Car accident - damage to property - help!!
Discussion
I've been unfortunate enough today to slide off the road and through a fence and into someones garden.
To keep my insurance costs bearable, i want to pay for the damage myself. The car just needed a front bumper and headlight and i was lucky enough to get a bumper the same colour so the car will be back on the road tomorrow, probably at a cost of no more than £150 all in.
Now the problem lies with the third party damage. Basically, theres about four fence posts out, a couple of edging moved and several shrubs damaged. I've a joiner friend whos going to sort that out and they are happy with that.
Whilst the man of the house is reasonably sympathetic the woman of the house is very much of the opinion that the shrubs must be replace like for like in terms of size. One full grown bush shes talking about will cost £250 to replace and shes expecting a full grown medium sized tree to be replaced that has had just one of its four major branches broken. I'm no tree surgeon but i'd have thought the branch could be sawn off but shes adamant the tree will die, therefore must be replaced.
Whilst i know i have to 'man up' here and sort this out, shes using the veiled threat that if i dont agree to her terms and her 'like for like' on size insistence then she'll simply force it through my insurance anyway.
Have I any rights here in terms of
(a) the like for like on size of shrub / tree - i fear she'll come back saying shes found some company who specialises in full grown trees and that they will personally transport the tree for a mere £5000 or some other random amount. ie, whats reasonable when talking about like for like?
(b) can she 'force' me to go through my insurance?
Thanks in advance.
To keep my insurance costs bearable, i want to pay for the damage myself. The car just needed a front bumper and headlight and i was lucky enough to get a bumper the same colour so the car will be back on the road tomorrow, probably at a cost of no more than £150 all in.
Now the problem lies with the third party damage. Basically, theres about four fence posts out, a couple of edging moved and several shrubs damaged. I've a joiner friend whos going to sort that out and they are happy with that.
Whilst the man of the house is reasonably sympathetic the woman of the house is very much of the opinion that the shrubs must be replace like for like in terms of size. One full grown bush shes talking about will cost £250 to replace and shes expecting a full grown medium sized tree to be replaced that has had just one of its four major branches broken. I'm no tree surgeon but i'd have thought the branch could be sawn off but shes adamant the tree will die, therefore must be replaced.
Whilst i know i have to 'man up' here and sort this out, shes using the veiled threat that if i dont agree to her terms and her 'like for like' on size insistence then she'll simply force it through my insurance anyway.
Have I any rights here in terms of
(a) the like for like on size of shrub / tree - i fear she'll come back saying shes found some company who specialises in full grown trees and that they will personally transport the tree for a mere £5000 or some other random amount. ie, whats reasonable when talking about like for like?
(b) can she 'force' me to go through my insurance?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply - i've read each of them in full.
Got the quote through last night for 5 shrubs in her garden. £20 short of £2,000! The tree is costing £1,000 the other 4 shrubs come to £700 and £300 of labour.
The fencing looks like its going to come in at around £1,000 on top of that.
So given those figures i've had to put it through the insurance.
Oh well....
Got the quote through last night for 5 shrubs in her garden. £20 short of £2,000! The tree is costing £1,000 the other 4 shrubs come to £700 and £300 of labour.
The fencing looks like its going to come in at around £1,000 on top of that.
So given those figures i've had to put it through the insurance.
Oh well....
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