Money Moral Dilemma: Should neighbour pay as her son smashed the window

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This is a real life MMD so please bear in mind the MoneySaver in question will read your responses:
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Should neighbour pay as her son smashed the window?
A neighbour's young son accidentally smashed our car window whilst playing on the street. The neighbour apologised and then quickly returned home. We were forced to part with £50 (the insurance excess) to arrange repair. We informed our neighbour but she refused to put anything towards the repairs on the grounds that (a) she couldn't afford it and (b) it was an accident. What should I do?
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NB By Martin:
TO THOSE SAYING THIS ISNT A MONEY MORAL DILEMMA THE NEIGHBOUR SHOULD PAY - JUST A NOTE
THE QUESTION IS "WHAT SHOULD I DO?" NOT WHO SHOULD PAY.
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She really should offer to pay, even if it is £10 per week. The offer should have been there immediately.
A person who without lawful excuse destroys or damages any property belonging to another intending to destroy or damage any such property or being reckless as to whether any such property would be destroyed or damaged shall be guilty of an offence.
It sounds like what your neighbour's son did would fall into the reckless category, and I think it should go without saying that your neighbour pays for the damage.
What you probably haven't considered is that as a result of your having made a claim on your car insurance, albeit being a 'no fault' claim, i.e. not your fault and you know whose fault it was, your insurance premium will rise, possibly for the next three to five years. I would have asked the neighbour to pay in full for the damage and not claimed. However, as you have claimed, you could check with your insurance company how it will affect the premium and ask the neighbour for the difference. Try the polite approach but if it doesn't get you anywhere you should involve the police.
Children are regularly given on the spot penalty notices which their parents have to fund, this is no different except that you are offering to miss out the police! Your neighbour should grab that with both hands and be grateful that you were so reasonable.
If I had a child, and he/she broke a car window, I would offer to pay for it. Insurance would probably cover it but, in some cases, there goes your no-claims bonus!
I daresay the child did not intend any harm - but I would say that it's bad parenting on the part of the neighbour if she leaves her son with the impression that his actions have no consequences. If the poverty case is so genuine that even the minimal £10 cannot be offered, then perhaps the son might learn his lesson by having to wash the car every Sunday for a month.
I would be mortified if it were my child, and would offer to pay, or if I couldn't pay, try to come to an agreement with my neighbour about how to repay them in kind.
I really like RuthnJasper's suggestion of making the child wash the car!
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.
Excellent post.