Insurance companies greedy, or the law misapplied?

When a taxi passenger opened the door into my passing car, gouging the wing and ripping off the mirror. I'd never had an accident before so I had no idea how to react. The driver offered a private settlement but since the damage looked quite bad and I was perhaps in a state of shock I didn't know what to suggest. As it turns out a cup of coffee would have been worth it, but I suspect the offer would have been a couple hundred. I asked someone with "more experience", and I was given the incorrect advice to claim unless the price offered was identical to the repair cost, so I got a quote and then politely turned down any offer under 500. I then faced the tedium of phoning the insurance company, with the inevitable keypad based call routing and endless questions and formalities. I explained the situation and was about to make the claim, but when I asked for reassurance that my premium would be unaffected I discovered that no guarantee of that would be offered.

So that was that. Having heartlessly turned down any offer below market value made by the taxi driver I simply forked out 50 quid for an aftermarket mirror and retained the dents.
On a more positive note, I can imagine the taxi driver's relief when he realised that no claim had been lodged so he suffered no loss (his car was fine)

But it served me right, really.

Car insurance is ultimately about serious accidents resulting in loss of life or disabilities. That's really what it's for. Also those cases may end up in legal wrangling, being the love of money the root of all evil, but I think most settlements will anyway be substantial and hopefully ease the lives of those affected.

The Bible recommends that we should agree quickly with our adversary and discourages the recourse to legal redress. 

A resolute or stubborn citizen can perhaps simply accept higher premiums and then make more claims. I think higher-equity people driving very expensive cars might do that, so I pray that I will never damage another's property if a reasonable financial settlement and a handshake will not be accepted in retribution.