Damage to car

Charmiz

My neighbour's boyfriend put a note through my door saying his motorbike had fallen against my car and damaged it, and that he would pay to get it fixed.

I tried a couple of garages and bodyshops locally but they didn't seem interested in doing the work; he suggested his Uncle's bodyshop and told me roughly where it was. 

He put another note through my door saying he could do it on such and such a day, but that wasn't convenient to me.  I took the car down there when I could and got it fixed, for £270.

I sent him a text to let him know how much it cost and said I could get him a receipt if necessary, but he didn't reply.

I saw him in the car park and mentioned that I had got my car fixed, but he said he wasn't going to give me any money, he thought the way I sent him a text was "a bit cheeky" since I didn't get it fixed when and where he wanted me to, and questioned "who's got £300 to spare?"

I spoke to a mediation company who do debtor tracing but they said it could be more expensive to go through mediation than to take legal action, and that he would have to agree to it anyway.  He seems to have either got rid of the bike or now parks it elsewhere so I don't have the registration of it, just the registration of his car.  I don't even have his surname, just his first name and mobile phone number, so probably wouldn't be able to go down the route of a money claim online at this stage.

Is it likely that my insurance company would be able to do anything other than putting up the cost of my policy?  The mediator suggested as a last resort I could go to the police; I suppose since he hasn't left sufficient details or payment it would be 'hit and run'?

I am holding out some hope of getting my money back since I have a handwritten admission of fault.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Sandtree

Happens all the time, people massively underestimate the cost of repairs and so initially say to settle privately and later become a pain when they see the size of the bill.

Your insurers arent going to have too many more tools at their disposal than you have, they can reimburse the £270 less your excess but thats unlikely to be economical in the long run. Worth seeing if there is any "hit and run promise" but not sure if it'd be triggered given you have some details.

You could attempt reporting it to the police for refusing to exchange details but normally thats dealt with by a producer being sent to the DVLA address held against the registration but you dont have the reg. Maybe the cops would call him and get a better response than you.

Have you not spoken to your neighbour to try and get his name? After that maybe trawl social media for photos of him plus beloved bike to get a reg plate but you are on a bit of thin ice given he may have multiple bikes.

DB1904

Sandtree said:

Happens all the time, people massively underestimate the cost of repairs and so initially say to settle privately and later become a pain when they see the size of the bill.

Your insurers arent going to have too many more tools at their disposal than you have, they can reimburse the £270 less your excess but thats unlikely to be economical in the long run. Worth seeing if there is any "hit and run promise" but not sure if it'd be triggered given you have some details.

You could attempt reporting it to the police for refusing to exchange details but normally thats dealt with by a producer being sent to the DVLA address held against the registration but you dont have the reg. Maybe the cops would call him and get a better response than you.

Have you not spoken to your neighbour to try and get his name? After that maybe trawl social media for photos of him plus beloved bike to get a reg plate but you are on a bit of thin ice given he may have multiple bikes.

The only things they could establish with the registration number of his car (assuming it's insured and the bike was too) that the OP couldn't are his surname, home address, the registration number of the bike and the policy of insurance covering it at the time of the incident. But as you say not many more tools. 

[Deleted User]

There's small claims court.

Sandtree

DB1904 said:

Sandtree said:

Happens all the time, people massively underestimate the cost of repairs and so initially say to settle privately and later become a pain when they see the size of the bill.

Your insurers arent going to have too many more tools at their disposal than you have, they can reimburse the £270 less your excess but thats unlikely to be economical in the long run. Worth seeing if there is any "hit and run promise" but not sure if it'd be triggered given you have some details.

You could attempt reporting it to the police for refusing to exchange details but normally thats dealt with by a producer being sent to the DVLA address held against the registration but you dont have the reg. Maybe the cops would call him and get a better response than you.

Have you not spoken to your neighbour to try and get his name? After that maybe trawl social media for photos of him plus beloved bike to get a reg plate but you are on a bit of thin ice given he may have multiple bikes.

The only things they could establish with the registration number of his car (assuming it's insured and the bike was too) that the OP couldn't are his surname, home address, the registration number of the bike and the policy of insurance covering it at the time of the incident. But as you say not many more tools. 

