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Original poster

Son knocked off bike, car dented, do I pay?

398 replies

Oliphantitus · 18/10/2019 18:49

Hello, my son was knocked off his bike and left a large dent in the car which knocked him off. I didn't see the accident but he thinks he came out our gate fast, and I think the driver was going too fast as she couldn't stop. ( Son is ok, spent lots of time in hospital but no real injury, phew).

She is sending me the bill through her insurance, but I don't know which insurance I have which will cover it. It happened on a road so don't think it will be home insurance. It didn't involve my car so can't be vehicle insurance? I have no money at the moment so a bit worried. Any advice appreciated...

OP posts:

DriftingLeaves · 18/10/2019 19:45

Is it from the woman or her insurance company?

I've known insurance companies chase cyclists for damage when they were to blame.

Bellringer · 18/10/2019 19:46

Call one of those no win no fee accident claim lionesses, or an insurance claim manager. Her insurance should pay for her car repair and injury compensation for your boy.

diddl · 18/10/2019 19:46

What is the set up?

Was she driving on the road & had right of way?

I can see how it might not be her fault & it doesn't seem fair that she should have to claim on her insurance, but it's not so straight forward when a cyclist is involved, unless they have personal insurance.

bookwormsforever · 18/10/2019 19:46

The driver is always at fault. Always.
Rubbish, @Billballbaggins

OP, I'm very glad your son is safe and unharmed. Sounds like he came out of the gate too fast and the driver couldn't stop in time. Are drivers meant to go at 5mph along all country lanes in case someone comes out on a bike, though? Clearly not.

Bellringer · 18/10/2019 19:46

Lines, bloody spellcheck

GuessWhoColeen · 18/10/2019 19:46

No way Hose. I cant believe she is asking.

Aloe6 · 18/10/2019 19:48

Glad your son isn’t badly hurt. Cars can be replaced unlike people.

I know of a young boy who sadly ran out of his front drive and was knocked down by a passing car. Tragically he died. The driver was found not culpable by the police so it isn’t automatically the drivers fault.

Aridane · 18/10/2019 19:49

I really don't know what happened, and because of this I would like the car to be fixed

No, no and no

Do not pay the woman for injuring your son

Even if you son caused the accident, she cannot issue a demand / invoice to you. She would have to take you to court and prove stuff.

So ignore, ignore, ignore

Aridane · 18/10/2019 19:51

OP, I'm very glad your son is safe and unharmed

The boy is not unharmed- he cannot walk

Billballbaggins · 18/10/2019 19:52

It’s not rubbish, honestly. The default position is that the driver is at fault. Then, if it went to court (and I mean civil court not criminal because that’s irrelevant) the court would decide how much the actions of cyclist/pedestrian contributed. However, at this point it’s not gone to court so at this point in time the driver is at fault. Even if there is no possible way the driver could have stopped in time or whatever the default is the driver is at fault. Any other speculation is irrelevant at this point.

Anyway OP, please please please get your own legal advice. Do not engage with her and do not give her any money. Hope your son is OK.

Minorityreports · 18/10/2019 19:53

Your child is a minor so shouldn't be held responsible by any highway code as far as I'm aware. Open to correction.
I remember one thing my mother telling me when learning to drive was, if you see a ball come out onto the road, it's guaranteed that there's a child following it, so stop.

Thank God I've never had an accident.
She should have been capable of stopping in time. I think her insurance company are chancing their arm.

Aragog · 18/10/2019 19:53

It's not ALWAYS the motorist's fault.

Think all scenarios through a it clearly can't be and online searches would suggest that this isn't the case either.

However, The motorist may well be liable for the cost of their own repairs. But that is very different to who caused the accident and who is at fault.

Original poster

Oliphantitus · 18/10/2019 19:53

Aloe6. It is definitely a wake up call to him to be more careful. He usually is.

To the pp who asked, the road is a single road so no one has right of way and it is a bendy road so sight is limited. I always crawl up because there are always loads of walkers and dogs.
I am very grateful he is not seriously injured. I have not received anything from her insurance, maybe I will not.

OP posts:

PurpleCrazyHorse · 18/10/2019 19:53

Even if you do have some insurance cover through your home insurance, they will only pay out to the driver if they deem you/your son are at fault. They won't pay out just because it's a nice thing to do.

I totally understand why you might want to pay/contribute towards the cost. The difficultly is that if you do, then it might set up some sort of declaration of fault on your side and then what if they go on to then pursue you for more (whiplash, mental anguish!).

