Editor's Blog1 min ago
Car Damage
My daughter's car was sitting parked outside her work where she has a part-time job. From the window where she was working, she watched as a customer parked their car next to hers. As the male driver got out of the car, he whacked his car door against my daughter's car's driver's side wing mirror. The wing mirror casing has been scraped and cracked. She has since discovered that the driver's side window now only partially goes down before jamming as it seems to have come off its regulators.
After witnessing the damage being inflicted to her car, my daughter approached the car driver, who denied damaging her car. He refused to give her his details and left the site, so she reported him to the police. My daughter has his car registration number and has CCTV footage of the incident recorded on her workplace's cameras, which the police have viewed.
My daughter reported the incident to her insurance company and they told her she would have to pay a £750 excess fee in order to process a claim herself and they suggested that she claims third party. We don't understand what that means.
We believe that the repair cost (incl. labour) for the wing mirror is going to be approx. £380 and approx. £280 to fix the window regulator, so £660 total.
As my daughter is completely blameless for the damage, she feels very upset at being made to pay £750 when she only earns £40 per week.
The police have told my daughter the damage was not intentional so they are not prosecuting and advised my daughter to settle the issue with the other car driver. The police promised that they will speak to him and are passing on my daughter's details to him to make contact with her.
One week on from the incident, we have heard nothing from the other driver.
What do you think we should do now?
After witnessing the damage being inflicted to her car, my daughter approached the car driver, who denied damaging her car. He refused to give her his details and left the site, so she reported him to the police. My daughter has his car registration number and has CCTV footage of the incident recorded on her workplace's cameras, which the police have viewed.
My daughter reported the incident to her insurance company and they told her she would have to pay a £750 excess fee in order to process a claim herself and they suggested that she claims third party. We don't understand what that means.
We believe that the repair cost (incl. labour) for the wing mirror is going to be approx. £380 and approx. £280 to fix the window regulator, so £660 total.
As my daughter is completely blameless for the damage, she feels very upset at being made to pay £750 when she only earns £40 per week.
The police have told my daughter the damage was not intentional so they are not prosecuting and advised my daughter to settle the issue with the other car driver. The police promised that they will speak to him and are passing on my daughter's details to him to make contact with her.
One week on from the incident, we have heard nothing from the other driver.
What do you think we should do now?
Answers
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Your daughter can pay £4 to get hold of the other driver's insurance details:
https:/
Then she can ask her own insurer whether they'll assist in claiming against that insurance. (If not, she could try contacting the other driver's insurer directly).
Alternatively she can bypass the insurance system altogether and threaten to sue the other driver (following through with court action if required). That would then leave him to decide whether or not to claim on his insurance. (If he didn't he'd have to pay your daughter from his own pocket). Assuming that the driver was the registered keeper of the vehicle she can get his name and address by submitting form V888 to DVLA:
https:/
She'd then need to send a formal written demand to his address (using Royal Mail's 'Signed For' service), stating the amount demanded, the reason for the demand and that legal action would follow if payment wasn't received within a specified period (of, say, 21 days). If he failed to pay up she could then take court action against him to recover the money using the Government's online claims system:
https:/
https:/
Then she can ask her own insurer whether they'll assist in claiming against that insurance. (If not, she could try contacting the other driver's insurer directly).
Alternatively she can bypass the insurance system altogether and threaten to sue the other driver (following through with court action if required). That would then leave him to decide whether or not to claim on his insurance. (If he didn't he'd have to pay your daughter from his own pocket). Assuming that the driver was the registered keeper of the vehicle she can get his name and address by submitting form V888 to DVLA:
https:/
She'd then need to send a formal written demand to his address (using Royal Mail's 'Signed For' service), stating the amount demanded, the reason for the demand and that legal action would follow if payment wasn't received within a specified period (of, say, 21 days). If he failed to pay up she could then take court action against him to recover the money using the Government's online claims system:
https:/
It was a long time ago but this may help to show that insurance companies try to dodge at first. I was rear-shunted and when I sent a claim in to the other party's insurance company they said I should claim off mine. My reply went something like,"I do not insure my car for your client to run into it, please pay up" whereupon they did.
This was in the mid-Sixties, so possibly irrelevant today.
This was in the mid-Sixties, so possibly irrelevant today.
1 to 16 of 16
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