Son's "Old" Car - Dented in Car Park

alistair.long

McKneff wrote: »

But anyone who hits you has up to 3 years to make a personal injury claim, i know it doesnt happen all the time, but if someone did try this on even up to 2 years and 365 days and tries to claim from your insurance youre stuffed.

Iv done that, Iv been to the doctors, had MRI's then come almost 3 years and decided to issue 5 days before the deadline to issue court proceedings myself (no solicitors) because a doctor said it wont get better.

alistair.long

Quote wrote: »

Both cars were reversing? Sounds like a 50/50 to me.

Seems like 50/50 however the 1 person admitted fault, and the damage is on the door, if it was on the back it would be slightly diffrent.

As for taking some money off the person, I see it a little diffrent, as you are inconvienieced or however you spell that long word, then you should be given some money for your time off. And also claiming on the side will benefit both parties.

Wish more people would do that, people seem to think its illegal to do a cash settlement, I do know its wrong to take cash for damage thats not been properly examined or quoted, e.g wing mirror actual cost £30, and garage repair £150, it would be wrong to take £150.01.

JohnG

Well things have taken a different turn since speaking to the bloke who reversed into my son. He isn't accepting any liability so he said we would have to go thru the insurance route to resolve it. I'm pretty sure he was calling our bluff especially as he wouldnt (or wasnt able to at the time) provide his insurance details. He also seemed to think we didnt need the details as his insurance company would ctc ours?
So, we had the option of either sucking up to him and saying "Oh don't worry about it then" or taking him at his word and/or call his bluff and report it to my sons insurance (Aviva) which we have now done.
We have since notified him by text to confirm this so hopefully it will give him something to think about.

To explain what happened (our side of the story of course) - my son was in a parking space about to reverse out having waited for passing traffic during which this chap decided to stop (In the road opposite but slightly past his space) I understand to drop his wife off. My son noticed he was in a discussion with his wife/partner for a time so didnt appear to be going anywhere so my son he then carefully reversed out behind the car in order to pull away at which point the bloke suddenly reversed back hitting my sons rear door (With his tow bar). The bloke "Said didnt you see my reversing lights?" as he's reason for not being at fault. Apparently he was reversing to go into parking space.
I spoke to him myself tonight and suggested he couldnt have checked behind him before reversing of course he said he "Did check his mirrors" but clearly there was some delay as my sons car is not that quick to suddenly appear from nowhere!

Will now have to wait and see what happens, it's a all very frustrating and slightly worrying for my son's NCD and also the possibility of having his car written off (Much sooner than was planned) if the case is proven in my son's favour.
Note: my son only has third party fire & theft.

asbokid

Dear oh dear. Any witnesses? You will have a job proving this one. Also, your son's insurers get nothing out of a win, other than not losing, IYSWIM, so they won't be arsed to do anything. Bet that stuck-up bloke in the other motor has a posh policy from insurers who will try to take your lad to the cleaners. Good luck with it all John. This one will drag on you can tell.

JohnG

asbokid wrote: »

Dear oh dear. Any witnesses? You will have a job proving this one. Also, your son's insurers get nothing out of a win, other than not losing, IYSWIM, so they won't be arsed to do anything. Bet that stuck-up bloke in the other motor has a posh policy from insurers who will try to take your lad to the cleaners. Good luck with it all John. This one will drag on you can tell.

No, sadly no witnesses noted, my son (Tom) admitted, understandably, that he was in a state of shock at the time and realises he didnt react in a more positive way.

If nothing is forthcoming in Tom's favour then it will only be an issue if his NCB is affected adversely - bearing in mind that there was nil damage to the other car (Providing the other bloke doesnt reverse into something else?)

What's IYSWIM?

asbokid

JohnG wrote: »

No, sadly no witnesses noted, my son (Tom) admitted, understandably, that he was in a state of shock at the time and realises he didnt react in a more positive way.

If nothing is forthcoming in Tom's favour then it will only be an issue if his NCB is affected adversely - bearing in mind that there was nil damage to the other car (Providing the other bloke doesnt reverse into something else?)

What's IYSWIM?

"if you see what i mean"...

By that i meant that your insurers have nothing to gain from fighting for your claim since it's only a TPFT policy.

Since there's nothing in it for your insurers (they are not out of pocket if your son "loses") the insurers won't put up much of a fight, if at all.

Now if your son was Fully Comp, and the insurers thought there was a risk that they would have to pay out for your repairs if the other party didn't cough up, they would no doubt be much more aggressive in trying to prove that the old towbar man was to blame.

Quote

alistair.long wrote: »

Seems like 50/50 however the 1 person admitted fault, and the damage is on the door, if it was on the back it would be slightly diffrent.

As for taking some money off the person, I see it a little diffrent, as you are inconvienieced or however you spell that long word, then you should be given some money for your time off. And also claiming on the side will benefit both parties.

Wish more people would do that, people seem to think its illegal to do a cash settlement, I do know its wrong to take cash for damage thats not been properly examined or quoted, e.g wing mirror actual cost £30, and garage repair £150, it would be wrong to take £150.01.

I'm not entirely sure why you wrote all this.

pendulum

My hunch now is that the chap will put a claim in himself (why did he say his insurers would contact yours if he wasn't going to claim?), either by 'finding' damage, or even just claiming for the cost of the car to be inspected by a mechanic to make sure there is no damage, which is still an out of pocket expense and claimable. If both claim, it's very likely to go 50/50 and a complete loss of NCB for your son if he's a relatively new driver. If the other driver is older he will only get a reduction in NCB or no reduction if it's protected. He'll still have to pay a little more when declaring the accident (as will your son), but the consequences won't be as severe for him as they would be for your son if he's a new driver which may be why he wasn't terribly bothered to avoid you putting the claim in.

Have you checked for CCTV in the car park?

JohnG

Tom rcvd a call this morning from the "Tow Bar" Driver's insurance company - apparently the bloke has now accepted liability so they are going to arrange all necessary, garage/inspection plus the use of a hire car!!
Son very pleased with this outcome as I am, though I'm amazed that it's been resolved so quickly and in Tom's favour thankfully.

Can't help thinking it will be the end of his car now though which will mean forking out for another car sooner than planned. Probably won't get much for his current car sadly in which case it's not such a great result.

I tried We Buy Any Car.com about a year ago and they offered £70 minus handling fee of about £30 :rotfl:

The question remains will this all mean he won't lose his 2 years NCB (inc this years)? I guess we should ask Aviva directly?

Anyway, lots of lessons learnt in this relatively minor scrape!

vaio

He will keep his no claims but will have to declare the incident to future insurance companies and likely suffer a premium hike as a result.

Re the car, just about any usable car with MOT is going to be worth at least £500 (ish). If they write it off then he can buy the salvage back and just carry on using it as planned or (better still) negotiate a cash settlement with nothing being done to the car.

Probably worth getting an estimate or two for the cost of the repairs which will give you a ball park figure of the costs so you know what you are talking about when discussing offers from them.

What is the car?