Car damaged by neighbour
Discussion
I came home fro work work yesterday to find damage to the drivers corner of my car, whilst looking at the damage neighbour comes out and says the new driver from up the road had an incident in the morning where she got stuck on their lawn. She would have had to go past my car to get to the lawn. Said neighbour is pretty sure the new driver caused the damage although didn't see it.
Speaking with the new driver her response was I don't know if I hit your car, when i asked how did you end up stuck on someone's lawn, same answer - I don't know. Parents were present and looked as bemused as me.
There is a witness mark of damage at the same height on her car at the same height of the damage as mine. The damage is significant enough to be a few thousand to repair to my car I think.
Checking my doorbell footage I can identify a window in time when the damage occured and it ties in with the lawn incident.
It's a quiet cul de sac and we all know each other, I tried to give them the opportunity to come clean about it but it doesn't seem to happening, what would you do? Do I just contact the other drivers insurance company and explain what happened?
Speaking with the new driver her response was I don't know if I hit your car, when i asked how did you end up stuck on someone's lawn, same answer - I don't know. Parents were present and looked as bemused as me.
There is a witness mark of damage at the same height on her car at the same height of the damage as mine. The damage is significant enough to be a few thousand to repair to my car I think.
Checking my doorbell footage I can identify a window in time when the damage occured and it ties in with the lawn incident.
It's a quiet cul de sac and we all know each other, I tried to give them the opportunity to come clean about it but it doesn't seem to happening, what would you do? Do I just contact the other drivers insurance company and explain what happened?
Do you have the other driver's insurance company details?
If you do I assume the driver or her parents have offered you that. If so, then yes crack on and contact them. If not then I'd go and speak to them again and say that that is what you want to do so would like to have that info. Maybe get a couple of rough quotes to fix it first in order to ward off any "oh, my mate owns a bodyshop, he can sort that for a few hundred quid if we avoid going via insurance" comments.
If they're not amenable to that then contact your own insurer with all the details of time, vehicle involved etc and let them get on with it.
If you do I assume the driver or her parents have offered you that. If so, then yes crack on and contact them. If not then I'd go and speak to them again and say that that is what you want to do so would like to have that info. Maybe get a couple of rough quotes to fix it first in order to ward off any "oh, my mate owns a bodyshop, he can sort that for a few hundred quid if we avoid going via insurance" comments.
If they're not amenable to that then contact your own insurer with all the details of time, vehicle involved etc and let them get on with it.
You ring your insurer. Give them all the details of what happened, the details of the neighbour who witnessed some of the incident and the details of the driver that you believe caused the damage. Ideally get photos of their car too showing the damage
Then let your insurer repair your car and argue the toss with their insurer.
Or you can do it all yourself with little to no knowledge of the legal process that you’re about to embark on.
Then let your insurer repair your car and argue the toss with their insurer.
Or you can do it all yourself with little to no knowledge of the legal process that you’re about to embark on.
In a nutshell yes but obviously you will need the full details first from the driver.
You could also contact your own Insurers anyway.
The damage won’t just polish out and I’d be wary of accepting a cash offer to deal with it unless you have first got a professional repair quote.
I imagine as a new driver they are rather afraid of what will happen to their own insurance costs come renewal.
You could also contact your own Insurers anyway.
The damage won’t just polish out and I’d be wary of accepting a cash offer to deal with it unless you have first got a professional repair quote.
I imagine as a new driver they are rather afraid of what will happen to their own insurance costs come renewal.
alscar said:
In a nutshell yes but obviously you will need the full details first from the driver.
You could also contact your own Insurers anyway.
The damage won t just polish out and I d be wary of accepting a cash offer to deal with it unless you have first got a professional repair quote.
I imagine as a new driver they are rather afraid of what will happen to their own insurance costs come renewal.
So give the parents and her one more chance to come clean or tell them the insurance is getting involved one way or the other. You could also contact your own Insurers anyway.
The damage won t just polish out and I d be wary of accepting a cash offer to deal with it unless you have first got a professional repair quote.
I imagine as a new driver they are rather afraid of what will happen to their own insurance costs come renewal.
Opapayer said:
alscar said:
In a nutshell yes but obviously you will need the full details first from the driver.
You could also contact your own Insurers anyway.
The damage won t just polish out and I d be wary of accepting a cash offer to deal with it unless you have first got a professional repair quote.
I imagine as a new driver they are rather afraid of what will happen to their own insurance costs come renewal.
So give the parents and her one more chance to come clean or tell them the insurance is getting involved one way or the other. You could also contact your own Insurers anyway.
The damage won t just polish out and I d be wary of accepting a cash offer to deal with it unless you have first got a professional repair quote.
I imagine as a new driver they are rather afraid of what will happen to their own insurance costs come renewal.
I can see why some would go the other parties Insurer first rather than their own but either way it’s going Insurance.
There is another thread running about hire car issues and court which involves an AMC which OP also should be aware of .
OP, just go round be polite but firm.
