Child damages your car....

[Deleted member 6183]

My car damaged a child on a bike.

As a young man I was debt collecting on a rough council estate, I pulled up outside my target house on the wrong side of the road, opened my door and some kid was belting down the pavement and ran flat into the open edge of my door.

He went down like a sack of shit.

 

[SW18]

My car damaged a child on a bike.

As a young man I was debt collecting on a rough council estate, I pull up outside my target house on the wrong side of the road, opened my door and some kid was belting down the pavement and ran flat into the open edge of my door.

He went down like a sack of shit.

I’m not sure it was your car that damaged the kid, unless it had self-opening doors...

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I’m not sure it was your car that damaged the kid, unless it had self-opening doors...

His Dad took a similar take on things as you.

 

[Londonscottish]

I’d like to think I would take the same approach as this too. Despite that the UK is in general a safer place than ever, kids just don’t get enough time playing outdoors these days compared to the past, and I wouldn’t want to making parents even more scared to let their kids out.

Yeah it was great. The girl was a similar age to my girl and the boy to my boy. They were in and out of both houses and were up and down the street on bikes, skateboards and scooters. Great to see.

Sadly, I had to put to cones out sometimes, as one of the neighbours in her Q7 would routinely barrel up at down the (residential, 20mph) road at 40. And oddly enough, some of my other neighbours had quiet words suggesting that I was letting the kids so something "dangerous".

I pointed out that 40 years ago kids would have had free run of the street and I wasn't going to let some self-centred SUV driver ruin it for everyone else just because their kids lived behind electric gates 24/7 and got driven every where in locked 4x4's with privacy glass.

I only ever saw them on the street once in four years, after it had snowed. But that was their lifetyle choice not mine.

Reclaim the streets! LOL.

 

[John]

Good suggestion, if Judge Rinder rules in your favour ITV pays so everyone wins!

Well, I was more thinking of the parallel with real law which I presume the show is based on rather than being on that show per se?

 

[kianok]

My car damaged a child on a bike.

As a young man I was debt collecting on a rough council estate, I pulled up outside my target house on the wrong side of the road, opened my door and some kid was belting down the pavement and ran flat into the open edge of my door.

He went down like a sack of shit.

Did his dad pay for the damage to your car?

Asking for a friend.....

 

[Rory]

I had this with a kid going full pelt down a hill, only young and not been riding his bike long and forgot his brakes and decided to use my car door as a way of stopping, i was not happy as the door was brand new and had only been on 2 week! Parents were apologetic and offered to pay for the damage regardless of cost as the door was 2 week old, i got the quote, gave them it and then decided they would ask their family solicitor, which obviously told them legally they dont have to pay for anything thats what car insurance is for. They came back to me with a letter explaining that they are willing to pay for half of the bill after taking advice from their solicitor...
So just be cautious taking their word for it because they can change their mind overnight once they have seen the quote...

A poster on the first page mentioned that the kids parents house insurance might cover them, and it did when this happened to a colleague. Kid on a trike did hundreds of pounds of damage (and this is some years ago) so the plan was to claim on his car insurance and the kids dad would cover the excess. When he made the claim he was referred to kids parents house insurer who covered it under something like 'occupiers liability to third parties'.

 

[Dukey28]

A poster on the first page mentioned that the kids parents house insurance might cover them, and it did when this happened to a colleague. Kid on a trike did hundreds of pounds of damage (and this is some years ago) so the plan was to claim on his car insurance and the kids dad would cover the excess. When he made the claim he was referred to kids parents house insurer who covered it under something like 'occupiers liability to third parties'.

Thats interesting to know, i think ill look at my home insurance to see if we have that cover.

 

[bayman57]

If people decide to have children then they are responsible for said children so should pay for the damage , there are no such things as accidents even though you hear the word all the time !!

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Did his dad pay for the damage to your car?

Asking for a friend.....

No, he wanted me to pay physically.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I pointed out that 40 years ago kids would have had free run of the street and I wasn't going to let some self-centred SUV driver ruin it for everyone else just because their kids lived behind electric gates 24/7 and got driven every where in locked 4x4's with privacy glass.

Blooming SUV drivers. Flog ‘em I say.

 

[Mactech]

Blooming SUV drivers. Flog ‘em I say.

Yeah, good suggestion! The funds raised (if any!) might be used to pay some of the huge SUV running costs

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Blooming SUV drivers. Flog ‘em I say.

Especially those with more than one.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Especially those with more than one.

Flog ‘em twice. They deserve it.

