Minor Accident Legal Advice

[Deleted User]

Last Friday my sister was reversing out of our drive when she had a minor bump with the mitsubishi colt of the person who lives 2 doors down from us, daughters boyfriend. This resulted in a small dent and a few scratches about the size of an average adult handspan.

Normally she is a very careful driver but she misjudged the distance as the streetlight directly outside our house is out, and due to the bad weather conditions were very poor, in addition to this the black colour of the car made it very hard to see. As well, for some reason he had chosen to leave his car in a very awkward place way down the street from where his girlfriend lives, even though there was space galore on his girlfriends parents drive.

Being an honest and kind person my sister went and told them what had happened straight away even though it was a friday night and there are taxis aplenty coming and going, as well as the cars of people who live on our street. My sister told them she would see to any damage costs.

At this point I will digress and mention that my mum had an accident similar but worse than this going back about 6 months. As her body coloured bumper had split she had an entirely new bumper fitted to the car at the cost of £230.

A couple of days had passed and so my sister messaged the gf on fb to ask if they could get a couple of quotes, they could go from there with sorting out costs.

To our shock, the girlfriend came back with just ONE quote of £300 from a random garage located nowhere near her or his home addresses. The quote was "REPAIR £300.00" hand written down on garage headed paper but gave no itemisation ie. £200 labour £100 paint etc.

Given that my mums damage was much worse than his yet cost substantially less, my sister and parents politely asked if they could get the garage to clarify exactly how they had reached that figure or even get a couple of quotes from other garages, my sister recommended the one where my mum had had her bumper done but was told that the location of this garage was "too much of a nightmare for him to get to" even though it is closer to where the car owner lives than the one who produced the £300.00 quote.

My parents also suggested them another garage where they have had work done before that has always been to a high standard but were told they wouldnt consider this garage as they are "useless."

After this conversation, the gf came back to my sister on FB and informed her that her boyfriend wouldnt be getting any more quotes because "its not something he has to do." (direct quote) She also said that she knows my sister is a student but "we have full time jobs so it would mean finishing early to go and see about other quotes meaning he would lose money/holidays." and aparrently he can't go at any time on the weekend because he has "training." They then threatened my sister saying that if she wanted any more quotes it would "have to go through the insurance."


Now, I know a rat when I smell one and to me this STINKS. It would not surprise me one bit if this small bit of damage was costing £100.00 to repair and given their unwillingness to negotiate - because its not something they "have to do" - they are trying to pocket £200.00 from my sisters honesty, and the "quote" from the garage in the random location is actually the workplace of his cousin/friend/brother.

Although no doubt my sister will have to pay for the damage as there is now a trail of evidence of FB messages where she admits guilt, she should not be having to finance their shopping spree or weekend in the lakes due to being an honest person.

I am aware this sounds bizarre but what we are now needing to know is that is there any rights that the guilty party would have in this situation to prevent being ripped off??

Any feedback greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

matttye

She has the right to let her insurance co deal with it!

---lee---

Sister reversed into parked car, her fault.

Victim is not obliged to get quotes or cooperate in any way. They could simply contact your sisters insurance company and take it from there.

I've had two instances in the last 6 months were individuals damaged my car whilst it was parked. The first instance was a scratch on the front bumper and cost £300 to repair at a BMW bodyshop. When the person asked me for additional quotes, I asked for their insurance details so I could deal with insurers directly. They choose to pay the bodyshop direct.

On the second instance again whilst the car was parked, someone drove into the rear leaving two deep gouges in the bumper. The repair bill from the same BMW bodyshop was nearly £2,500 as the entire backend up to the rear doors had to be sprayed for a colour match. The hire car costs were £300 per day and the repair took a week.

In your sisters position, I would pay the £300

Tilt

My advice is to go through the insurance and take it on the chin. The situation sounds to be getting too complicated to sort it out yourself plus you probably need to notify your insurers anyway.

Aretnap

They're the ones who are doing your sister a favour by keeping it out of the hands of her insurance company (and presumably allowing her not to declare the accident in future, not that I'd recommend making false declarations to insurers).

Basically her options are to come to an agreement with them herself, or to call their bluff and tell them to go through her insurance company. Is her no claims bonus worth £300 to her?