car windscreen chip, who is liable

odemwingie5

running out of ideas where to post, thought i'd try here, basically my problem is that my 4 year old was caught throwing stones and had hit a couple of cars, now the owner is trying to get me to pay for a chip he has on his front windscreen, having looked at the chip i do not believe it was caused by my 4 year old, It is a £1 coin sized chip, star shaped 1.the stones were all smaller than 1cm 2.he was throwing from my neigbours front yard at about 10 feet away with the rear of the car facing him, meaning that the chip in the FRONT windscreen would have to have a stone loop up and over to even hit the windscreen, any windscreen experts know if this is even possible? i have a nasty feeling i'm being conned and the chip more than likely already existed, where do i stand?

Silver-Surfer_2

Legally no one as the child is below the age of criminal responsibility.

odemwingie5

the thing is, i would pay if i believed it was my lad who had caused it, no worries, if the shoe was on the other foot, i would like to think others would do the same if it were my car (but i kinda doubt it) i just don't think it is possible

dogshome

How old is the car - If it's newish the chances are the owner has an Insurance Policy that will repair screen chips for free
If it's old then it's probably on 3rd Party only policy and there is no windscreen cover - Having an old Pug 406 I use as a caravan tug, it cost £43 to fix a chip 18 months ago

bartelbe

odemwingie5 wrote: »

running out of ideas where to post, thought i'd try here, basically my problem is that my 4 year old was caught throwing stones and had hit a couple of cars, now the owner is trying to get me to pay for a chip he has on his front windscreen, having looked at the chip i do not believe it was caused by my 4 year old, It is a £1 coin sized chip, star shaped 1.the stones were all smaller than 1cm 2.he was throwing from my neigbours front yard at about 10 feet away with the rear of the car facing him, meaning that the chip in the FRONT windscreen would have to have a stone loop up and over to even hit the windscreen, any windscreen experts know if this is even possible? i have a nasty feeling i'm being conned and the chip more than likely already existed, where do i stand?

Your kid was caught throwing stone and damaging other people's property. No-one is blaming a 4 year old, but it is reasonable to expect the child's parents to take responsibility for damaged caused.

Pay up and keep a better eye on your children in future.

interstellaflyer

dogshome wrote: »

How old is the car - If it's newish the chances are the owner has an Insurance Policy that will repair screen chips for free

Generally you still have to pay an excess, last time I had a repair done it was £10, though with some policies/companies you may not need to pay.

Robisere

This might help:
http://www.inbrief.co.uk/child-law/child-accidents-compensation-liability/

Several routes to follow.

AdrianC

odemwingie5 wrote: »

1.the stones were all smaller than 1cm 2.he was throwing from my neigbours front yard at about 10 feet away with the rear of the car facing him

Are you believing the word of a four-year old, or did you sit there watching him throwing stones at people's cars?

Retrogamer

If you don't want people to be asking for money to repair stone chip damage on their cars it might be a good idea to ensure your child doesn't throw stones at them.

Sorry, not very constructive but i take a bit of pride in my car and i've had kids do similar or even wait until i'm diving past then kick footballs off my car. Not cool.

Silver-Surfer_2

Robisere wrote: »

This might help:
http://www.inbrief.co.uk/child-law/child-accidents-compensation-liability/

Several routes to follow.

But it isn't an accident.

Hermione_Granger

Silver-Surfer wrote: »

But it isn't an accident.

Unless the child in question was deliberately aiming the stones at the cars then it could be an accident in the same way that a child kicking a football at a wall accidently hit a house window or a passing car.