Cyclist crashed into parked car and caused damage

Moneybear

Apologies if this is not the right place but seemed most appropriate.

Three months ago a cyclist went into the back of my car whilst riding. The car was parked and I was working inside my home. He went to hospital as he had broken his nose. I took his contact details and he assured me at the time to send him a message and he would resolve this for me.

As he was using a Santander bike, there is liability insurance. However he needed to report the incident to the police and Santander cycle hire scheme. I asked him to do this and recently asked for an update as I had heard nothing. He confirmed he is pursuing compensation from Santander for his personal injuries. He has refused to send the form to the insurers to start the process of fixing my car because he does not have the money to pay the £250 excess fee. He has also claimed his injuries outweigh the damage to my car. I called the insurers and they confirmed to me that they can look at payment arrangements in that instance. I told him this to try to help and he has not responded since. 

I have asked for him to confirm if he has sent the forms back but it has been a week with no response.

The insurers cannot assist until he instructs them. I am reluctant to go through my car insurance as I will have to pay the excess despite him going into a parked car. 

Does anyone know what action I can take to get this resolved?

I have seen small claims court is suggested - does anyone have any advice or evidence to gather in preparation for this?

Thanks

pramsay13

He is claiming the bike caused him to hit your car and injure himself?

You should claim through your own insurance, there will be no excess if they can claim this from the third party.

Moneybear

pramsay13 said:

He is claiming the bike caused him to hit your car and injure himself?

You should claim through your own insurance, there will be no excess if they can claim this from the third party.

That's correct. He was unable to offer an explanation for why the bike went into my car other than the bike must be faulty. However it was safely ridden back to the docking station and several people have hired it since with no issues. 

I have contacted my insurance who said they cannot claim excess back from an individual cyclist. 

pramsay13

They will be claiming excess from the other insurance. 

Moneybear

pramsay13 said:

They will be claiming excess from the other insurance. 

The insurance is not in place until the hirer instructs them and pays their excess. So until he returns the form accepting the public liability, there is no insurance in place. That is the difficulty I am having. 

pramsay13

I still think at this stage you make a claim with your own insurance as your vehicle has been damaged. 
That is literally the reason you have insurance cover (assuming fully comp).

headpin

As there was personal injury, this should have been reported to the police. That would get things moving. Also, I thought that the nonsense of not informing your insurers so they could not act or respond had been binned? 

Dr_Crypto

You’ve got a few options here, none of them great.
You can claim from your own insurer who may then seek to recover from him/his insurer.
You sue him via small claims which may prompt him to get the bike insurance involved.
You try to deal direct with the bike’s insurance but if he’s no co-operating they may well decline to do so as you’re not their customer. 

Sandtree

pramsay13 said:

You should claim through your own insurance, there will be no excess if they can claim this from the third party.

The excess will almost certainly be charged as the OP’s insurers will be unable to confirm that there is a statutory insurance in place which ensures they will get their outlay back from. The excess will be recoverable from the cyclist/their insurers and if the OP has Legal Expenses cover on their car insurance they will do this for him.

The claim is ultimately against the cyclist, unlike car or employers liability insurance its his decision on if to engage their insurance or not. So the choices are either really claim off your own insurance and allow them to deal with the recovery matter for you including your uninsured losses such as the excess if you have LE cover. Alternatively pay for the repairs yourself and then pursue the cyclist through the courts buy sending them a letter before action with a copy of the invoice for the repairs.

cymruchris

I remember a few years ago coming back to my car (that was legally parked) to find a dent in the back and on the roof and a big smear down the front windscreen. A note under the wiper asked me to contact the local police, and apparently a cyclist had ridden into the back, flipped over the top and slid down the windscreen. The damage to the car was quite substantial. It was a hire car, so they dealt with the damage, but I was landed with a £25 (I think it was) 'fee' to contribute to the cyclists injury recovery which if I recall came from the local health authority. It did make me smile that someone who hadn't been looking where he was going, who hit a stationary car, got a contribution to his injuries from the driver of the parked car that he'd hit. Just thought I'd mention it - as I'm not sure they still ask drivers to contribute in this way. Wouldn't want you to get an unexpected bill. 

Car_54

cymruchris said:

I remember a few years ago coming back to my car (that was legally parked) to find a dent in the back and on the roof and a big smear down the front windscreen. A note under the wiper asked me to contact the local police, and apparently a cyclist had ridden into the back, flipped over the top and slid down the windscreen. The damage to the car was quite substantial. It was a hire car, so they dealt with the damage, but I was landed with a £25 (I think it was) 'fee' to contribute to the cyclists injury recovery which if I recall came from the local health authority. It did make me smile that someone who hadn't been looking where he was going, who hit a stationary car, got a contribution to his injuries from the driver of the parked car that he'd hit. Just thought I'd mention it - as I'm not sure they still ask drivers to contribute in this way. Wouldn't want you to get an unexpected bill. 

Doctors and hospitals can charge a fee for treatment where an accident occurs "arising out of, the use of a motor vehicle on a road", regardless of fault.

You should have passed the bill to the insurer