driver reversed into me - refusing to pay for repairs

Always, always, always go through insurance.

another one saying to go through insurance! And, if you are worried yours will be written off and you won’t get enough from the insurer to buy a like for like replacement, start doing your homework now as to what a properly like for like replacement will cost. 1, because it will help you negotiate with your insurer and 2, because if they are completely intransigent, you can sue the other driver in the small claims court for your uninsured losses so, the top-up cost of replacing your car, anything else which is not covered by your insurer, a small daily amount for the inconvenience of not having a car if a replacement is not supplied whilst yours is being assessed/repaired. It’s likely your insurer will appoint a firm of solicitors to sort this out for you, but as long as you have documentation it’s straightforward to do yourself through the small claims court.

and finally, going through insurance means not only do you get your repairs done with a guarantee of the work, but he will definitely pay more for insurance in the future so win-win!

I reckon he’s just hired it for the day to show off

And your insurer can instantly look up whether the lambo has insurance.

Exactly this.

Have you been through insurance lately? My DS was driving along 28 in a 30 limit. A driver on their phone shot out of a side road and smashed into DS’s side. On dashcam so zero doubt as to what happened. Do you really know what that did to our insurance??? DS was young. It took it from £700 to £2500. Going through insurance does very often not give justice.

Well if you go through insurance, his insurance for his carelessly driven Lamborghini will shoot up. He’s at fault and you have it on tape. I would tell him to either pay the repair bill or you go through insurance. And let him know it’s on tape so his insurance will shoot ip. You have to consent to the car being written off - so don’t.

I feel like shouting this on a daily basis here. THIS IS WHAT INSURANCE IS FOR!

Go through insurance. You should have from the start. Anyone that tells you they don't want to deal with insurance companies isn't doing it for your benefit. Particularly now that he's disputing it.

Tell him he has a choice, he either pays for the repairs immediately or you go through insurance. (Which will cost him.more in the long run).

His choice but the clock is ticking.

I'd go through insurance out of principle me.

I have no idea why my earlier post says shouldn’t and I can’t edit it. You should report to your insurance- they take it on and address it , that’s what is for.

You need to go through insurance, that's what it's for, and it means you'll be covered if anything comes up unexpectedly.

Insurance

Haha you didn’t watch Louis Theroux’ Manosphere documentary, did you?

Yup! Very common.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp858m378y5o

A Lamborghini was among 101 vehicles seized in a week-long crackdown on uninsured drivers, police said. (Lancashire Nov 2025)

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2022-07-11/super-car-seized-by-the-police-after-finding-the-driver-was-uninsured

A Lamborghini Aventador, worth £270,000, has been seized by the police after it was spotted without a front number plate. On further inspection, officers also discovered the owner of the Italian supercar had no insurance. (Milton Keynes 2022).

This is a strong possibility. The consequence of being caught without insurance isn't a high enough incentive, and it appears to be a surprising number of these very high end cars that do this. You can check askMID if you are enquiring about another vehicle involved in an accident.

On a lambo??

Apologies, that's what I meant. Your car should be valued based on what it would cost to go and buy the same car again. So a car that is exactly like your car before it got bashed. Same age, same model, same mileage.
I have managed to get two of my cars repaired and back on the road after being written off, by using trusted repairers. If you wanted to do that you need to ask insurers to leave the car with you, rather than taking it away. The assessor would look at it at your home. You are then contacted and told how much you need to pay to keep it (usually not a lot) and you decide if you want to keep it or have the insurance company get it taken away.
It's a bit misleading to tell Op to threaten to go to his insurance. All she would need to do is contact her own insurance company and they do the rest. But if you're going to do that Op, don't hang about. Some policies have a limit on how long you can wait. He could be stringing you along hoping that you'll go over that limit.

I'll bet he's not insured.

He's being a dick, maybe give him one last chance to pay up before you go through insurance (and take full advantage of the courtesy car and everything else that really bumps up the size of the claim...). It will cost him a bomb next year but if he's too thick to work that out for himself now, it's not your problem!

Go through insurance. Sure, they might write it off, but you should be able to buy the car back if it’s a Cat N or S writeoff, then you can get it repaired but you may need to apply for a new logbook. If the car is nothing special this may not be worth your time, though.
My DH has recently done all of this, same circumstances too, but that was for a rare, though currently low value, Japanese sports car he really really wanted to keep on the road as he’d spent the previous summer rebuilding it.

It’s not like for like, it’s current market value (before accident).

Insurance obviously

I've said you are being unreasonable but only because you haven't gone through insurance- let them deal with it, it's what it is for. He doesn't have to get away with it.

You've got no option but to go through the insurance. If they write it off at least you'll get something and his premiums will go up. He's probably broke, all top show.