Help... French accident

FEE_100

Im on holiday in France at the moment with the family. the kids hired a 4 wheeled "buggy" and duly scraped a parked car.
The site say we should claim off our car insurance but as my kids are not insured on my car I dont see how I can, I wasnt driving and my car was no-where near the scene!
The kids who were on the buggy were 9, 10 11 and 5. Does anyone know where we stand?
I do have holiday insurance too but it looks like a £250 excess. Does anyone know what the law is in France if a "bike" hits you??
any help would be appreciated!

huckster

Yes Travel Insurance legal liability. Call their helpline.

For kids of that age, I would say that they are not responsible. The people that hired the buggy knowing it was going to be used by kids, should have made sure relevant Insurance was provided. Point the car owner in the direction of the buggy hire company.

rs65

Does the buggy have an engine?

huckster

rs65 wrote: »

Does the buggy have an engine?

That is a good question. I kind of presumed it was and yes it probably makes a difference.

IMHO
Buggy with engine = Hire companies Insurance.
Buggy without engine = Travel Insurance liability cover for which there may not be an excess. The op should phone their Insurers for the process. They may say do not admit to anything and just to provide the Travel Insurers address to the car owner.

rs65

huckster wrote: »

it probably makes a difference.

It also may impact on excluded/hazardous activities, but I'm just raising the point as I don't know exactly what a 'buggy' is.

FEE_100

It was a pedal buggy with 3 seats, one of the parents signed a consent form but of course it was in French and had to pay a 50 euro deposit. The kids didnt even make it out onto the camp site so they lost their hours play.
The French guy is gonna phone his insurance company tomorrow and find out what the best solution is. ( car is a Merc .. cldnt be a clapped out old Renault eh)
We thought the it would be easier for French guy to just claim on his insurance and we would pay the excess as he already has a big scratch on the car which he said wasnt the kids. He could get the whole lot fixed for free is he did that.
Thanks for the comments guys I`ll let you know what happens, either way! KIDS ! :eek:
Tour of Scotland next yr!

InsideInsurance

I dont know if the French have an equiv of no claims discount or such but french insurers will certainly look to recover their outlay and so it is not just his excess you'll need to reimburse unless he fudges the story of what happened.

You'll especially need to be careful if he is intending to claim for pre-existing damage as well as what your kid did that you dont end up getting chased for the whole lot.

The travel insurance's PL or your home contents PL are the two likely places for cover you have

FEE_100

The French guy wanted to go down the insurance route so phoned my holiday insurance and they were quite happy to go with the claim. £250 for us but at least its shared between two families.
Took pics of the damage we did and both wrote and signed statements of what happened also said that it was only one scratch so he cant claim for the existing damage.
The reception at the camp interpreted it all for us so it was quite straight forward.
Told the kids the police might come and they will have to join the foreign legion if they want to escape a jail sentence lol :rotfl: