Bump on country Lane, who is liable?

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My wife had her wing mirror knocked off yesterday. Just about 2 car wide country Lane with no markings, she stopped when seeing another car coming. Lady coming the other way barrelled through and knocked both mirrors off and caused a few scratches.

The lady initially took the blame then retracted it. Her son came and then she admitted fault again but nothing in writing. She wanted my wife to get a quote so she could pay rather than go through insurance. She was happy with £275 but now suddenly wants to go through the insurance.

I've been told that if there are no markings then insurance companies automatically say equal blame, is this correct? May explain why she now wants insurance?

I would prefer to stay away from insurance as my wife already has a no-fault claim from 6 months ago which the other side are now disputing. She is on my policy and we have 2 cars so any increases get us twice.

I can buy a second hand mirror for £65,fit myself and have a go at polishing the scratches out but have a moral problem with her 'getting away with it' and then also getting a insurance hit if she now reports it to her insurance.

Any advice?

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It's a golf mk6, heated and body coloured. I haven't seen the damage yet but apparently the colour coded bit is fine. I've seen primed non oem ones on ebay.

I'm happy to pay £65 and be done with it, I replaced one a few years ago when a council lorry knocked one off. I'm just worried that we will still get an insurance hit if she reports it to her insurer, in that case it can get repaired properly.

Definitely getting dash cams for both cars, sick of incompetent drivers. Apparently the other woman was blind as a bat

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Dixy said:

Living in a rural area I frequently meet women who when faced with oncoming traffic just randomly stop in the most inconvenient spot, expecting the other driver to squeeze through a difficult gap.

I know what you mean but my wife, while not exactly Michael Schumacher, is quite handy on country lanes having grown up on them.

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TooMany2cvs said:

So a second hand one's fine if you're paying, but she's going to be paying full whack?

ps off.

Full whack would be going to VW to get a genuine mirror and proper bodywork sorting, not getting the local garage to fit a Chinese copy and try to polish out the scratches and minor dents.

My moral problem is nothing to do with money, it is to do with an incompetent and possibly half-blind woman get away with no penalty so she can do the same to someone else with possibly worse consequences next time.

If I am paying then I'll be doing it as cheap as possible as it is our beater car.

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saaby93 said:

Surely so long as the other side is pressing you for the cost of their mirror you need to press them for the cost of yours and convice them you were stopped at the time, although stopping in just a place where someone isnt able to to avoid you isnt too much of a defence either.

She isn't asking us to pay for her mirror, she is still saying it was her fault. Best case my wife gets another no fault claim on my policy, worst case the other woman changes her story and it goes 50/50.

Now I have found a mirror for £65 it is worth forgetting the whole thing as the excess would be far more anyway, I just want to be sure I won't get stung for a claim anyway if she reports it.

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TooMany2cvs said:

Yet you want the other woman to pay more than four times what you'd pay if you were doing it yourself.

Well funny enough I don't charge labour, profit or VAT and I don't think you would find many garages sourcing second hand parts from ebay. Does that explain the difference in cost? Any other smart comments?

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TooMany2cvs said:

You're still missing my point.

You are happy to DIY the work, and use a second-hand mirror. But only if you're paying for the mirror. If somebody else is paying, then you are insisting that the work is done professionally with a brand new mirror, so they are paying four and a bit times as much.

If you said to her "Look, I'll spend the time and get a used mirror - just pay the £65 for the mirror", I'll bet you'd have the money instantly.

I think you're missing the point, she caused an accident so should have to pay for the damage. She asked to avoid insurance so we were happy to get an inferior fix for £275 from the local garage rather than a proper fix from a bodyshop and oem parts which would probably be near £1k.

We now think she is going to try and claim 50/50, we can't prove it was her fault so insurance isn't worth the bother. As a consequence I'm happy to bodge the car and do it myself. If we are forced the insurance route it is going to the bodyshop.

I don't know why you are causing an argument, we are the innocent party and will end up suffering either increased insurance premiums for years or an inferior fix of the car. I don't care about £65 or even £275 as I am fortunate enough not to need it but that isn't the point.

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lost in espace said:

A G1W camera front and rear will cost about £80 for both. I don't let my wife drive without them on.

Thanks, I'll be looking to get dash cams for both cars. 15 years without an incident and now 2 claims within 6 months due to idiots.

