Minor bump agreed to pay cash but now ignoring me

Weave

Hi All


My car was recently hit in the back while waiting at traffic lights. The damage is a minor scratch and scuff and a small dent where the bolt from his licence plate went into my bumper. He was nice enough about it and we agreed he would pay for it to be fixed as an insurance claim for such a small amount of damage would not exceed the usual excess payments


I had two quotes from the body shop of £200 and £145 so he agreed to pay the £145 at the end of the month (October) when he gets paid. He contacted me at the end of the month to ask for my bank details and said money would be there soon. 3 days later no money arrives so he said he would look into it as it was a building society account so may be slower than usual. He is now ignoring my texts!!


I am not sure if there is much I can do about this. I need to get the damage repaired as the car is only a year old and when it goes back to the dealer next year they will knock the repair costs off of the value of the car.


Am I basically stuffed?

FiremanDave

You could claim off his insurance, the excess won't come into play plus you may get a courtesy car when yours is in for repair.

OddballJamie

Keep the texts and any communication incase he denys it ever happened.

On a year old car that you don't really own, I would definitely go through the third party's insurance.

A poor repair could come back on you in a years time when it's too late.

Weave

I don't even know if he has insurance. If not it could get very messy and may jeopardise my excess...... And now I think about it I have just renewed my insurance at the start of this month with a different insurer so can't claim now as it would mess up my new insurance as I did not declare the bump and the old insurer may well tell me its too late to claim through them.

FiremanDave

Weave wrote: »

I don't even know if he has insurance. If not it could get very messy and may jeopardise my excess...... And now I think about it I have just renewed my insurance at the start of this month with a different insurer so can't claim now as it would mess up my new insurance as I did not declare the bump and the old insurer may well tell me its too late to claim through them.

Well these are the problems you face when making a false declaration to get insurance.

Go onto the mib database and get his insurance details and claim direct. But at the risk of things coming back to bite you.

For £145 you'd be best to pay it and keep quiet.

Weave

I didn't even think about it at the time I was renewing my insurance. I had assumed this guy would pay up and all would be well. More fool me for believing he would pay, should have insisted on the insurance claim from day one.


Lesson learnt for the sum of £145!!!

OddballJamie

The damage only sounds slight, have you had any quotes from Smart repair companies. There's some rogues out there, but also some very good ones.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

You gave out your account details to a stranger?


listen im not having a go, but to me that sounds a bit suspicious of his intent on what he wants to do with those details rather than pay you.


contact bank asap and change those details if I were you.

BeenThroughItAll

Hold the front page!


"Person lies about paying for damage after minor bump shocker!"


Sorry to be facetious, but you've learned a valuable lesson.


I was lucky to learn that when I was younger, and it cost me £20 for a secondhand grille on my Austin Maxi.


In any accident, claim on the insurance. End of.

OddballJamie

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

You gave out your account details to a stranger?


listen im not having a go, but to me that sounds a bit suspicious of his intent on what he wants to do with those details rather than pay you.


contact bank asap and change those details if I were you.

I remember when Clarkson printed his bank details thinking they were completely safe. Then unexpectedly made a large donation of £500 to the British Diabetic Association. :rotfl:

Weave

The reason I decided not to claim through my insurance immediately was because the damage was minimal and although this is a 'no fault' claim I believe the insurance companies will still hold it against me when it comes to renewal. You may disagree with this last point but I think any claim is counted against you when they assess your risk to them. In the long run, in my opinion, making a claim would end up costing me £150 at least in higher insurance premiums over the next year or two. Especially if he turns out not to be insured.


Regarding the smart repair I had a quote from Chips Away for £200 and from a local independent body shop at £145. I kind of feel that is probably as cheap as it will get.


Regarding the bank details and giving them to a stranger. I understand this concern but if you want someone to pay you that way then you have no choice. It was my suggestion to do this as he suggested paying cash after I had the quotes done. I do have a copy of the guys photo driving licence and he only lives a couple of miles away. I don't feel that it was a risk or that it was his intention was to scam my account details out of me.


Its just really annoying!:mad: