Child's Accidental Damage To Neighbour's Car

EarthboundMisfit2112

Bradden said:

Could the car owner claim on their own insurance and the OP pays the excess?

I did wonder about this, but I don't know enough about how it works (as in 'excess' and 'no claims bonus'), and for how many years this would affect me if I'm making sure she isn't negatively affected (financially) by my child's mistake, and whether things could get complicated if she had further claims to make in future. I'm just really not good with this stuff - which is why I'm here! Thanks for your response.

EarthboundMisfit2112

tacpot12 said:

The normal answer to not being able to afford an unexpected expense is to get a personal loan. 

You can potentially save money by having the headlight fixed at a different garage, but the owner has a reasonable expectation that a Mercedes part will be fitted not some cheap aftermarket garbage. You could call around the local Mercedes dealers to see if you can get the part at the best possible price, and then fit it yourself. They usually just bolt or clip in, and there may be a Youtube video that shows you what to do. alternatively a local garage will fit the part for their normal labour charge.   

The dealer will be able to quote for the headlight if you give them the VRN. 

The labour cost was listed as only £100 - it's the cost of parts that ramped it up. So I'm not sure it would be worth the stress of trying to do something I'm so clueless on if I'm still paying £1600 anyway. Thanks so much for your response though - we are asking other garages, certainly. The neighbour is speaking to a Mercedes dealer today.

Momanns

Try eBay. With the make and model you should be able to find something. There are loads of people/businesses selling car parts. £1,700 for headlight casing is outrageous.

molerat

Momanns said:

Try eBay. With the make and model you should be able to find something. There are loads of people/businesses selling car parts. £1,700 for headlight casing is outrageous.

It won't be a "headlight casing", it will be the whole unit.  They are designed as a single unit with no replaceable components.  Modern HID or LED units are expensive.  My SIL needs new rear lights for his 2017 Ford which are all in one LED units and they are available 2nd hand for £400 each, £560 new. Same light on his old 2010 model £50 brand new

lisyloo

EarthboundMisfit2112 said:

Bradden said:

Could the car owner claim on their own insurance and the OP pays the excess?

I did wonder about this, but I don't know enough about how it works (as in 'excess' and 'no claims bonus'), and for how many years this would affect me if I'm making sure she isn't negatively affected (financially) by my child's mistake, and whether things could get complicated if she had further claims to make in future. I'm just really not good with this stuff - which is why I'm here! Thanks for your response.

Yes it's complicated as an insurance claim will affect their insurance for many years and you have to make sure the agreement is "full and final settlement".

Personally (I am not a lawyer) I think it's not a good idea to let a 5 year old run around expensive equipment with a heavy stick. Whether this amounts to "negligence" is up to lawyers to decide. You might want to good if there's precedence. I don't use the word lightly, I say it because you are only liable if you were negligent, so that's the nub of the liability issue.

If you are negligent you'd be covered by your own household insurance to 3rd parties, so it might be easiest to cover that route. If you're not liable then your insurer will tell them to go whistle. it will affect your insurance if their claim is successful but it's less messy if you end up paying increased premiums as it's hard for your neighbour to assess years in advance.

glennevis

You could argue that the owner is not entitled to betterment. Find out what a used headlight assembly costs from a breakers and when it turns out to be substantially less than £1600, then I would offer the used price plus the £100 for fitting.

DullGreyGuy

glennevis said:

You could argue that the owner is not entitled to betterment. Find out what a used headlight assembly costs from a breakers and when it turns out to be substantially less than £1600, then I would offer the used price plus the £100 for fitting.

It's generally not considered betterment unless there was substantial damage to it before the incident. Legally what you actually claim for is the depreciation of value in the vehicle but the courts accept that the cost of repairing it (with new parts) is a reasonable proxy for the depreciation (though engineers will always say its X% of the repairs because everyone underestimates value)

EarthboundMisfit2112

lisyloo said:

EarthboundMisfit2112 said:

Bradden said:

Could the car owner claim on their own insurance and the OP pays the excess?

I did wonder about this, but I don't know enough about how it works (as in 'excess' and 'no claims bonus'), and for how many years this would affect me if I'm making sure she isn't negatively affected (financially) by my child's mistake, and whether things could get complicated if she had further claims to make in future. I'm just really not good with this stuff - which is why I'm here! Thanks for your response.

Yes it's complicated as an insurance claim will affect their insurance for many years and you have to make sure the agreement is "full and final settlement".

Personally (I am not a lawyer) I think it's not a good idea to let a 5 year old run around expensive equipment with a heavy stick. Whether this amounts to "negligence" is up to lawyers to decide. You might want to good if there's precedence. I don't use the word lightly, I say it because you are only liable if you were negligent, so that's the nub of the liability issue.

If you are negligent you'd be covered by your own household insurance to 3rd parties, so it might be easiest to cover that route. If you're not liable then your insurer will tell them to go whistle. it will affect your insurance if their claim is successful but it's less messy if you end up paying increased premiums as it's hard for your neighbour to assess years in advance.

Not that it matters in the long run, as we are still responsible for the damage, but it's probably more accurate to say that "it's not a good idea to leave expensive equipment where children play". We are in a sort of shared coutyard area and the children play on the grass in front of my house - I don't think I can call it 'my front garden', because I don't think it counts as 'my land' - but it's certainly not a car-parking area. The children play here all the time, and in the general courtyard area, away from the parking spaces. The neighbour's boyfriend had parked in her parking spot, so she had parked in this general area instead, by my doorstep. I agree about the stick - that will no longer be featuring in imaginary play sessions near vehicles - but if our neighbour had parked on her drive, this would not have happened. My daughter was running on the grass in front of our house when the stick-headlamp-collision took place.

Thanks for your comments about insurance - very helpful information.

BarelySentientAI

EarthboundMisfit2112 said:

lisyloo said:

EarthboundMisfit2112 said:

Bradden said:

Could the car owner claim on their own insurance and the OP pays the excess?

I did wonder about this, but I don't know enough about how it works (as in 'excess' and 'no claims bonus'), and for how many years this would affect me if I'm making sure she isn't negatively affected (financially) by my child's mistake, and whether things could get complicated if she had further claims to make in future. I'm just really not good with this stuff - which is why I'm here! Thanks for your response.

Yes it's complicated as an insurance claim will affect their insurance for many years and you have to make sure the agreement is "full and final settlement".

Personally (I am not a lawyer) I think it's not a good idea to let a 5 year old run around expensive equipment with a heavy stick. Whether this amounts to "negligence" is up to lawyers to decide. You might want to good if there's precedence. I don't use the word lightly, I say it because you are only liable if you were negligent, so that's the nub of the liability issue.

If you are negligent you'd be covered by your own household insurance to 3rd parties, so it might be easiest to cover that route. If you're not liable then your insurer will tell them to go whistle. it will affect your insurance if their claim is successful but it's less messy if you end up paying increased premiums as it's hard for your neighbour to assess years in advance.

Not that it matters in the long run, as we are still responsible for the damage, but it's probably more accurate to say that "it's not a good idea to leave expensive equipment where children play". 

Well no.  "My children play there" doesn't, if it isn't your land or have some specific restriction, mean "you shouldn't put anything of value there". 

Goes both ways, just like most things when you don't live as a hermit outside civilisation.

cw8825

just out of interest.
will you be paying for any damage your child does going forward?
feel like this could open a can of worms