Car damaged, admitted liability, won’t pay

[Backtobasics2]

In a frustrating situation where my wife’s friend reversed into her car. Apologised profusely, admitted liability. Just said get a quote and it’ll get paid. Had my wife do a load of running around for quotes, now we’ve had the work done the now ex friend is refusing to pay. It’s not a kings ransom, but it’s enough that we need to find in a month that we weren’t expecting to have to find it. The lady in question can easily pay for it as the brand new discovery will attest to.

There are 3 options in my mind

Suck it up. She found out how little in monetary value the friendship is worth. Had people hit and run cars before etc.

Try again to recover the cost face to face one last time.

Small claims.

Now being a northerner, I’m firmly in option 3, it’s about the same cost as a uk weekend away.

I’m too close to it, so would appreciate views.

[Doofus]

Backtobasics2 said:

In a frustrating situation where my wife’s friend reversed into her car. Apologised profusely, admitted liability. Just said get a quote and it’ll get paid. Had my wife do a load of running around for quotes, now we’ve had the work done the now ex friend is refusing to pay. It’s not a kings ransom, but it’s enough that we need to find in a month that we weren’t expecting to have to find it. The lady in question can easily pay for it as the brand new discovery will attest to.

There are 3 options in my mind

Suck it up. She found out how little in monetary value the friendship is worth. Had people hit and run cars before etc.

Try again to recover the cost face to face one last time.

Small claims.

Now being a northerner, I’m firmly in option 3, it’s about the same cost as a uk weekend away.

I’m too close to it, so would appreciate views.

Tell your insurer.

[texaxile]

It's bad form to make a promise then renege on it as the friend has done, I'd speak nicely and ask why they are refusing to pay and why you feel you should be out of pocket for their mistake, and mention that if it's going through Insurance, it'll will mean a claim against them. Maybe suggest going halves if it keep the relationship and friendship intact and it doesn't worry you too much.

I'm not sure if admitting verbal liability carries any weight in a small claims court if it wasn't done in front of a witness.

[alscar]

Backtobasics2 said:

In a frustrating situation where my wife’s friend reversed into her car. Apologised profusely, admitted liability. Just said get a quote and it’ll get paid. Had my wife do a load of running around for quotes, now we’ve had the work done the now ex friend is refusing to pay. It’s not a kings ransom, but it’s enough that we need to find in a month that we weren’t expecting to have to find it. The lady in question can easily pay for it as the brand new discovery will attest to.

There are 3 options in my mind

Suck it up. She found out how little in monetary value the friendship is worth. Had people hit and run cars before etc.

Try again to recover the cost face to face one last time.

Small claims.

Now being a northerner, I’m firmly in option 3, it’s about the same cost as a uk weekend away.

I’m too close to it, so would appreciate views.

Speak to her one more time and tell her either that she pays or you will be contacting her Insurers.
If she then still doesn’t want to know get in touch with your own Insurer.
I would be doing both / either asap.

[SlimJim16v]

She's a You're better off without her. Either forget about it or go straight to the insurance.

[Backtobasics2]

Insurance didn’t even cross my mind, no idea why. Thanks.

[Red9zero]

Had the same when our psychotic neighbour hit our car. She came round in tears offering to pay for the damage and apologising profusely. It was only a small scrape that cost £240 to fix, so I got it done and my wife took the receipt round. Five years later we are still waiting for payment. Next time we will be going straight to the insurance company.

[Monkeylegend]

No point going through insurance if the excess is more than or close to the repair cost.

[Chozza]

Monkeylegend said:

No point going through insurance if the excess is more than or close to the repair cost.

Go through insurance .. and since other party is at fault claim excess from them ?

[Alex Z]

Is any of this written down anywhere? You can ask for her insurance details and claim directly from them, but if she denies any knowledge of the incident or says your wife hit her car, it could be tricky.

[Jamescrs]

May be too late to.go through insurance if you have already paid to get the car repaired?

I'd go the Money Claim online route personally

[Heathwood]

Any proof that the friend’s responsible, to furnish insurance company with? My concern is that she would just deny all knowledge. She’s already renegaded on her offer to pay so I would be inclined to assume this is the way she would play it.

Personally, I’d probably engage with the friend one last time expressing disappointment that the friendship was worth less than a few hundred quid. Assuming no go with that, suck it up and write off the friend.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

The ex friend may well have admitted fault at the time, but unless she has contacted her insurer, they won't want to know and she will just deny any knowledge or blame. It will stop there.

If you claim on your own policy, then you will face higher premiums and/or loss of ncd.

In short, unless she pays, you're stuffed.

[Chrisgr31]

How did she reverse in to it? What evidence do you have that she reversed in to it and your partner didnt drive in to her? She might change her story to the insurance company.

Anyway the insurance company wont be happy its fixed etc and if you arent going through their repairer there could be an additional excess to pay.

I'd go small claims court

[Jordie Barretts sock]

There is no proof. Small claims court (MCoL) won't work.

All this talk of litigation. Unless there is proof it's a money pit of loss chasing a claim.

[MDMA .]

Go round during the night as smash hers up. Screwdriver through each sidewall too.







Maybe don’t do this

[leef44]

Perhaps she saw the quote and decided she would claim through insurance after all. Insurance company says you must not admit liability and must let them deal with it. And here we are.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Jordie Barretts sock said:

There is no proof. Small claims court (MCoL) won't work.

All this talk of litigation. Unless there is proof it's a money pit of loss chasing a claim.

Not many people actually are happy to lie thru their teeth in a court of law. So it's well worth doing.

[Jordie Barretts sock]

For it to get that far, it will cost the OP many times the cost of the repair with no guarantee of a result, let alone costs. Costs would be highly unlikely and it's a case of 'he said, she said'. No court would waste their time.

[QBee]

Backtobasics2 said:

......... The lady in question can easily pay for it as the brand new discovery will attest to........

No, all this shows is that she is willing to spend £600+ a month on a PCP to look flash (or it's a company car).
It doesn't mean she owns the car or has paid for it in full, or has any more spare cash than you do.
It just means she's shallow.

Here's the answer if you google the question: "How many new cars are bought on PCP?"

About 90% of all private new car purchases in the UK are paid for using a PCP, which is a staggering statistic. It's far and away the most common way for a consumer to finance a new car, with a hire purchase, personal contract hire, bank loan or any other type of funding simply making up the remaining 10%.