I suspect doing a DVLA query on an unrelated vehicle in the hope the registered keeper is the same as the bike probably is against the T&Cs of the DVLA tool.

In my claims days dashcam footage was rare and the little there was was often poor quality (same as CCTV). In theory though dashcam footage could capture registrations plates of various potential witnesses but again I doubt the DVLA allows speculative queries.

[Deleted User] said:

There's small claims court.

How exactly do you go to the small claims @[Deleted User] when you only have the first name and mobile number of the person you are suing? 

Jenni_D

What has your neighbour said about all this? Surely she knows his full name and address, and might even know the reg of his bike?  

Charmiz

DB1904 said:

Sandtree said:

Happens all the time, people massively underestimate the cost of repairs and so initially say to settle privately and later become a pain when they see the size of the bill.

Your insurers arent going to have too many more tools at their disposal than you have, they can reimburse the £270 less your excess but thats unlikely to be economical in the long run. Worth seeing if there is any "hit and run promise" but not sure if it'd be triggered given you have some details.

You could attempt reporting it to the police for refusing to exchange details but normally thats dealt with by a producer being sent to the DVLA address held against the registration but you dont have the reg. Maybe the cops would call him and get a better response than you.

Have you not spoken to your neighbour to try and get his name? After that maybe trawl social media for photos of him plus beloved bike to get a reg plate but you are on a bit of thin ice given he may have multiple bikes.

The only things they could establish with the registration number of his car (assuming it's insured and the bike was too) that the OP couldn't are his surname, home address, the registration number of the bike and the policy of insurance covering it at the time of the incident. But as you say not many more tools. 

That's considerably more information that I have at the moment, and quite possibly enough to go to the small claims court, but would my insurer be willing to hand over the information so I could do that?

I would have thought that them handing over someone's details on a verbal assurance that I had a legitimate claim would be a Data Protection breach.

Sandtree

Charmiz said:

DB1904 said:

Sandtree said:

Happens all the time, people massively underestimate the cost of repairs and so initially say to settle privately and later become a pain when they see the size of the bill.

Your insurers arent going to have too many more tools at their disposal than you have, they can reimburse the £270 less your excess but thats unlikely to be economical in the long run. Worth seeing if there is any "hit and run promise" but not sure if it'd be triggered given you have some details.

You could attempt reporting it to the police for refusing to exchange details but normally thats dealt with by a producer being sent to the DVLA address held against the registration but you dont have the reg. Maybe the cops would call him and get a better response than you.

Have you not spoken to your neighbour to try and get his name? After that maybe trawl social media for photos of him plus beloved bike to get a reg plate but you are on a bit of thin ice given he may have multiple bikes.

The only things they could establish with the registration number of his car (assuming it's insured and the bike was too) that the OP couldn't are his surname, home address, the registration number of the bike and the policy of insurance covering it at the time of the incident. But as you say not many more tools. 

That's considerably more information that I have at the moment, and quite possibly enough to go to the small claims court, but would my insurer be willing to hand over the information so I could do that?

I would have thought that them handing over someone's details on a verbal assurance that I had a legitimate claim would be a Data Protection breach.

You and the insurance company have the same rights to ask for information from DVLA, indeed your insurers rights come from you... the difference is they have an automated system and probably goes under less review because its expected they only submit legitimate requests whereas you may ask for things for the wrong reasons.

Charmiz

Jenni_D said:

What has your neighbour said about all this? Surely she knows his full name and address, and might even know the reg of his bike?  

I haven't spoken to her about it.  She only moved in earlier this year and our relationship extends as far as briefly exchanging pleasantries; as such my asking her to sell out her boyfriend may even cause offence.

Charmiz

Sandtree said:

DB1904 said:

In my claims days dashcam footage was rare and the little there was was often poor quality (same as CCTV). In theory though dashcam footage could capture registrations plates of various potential witnesses but again I doubt the DVLA allows speculative queries.

Since the block has recently had CCTV installed that was the first avenue I explored, however due to the time elapsed between the incident and him changing his mind about covering the cost the footage has been overwritten.

Thrugelmir

Sounds like an insurance claim. Let them persue the matter.