Dog ran under my car, owner wants 50% of vet bill

dinksmum

Hello, this morning I was driving to work. I drove down the usual road I go down towards a private car park. I was doing slightly more than 10MPH into the car park when my back wheel went over something.

To my horror it was a staffordshire bull terrier. the owner was there too the dog was off its lead and was running around a private car park at ten to nine in the morning.

the dog had gone under my left side rear wheel, but it was still running around. on closer inspection the dog had a deep graze to its right front leg but looked ok.

The owner was very nice (not angry) and i gave him my phone number. I was so shocked i got into work and spoke to my boss and called the police and reported it. I then went to the police station who advised they didnt need me to report it at the station and to call my insurers.

I called the insurers and reported it. MY car is not damaged and neither am I.

I heard from the dog owner in the meanwhile he said the dog is ok, he took him to the vet and is on a antibiotic drip just in case but the bill is £200! the owner said he would pay half. I just gave him my insurance details.

I dont have the money to pay half his vets bills! I only work part time, I have a baby and a mortgage to pay and im only just scraping by each month as it is.

The insurance company seem to believe i am not liable for this and the owner needs to make a claim for the vet bills to my insurer.

I am still in such shock and feel terribly bad for the animal but it was the owners fault to let the dog run around without a lead on in a car park of all places.

has anyone experience anything similar, how did you resolve this fianancially? thanks

davidjwest

Don't pay, it's not your fault, owner should have his dog under control!

Have you been in touch with your insurance company? If they say you're not liable I'm not sure why or who is advising the dog's owner should claim from your insurance - can you clarify this?

davidjwest

dinksmum wrote: »

I heard from the dog owner in the meanwhile he said the dog is ok, he took him to the vet and is on a antibiotic drip just in case but the bill is £200! the owner said he would pay half. I just gave him my insurance details.

Is he trying to pull a fast one do you think? I suspect he might!

kwaks

Not only are you not responsible for an unsecure dog....but IT WENT UNDER YOUR REAR WHEEL!!


Tell the owner your axle has been damaged and you need his insurance details for the claim. That will see him run for the hills

pogofish

Yup - dog not under control. Ignore this.

wba31

as a responsible dog owner, I have trained my dog to not run under cars... in the event of a car being in vicinity of where i walk my dog, his lead goes on, so that i dont make rediculous claims to drivers for vets bills. don't pay, you've done nothing wrong

Ebe_Scrooge

Legally a dog must be kept under control in public. The dog's owner has no case against you, and if you wanted to be mercenary about it, you could actually report them for allowing a dog to be out of control in public ( I'm not saying you would or should actually report them, but you'd be within your rights to do so if they start getting awkward about things ).

dinksmum

WOW! im so impressed with the responses and speed - I have noever posted on here before. thank you so much.

I had a feeling this guy was going to come at me for money and when i told him to call my insurance company he was thrown a bit. Im sure he just expected me to hand over some crisp notes and skip away.

Although i feel bad for the dog, i know that this guy was being really lazy. he had his pj's on and flip flops and must have just come out of his house nearby and let the dog run out on the car park rather than take it to a park. he has no pet insurance.

My insurers told me this wont affect my no claims or execess. All the lady said was that this would be passed to the liability team to investigate and they would contact the dog owner if he didnt speak to them first.

catflea

You hold no liability. The onus is on the dog owner to maintain control of his dog. Simple.

I also find it somewhat unlikely that the dog would be put on a £200 anti-biotic drip "just in case" certainly not an approach my vet would take.

Strider590

You do realise that if he tried to make a claim it'll cost you a darn site more than £100 in increased premiums?!?!

In fact just the act of telling your ins company WILL have an effect on next years premium!

It's the dogs fault and therefore his fault, you shouldn't have to pay a penny!

BlueFox

The responsibility lies solely with the dog owner. You have nothing to worry about, he should have kept his dog under control so he is the one at fault, not you.

Ignore the comment above from Strider590 (post 10), simply telling your insurer will NOT have an effect on your next years premium at all, that's complete rubbish. Your Insurer will defend any claim the dog owner makes, they don't want to pay out anything if they can help it.

All you have to do (if you haven't already) is give your Insurer a full description of what happened - that will be your defence if the dog owner does make a claim, so as long as you make it clear you did not know the dog was there so obviously couldn't have taken avoiding action then. You could always say to them that you don't want them settling his claim and to contact you IF he tries to claim.

As has already been pointed out you would be quite within your rights to claim from the dog owner for any damage to your car.