Having just been through insurance one not at fault and one at fault I can say just go through them. My non fault I got my excess back and repair was great car came back better than it was before the accident. (Aviva). Premium went up by about 20 quid. My at fault I pulled out in my Mrs’ smart fortwo and went into the side of a Q5. Offered to pay for repairs but they wanted to go via insurance which was absolutely fine. Insurance premium went up by £70 on her policy. In short use your insurance and don’t bother messing around if they aren’t going to comply/own up. Good luck
Thanks for the replies, the parents have been very apologetic about it but not offered insurance details, they are saying there has been no paint transfer and we're not sure if the damage on her car was already there
Other drivers car is 16 year old, dents all over it, when we were checking her car there was a fresh scrape all down the driver's side door which she also had no clue about.
She would have been reversing past mine, lawn in question is next door to me on the left, I think shes hit mine then panicked and ended up on my neighbors lawn going over some boulders to get onto a steep up hill lawn.
Other drivers car is 16 year old, dents all over it, when we were checking her car there was a fresh scrape all down the driver's side door which she also had no clue about.
She would have been reversing past mine, lawn in question is next door to me on the left, I think shes hit mine then panicked and ended up on my neighbors lawn going over some boulders to get onto a steep up hill lawn.
NicheMonkey said:
Thanks for the replies, the parents have been very apologetic about it but not offered insurance details, they are saying there has been no paint transfer and we're not sure if the damage on her car was already there
Other drivers car is 16 year old, dents all over it, when we were checking her car there was a fresh scrape all down the driver's side door which she also had no clue about.
She would have been reversing past mine, lawn in question is next door to me on the left, I think shes hit mine then panicked and ended up on my neighbors lawn going over some boulders to get onto a steep up hill lawn.
I think you will have simply have to either insist on her giving you the details now or tell the Parents that you will be contacting your own ( at this stage you don’t have to ie wait for the parents response first ) and / or the Police ( again you won’t because this is northing to do with them ) but people have got to learn to take responsibility for their actions. Other drivers car is 16 year old, dents all over it, when we were checking her car there was a fresh scrape all down the driver's side door which she also had no clue about.
She would have been reversing past mine, lawn in question is next door to me on the left, I think shes hit mine then panicked and ended up on my neighbors lawn going over some boulders to get onto a steep up hill lawn.
Just get the photos of the damage to her car that you think is what she did when hitting your car. Send them to your insurers and let them deal with it
You’re not going to solve this like some sort of car detective. Even if you do, the driver / parents clearly aren’t interested. They’ll carry on denying it to their insurance. Yours will continue to push it and it’ll end up in court. At which point they will fold. They always do when it gets serious.
You’re not going to solve this like some sort of car detective. Even if you do, the driver / parents clearly aren’t interested. They’ll carry on denying it to their insurance. Yours will continue to push it and it’ll end up in court. At which point they will fold. They always do when it gets serious.
Opapayer said:
Just get the photos of the damage to her car that you think is what she did when hitting your car. Send them to your insurers and let them deal with it
You re not going to solve this like some sort of car detective. Even if you do, the driver / parents clearly aren t interested. They ll carry on denying it to their insurance. Yours will continue to push it and it ll end up in court. At which point they will fold. They always do when it gets serious.
This is what I would do. You re not going to solve this like some sort of car detective. Even if you do, the driver / parents clearly aren t interested. They ll carry on denying it to their insurance. Yours will continue to push it and it ll end up in court. At which point they will fold. They always do when it gets serious.
Unfortunately, unless you have an independent witness who actually saw her hit your car, then she will probably deny all knowledge.
Your insurer will have a half-hearted go at recovery but will probably fold at the first hurdle.
Hugely frustrating. It has probably cost these parents an arm and a leg to get their daughter on the road and faced with first year loss of NCB and an accident on her record then second year insurance costs will be eye-watering, so the daughter is likely denying it, and the parents are either complicit in knowing she has done it, or are blindly choosing to believe her version of events.
The long term solution of course is keying every panel on the dad's car when you see it parked out and about away from the home, outside the view of any witnesses and CCTV. (That's a joke, btw, I would never stoop so low)
CMTMB said:
We seem to live in a world now where nobody admits liability anymore. There's no way she did that damage without being well aware of it.
I would give your insurer all the info and let them deal with it.
Spot on. My Z4 got hit whilst parked on a side street and no-one left a note. My fiancé’s smart got hit by a dishwasher falling off of a scrap metal transit tipper. The guy knocked and offered to sort out the tiny scuff it left. Both very easily polished out and touched up, I would have pursued the hit and run driver if I had cctv footage (out of pure revenge) but the scrap man I shook his hand and sent him on his way. Honesty in these scenarios honesty normally pays off. I am sure OP would rather have them pay to sort privately than go through insurance and have their daughter’s premiums go through the roof. I would give your insurer all the info and let them deal with it.
Unfortunately nothing to add but my sympathies.
I absolutely loath people who take the p155 and would be fighting down a deep and unrealistic desire to beat somebody to a pulp. Sadly we live in a decent and law abiding society which means that, sometimes, you just have to accept that some people are scum.
I absolutely loath people who take the p155 and would be fighting down a deep and unrealistic desire to beat somebody to a pulp. Sadly we live in a decent and law abiding society which means that, sometimes, you just have to accept that some people are scum.
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