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SonicShadow said:

Inferior fix? It's a fking mirror and a bit of paint on a Golf

Scratches and dents, the garage was going to try and polish it out. Having a faint understanding of the laws of physics I doubt they will be able to polish out a dent, hence inferior fix

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saaby93 said:

While we're talking about country lanes though, why is that when on a single track lane and someone is coming the other way in their huge 4x4 school run bus, you politely move onto the muddy bit your side to help let them through, but they'll try to stick rigidly to the tarmac to avoid getting its tyres dirty

It's a 4x4

Funnily enough I've just spent the last hour or so cleaning my discovery after getting it stuck temporarily this morning on the school run letting another car past. Was a bit embarrassing, needed low range and a lot of jiggling to get it out, the mud got over the top of the left-hand side wheels

Country lanes are a nightmare, a few weeks ago I had to chuck my car into the hedge after a school mum coming the other way decided not to wait a few seconds, instead she thought she could squeeze through a gap at 40ish mph that would be tight for a Yaris to get through. I don't know what goes through their heads.

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johnnyBv8 said:

In an earlier comment you said that the colour-coded part was fine - where are the dents and scratches? Mirror housings tend to crack - not dent, and scratches can usually be significantly improved with polish and a touch-up if necessary.

Accidents would be so much easier if people didn't try to maximise the return as soon as someone else is paying; this is often what forces an insurance claim. Insurance claims aren't meant to be about administering pubishment! As you were content with a £65 repair yourself, then as others have said, a reasonable position would be to ask the other driver to pay for the repair that you've already said you'd be happy with - worst case she says no and you pay it yourself and move on.

I give up, you've rumbled me with your cutting insight. There are no dents and scratches and we can get the car put back to its original state for £65. Not that we deserve the car back as it was before some stupid bint that shouldn't have a licence drove into it.

I'm actually no better than an insurance fraudster, I'll get my wife to say she has a neck injury too.

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johnnyBv8 said:

Brilliant hissy fit . Don't post on a forum if you're going to get all butt-hurt with the suggestions.
Your comment about the "moral problem with letting her get away with it" is bks, and the attitude that contributes to high premiums. People make mistakes - doesn't necessarily make them "stupid bints that shouldn't have a licence".

Suggestions are fine, idiotic replies from people who think they are the next coming of Sherlock Holmes less so, especially who use the phrase "butt-hurt" and think it is appropriate language in the UK.

Mistakes are fine, people who cannot judge gaps of over two car mirrors width at close range, see their son driving up to them until they are nearly there and are untrustworthy enough to lie before eventually doing the right thing are why insurance premiums may be on the rise.

I think I've learnt my lesson, pistonheads just isn't the same anymore on certain forums. I've often laughed at people saying that but I can now see what they are getting at.

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johnnyBv8 said:

Sorry sweetcheeks.

p.s. butthurt is in the Oxford Dictionary, so get away with your "not appopriate in the UK".

So is cretin. Why don't you look that one up and also how to differentiate between different versions of the dictionary while you are at it.

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Just to finalise this topic as I hate people never following up with the eventual result. After a bit of negotiation the other woman has paid us £150 to fix our damage with no insurance company involvement. Not completely happy but probably the best we could have hoped for. I got a £65 chinese copy mirror today and fitted it, managed to salvage the colour coded part of the broken one. Just got to get the scratches sorted now which may be a bit more pricey, the dents will probably just be left as too costly to fix.

The pictures below show the damage but not very well, scratches go all the way from underneath the mirror to the rear wheel arch and are much worse in real life, there are also multiple dents on the rear wheel arch which the photos don't show, nor the scratches on the window where the mirror bashed into it.







Thanks for all the useful, and not so useful advice

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johnnyBv8 said:

Obviously you were actually asking a different question, and there was more extensive damage including panel and paint damage, but you only provided the thread with part of the information! Glad you got it sorted anyway.

Edited by johnnyBv8 on Wednesday 5th April 08:30

I hadn't seen the car as I was away but I did mention scratches in the post. Anyway I fixed the mirror perfectly for £65, the paintwork, excluding dents, has been quoted at £400 by both a bodyshop and a smart repair place which is too much. It is going in tomorrow for a polish for £80 to try and make it less obvious. The dents will have to remain.

Overall pretty pissed off