Car accident due to black ice

[ATTILADHUN]

I've recently had an accident due to black ice. My car skidded and hit the stone wall garden of an old lady. My son, who is 11, and I was shaken but alright. Luckily no one was involved. My car suffered a bump on the right hand-side bumper and fog light completely write off. It's driveable but I can 't drive more than 30 mph. The sensor, I drove an automatic car, went a bit haywire. My insurance company had recommended their garage for my car to go for repair.

Meanwhile, the old lady had instructed her neighbour to do the paperwork in regards to fixing the wall garden. To my amazement, the neighbour's wife, whose husband is a builder, send a quote of £1000 to fix the wall. She has asked me to claim this cost through my insurance. I have asked another quote and my builder quoted £500. I only hit 1/4 of the wall (measure 4m length x 0.5m height) and the depth of the wall is only a normal brick depth.

How can I tell the neighbour wife that I am not going to claim via my insurance and the quote that she gave is extortionate. I would prefer this to settle out of my pocket money.

[New Judge]

If you intend to settle this claim from the Third Party yourself (which you are perfectly entitled to do) you will need to negotiate with the Third Party to reach a settlement. They have a duty to mitigate their losses (i.e. keep them to a minimum) but cannot be expected to be forced to have the repairs done by somebody they consider may do an unsuitable job. You may find these negotiations to be protracted.

By the way, although you are not requesting them to settle the claim on your behalf, you must still inform your insurers of the incident.

[ATTILADHUN]

Thank you for your reply - New Judge. I have told my insurance company about the incident and have emailed them the appropriate photo took at the time.

However, I have to deal with the neighbour who prepared this extortionate quote as the old lady doesn't want to make any decision on this. All she said to me that her neighbour will do the paperwork and the husband did all the building around her house, hinted her preferable person to do this job. This make things quite complicated in term of negotiating with them.

It seemed to me that whatever I said/will say, they will not interested in any negotiation.

Although my insurance company told me that they require 2 quote fro mthe lady, I have afeeling that she will go with whatever her neighbour told her. This make things quite complicated.

[Zacs-Master]

Ask for a breakdown of the cost of repairing the wall. Materials and time. The materials should be negligible unless it's very special stone and it shouldn't take more than a couple of days, so £500 sounds more realistic to me.

[boxtops]

Send both quotes to the insurance company then - you may not want to put it through them but any resultant loss of bonus is surely likely to be less than the £500 difference in quotes. That way, it's the insurance company's decision.

[Maydup]

I think you might as well leave it to the insurer, it does look as though you'll gain much more than a headache by negotiating this yourself.

[Maydup]

PS I hope you're both OK and getting over the shock. Take it easy.

[ATTILADHUN]

Zac's master - thought as much, I agreed with your calculation: the quote given as follow:

Re: Rebuilding damaged front garden wall
To demolish damaged brick work front garden wall and clear way
To supply all materials and construct a new brick front garden, to match the previous existing wall
To supply new tumblers post and reinstate as exist
labour & material £1320.

By the way, this amount will be split equally with the other driver whose car skidded and hit the other part of the wall in the previous days. But it's still a hell lot of money!!! My builder reckon it should be around £500 - £600 (include labour & material).

[Zacs-Master]

The other driver?
It's always good to give ALL the facts if you want an accurate and helpful answer.

[boxtops]

Now you have said that there is another incident involved as well, I would most definitely put it through my insurers. What happens if for some reason diver A doesn't pay up? - you don't want to be landed with the bill for the lot. Putting it through your insurers will ensure that you only get charged for a fair whack (no pun intended).

[ATTILADHUN]

agree-- am leaving to my insurance company to deal with this!!just waiting for my car to be fixed!

[ATTILADHUN]

I'm fighting my battle here with my insurance company before they settle the incorrect amount of claim to the neighbour next door. Is it possible for the insurance company to pay the claim to the third party even before seeing the actual invoice. I'm still novice in this area. A little advise, please

[ATTILADHUN]

I am so astonished when I found out that my insurance company actually paid the lady a full whack that she ask for. To make my day a whole lot worse, the garage that they recommended still haven't fixed my car, this is the third week.. Everytime I call the garage, the receptionist said the delay is due to back order. Am very fed up and had enough with them lots at the moment!!!