How to claim from uninsured cyclist

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RichardParry
RichardParry Posts: 3 Newbie
edited 17 October 2018 at 4:37PM in Insurance & life assurance
Hello
Can anyone provide any advice on how I can claim my £300 car insurance excess back from a cyclist who rode into the side of my car and caused over £3000 pounds worth of damage?? The cyclist is 10 years old and now his mother is refusing to pay saying it was not his fault, despite the police saying otherwise. It appears that kids on bikes can cause damage to vehicles and get away with it??? leaving me with a £300 insurance excess which I have had to pay!!!
Any ideas anyone??? has this happened to you???
really interested to hear from you
thanks
Richard
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  • TadleyBaggie
    TadleyBaggie Posts: 6,055 Forumite
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    Small claims court perhaps.
  • mirko
    mirko Posts: 264 Forumite
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    That's what insurance is for. Maybe have a lower excess next time?

    Just one of those things.

    Thankfully no one was hurt (I assume).
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  • rudekid48
    rudekid48 Posts: 2,382 Forumite
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    Barring any goodwill from the parents your only option is to sue but you will have to be able to prove negligence which will be very difficult.
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  • Tammykitty
    Tammykitty Posts: 1,005 Forumite
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    I wouldn't just be looking to claim the excess though - I would be looking to claim it all - why should your insurance (and future premiums) have to pay out for something that wasn't his fault.


    However, the cyclist was a child, as as such probably has no assets to pay with - but the householder may have house insurance which might cover it - but its only a possibility
  • RichardParry
    RichardParry Posts: 3 Newbie
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    Thanks for all your replies, It seems that as it is a child cyclist involved then he has no insurance and no income either. The insurance company have contacted the mother and she is refusing to pay anything and it seems she is not liable for her child whilst on his bike!!! I am really annoyed that I have to pay out £300 for a non fault accident!!! and probably my insurance will increase next year because of it. Just a word of warning to everyone - KEEP AWAY FOR CYCLISTS!!!!
  • Norman_Castle
    Norman_Castle Posts: 11,871 Forumite
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    RichardParry wrote: »
    Just a word of warning to everyone - KEEP AWAY FOR CYCLISTS!!!!
    Or KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN!!!! as that appears to be why you cannot hold them liable.
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,441 Forumite
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    Depending on exactly what happened, in theory, you could sue the child's parents for negligence, if the parents failed to exercise a reasonable level of control over their child.

    (For example, if the child was repeatedly doing something which was likely to damage a car, and the parents took no action to stop the child from doing it.)
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
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    How did a 10-year old cyclist case £3000 damage to your car? Did some of the gold plating get knocked off and fall down a drain?
  • Seditious_Libeller
    Seditious_Libeller Posts: 8 Forumite
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    Ellis v Kelly & Another 2018] gives a pretty detailed examination of the law of negligence as it applies to children (albeit in the context of contributory negligence in a road traffic accident.) My interpretation is that it would prove very difficult to establish negligence on the part of A10 year old child or the parents for lack of supervision (both issues are addressed in the case.)
  • katejo
    katejo Posts: 3,814 Forumite
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    edited 18 October 2018 at 9:56AM
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    Seditious_Libeller wrote: »
    Ellis v Kelly & Another 2018] gives a pretty detailed examination of the law of negligence as it applies to children (albeit in the context of contributory negligence in a road traffic accident.) My interpretation is that it would prove very difficult to establish negligence on the part of A10 year old child or the parents for lack of supervision (both issues are addressed in the case.)
    Here is a free link to the case (not sure why it has inserted emojis)


    http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2018/2031.html&query=(title:(+ellis+))+AND+(title:(+v+))+AND+(title:(+kelly+))
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