Hit by repair & solicitors bill

piratemam

Hello

My son ran into the back of a car in December last year in a stop start jam. Yes it was his fault & his car was quite badly damaged by the tow bar of the vehicle in front whilst that vehicle received only a minor scratch to the bumper. The 2 parties agreed at the roadside that there would not be an insurance claim & my son supplied his name & address asking that the cost of removing the scratch be sent to him as soon as possible. The other driver said it would be 4th of January when he dealt with it as it was too close to Christmas at the time.
Nothing more was ever heard until yesterday (29th Sept.) when a garage bill for several hundred pounds arrived together with a solicitors letter claiming fees for telephone calls postage & inconvenience. The letter also outlines driving offences as defined by them (the solicitors, not the courts or police) & states that further fees are TBA. The letter also outlines a string of actions that will be taken if all monies owed are not settled within 14 days.
My son accepts that the garage bill has to be paid even though it is very high, however he did not engage the solicitor therefore does he have to pay them?
I must also point out that neither of us can afford to pay this garage bill within 14 days - it will take considerably longer to raise the money & having to pay this solicitors bill takes the whole thing beyond the bounds of our financial reality.

terryya

I thik that this is why you need to mention all incidents to your insyrance company regardless of whether you intend to claim or not. If the bill is a lot would it be better to let the insurance company deal with it?

piratemam

Yes you are certainly right there, however my son's insurers will probably have nothing to do with it as he did not report it to them within a reasonable timeframe of the accident happening. With hindsight - yes it is always better to report things but i'm afraid being young he took everything at face value & believed he would simply have a small repair bill to pay. It is the involvement of solicitors that is really worrying.

BenL

I'd start talking to your insurance company as the other party will likely start down the no-win no fee on whiplash next.

Chippy_Minton_2

piratemam wrote: »

My son ran into the back of a car in December last year in a stop start jam. Yes it
My son accepts that the garage bill has to be paid even though it is very high, however he did not engage the solicitor therefore does he have to pay them?

Yor son, being at fault will be liable for the damage to the other vehicle and all out of pocket expenses incurred by the other the other party. Sadly that will include their legal fee's.

It should have been an insurance job from the start as who know's what damage can be caused when the tow bar was struck.

lisyloo

Sadly that will include their legal fee's.

Not sure I agree.
People do have a duty to mitigate losses, so they can't for example just hire a rolls royce as their hire car if they had a Fiat Panda before.
If this is the first contact then getting a solicitor involved seems to be totally over the top and I'm not sure a county court judge would agree to it.

Anyway I would advise you to contact the insurers ASAP.
They have a duty to third parties under the road traffic act, so I don't think they can jsut say NO.
It is however your son's duty to report this not jsut a good idea.
I realise he is young and naive, but it he wants to drive a 2 ton metal box around then he has to accept the level of responsibility that comes with it.

Get in touch with the insurer and cross you fingers they are good about it.
BTW - he shoud have disclosed this accident on renewal if he has renwed, so he needs to deal with that as well. He would have been asked a question about accidents and he may have not have given the correct answer, so he should own up to this as well if he's renewed.

mikey72

Any witnesses, did he put anything in writing at the time, has he still got the car that was involved in the accident, or was it scrapped?
If he did just tell them in view of the cost you want to go through the insurance after all.

blued

What proof is there that your son ever hit this car?

mikey72

What proof is there it's a repair for the same accident as well?
Could have had another since.

Quentin

Pass the correspondence on to your insurer if you now want them to handle the matter. Whatever, don't delay in dealing with this as the solicitor will escalate this and your next letter might be from the county court regarding this!

movingforward2010

Getting a solicitor involved for a minor rear shunt is way OTT! They sound mental.