Dog damaged car

bodders71

My wife was recently involved in a traffic accident where a dog ran into the road where she was driving and damaged the side of her car. She stopped to check the dog was OK with the person walking the dog and got his address which was a house in theat road then, as she was very shaken and our two young children in the car were very upset, continued her journey home. We noticed damage to the side of the car from the impact and immediately returned to the scene and I spoke to the lady dog owner at her house who said the dog had been taken to the vets for a once over.

I advised her that the car was damaged so asked for her name and number and advised that we would be reporting the matter to the police in order to make an insurance claim for the damage. She told me her ex-husband had let the dog off the lead opposite her house and it ran into the road causing the accident.

I gave her my details and asked her to call me to let me know the dog was OK after the vets visit. I duly received a text saying dog was OK.

The matter was reported to the poice and a cliam made on my wifes car insurance for the damage. We paid £150 excess and lost 7 years NCD.

I called the lady dog owner and advised we would be making a claim to recover the excess from her but she said she wasn't responsible and refused to give me further details, saying I should claim against her ex-husband who lives at a different address. So I called him and he also refused to give details and was very aggressive, claiming my wife had left the scene of the accident, etc. I offered him the option of paying the £150 in cash rather than claiming through insurers which he eventually accepted and he said he'd pay when the repairs were completed.

However, he will now not return my calls or texts and I am £150 out of pocket with a potential increase in car insurance premium at next renewal. I do not want to call him again as I don't want to be accused of harrassment so I need to claim against one of the dog owners on their pet or household insurance. Any ideas on how to go about making the claim or who should be held liable?

My wife and kids are extremely upset by the whole incident and I just want my money back as it was saved towards our summer holiday.

geri1965_2

Liability would rest with the person who let the dog off the lead, i.e. the ex husband. If he has household contents or pet insurance then they may cover him, but the only way to find out is by contacting him. The only other alternative is to take him to court, but this may not be cost effective if he doesn't have the means to pay.

Do you have legal expenses cover anywhere, e.g. under your motor or household policy?

Fishingtime

I know it must have been upsetting,but your wife should have not driven off without checking the car first.
How does the lady with the dog know the damage to the car was not done before the accident.

lisyloo

We paid £150 excess and lost 7 years NCD.

You should only lose 2 years NCD i.e. got from 7 to 5 and only if you didn't purchase NCD protection.
There will hosever be a loss from both loss of NCD and a "fault" (not recovered) claim.

so I need to claim against one of the dog owners on their pet or household insurance.

I'm not so sure about that.
It sounds like the man is liable and not the female owner.
You need to claim against him.
He may have hosuehold insurance which covers his for 3rd party liability or he may have no insurance and no means to pay.

Any ideas on how to go about making the claim

For your uninsured losses (excess and increases in premiums) you have two choices.
One is to use your legal expenses cover. They may be reluctant to pursue it for this small amount because the time/expense involved will probably exceed the claim amount and they probably have this coevred in their Ts&C. However do try them. My FIL was paid our direct by Norwich Union in a similar case when they didn't want to pursue. They simply sent him his £120 excess rather than pursuing it, so worth a try.
If you didn't buy legal cover you will have to pursue the man yourselves. If he won't provide insurance details you will need to write to him (I suggest recorded delivery for 77p and keep the recipet) stating that you will take him to the small claims court if he doesn't pay within XXX days.
Do quotes for 7 years NCB and then 5 years plus the claim to see the difference. Note that this effect may last 5 years, so potentially you have 5 years of premium increases.
Be aware that he MAY not have the means to pay, so you might get back 50p per week or he might not pay at all even if you win.
There are court costs and you may need to pay to enforce any judgement e.g. balliffs.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's not good.

lisyloo

I know it must have been upsetting,but your wife should have not driven off without checking the car first.
How does the lady with the dog know the damage to the car was not done before the accident.

This is true, but we have to be sympathetic to the fact that she was shoked/shaken and the first instinct of a carer would be concern for the children and not the car or the dog.
I don't think this will be a big issue. Lots of people are in shock post accident.
No one is denying the damage and there will be an independent vets report too.

vaio

you don't want to be just looking for your excess back, you want the whole repair cost then the "fault claim" that is on your record gets changed to "non fault" and you get your NCB back.

lisyloo

you don't want to be just looking for your excess back, you want the whole repair cost then the "fault claim" that is on your record gets changed to "non fault" and you get your NCB back.

You could pursue your insurer to recover their costs, but because of the difficulties and costs pursuing individuals (already mentioned) I suspect they would be reluctant (I have had some experience of this), but you could try it and even go as far as a complaint.
As stated above it affects you in three ways.
Firstly the claim is currently fault (not-recovered) which is a worse category that "non-fault" (recovered). There may well still be a premium increase even for a non-fault claim.
Secondly it affects your NCD.
Thirdly - if liability is settled for the insured costs then it makes recovery of the non-insured items (excess and increased premiums) easier.