A little car crash!

After 39 years of having a clean licence, I need to make an insurance claim, I have had a little car crash.   Although a minor accident, it has really shaken me up.

I probably didn’t ought to say too much about the accident as there is scope for a dispute with the other driver involved.  Nevertheless I can still say a little about what happened.

A few days ago, on a wet and dark evening I had a crash with another car in Dunstable.  Nobody was physically hurt, thankfully.  The following morning I called my insurance company to start the process of informing them about what happened and getting my car repaired.

So far I’m pretty pleased at my insurance company.  Within a couple of hours of reporting it, I had a call from the garage appointed to fix my car and a car hire company.  Apparently free car hire is a feature of my policy.  Didn’t know that!

I might regret not having paid for the protection of my no claims bonus but we will see how this goes. However I have always paid for legal protection.  Losing a no claims bonus is a limited amount of money but legal costs can run into thousands very quickly, so that has always been a good bit of protection to buy.

The biggest consequence so far is on my mind

In the cold light of day, this was a minor crash, nobody was hurt, no airbags went off and this is what we have car insurance for.  After 39 years of good driving, perhaps I didn’t ought to feel too bad.

And yet I feel unsettled by all of this.  I keep replaying it in my mind and I re-live feeling cold and wet standing on the side of the road in conversation with the other driver.  I was shaken, I think the other driver was as well.

I think I will be okay in a couple of days.  I have made sure I have driven since the accident, I don’t want to lose confidence at all.  Just need to let the insurance process work and hope they can source a new bumper for my 12 year old car!