Rear ended yesterday but third party refusing to pay

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Felstmiester

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 17, 2013
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1,150
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Range rover sport
Nothing major. Pulled up at a set of lights on duel carriageway yesterday in my van. Sat at a standstill with foot on brake for about 10 seconds then bang! I was shunted forward about two foot. Got out to check on driver and damage. Young girl driver very apologetic. Not a major amount of damage to font of her car and my van didn't look to bad. So I took her details and said I'd have a better look when I got home and ring her to let her know.

Got home and realised I could open the back doors of van due to the bumper being bent up on mountings. Due to the fact I needed it for work today I took to a garage and had to have bumper removed, mountings straitened and a bit of bodywork jacked out a few nuts n bolts and a bit of labour.

I phoned the girl and explained I had to get it done first thing as I needed van for work. Told her the amount it cost £230 and she told me to ring her dad.

Managed to get in touch with him after a few tries but he's not happy. He's saying his daughter said there was no damage done to my van. £230 is way to much for what damage he thinks was done and he's refusing to pay until he sees photos of damage ( like an idiot I didn't take any ) I explained to him I had to get it done due to needing it for work this morning but he's saying I should of phoned before I got work done.

I'm not one to claim for whiplash and never have been. I explained to him when he started being funny to me on phone that I've been good enough not to take it through the insurance route and that in a lot of cases people go for whiplash claims when rear ended. He then started laughing and said am I being serious that in an accident with so little damage would result in that sort of claim. He then proceeded to tell me the phone call was being recorded.

Looks like I'm going to have to take this on the chin.

Rant over.
 
I'd take the insurance route and make a claim against the girl. I'd also tell the father he had his chance and now she will lose her ncb for the sake of £230.
Is there further damage that still needs fixing?
 
I'd take the insurance route and make a claim against the girl. I'd also tell the father he had his chance and now she will lose her ncb for the sake of £230.
Is there further damage that still needs fixing?

No. My van is done. I just thought I was doing them a favour by not going strait through the insurance route. I was very ****** off when the father started being funny over the phone but I counted to ten and told him he's welcome to call the garage on Monday because I didn't have pics of damage.

I just can't believe how people can be so petty. If I rear ended somone and they said they didn't wanna go the insurance route I'd be more than happy to pay £230.

The father has texed me since asking for a copy of the quote and pics of damage else he's not paying.
 
Well , his daughter didn't take any photos either.Dad is just a bull5hit artist trying to frightners on you.I do think you should have phoned first - but Dad still would have Bull****ted you.
 
Sorry to hear the news.

I think I'd just let her Dad know that you have reflected upon your conversation, and that you don't want him to feel as though he must meet the cost of his daughter's mistake, but that you just wanted to check it was definitely the case before you get in touch with your insurance company.

Have you checked whether she's insured, and whether it's her policy or not?
 
PS If he asks what you're getting in touch with the insurance for if you've already fixed, then tell him that you want it right. No it's just usable and you were happy with that for the sake of his NCB but if she's not meeting the cost as had been agreed at the roadside then you'll have a proper job done of the residual damage, to make it good again.
 
Call the girl and explain the situation , again, and as she was driving it is her that should be dealing with it not her dad as he wasn`t even present and therefore would be unable to pass judgement as to how much damage was caused by his daughter to your vehicle and record the call before you are accused of being threatening or intimidating.

Failure to engage with you regarding the above should result in plod getting involved which may just give her the incentive to do the right thing.

People like her dad just piss me off , who does he think he is telling you what you should do and what you can and cant claim for when he wasnt even there at the time. She was probably on her phone anyway at the time but that wont matter as daddies little princess can do no wrong and the bad man in the van is trying to pull a fast one.

Does daddy even know how little work is involved to accumulate a £230 bill at a garage now-a-days :mad:

Kenny
 
I'm really not bothered about the money now. I'm just ****** off from the response I've got from them.

I don't want and really can't be bothered to go down the insurance route. Even if he'd said he's willing to pay something I'd be ok with that due to the fact I went ahead and had repair done without calling. But due to the fact I was at the garage at 6:45 am this morning so I could get doors open to start work at 8 I don't think they would've answered anyway lol.

Think I'll just treat this as a learning curve. And if it happens again take photos and go strait through isurance.
 
The police won't be interested now. No injuries and not reported at the time, they've got far more important doughnuts to eat.
 
