Car accident with taxi driver

unholyangel

Arklight wrote: »

You are kidding?

New bumper, professional colour match spray, hire car, loss of earnings. You are looking at £2k already. And the OP doesn't want to give him £280 to keep it off her insurance (which by the way is a terrible idea).

I didn't realise you were present for the accident and know exactly what the extent of the damage was and what the state of the taxi drivers car was before the accident. £80 certainly doesn't sound like any damage that would stop the car from working. Youd also have a hard job trying to claim a new bumper & full respray etc if your car is a battered banger covered in scratches & dents.

As for loss of earnings again, mitigation.

unholyangel

v40vol wrote: »

In my area, If a Taxi is involved in an accident. It as to be reported to the Council.

Who then have to check the vehicle before it can go back on the road!

Yes, the hackney station check the vehicle so ensure its safe for carriage. Nothing to do with their taxi licence or accident fault though.

Arklight

unholyangel wrote: »

I didn't realise you were present for the accident and know exactly what the extent of the damage was and what the state of the taxi drivers car was before the accident. £80 certainly doesn't sound like any damage that would stop the car from working. Youd also have a hard job trying to claim a new bumper & full respray etc if your car is a battered banger covered in scratches & dents.

As for loss of earnings again, mitigation.

Mitigation is the responsibility to make a reasonable effort to limit the other party's costs. It doesn't relate to not claiming for loss of earnings because you could have worked a night shift the following week.

You are dishing out extremely poor advice that has no basis in law.

The OP has hit another car, admitted liability, and stated this is in writing. They have precisely zero chance of avoiding paying out for resolving the damage and there is no body shop in the country that will repair a zonked bumper for £80.

£280 is getting off very lightly.

wgl2014

Nadiya wrote: »

insurance companies are not involved.

Just for the avoidance of doubt.....

You need to tell your insurance company regardless of whether you are making a claim.

This will be likely to increase your renewal next year but is preferable to the other driver making a personal injury claim that you end up covering due to not following the insurance terms and conditions.

Car_54

wgl2014 wrote: »

Just for the avoidance of doubt.....

You need to tell your insurance company regardless of whether you are making a claim.

This will be likely to increase your renewal next year but is preferable to the other driver making a personal injury claim that you end up covering due to not following the insurance terms and conditions.

... or any of his six passengers.

debtdebt

Op, you can!!!8217;t exclude any future claims from either of the two passengers or the driver by making him fill in some scrap of paper stating that his losses at elik Red to £80.

They can present a claim for personal injury, loss or earnings, medication, therapy, care and assistance at home, the list goes on.

Do yourself a favour and report the accident to your insurers now and let them deal. Do you really want to be left in the lurch to deal with a £3k whiplash claims plus special damages plus solicitors costs?

unholyangel

Arklight wrote: »

Mitigation is the responsibility to make a reasonable effort to limit the other party's costs. It doesn't relate to not claiming for loss of earnings because you could have worked a night shift the following week.

You are dishing out extremely poor advice that has no basis in law.

The OP has hit another car, admitted liability, and stated this is in writing. They have precisely zero chance of avoiding paying out for resolving the damage and there is no body shop in the country that will repair a zonked bumper for £80.

£280 is getting off very lightly.

OP says it was a minor scratch. As I have pointed out several times, £80 does not suggest any significant damage at all. Yet for some reason, you seem to think it will need a new bumper and full respray?

Mitigation is taking reasonable steps to minimise your losses and not taking unreasonable steps to increase them. An injured party cannot recover damages for any loss which could have been avoided by taking said reasonable steps. You cannot simply sit back and allow your losses to mount up because someone else will be footing the bill.

Its true that the accident could have been worse and the claim for damages could have been much greater. But it wasn't - and thats the important thing when it comes to assessing damages. Not the woulda, shoulda, coulda but the actual facts.

System

The third parties, which include the passengers, have up to 3 years to make a claim.

Arklight

unholyangel wrote: »

OP says it was a minor scratch. As I have pointed out several times, £80 does not suggest any significant damage at all. Yet for some reason, you seem to think it will need a new bumper and full respray?

Mitigation is taking reasonable steps to minimise your losses and not taking unreasonable steps to increase them. An injured party cannot recover damages for any loss which could have been avoided by taking said reasonable steps. You cannot simply sit back and allow your losses to mount up because someone else will be footing the bill.

Its true that the accident could have been worse and the claim for damages could have been much greater. But it wasn't - and thats the important thing when it comes to assessing damages. Not the woulda, shoulda, coulda but the actual facts.

It isn't up to the OP to decide what the cost of the repair is. The taxi driver has offered to settle for £280 which includes repair to the damage of his car and his loss of earnings.

This is all moot anyway because with damage to a private hire vehicle and potential liability for 3 whiplash claims this should be going through the insurance. Which it doubtless will do now they've given him the middle finger after asking for an extremely reasonable settlement.

If someone hits my car the damage will be cosmetically restored in full at their expense, the chassis will be inspected thoroughly to check for twisting or misalignment, and I'll be using an equivalent hire car, at their expense, until this is completed.

Eighty quid...

Nadiya

Thank you all for your views and suggestions. First of all, when the incident occurred (approx 4:30pm), I told the taxi driver that I will get it fixed then and there by going to my mechanic who was open until 8pm. The driver said he has his own garage and will let me know how much to fix. We both agreed as when we exchanged details, we realised we live less than 0.1miles away to each other. The taxi driver range me that day and quoted £80 that day and I said I am happy to pay towards the fixtures. The next day I rang him to find out if the car has been fixed. He didn't answer the call (assuming he must be driving), I didn't try 2nd time. The third day he calls up and says I have to cover his earnings for 1 1/2 days as he didn't get the car back from the garage. I was a bit suspicious as it will not take more than an hour to get this fixed, as this was a minor scratch. I told him as to why didn't he bring the earnings figure earlier., else I would have fixed the car the same hour.

I told him I cannot afford that much, so will have to go through insurance to cover the extra costs. He then said he will have a think and call me back. He called up and mutually agreed to get £80 for cost of damages.

I then took a signature of him on a small piece of paper to confirm he received the damages.

The note reads 'received £80 towards damages for car xyz signed by the receiver and date.

The next day he called up and said you have to give me another note with your name as both you and myself should be on the letter.

The note reads' paid damages of £80 for rear bumper of car reg no on 8th Jul paid by my name in cash fault of Husbands name in FULL AND FINAL SETTLEMENT. Fault party signed and non fault party signed and date. NO PARTY TO ENGAGE IN FUTURE TRANSACTIONS WITH REGARDS TO THE CAR. Payment 80 made for damage of rear bumper.