driver reversed into me - refusing to pay for repairs

Insurance all day. Wouldn’t like to see the premium rise on his Lambo

why not sue him in the small claims court? It sounds like he’s admitted liability so it should be straightforward?

Obviously your fear is that the money you’ll get from your “written off” car from the insurance won’t pay for a suitable replacement, it rarely does.

But the threat of him losing his no claims/the future rise in insurance of a high-value car if you do go through insurance may push him into action.

So try saying “you either pay this price or we go through insurance” and that may make him change his mind.

Could you get a bumper from a scrap yard, would that be cheaper?

If you’ve got dashcam footage, he’s way out of line but this shouldn’t be reported by you to insurance

I had a similar situation, but agreed to go through insurance right away.

The other driver took full responsibility, but his insurers wanted to write it off. But that was if they used their own repairers. They allowed me to use my own repairer. I got a quote, they agreed to it and the money was actually in my account before the repair was done!

Although I had to arrange myself, and was without a car for a few days, it avoided the hassle of having it written off then buying it back (as write offs have to be declared when selling/insuring).

So take your quote to his insurance company and you might be in luck :-)

Threaten you'll go to his insurance. He knows perfectly well he'd be paying more that way.

If you have evidence it’s his fault, contact your insurance and they will clam on his insurance. Your car will be written off but you’ll get a payout.

If you don’t want your car to be written off, I would tell him that is what you plan to do then he will likely cough up. His insurance will be high and a claim will presumably make it higher so it’s probably more cost effective for him to pay for your fix.

Insurance. Of course he doesn't want to pay. Different if it was a small ding that a touch-up would have fixed but he was driving recklessly if you couldn't see a parked car behind him! Or if he was supposed to go forward and was in reverse by mistake he's gone fast enough that imagine that had been forwards and someone had happened to be walking. He should be paying for your damage!

You can still get it repaired as a category....C(??? There's definitely a worth less than repairs cost category) so it's known that it was technically a write-off but not because it was totalled.

Go through insurance. That way he doesn't get away with it.

Go through the insurance as you can claim off his insurance. Your insurers may write it off but I know of people who have bought their car back as they prefer or know that it is reliable or whatever.
The other driver is pulling a fast one - don't let him get away with it. He pays as agreed or watches his insurance go up next time around because you have claimed against him.

Go through insurance. Then he doesn't get away with it. If your car is written off, buy a replacement with the insurance money. I've had a few older cars written off by insurance (other people to blame!). I've only once had to dispute the value offered by the insurance company. It should be the cost of replacing your car like for like.