I would find out if you have legal cover either through work or home insurance and take their advice.

Isitnearlyweekend · 18/10/2019 19:54

This is an injury road traffic accident. The Police do not have an option but to report it. You need to recontact them and tell them you want it reporting. @Billballbaggins the driver is not always at fault. Yes you should always be able to stop in the distance you can see to be clear, but if someone comes out of a driveway at speed into your path and ends up injured the driver is not necessarily to blame. It will depend on the speed of the vehicle and how close it was to the point at which the kid rode out.

NerrSnerr · 18/10/2019 19:55

She should have been capable of stopping in time.

How do you know that? We don't know how close the car was to the drive when he rode out.

frumpety · 18/10/2019 19:55

Aridane the OP's son has no real injury as stated in her post ? I think you may be confusing her son with someone elses ?

LL83 · 18/10/2019 19:56

OP you sound kind but the driver is not. Any decent person would be grateful your son was not seriously injured and move on. Not cause you more stress.

The driver has car insurance she can claim if she wants.

Glad your son is ok.

Minorityreports · 18/10/2019 19:57

I also know of a boy (my age) so many years ago now who rode his bike out onto the road and was knocked down and killed.

No idea how it fared out (I would have been about 3 at the time) but I'm sure as houses the driver didn't try to fucking sue the parents of the child.

ItsGoingTibiaK · 18/10/2019 19:57

So much ignorance, as usual, from the amateur lawyers on here. The UK, unlike other European countries (notably The Netherlands) does has not adopted ‘strict liability’, and so it is not automatically a driver’s fault in an incident with a cyclist or pedestrian, either legally or civilly.

And of course drivers are allowed to seek payment from others for damage they deem has been caused by them. It doesn’t mean the other party has to pay it, and the driver can then escalate. It happens all the time with, for example, minor scrapes in supermarkets.

If your son had ridden straight into a parked car, or kicked a football through a windscreen, or if a driver had come on here and complained about a ‘yob doing wheelies and damaging their car’ I think we’d be getting very different replies - the point being, without knowing exactly what happened, no-one can actually give you any useful advice. But the hyperbolic responses making assumptions about the driver, and how it’s always the driver’s fault are very unhelpful.

I think you should seek some level of legal advice OP - probably starting with your home insurance - as you may find that the driver has a potentially successful legal case.

namechanger2022 · 18/10/2019 19:58

OP, something similar happened to me many years ago. I was crossing the road and got knocked over by a car. It was my fault as I was not looking where I was going. Driver asked me to sign something saying that, which I did (I was very young and naive at the time). They then tried to bill me for the damage to their car. I told them to bugger off and never heard from them again! They said they were driving a friend's car and I suspect had no insurance.

Tell them to do one, OP. They should be glad that they didn't seriously hurt your son.

BoomBoomsCousin · 18/10/2019 19:59

Apparently parent’s can be held responsible if they are found to have been negligent:
www.inbrief.co.uk/child-law/child-accidents-compensation-liability/
Though it sounds complicated and I’m not sure you could be considered to have acted unreasonably in letting a 12 year old ride a bike on his own unless you know he exits your property too fast and without looking to see if it’s clear (and, of course, the driver could show that you do). But I guess an experienced solicitor would be what you need to give you an opinion on how that plays out if they decided to pursue it. And I doubt the driver will consider it worth trying to pursue if it’s just a few hundred for a dent to be banged out.

FairiesontheSwing · 18/10/2019 19:59

Sometimes drivers cannot stop. Say its a country lane. National speed limit (60mph) but driver is doing 40mph as more appropriate to the road type. Drivers expect those coming out of blind entrances (tractors, pedestrians, bikes etc.) to pause and look before hurtling out. One bike hurtles out of the entrance directly in front of car and is knocked down.

Only way for the car driver to have avoided is to drive at 10mph all the way along the straight country road in case there is a blind entrance.

Who is liable?

darkcloudsandrainstorms · 18/10/2019 19:59

Just ignore it because it is bonkers. There is no insurance to cover it and he has no assets.

If you keep your speed down to 20mph you could save a young cyclists life like I did when they suddenly crossed the road from the pavement in front of me.

If you drive around at 35 mph they would likely have been killed or seriously injured.

FlamboyantBaroque · 18/10/2019 19:59

So if a bicycle is in collision with a car it's always the car drivers fault according to most posters on here. Unreal.

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