Daughter fell off bike and scratched neighbours car parked in drive...

opinions4u

First of all it's not unreasonable for kids to learn to ride a bike on the pavement in a quiet residential street. Interpret the law however you like, young kids have been riding their bikes and trikes up and down pavements in this country for decades.

Secondly, it's not unusual for a kid to fall off their bike. It's all part of life's little learning curve. At least she's okay.

Thirdly, it's a shame somebody's property got damaged. I'm glad you've done the right thing (morally) in offering to pay for the damage. I'd have been gutted if it was my car, even if the damage is quite minor.

I do suggest that you keep a log of what's happened, when it happened and what has subsequently been said - keep the emotion out of it and just write down the facts. While it's unlikely that this will escalate, I'd hate for you to end up being sent an invoice for a full respray, 2 days' car hire and anything else that they decide to try and add to the cost.

I agree with the other posters - it's a minor touch up job that's needed and the cost shouldn't be significant. If things do start to get out of hand you have a range of places you can turn:

- your own home contents insurer (they may well pay the bill for you, minus any excess)
- many insurance companies and trade unions have free legal helplines
- local solicitors may give you a free 15 minutes
- CAB

I'm not a legal expert, but my understanding is that your liability in law is nil. Anything above that is a gesture towards good neighbourly relations.

Hopefully it will all settle down and you'll simply pay a modest bill when it comes in.

365days

My son did something similar a couple of years back but caused more damage. Damage was quoted in region of £700-£800. (He managed to scrape down whole side of car)


mY house insurance didnt cover it. In the end I negotiated with the owner and ended up paying the excess(£200)on his car insurance.

PasturesNew

From the car owner's perspective, they dreamed for years of the day when they'd finally get their own car. Now, aged 21 it's finally come true. Their dream. Along with the huge amount of deposit saving they had to do - and the borrowing to buy it.... and the HUUUUGE insurance premium they had to fork out for because they're young and a new driver.

When you're a car driver of a car you've dreamt of for years ... and it's nice .... and some rotter scratches it ... it's very sad. And it's important that you get what you're "entitled to", which is to be put into the same position you were before the bump occurred.

Now, with age, for some people cars aren't all that important ... but do you guys remember being 21 ..? With your first shiny car?

MrsE_2

twinmumagain wrote: »

I would like to go really off topic too and say in the years I have been using these forums I have never been made to feel so worthless and rubbish!!
I know 100% I am a bloody good mum and I shall not explain my actions to anyone.

Its great that you are paying for the damage your daughter has caused, the reason you have come under fire is because of the remarks you make towards the car owner who parked on their own drive & had their car damaged.

twinmumagain wrote: »

Thank you so much for all the genuine replies.

I wont bother calling the CAB as I will pay but may take a few months. Hubby had 2 weeks holiday recently so this months payday will be dire.

Hubby only wants to pay £100 max. He has been and looked at marks and one is under the bumper so he thinks its impossible how it couldve got there. This one is about an inch long and the other about 1 1/2 inch.
I am obviously hoping she is willing to let these Chips Away people do it so I can pay this week and be done and dusted..

Those sort of remarks.
It will cost what it costs & the owner shouldn't feel pressured into a cheap job because you are low on funds. If you don't want to risk it happening again, don't let her ride near peoples drives.

laurz121

OP, may I suggest that as your daughter is clearly unsteady on her bike and panics (you say she turned into their drive as she started to fall) that you buy her some stablisers until she gets better at riding? She certainly shouldn't be riding in the street near parked cars and a road without stabilisers or someone holding her bike or something. Her nana might have been stood on the street but that wouldn't have helped your daughter if she had turned into the path of a car due to her inability to ride a bike properly. Her dad might have been in the front garden but again that wouldn't help her. She was supervised in a way that would stop her being kidnapped but not in a way to stop her injuring herself or worse.

I don't say that to make you feel worthless as you've not done anything that millions of parents before you haven't so don't feel crap just learn from this and in the future take more steps to ensure your daughter is safe from injury or at least minimise that risk. Stabilisers if on the street or take her to a park (it might be a mile but it is a lot safer) or play in the garden. Accidents happen but we have to minimise the risk of these accidents occuring and unfortunately letting a 4 year oldride a bike near parked cars and a road unsupervised (as far as riding a bike goes she wasn't supervised) isn't minimising the risk. As I said, nothing that millions haven't done before you but at the end of the day it is your child that you care about, not theirs so don't think about what others have done, only what you do and that should be to keep her safe. I'm sure you'll not be letting her ride on the street again for a long time anyway.

