Lorry hit my car - issues and questions…

[pidsy]

Yesterday one of our site deliver lorry’s hit my car. I have pics, a dozen witnesses and clear cctv.

Spoke to the driver and turns out it was his first day on the job. He had an experienced driver with him but the new guy was driving at the time.

Issues - his co-driver asked not to go through the company as new guy will lose his job so I said I was happy to get a quote from our local body shop and keep it off the books.
Got a quote this morning - approx £600 to rectify : new rear light, spray bumper and fix/spray rear quarter.
Called him and he thinks I’m taking the piss.

He said he’d rather buy the car as is as he needs a runabout anyway but I’m not interested in that.

It’s an old car - probably only worth a grand but it works and costs pennies to run.

If I go through their company - it’ll get written off without doubt. How does it work with buying it back?

I don’t want the guy to lose his job and I could do without his colleague getting stroppy.

What would you do in this situation?

[C70R]

This is why you pay for insurance. Call your insurance company, give them the details, and let them sort it.

It will go down as a non-fault claim, and won't impact your NCD.

[KAgantua]

Whaaaaaaaat? He doesnt want to go through insurance as matey will lose his job but doenst want to pay a small amoutn of money to repair?

Id be going through their insurance and ceasing all communication with matey boy, sounds like a complete

[sam.rog]

You’ve given him the choice. Pay up or go through insurance.

[ecsrobin]

If he thinks you’re taking the piss tell him you’ll go through the company. Quite simple.

Would a company really let someone go for a minor scrape on day 1?

[mike13]

No idea why he's being awkward, he either wants the guy to keep his job or not. Doesn't take much to rack up £600 nowadays.

I couldn't be bothered with that attitude so I'd personally stick it through insurance, realising it'll be written off.

[pidsy]

Thanks.

More of a sanity check for me.
Never made an insurance claim in 25 years so wasn’t sure if I contact their insurance or mine.

I can buy it back though?
Looking at a replacement means I’ll be well out of pocket if that’s what I have to do.
It’s just a rubbish and dog car but handy to have.

[C5_Steve]

Couple of thoughts:

- Is he really going to lose his job if it goes through the company? My sister was a bus driver for a time and she had a couple of incidents shall we say early on and I did ask her at what stage it became an issue. Lets just say she managed to hit a set of traffic lights and nothing really happened in terms of her job/pay
- I think £600 is reasonable. From the sounds of it he was expecting you to get a second-hand rear light out of a scrap yard or similar and give the paintwork a wipe down. He hit your car, it's not your fault, cheap car or not you're quite right for it to be put back to how it was before he hit it.

If it's that important to him to keep it private he'll pay up, I think he's got a cheek complaining tbh. Just tell him that's fine we'll go through insurance. For that level of damage although it might be an economical write off you should quite easily be able to buy it back.

[carinaman]

Sorry your B6 has been damaged. It looks quite smart.

That rear lens flew a fair way. It reminds me of something from Drop the Dead Donkey.


Pass it to your insurers and let them deal with it. You've been more than reasonable with regard to the probationer potentially losing their job.

[No ideas for a name]

pidsy said:

It’s just a rubbish and dog car but handy to have.

It is annoying when someone damages your stuff, but realistically if that is all the car is to you - doesn't it just need a new light lens or cluster?

[C70R]

pidsy said:

Thanks.

More of a sanity check for me.
Never made an insurance claim in 25 years so wasn’t sure if I contact their insurance or mine.

I can buy it back though?
Looking at a replacement means I’ll be well out of pocket if that’s what I have to do.
It’s just a rubbish and dog car but handy to have.

You should have the option to buy it back. Just make sure you tell your insurance company that this is what you want at the outset. It might not work out financially (depending on your excess, the claim value and the buyback cost), and I can't recall whether it's your 'right' to have the option.

Don't waste your time tying yourself in knots to help out someone who clearly doesn't want to help you. Just go to your insurance company. It's what you pay them for.

[Fermit]

sam.rog said:

You’ve given him the choice. Pay up or go through insurance.

Completely this, he needs to own his mistake. You've been flexible, it really is his call. Also, in case of any use. There is a B6 A4 NS rear light cluster on ebay for £51 ATM, in case that can lighten the bill for him, to show willing.

[MrBen986]

Talking to his employer doesn't necessarily mean going through insurance - if you talk to their fleet/transport manager they will likely be keen to sort it privately to keep their claims experience as clean as possible.

I would tell the guy if he doesn't sort it today you will talk to his employer.

[oldaudi]

Probably not your favourite answer but I’d be tempted just to find a light cluster on eBay , fit it yourself and ask for a crate of beer from the driver.

Or give it to the insurance if he wants to play silly buggers

[Jawls]

If he doesn’t want to go through insurance, he doesn’t get to play silly games when about paying.

I’d be straight into insurance. fk him.

[C70R]

Jawls said:

If he doesn’t want to go through insurance, he doesn’t get to play silly games when about paying.

I’d be straight into insurance. fk him.

This.

I don't get why people are overcomplicating this. Why would you go to the effort of sending him links to cheap parts, or calling up his employer?

Avoiding time-wasting nonsense like this is literally the reason why you pay an insurance premium every year.

[pidsy]

No ideas for a name said:

It is annoying when someone damages your stuff, but realistically if that is all the car is to you - doesn't it just need a new light lens or cluster?

I could leave it with just replacing the rear light but the quarter panel would rust along the edge.

And it wasn’t like that at lunchtime yesterday so why should I accept it any other way?

It’s old and mechanically rough round the edges - but it’s tidy enough.

[Triumph Man]

As said - fk him - you gave him the opportunity, he's being a prick - go through insurance.

[jamesson]

Jawls said:

If he doesn’t want to go through insurance, he doesn’t get to play silly games when about paying.

I’d be straight into insurance. fk him.

Exactly. You've given him a chance, he's not playing ball, tough st. Insurance will sort it out. It may be an old car, but it's your old car and things cost what they cost.

Why should you have to do the running around for something which wasn't your fault?

[duncs]

If I could get some sort of agreement with the driver I definitely wouldn't want to go through insurance. Sure it would be a 'no-fault' claim and it wouldn't affect your NCD but you would have to declare it on every renewal for every vehicle that you insure for the next 5 years, and, it's very likely that you would suffer increased premiums as a result - even though it's 'no-fault'

Although you really shouldn't be out of pocket in any way maybe some pragmatism is to be applied here. Maybe the cost of getting a s/h light, fitting it yourself, bit of T-cut, and 'a couple of £hundred for your trouble' could be the way forward? It looks like a clean car but you say yourself it's not worth a huge amount so is it reaslly worth the hassle and stress to you?

There is one other possibility, sometimes for a small repair companies will settle directly rather than go through insurance, they don't want to pay increased premiums either! You could explore this route?