Its a bummer but at least if you don't get involved with insurance companies you won't have to declare the accident when you next renew. It will slightly increase your premium for the next 3-5 years even though it's not your fault. I'd still get a invoice off the garage and send them it though, cheeky git.
 
Its a bummer but at least if you don't get involved with insurance companies you won't have to declare the accident when you next renew. It will slightly increase your premium for the next 3-5 years even though it's not your fault. I'd still get a invoice off the garage and send them it though, cheeky git.

That is exactly why I'd rather not go that route.
 
When I had a bump I was gutted and it was kind of my fault, so when the guy gave me the option of not going through insurance I bit his hand off. He got a quote for £500 and I paid it immediately without question.

When I was paying nearly £500 a month insurance with a clean record, a claim going in could have effectively made me uninsurable.

This young girl and her dad have been very stupid. You should threaten to through the insurance. Tell them to get quotes for her with an accident on her record and he/she should be shoving the £230 in your hand.
 
They don't need to know this. - All they need to know is if they refuse to pay you will be forced to make an insurance claim, then it's your insurer they'll be dealing with.
 
Try looking at from his point of view. Daughter comes home- Dad- I've bashed the car- what happened- well this man stopped suddenly in front of me and I couldn't stop [ neglecting of course to mention she was texting her mate at the time] Dad has read stories of "sudden stop" insurance scams- remember he doesn't know you from Adam - and when you phone up asking for a cash settlement for a damage repair he hasn't seen/knows nothing about its natural he would be suspicious at first. I would suggest politely but firmly that you are happy to supply evidence of what the repair entailed- a detailed itemised bill should be sufficient, saying again why it was necessary to get it done in a hurry. In addition point out that its probably to everyones advantage that its settled without recourse to insurance claims . Hopefully with the documented evidence /invoice and with a chance to ask around on repair costs he will come round to the idea. It might help to ask if his daughter is OK at the same time? Where you are on weak ground insurance wise is your unauthorised repair and most insurance companies will be extremely reluctant to pay out on something they have had no chance to assess.
 
Completely agree with the above. £230 is few hours labour for a body-shop.

OP - have you got a detailed invoice that states the work was done as a result of the van being rear-ended? I think the only thing you can do send it to her demanding payment. If she doesn't pay try MoneyClaimOnLine, but I wouldn't be confident of winning as you didn't get two or three quotes and give her the chance to agree or go through insurance.
 
We had very similar with the Mrs car a women hit her nothing major said they'd pay for fix etc etc, I got quotes £134 in total to repair rang up to pass the quote on only to be answered by an angry rude and sweary husband telling me it wasn't their fault have witnesses etc etc. I didn't at the time mention the dash cam that recorded the whole thing with my Mrs stopped waiting for traffic to clear when she was bumped into, he rang back a week or so later begging to sort it out cash and cancel our insurance claim against them, I politely refused telling him he had proved to have no class or integrity to honour that word I kid you not he rang the police saying I'd threatened and intimidated him over the phone luckily I'd taken the phone call in front of a few people including my young daughter and a serving police officer so that all went away. Just ring your insurance to recover the costs from the girl they will soon be back in touch at which time you can follow through or cancel claim and settle it leaving it as just a notification on your policy.
 
Completely agree with the above. £230 is few hours labour for a body-shop.

OP - have you got a detailed invoice that states the work was done as a result of the van being rear-ended? I think the only thing you can do send it to her demanding payment. If she doesn't pay try MoneyClaimOnLine, but I wouldn't be confident of winning as you didn't get two or three quotes and give her the chance to agree or go through insurance.

I would take the view that , as the owner of the van , the OP is absolutely entitled to have it repaired wherever he likes . Moreover , as a working vehicle , which was required for work the next morning there was no time to mess around getting multiple quotations : the choice was either an expedient repair which restored the van to fitness for work ( the back door had to open to allow loading/unloading ) or else loss of earnings or a replacement vehicle added to the cost of the repair . By having the van repaired immediately and avoiding these other costs the OP has kept costs to a minimum and his claim is against the guilty party , not their insurer - it is up to them whether to pay up themselves or ask their insurer to step in .

The other party , by virtue of the fact that she ran into the back of the OP's van would have quite a heavy burden of proof to demonstrate why she should not be held at fault ( in as much as she apologised at the roadside , that can be taken as admission of guilt ) , and as the guilty party her agreement to pay for damage is not required , she has no say in the matter and must pay to reinstate the OP to the position he was in before the incident . Unless she can give some compelling reason why this should not be so , the court is likely to find in the OP's favour and award damages plus costs .
 
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