Insurance Claim Question

[Eve]

I had a question put to me the other day.

A car reversing out of a drive collides with a 5 year old child out riding a bike unsupervised.

Minimal damage to the bike (new wheel needed) and grazed knee to child.

Could a claim be successful for bike damage and injury and if so, how much roughly would they be looking at getting.

Can anyone help?

[shaking]

I would think a lot, what are your mirrors for?

[bednobs]

i would think it could be sucesful, however it be quite unlikely to happen in my opinion. A childs bike wheel must be minimal money, and as for pain and suffering, a grazed knee musy also again be minimal. Therefore it woud surely cost more to take the person to court

[Postdog]

And to be fair, an adult walking you may have seen coming, but a kid on a bike? Accident if you ask me.

[Eve]

Thanks for your answers, a friend of mine was the driver and is pretty worried esp as the child's parents have been abusive and they've started a claim.

A token of money was offered as a gesture of goodwill with them being neighbours and my friend was quite shaken up and it made them feel better but it was thrown back in my friend's face (literally) and a claim has gone in including for injury.

[Ethel]

Were the police called?

[gelda]

Was the child cycling on the pavement? if so that's illegal, I would mention that to the childs parents.

[Eve]

Hi, I advised them to go to the police and report the incident which they have done. They also wanted the abusive behaviour noted in case anything escalated.

I believe the child was on the pavement.

Apparantly it's quite a common occurance that the child (actually younger than 5) is let out to play completely unsupervised and a neighbour commented after the incident that according to them it was an accident waiting to happen (child apparantly plays chicken on his bike with neighbour's car!).

Child also apparantly just walks in to other people's properties where they know other children are.

Mirrors were checked as cars were being swapped to let someone out of the drive but the child was not seen by the driver, it was onlookers who shouted him to stop which saved a possibly more serious incident.

[Twenty20]

I would imagine if the parents have reported this to the police then it will be taken extremely seriously. You just can't go reversing into children on the pavement, whether theyre riding bikes or walking or whatever. My guess is that the police would charge the driver, especially as there was an injury.

I really dont see that the fact that the child was unsupervised comes into it (that would mean it was ok to run over unsupervised kids???), or that the child goes into other peoples gardens has any relevance. You cant go reversing into children, or anyone else, in a car especially on the pavement. It's no wonder the parents are upset.

[gouldc]

The problem you have here is twofold.

The onus is on the reversing party to ensure the path is clear. Whilst I appreciate the circumstances here with the child, and give nthe age/height of the child, the insurance company are going to be obliged to deal with any claim that comes in.

Don't deal with these cases specifically myself, but as the ''injured'' party (I use abbreviated comma's here ironicallly) is a minor, the insurance company is most likely to pay out very quickly for this.

I suspect the parents are most likely after the cash rather than the child's wellbeing here.

If it ended up in court, the judge would rule i nthe child's favour every time as well.

In regards to injury payout - it's dependent no what is claimed for (note I don't say for what the injury was), as I have no doubt you'll have a claim for anxiety, bedwetting, nightmares, etc, and there is no way you get evidence to go against it.

Insurers would try to settle early with a low offer (�1000 to 2000), but dependent on what the claim is for, it could be absolutely any amount.

Makes me sick