Honesty the best policy ?

[Tony McC]

I nudged a dippy woman on the outskirts of Roscrea in Co. Tipp a few years back. We were travelling through roadworks, max 10mph, when she suddenly slammed on and came to a complete halt. I know I should have been paying more attention, but it was nothing more than a nudge.

Got out, not a mark on the Shogun and a slight dent in her bumper about as deep as pencil is wide. She admitted it was her fault as she'd forgot to signal, braked suddenly, was worrying about being late to pick up the kids, but working on the principle that there is no excuse for running into the back of someone, I offered her 100 Euro to cover the damage and a business card with my contact details. She was delighted and said it was far too much, sure 50 Euro would be grand, thanks a million, and all that. I insisted and left it at that.

A month later I get a claim for....get this... 9,650 Euro! Yep - that's nine thousand, six hundred and fifty Euro for a 1989 Toyota (Irish cars use a simple year number rather than try to be clever using letters or combinations of other numbers, so the age of a car is obvious).

Luckily, I *had* taken a photo, so I sent that to the insurance company only to hear that the Gardai were wanting to talk to me for offering her a bribe not to report the accident! So, I was interviewed over the phone by Roscrea Gardai and they let me off with a warning....thanks ever so much!

In the end, the insurance company paid her 2,900 euro and my insurance premium went up almost 200 quid, and all for a dent you'd have a job to see if you didn't have your nose pressed against it! I tried protesting to my insurer, but they seemed to think 2,900 euro was a good deal when it would have cost 200 euro to fit a whole new rear bumper to a shonky rust bucket of a car!

Are these insurers really acting in your interest, or are they bumping up costs to keep themselves in the style to which they've become accustomed?