Accident involving a Cyclist

[scraggy55]

Can anyone tell me where I stand? In a queue of traffic last Monday morning and a Cyclist tried to squeeze between a parked car and my car and hit the rear passenger side of my vehicle, leaving scuff marks and a dent around the size of a tennis ball, where the handle bars struck my car. I looked around at her when she hit me and she waved at me and said 'its ok, its ok'. Being the mistrusting soul I am, I swiftly pulled over to take a look - and no it was not 'ok"! She was tending to her bike and I walked back to her and told her that actually she had damaged my car. She took a look and quickly said that she hadn't caused the damage. I politely told her that she had and that my car had no damage until she rode into it. She asked did I want her details and I then took same. Should I report this to the police? I have her mobile number and sent her a text message letting her know that I intend to visit a couple of garages on Friday to get estimates. I have her address also and of course her name. I have a bad feeling about it, in that I get the feeling that she is not going to cough up - what redress do I have? I do not want to go through my insurance and ideally want the money before I pay for the work, in case, of course she decides she will ignore any contact I make with her. Cyclists I am afraid think that the rules of the road should be different for them, they should have as much responsibility as the rest of road users. I am determined that she will not get off scott free. How do I do that? It is going to cost at least 100.00 to get sorted.

[Old_Geezer]

Some may claim I'm just being cynical but my life experiences suggest that if you are the driver you are responsible for everything, including what the cyclist had for breakfast and the weather that day, with no appeal.

[douglas9401]

http://www.inmycommun...-school-zone/7615186/

One rule for all :)

[tonywiltshire]

Not an easy position to be in, if you have the work none for £100 and do not wish to make a claim on your insurance, your NCD may well be more then this, you can send the cyclist the bill and take civil action in the county court if she does not pay you. I would notify your insurers even if you do not want to make a claim. Action in the county court is very easy and the staff at your local county court should give you non legal help with your claim, though even if you win you will still have to recover the money yourself the court will not do so.

[themas]

What tony says is a possible solution but you would need proof to win in Court, & that may be difficult if you have no witnesses.

If you don't want to make an insurance claim, I'd be inclined not to report it to them. I've heard of cases where doing just that results in a premium increase on renewal - on the basis that there has been an incident. In my opinion an example of insurers using any reason to bump up premiums!

[alperchino]

I'd mither constantly they'll give in, do not tell insurer they will put premiums up!!

[tonywiltshire]

Please note themas & alperchino that it is often a requirement that all accidents, even where a claim is not made, must be reported to the Insurer.