Aaaaaaaaargh!

[Andi]

Just chilling out on the sofa watching rubbish Friday tv, when about 45 mins ago I heard a massive bang outside.

You instinctively know what it is,.... a big metallic bang and crunch. like the sound of a car being shunted across the road by another car.

Yep! Our car (well swmbos car to be precise) had been hit. The drivers door crushed in and the nearside wheel buckled against the kerb. Turns out it is our local 18 year old too fast too furious wanna be. His whole family outside saying please dont go through the insurance as im a young driver and have no job. His family have offered to pay outright. So for now we will take it to the garage about 100 yards away first thing in the morning.

Im a bit concerned that he wont be able to pay for the damage and that he may have no insurance. Its only an old gusset yellow suzuki alto worth about £1500 (but fantastically reliable) but all of a sudden looking at the wifes work and child care commitments over the next few years, you begin to realise how important a vehicle is to you, as in.... we cant do without it.

I say again. Aaaaaaaaargh

 

Andi

[philshelton]

Bummer mate if there is any thing we can do let us know.

[Longboarder]

I would offer the family the option of you contacting the police and insurance or sonny boy writing a signed confession which will be returned to him on payment for the repairs.

 

Nigel

[Steve49er]

Andi sorry to see your News. Make sure they Pay Out before you let go. Accept CASH only. Keep us posted Again SO SORRY.

Kindest regards

Steve

[speedtripledan]

Go to the police and insurance next time it might be a child he crashes into...these idiots need sorting out

[Al Milton]

+1 to Dan's comment, when will these muppets ever learn?

 

By going through the insurance (if the car is really insured - but that is another matter entirely), you should get to claim your out of pocket expenses, as I am sure you will need a replacement car while yours is off the road, you do say you can't live without it.

Does ask the question though, 18 year old, no job etcetc, so how can he afford to run a car??

 

Thankfully this time no one was injured, but next time????????

[biksz]

+2 with dan what if it had been you better half and kids in car at the time it happened young driver or not we have all had accidents and we was all insured thats what its for.

[maw]

Sorry to hear this Andi

[ozz]

You should inform your insurance company as soon as possible otherwise your insurance is likely to become invalid. Most policies contain this clause about disclosure. If he does not pay up you could be left without cover and out of pocket. The police do not need to be informed but the insurance may advise/require you to do so and if so you should.

 

Have a read of your policy doc and all should become clear.

 

Ozz

[theduck]

With the amount of damage I would be going to insurers.

[Guest Alan_builder]

Hi Andy,

 

Some good advice above, but you are where you are.

 

You can claim on your own insurance (fully comp), a no fault claim, state that and require the insurance company to recover their expenses against the 3rd party thus not affecting your NCB.

 

Again you are where you are.

 

How about you make him authorize the repairs at the garage, thus making him liable for payment to the garage. You may not get your car back until the bill is paid so you won't be worse off than you are now so to speak. The garage should instigate CC action to recover the costs from him and you can claim against the driver in the CC for travel expenses incurred during the period.

 

Again it sounds like the kid needs taking off the road, it could have been the access door of your car used to get your child out, wife and child could be in hospital or worse! You can still contact the police!

[sj-bradley]

I would agree about going through insurance. He should have provided proof of his insurance.

 

If he did not, then he was driving without insurance (illegal) and has also caused criminal damage which means court proceedings which will cost him even more. My 2p worth only

 

Simon.

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Andi

Looking at what damage you say you have sustained and the age of the car it will almost certainly be written off as a "BER" beyond economical repair.

Make sure you get something on paper and signed if you still want to play the nice guy.

Personally I would have got the authorities involved last night.

Just my opinions though.

Hope you get it sorted.

[Guest JammyJim]

I had my car damaged in a car park years ago, they said get a quote and they would pay for repaires, 10 days later they said they could not of caused that much damage and refused to pay. at that stage because of time elapsed I felt I could not contact Police or Insurance, so lessoned learned.

 

I always contact Insurance and Police. Let them deal with it and you get your car back ASP.

 

Hope it works for you.

 

Jim

[ibrooks]

Having been stung and seen many other people stung by playing nice and letting them sort it out without going through the insurers only to see the responsible party change their minds later I wouldn't entertain it. You are legally obliged to tell your insurers whether they fix it or not and even a non-fault claim will increase your premium (got to admire insurance companies just for having the stones to try that never mind getting away with it) so you might as well get car fixed properly with all the guarantees they bang on about.

 

If he doesn't have a job then he doesn't need a car. If he subsequently has trouble insuring a car he might learn a lesson from the whole experience.

 

Iain