I know it sounds harsh that the neighbour wasn't particularly interested in how your daughter was but this may be because she had her nana and her dad there seeing to her straight away and maybe the neighbour could see she was ok and hadn't seriously injured herself. The opposite view is that nobody was interested in their property, didn't take any steps to stop your daughter damaging it and then wasnt interested in any damage that had been caused. I'm not saying you weren't interested but it might have seemed like that to them just as it seemed like they werent interested in your daughter to you when in reality they may have looked and seen she was ok.

You have to remember that their daughter at 21 will not have bags of money and will have worked hard for her car which is a fairly new and expensive car for her, it certainly isnt a banger and she has only had it a few weeks so it is perfectly reasonable to expect her to be upset that her pride and joy has been scratched and to want it repairing properly. Think about it like this, if you went into a car dealer and saw a car with scratches would you buy it if the dealer offered to do a bodge job on the scratches? I wouldnt and I suspect you wouldnt either and neither would the neighbour so she chose a car without scratches and wants it putting back how it was before it was damaged through no fault of her own.

You have done the right thing in offering to pay, it is very moral of you so you should be proud. I think that you should be legally responsible for your own daughters actions anyway but that is another topic. Just remember when you're deciding on the best cause of action that 1. The neighbour had a car without scratches yesterday and understandably would like a car without scratches again. 2. It is a new (to them) car and they will not want any bodge job or second best attempts at sorting it, they won't want a 'it'll do' fix. 3. It was your daughter that through no fault of theirs caused damage to their vehicle and you hadnt taken all reasonable steps to stop it happening and 4. You are going to attempt to pay it off in installments so the least you can do is pay for it doing properly.

As I say you have offered to pay and this is the main thing so be proud of yourself. You will learn from this and will not put your daughter in that position again. Your daughter is unhurt (no serious injuries) and it is only money.

The neighbour understandably wants it doing properly, you want to pay in installments. I think the obvious compromise is to allow it to be done properly so they get what they want and offer to pay in installments so you get what you want. They get a shiny car again, you aren't put into massive debt.

mark5

I dont think you can set a low limit on what you want to pay for the repair(you mentioned £100).

The repair needs to put the bumper back to its previous condition with no signs of damage.

(If it was my car I would want a courtesy car aswell if it was going to take a few hours!)

twinmumagain

She has been round and has assured me it wont cost a lot as her mate owns a garage so will know more tomorrow, if its an amount I feel is too high I shall ask her to shop around(or I can do this for her if she would allow) and get the 3 quotes as advised.

For the record I would not pay for a courtesy car-thats where my goodwill ends!!(<<<waits to get shot down..... again)

magpiecottage

Three points.

First, with my professional hat on, DaCouch is right. If you have a home contents insurance policy it will almost certainly include personal liability cover, probably for £1 million, no matter how basic the policy is.

So get on to them in the morning.

Second, I would be upset to have a new car damaged (I was not pleased when I found a great red mark on my new blue car and a corresponding red mark on my wife's red banger a few years ago - but it all came off with T cut and a good polish).

I can understand why they are upset that their pride and joy has been scratched. It would happen sooner or later, though and the position of the two marks seems inconsistent with one incident (in other words, I wonder if at least one of them was already there.

Finally, I am going to put my other "hat" on and have a go at those who criticise you.


I do not think you should be expecting the owner to be worried about your child if it is not obvious she is seriously hurt but the reality is that a child of four will be riding a bicycle that is classified as a toy, not a vehicle.

My real point, though, is that those who say you should be in control of your child seem to thing that they are some kind of machine. They are not, they have minds of their own and they sometimes have accidents. To avoid all risk will deny them the opportunity to manage it.

To those who have criticised the OP, I challenge you to try working with children before doing so. Go and work with a local Scout or Guide group and see what it's like. Being a Cub leader is hard - nothing like as hard as being a parent but at least you get some idea.

Most parents want the best for their children but do make mistakes. They need support, not ignorant trolling like some posters on this thread seem to think they are entitled to make.

thelawnet

From a money-saving perspective, it's far from clear that you are liable. Your child is subject to a much lower standard of care than an adult, and as the parent you're not personally liable unless your supervision was itself negligent, which is far from clear either.

laurz121

But from a moral and human perspective if it is your child you are responsible. Too many parents refuse to take responsibility for their own children just because they can legally get out of it