Where do I stand? Incident with a company owned vehicle.

[Alex106]

Hi all, advice please.

First off I own a Peugeot 106 Rallye, it has the standard white steel wheels as some of you will be aware.

I had an incident with a van which belongs to a well known company which I wont name. In a nutshell, we both came off a small roundabout which then merges straight away from two lanes to one. It is worth pointing out that everyone who uses the roundabout creates a small bottleneck and its a case of one lane goes then the other and so on.

I was half a cars length infront of the van in the left handside lane. He pulled alongside me so our headlamps are roughly at the same point, they were about 3 feet from me. My side of the queue moved and I pulled forwards making my rear lights level with his wing mirror. He then proceeded to move forwards and stop level with my car in a position which meant that if I pulled forwards our vehicles would have contacted. I just had enough room to move around him turning slightly left and at this point he moved forwards aggressively into my lane which resulted in me having to move left further still to avoid contact with the van to a point where I kerbed my wheel. There was also a female passenger in the van who I could see, she was grinning and laughing the whole time the crawling was going on.

Does that make sense of who was where at what point?

To say I was annoyed was an understatement as they were refurbished not that long ago and they were all flawless. I took the number plate down and sent an email to the company. Initially recieving "We will pass this on to management, get a quote for the repair and we will talk to the person in question" I did my part, but the repair was more than a new wheel so I suggested simply replacing it and covering the cost of the tire swap. I was told it was passed on to the MD.

This was back in August. I have had a number of replies from them saying their MD is away, hes busy he will look into it and since then I have heard nothing. I kept on emailing enquiring for progress till September. Still nothing. I rang them last week and spoke to the person I had been emailing and she again said she would pass it to the MD the day after. Another week later and nothing still.

Where do I stand with it. I have no video recording of it. Only that my wheel now has paint missing and all the email correspondence back and forth.

The replacement wheel costs about £70 with delivery from here: http://www.106parts.com/s2/page1.php?area2=3&s...

Here is a photo of the damage:
http://i48.tinypic.com/t71t1h.jpg

Over to you,

Thanks chaps.

[Fun Bus]

Did you inform your insurance company?

Edited by Fun Bus on Tuesday 15th January 16:44

[Alex106]

Fun Bus said:

Did you inform your insurance company?

I did not. Should I have?

[AndyLB]

Either phone the MD up and try to establish a friendly dialogue OR

Grin and bear it. You have no proof, his word against yours, anyone could try a similar story on with any other company to get a refurbed wheel.

There's no official course of action that would have any remote chance of succeeding.

Ideally you should have reported the guy to the police in the first place, kicking up a huge fuss and saying his aggressive driving caused you to damage your vehicle. Still wouldn;t have neccessarily achieved anything but might have made the incident more "tangible" in the eyes of the company.

[Fun Bus]

If you're wanting to try and claim against a third party then my understanding is that you should always inform them. I'm also thinking the action you took could not be proven to be the van drivers fault.

For the sake of £70, I'd suck it up and pay to have the wheel repaired myself.

[Alex106]

AndyLB said:

Either phone the MD up and try to establish a friendly dialogue OR

Grin and bear it. You have no proof, his word against yours, anyone could try a similar story on with any other company to get a refurbed wheel.

There's no official course of action that would have any remote chance of succeeding.

Ideally you should have reported the guy to the police in the first place, kicking up a huge fuss and saying his aggressive driving caused you to damage your vehicle. Still wouldn;t have neccessarily achieved anything but might have made the incident more "tangible" in the eyes of the company.

I have spoken to the MD's PA about it. She is also the one who replied to my emails at the start. Im not bothered about the costs particularly, although as student I dont have a lot of spare money. It would be nice to get a new wheel though. Im more annoyed that whoever was driving thinks its acceptable.

You are right that I could have made it all up. But the case is genuine.

[JM]

Why not just let the van pass instead of damaging your car?

[AndyLB]

Alex106 said:

I have spoken to the MD's PA about it. She is also the one who replied to my emails at the start. Im not bothered about the costs particularly, although as student I dont have a lot of spare money. It would be nice to get a new wheel though. Im more annoyed that whoever was driving thinks its acceptable.

You are right that I could have made it all up. But the case is genuine.

Of course I'm not insinuating that you are lieing - what I'm saying is that other than taking the touchy feely approach and getting them to pay like that, there is no other option. Small claims, insurance etc. would all amount to nothing and if I were in their shoes I would have this in mind also.

[Alex106]

JM said:

Why not just let the van pass instead of damaging your car?

If I had stayed in the same spot just before it happened he would have caught my wing/bumper area with the side. I could have relented before it got to that stage, but I felt he shouldnt push others around. Now I have a damaged wheel and he's got off without penalty.

