Sorry to hear this. Insurance companies require you to inform them if you have been in any kind of accident, whether its your fault, someone elses fault, or you paid for it out of your own pocket. They are slippery bu**ers and will void your insurance in the future if they find out about it, usually only tell you this when you try to claim and need the insurance the most. Your choice.
On the other side of the coin someone ran into the back of my wifes car a few years ago. Only visible damage was to the rear fof light and a bit of scuffing on the bumper. He offered to pay cash and we accepted £50 for a new fog light and went on out way. (Bumper was scuffed in lots of places anyway). Couple of days later the bumper was hanging off where the brackets had been damaged and the exhaust was blowing out of a large crack caused by the accident. Cost me a few quid of my own to fix that lot. I wouldn't let that happen again and would want to go through the insurance.
Hope your car isn't too bad and too expensive to put right.
Paul
