Money Moral Dilemma: Should neighbour pay as her son smashed the window
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Tell the neighbour to have a word with her insurance company as she should be covered under her public liability section of her home contents/buildings insurance, and this will not cost her anything. She will be liable, if son was over 18, or she knew he was kicking ball near your car, so it would be safe to assume he may cause damage, and she failed to tell him to stop.0
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I work for an insurer (allbeit within property claims) and know that often if they've been advised someone was to blame, it is likely your insurer will ask you for the neighbour's details and get their solicitors involved with recovering the money from the third party.
This is something that they are well within their rights to do and could cost the neighbour a lot more than the £50 excess as the insurer would seek reimbursement for ALL the monies they have paid out to repair your car, including fees and materials.
Other posts have also advised correctly that this incident will likely cost you more than the £50 as your premiums could now be higher for the next few years... unless the insurer is able to recover all it's outlay (in which case they will try to get your excess back too) resulting in a zero pay out on your claim, meaning your premium is less likely to increase.
Just a 'heads up' as your insurance company may already be taking these steps!
In reply not so as regards loss of N.C.d as most if not all insurers do not deduct N.C.D. for broken windscreens.0 -
Awww I'm sorry to hear about this, how annoying! Some people eh! Well stuff like this always rattles peoples cages but a few valid and interesting points have already been made. I'm fortunate to comment from experience in motor insurance claims side as well as now a law side.
As mentioned already your motor insurance should NOT have its NCB affected - vast majority operates no NCB penalty for windscreen repairs/replacements just the excess. So I wouldnt worry about that!
As for whether this is criminal damage....age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales and N Ireland is 10. Scotland its 12. If this child is under that age sadly police would not get involved. And there is no legal obligation on parents to be prosecuted/fined for their kids wrong doings. If you really wanted pursue this £50 I like the suggestion of allowing parent to pay in installments if it makes it easier but you could consider Small Claims Court at your local County Court if she still refuses. However, the 'reckless' side of Criminal Damage definition would need to be proved even in this situation. Was this accident unavoidable and/or unforseeable?!
At the end of the day not everyone is as civil or as morally conscious as us. I agree that out of goodwill and good moral we shouldnt think twice about offering to compensate for our kids misdemeanors. But not everyone has those standards! Grrrrr.
It might be worth while pointing out to your nieghbour that you can't afford it either! Even if you genuinly believe she can't afford ALL of it suggest at least 50% contribution and/or the child 'helping' you out cleaning the car, gardening as a bit of summary justice! Maybe even an apology might make you feel better! Good manners cost nothing at all!0 -
<rant> I’ve spent some time browsing the MSE forums but never found the need to sign up....until now!
you people are absolutely BARMY! Have none of you ever damaged anything or had an accident! I’ve had tons of my stuff damaged etc and no one has ever offered to pay for it!
It’s completely unreasonable to expect everyone in the world to accept responsibility when 99 times out of a hundred it's just circumstance!
I agree with an earlier post that suggests the person should accept that parking outside of their private property carry’s a certain risk!
In fact it's obnoxious to think you have a god given right to park safely on the street! I don’t know the exact circumstances but you didn’t suggest that the child was misbehaving so I say the lad had as much of a right to be playing football outside as you did to park your car!
Re tryfive your crazy! You seem to be suggesting that if the neighbour’s son had accidentally burnt there house down that the neighbour should pay for the damage? What if that damages was a 6 figure sum? My point is that this is what insurance is for! If all your arguments rang true we wouldn’t need insurance and we would all be £100 better off.
Your arguments are very American! This country is supposed to be tolerant, it’s an equal blame situation, did the football get damaged in anyway? Is the child traumatised? Does he need counselling and is there a personal injury clam lurking here? In fact, will the child every make a full psychological recovery?
Come on guys its a broken window and £100, it would be nice if the neighbour offered to pay but if she doesn’t DO NOT HOLD IT AGAINST HER AND DO NOT FALL OUT! It’s a qwerk of life and your all wrong to be so pointed. </rant>
So I live in a Victorian terraced house with no off-road parking at all. Are you saying I either shouldn't have a car (which is essential for my job, careworker in the community), or that I should just put up with any damage caused and pay for it myself when I firstly haven't caused it and secondly I have no other parking alternative?
If this had happened to me, I couldn't afford the £50 to repair the window, unfortunatly my income and circumstances don't stretch to spare £50's to replace what was a functioning window.
I'm aware that children are children and accidents happen, but that doesn't mean kids have a license to damage other peoples property with no consequences or comeback. If someone chooses to have a child, when they are young enough to have no responsibilty for themselves the parent must take responsibilty for them.0 -
An earlier poster suggested Police involvement. While this clearly falls within the Criminal Damage definition under the law (reckless), theirs is criminal court and relies on the evidence to be presented being Beyond Reasonable Doubt.
It is unlikely this would go anywhere, and would you really want to put yourself through months of hassle for £50 of damage?
Also, if the child is under ten years of age they are below the age of criminal intent, meaning police would be powerless anyway.
I would take the advice of the previous poster who suggested your insurance company may proceed with civil recovery.
I'd like to wish you the best of luck during this stressful time. Please let us know how you get on.0 -
i know this a money saving forum and all, but getting the kid to pay the money back out of his pocket money will really be negligible financially. Accidents do happen. it's more a matter of principle i.e. the poster has been wronged and disrespected. The quid pro quo doesn't have to be financial - any sort of gesture on the neighbour's part, such as the suggested washing of the car would salvage some pride, and could well repair the relationship with the neighbours.
Neighbour disputes are very stressful, and as the sum involved is small it would be best to grin and bear it.
Any advice as to how to bring up one's kids is also likely to be unwelcome, however true !0 -
Yes, without doubt the neighbour should pay.
So it was an accident. That's no reason why the OP should have to fork out.(AKA HRH_MUngo)
Member #10 of £2 savers club
Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton0 -
I'm glad this has not happened to me because I would be so angry that I would probably do something that would end me up in prison. :mad:
Kids should be banned from playing on streets where there is heavy parking. The council should have put up a 'no ball games' sign and then a breach of that could have meant a fine. Anyway, the neighbour definitely should pay, no question about it. Take her to the small claims court.
:rotfl: Get a grip! Move into a gated community if you want control over who plays on the street.
These things happen, it's £50 and if you've asked for the money and they said no (depending on how they say it), although it is infuriating move on and accept it. Just think of it as a freak of nature...:)0 -
martinmrts wrote: »i know this a money saving forum and all, but getting the kid to pay the money back out of his pocket money will really be negligible financially. Accidents do happen. it's more a matter of principle i.e. the poster has been wronged and disrespected. The quid pro quo doesn't have to be financial - any sort of gesture on the neighbour's part, such as the suggested washing of the car would salvage some pride, and could well repair the relationship with the neighbours.
Neighbour disputes are very stressful, and as the sum involved is small it would be best to grin and bear it.
Any advice as to how to bring up one's kids is also likely to be unwelcome, however true !
Great post. I think a simple bit of community service (in the non criminal way), like cleaning your car once a week for a month or mowing your lawn is the best answer.0 -
My son broke a window on a car last night, he's 12 and came in to me in floods of tears. It was a new car, an import so understandably the owner was fuming. After he calmed down my son apologised without any encouragement and we offered to pay the excess of £150 even though we don't have the money either. However it's important for children to appreciate that even accidents they are responsible and it's the parents that need to instil this early on! We could have claimed we knew nothing as there were no witnesses, however that just makes us bad parents and teaches him nothing for the future!!0
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