[JM]

Alex106 said:

JM said:

Why not just let the van pass instead of damaging your car?

If I had stayed in the same spot just before it happened he would have caught my wing/bumper area with the side. I could have relented before it got to that stage, but I felt he shouldnt push others around. Now I have a damaged wheel and he's got off without penalty.

If as described above, then you would be better letting him damage you, rather than you damaging yourself.

[Alex106]

JM said:

If as described above, then you would be better letting him damage you, rather than you damaging yourself.

Just before I moved left my brain figured a wheel is cheaper to repair than a wing and/or bumper.



Do you guys think its worth me actually going to the companys offices as its literally down the road, less than 3 miles away from where I live.

[JM]

Alex106 said:

Do you guys think its worth me actually going to the companys offices as its literally down the road, less than 3 miles away from where I live.

They might make an contribution out of good faith etc, but since their vehicle didn't hit yours I doubt they have much liability to pay anything.

[mel]

You stood up to a bully and got bloody nose for your troubles. Either move on and learn from it or blow it out of all proportion and send them a letter advising what your claim is and that if it's not settled within 14 days you will issue county court proceedings. Then if you are principled enough go the whole hog, issue a moneyclaims on line and see what happens. I would wager that rather than have judgement entered they would send you a cheque but you've got to be prepared for that gamble, they may well feel equally principled and enter a defence.

Personally I'd learn from it and move on, next time give way and save yourself the stress and grief.

[philmots]

I wouldn't of given him the pleasure.

I've had this before when a tatty van or similar has tried to bully me out the way, probably jealous of a nice or sporty car.. I just drop back and ignore them like I'm not arsed (I'm genuinely not arsed, too)

Pay to get the wheel sorted yourself. Live and learn.

[vonhosen]

Alex106 said:

JM said:

Why not just let the van pass instead of damaging your car?

If I had stayed in the same spot just before it happened he would have caught my wing/bumper area with the side. I could have relented before it got to that stage, but I felt he shouldn't push others around. Now I have a damaged wheel and he's got off without penalty.

Looking back do you think it was worth it ?

[ianbr]

you run the risk of getting insurers involved. If the third party reports the incident to their insurers you could then lose any NCB you have and your premium would increase, even if it turned out not be your fault. You should also technically have reported it to your insurers, although I dont blame you for not.
I would get it fixed, send a copy of the invoice to the MD of the company, give them 2 weeks and then it's up to you if you want to take things any further.If you ever get the chance to use the company that were involved, don't and recommend others do the same - will make you feel a bit better, but otherwise you cannot win in this situation..

[lbc]

Alex106 said:

JM said:

Why not just let the van pass instead of damaging your car?

If I had stayed in the same spot just before it happened he would have caught my wing/bumper area with the side. I could have relented before it got to that stage, but I felt he shouldnt push others around. Now I have a damaged wheel and he's got off without penalty.

It's your own fault.

You caused the damage to the wheel on your own car, and therefore only you should be paying for the damage.

If you were stationary and the van hit and pushed you into the curb then obviously the other driver would be liable.

You have to admit on this occasion you made a big mistake.

[Deva Link]

mel said:

You stood up to a bully and got bloody nose for your troubles. Either move on and learn from it or blow it out of all proportion and send them a letter advising what your claim is and that if it's not settled within 14 days you will issue county court proceedings. Then if you are principled enough go the whole hog, issue a moneyclaims on line and see what happens. I would wager that rather than have judgement entered they would send you a cheque but you've got to be prepared for that gamble, they may well feel equally principled and enter a defence.

Do that - the MoneyClaimOnLine thing. It'll make you feel better, but you might lose which means the cost (£40?) of the claim will also be down the drain.

How much is your car worth? If you let him hit you it wouldn't take much for the car to be a write off, and it would almost certainly go 50/50.

As others have said, these incidents are irritating as hell, but if you'd hung back and let the van in then that diffused the issue. I had a similar thing with a Porsche once, and I was thinking he wouldn't risk damaging it, but he did!

[paintman]

Alex106 said:

If I had stayed in the same spot just before it happened he would have caught my wing/bumper area with the side. I could have relented before it got to that stage, but I felt he shouldnt push others around. Now I have a damaged wheel and he's got off without penalty.

In which case its your own fault. You took it upon yourself to drive in an aggressive manner & have suffered the consequences. I take it you have no lawful authority to take other drivers to task over their manner of driving?
Perhaps best to stop posting on a public forum & consider deleting what you have already posted before the company sees it, works out who you are, & tells you what to do with your 'claim'.
File it under 'Things that seemed like a good idea at the time'

Edited by paintman on Tuesday 15th January 18:44

[Alex106]

vonhosen said:

Looking back do you think it was worth it ?

No I dont.