What is a bumper bashing?
A collision between vehicles where there are no fatalities and no injuries, is commonly referred to as a minor car accident or a bumper bashing.
Your bumper bashing checklist
Just because you’re involved in a minor car accident where nobody seems to be injured or where the damage to your vehicle seems minimal, doesn’t mean to say that it’s not stressful. On the contrary, in the chaos of it all, you may end up forgetting to check one or two details.
To help make your life a little easier, we’ve combined all the ‘need-to-know’ information into one easy-to-reference checklist.
- Stop your vehicle and check if anyone is injured
If it’s safe to do so, stop and switch on the vehicle hazards. Check if anyone is injured. Request emergency response by calling the relevant emergency numbers. See the FAQ section below for a list of South African emergency numbers.
- Move your vehicle to the side of the road
If nobody is injured and the damage to the vehicle seems minimal, you may move your vehicle to the side of the road to help ease the flow of traffic. If, for whatever reason, you’re unable to move your vehicle, place hazard markers on the road and call OUTsurance 24/7 Help@OUT roadside assistance so that a tow truck can be sent to assist you.
Remember, even if you believe the damage to your vehicle is minimal, a proper assessment by one of our motor assessors will need to be done to determine the actual damage.
- Get the facts
Location : Make a note of the street names, landmarks, or intersection as you will need to include this information on the police report and when you report the incident to your insurer.
Date and time: The date and time of the accident
Details of eyewitnesses: Ask eyewitnesses for their details, if applicable.
Other party information: Ask the other party to provide you with the following information:
- Full name and surname (if it’s a company vehicle, ask for the company details)
- Car registration number
- Contact number
- Email address
- Name of their car insurance company
- Make, model and colour of the other vehicle(s)
If it’s safe to do so, you can take photos of the damage and the scene of the accident. Depending on the situation, it may be easier for the parties involved to take photos of registration numbers and drivers’ licenses.
Complete an Accident Report Form
You will need to complete an official Accident Report (AR) form at your nearest police station. This is a requirement for all road accidents which occur on a public road and where a vehicle was involved; you will also need to specify the exact location of the accident. Once the form has been completed, you will be given an official reference number as proof that the accident was reported.
Remember that the drivers of the vehicles will need to present their driver's licences when reporting the road accident to their nearest police station.
The National Traffic Information System (NaTIS) also offers a free online Crash Report service that allows motorists to report minor car accidents or bumper bashings without having to go to a police station provided that the accident is reported within 24 hours or the next working day.
The crash report will provide the user with an automatically generated Crash Report Number that can be used for insurance claims.
Report the incident to your car insurance company.
At OUTsurance, you have 31 days to submit a car accident claim. For a quick and seamless process, submit your claim directly on the OUTsurance App or the client portal on our website and we will gladly assist.
We may ask you to bring your vehicle to one of our vehicle assessing centres where one of our motor assessors will evaluate the damage.
The motor assessor or call centre advisor will keep you informed on the outcome of your claim.
Frequently asked questions about bumper bashing
Yes. Even if the accident was not your fault and you want to submit a claim, you’ll still need to pay the applicable excess amount. After the claim has been settled, our legal team will do their very best to recover your excess from the guilty party.
Even if you think there’s only minor damage to your vehicle (i.e. a hardly noticeable dent, chipped paintwork, a few scratches), chances are that there may be more serious damage underneath the vehicle. If you don’t assess the damage properly, you may be putting your vehicle, yourself and your passengers at risk as the vehicle will not be fully protected when the bumper’s already been damaged. A minor bumper bashing may also affect the integrity of the components.
If your friend is insured with OUTsurance and you had her/his permission to drive the car, it should have no effect on the validity of the claim.