even though you did, or you fixed your car and they didn’t, so the evidence supporting your side is now destroyed or “covered up” etc.

If you’re trading a car into a dealership you’re already a guy who is comfortable losing a lot of money for the sake of convenience anyway, so why open yourself up to a bunch of potential liability by not reporting all damage?

We're both nit-picking on opposite ends of what-ifs...also it's not 7 years, is it? I thought it was only 1 or 2. And you'd cover yourself by doing due diligence, ie. a signed document (yes, shaky legal ground, but whatever). All I'm saying is there's definitely a small circumstance where it could be beneficial to avoid ICBC.

As for losing money on trade, that's not always true either. I traded in a car recently, and the dealership gave me ~$2k less than what private sale would have been. But by trading it in I saved $3k on taxes. So, again, it's a YMMV.

take you car in for an ICBC repair estimate. You don't have to get your car repaired through ICBC and you can pay directly for the other guys car without it showing as a claim. But I strongly suggest getting that ICBC repair estimate of your own car so that if/when the guy in 1.5 years tries to make an injury claim, ICBC can tell him to fuk off for virtually no damage.

Lucky the person is being so easy going OP

So far lol, all jokes aside they do genuinely seem pretty cool about it so far.

My dad went through the exact samething, at a light he sneezed and let go off the gas and bumped the other car. The license plate was slightly damaged on his car and no damage on the other. Everyone got out fine and my dad took it to the ICBC place to get photos done the same day. They concluded no damage beside the tiny plate bend.

3-5 months later he gets a letter in the mail telling him his premiums are going up because the other driver claimed whip lash.

It's just sad how easy it is to get away with that as they can't prove he didn't sustain that kind of internal damage or not.

your dad was likely stopped too close if he bumps into the car up front from a sneeze

your dad didn't get anything in writing by the other party to settle and indemnify him of anything else in the future

live and learn, take it as a life experience