 

[Londonscottish]

Blooming SUV drivers. Flog ‘em I say.

I wasn't targeting ALL SUV drivers - just the woman from the neighbouring street who drove everywhere in her Q7 at WOT. She was very often visiting her family who lived about half a mile away. But she used our street as a sort of personal Cannonball run. Frankly terrifying to see sometimes. The male family members were no better in their cars - in fact even worse. They would be maxing out Skylines, Bentleys, AMG's and all sorts.

Although having said that there are two women in SUV's in my current street who seem to think that driving flat out in and out of the cul de sac is their right.

Loads of mate have SUV's and don't drive everywhere scattering pedestrians and cyclists in their wake. Unfortunately SUV's do seem to attract that minority of sort of drivers.....

 

[slic350]

Looking for opinions on the right thing to do.

A neighbours child crashed her bike into the passenger door this evening causing a scrape / scratch up the door from the bikes handlebars.

It won’t polish out.

I know who’s child it is and it happened in full view of our camera ( Hence why I was able to identify the culprit! )

Is it reasonable to ask the parents to pay for the damage?

A SMART repair would probably be all that’s needed.

Hi

I have had exactly what you have described above, the parents asked for proof as a means of rejecting what I had seen, I offered cctv footage the parent replied ''how do you know the damage was not there before''.
I spoke to the police and they said that a minor could not be held responsible, furthermore it was suggested that videoing a child could get someone into serious trouble.

We have suffered a huge amount of damage to our cars and property over the years from our neighbours, but it is not as easy as you might think to get anything done, trust me.

 

[219]

Looking for opinions on the right thing to do.

A neighbours child crashed her bike into the passenger door this evening causing a scrape / scratch up the door from the bikes handlebars.

It won’t polish out.

I know who’s child it is and it happened in full view of our camera ( Hence why I was able to identify the culprit! )

Is it reasonable to ask the parents to pay for the damage?

A SMART repair would probably be all that’s needed.

I can appreciate you have to live next to your neighbours, but they have a duty of care to ensure their children do not cause damage or injury to others , and of course that they do not come to harm themselves.

While the age of criminal responsibility is eight and a younger child cannot be prosecuted , the parents are still responsible for the actions of their children.

Since you have video evidence, you would have little difficulty obtaining an award in the small claims court, although I’m sure you don’t wish to go this route .

One possibility would be to place the matter in the hands of your insurer , and let them pursue the neighbours , or you could claim against your insurance as damage caused by persons unknown , and ask the neighbours to pay the excess - difficulty here is there could be a knock on cost with your insurance going up for the next 5 years .

Start by getting a quote to repair then speak to the parents to see what they propose

 

[219]

Hi

I have had exactly what you have described above, the parents asked for proof as a means of rejecting what I had seen, I offered cctv footage the parent replied ''how do you know the damage was not there before''.
I spoke to the police and they said that a minor could not be held responsible, furthermore it was suggested that videoing a child could get someone into serious trouble.

We have suffered a huge amount of damage to our cars and property over the years from our neighbours, but it is not as easy as you might think to get anything done, trust me.

If the child , or any other person , is in a public place , there is nothing in law to prevent their image being recorded .

It is surprising how often the police are ignorant of the law surrounding such matters .

As a professional photographer and videographer, I do know the law surrounding such matters , trust me .

CCTV evidence presented before the small claims court would be quite acceptable.

As for ‘how do you know it wasn’t there before’ , firstly the damage could be seen to be fresh , and the judge would decide whose evidence he preferred , unlikely to be an awkward and evasive parent .

 

[219]

Get a reasonable price for the repair, ask him to meet you halfway. As a BOF, that to me sounds fair.

On the other hand, if he refuses outright and gets gobby, go back that night and smash all his windows.

I wouldn’t advocate doing anything illegal : if the parents refuse to pay , either pass to your insurer , with video evidence, or raise a small claims action where you can ask for reasonable repair cost plus cost of court action .

 

[219]

I had this with a kid going full pelt down a hill, only young and not been riding his bike long and forgot his brakes and decided to use my car door as a way of stopping, i was not happy as the door was brand new and had only been on 2 week! Parents were apologetic and offered to pay for the damage regardless of cost as the door was 2 week old, i got the quote, gave them it and then decided they would ask their family solicitor, which obviously told them legally they dont have to pay for anything thats what car insurance is for. They came back to me with a letter explaining that they are willing to pay for half of the bill after taking advice from their solicitor...
So just be cautious taking their word for it because they can change their mind overnight once they have seen the quote...

Not quite true - they still have to cover uninsured losses .