Dd hit car whilst riding her bike

[Sfuandtired]

Dd 17 has collided with a car tonight whilst riding her bike, she was crossing the road and from what I can make out didn’t see the car turning, she hit the car with her wheel leaving a dent and was thrown over the handle bars banging her head on the window, the driver got out, asked if she was ok, took her name and phone number, then said he was late for work and drove of!
Dd has since had a text saying she will be sent a bill and bank details for the damage to the car! WWYD?

Debts can't be enforced against under 18's.

My son did something similar when he was 13 and was taken into a nearby supermarket for first aid. The driver of the car didn't talk to him but managed to get his details from the supermarket and sent me a bill for her broken mirror which I would happily have paid it if hadn't been a ridiculous amount. (£750 - 20 years ago!)

I told her to go through her insurance, they wrote to me and I called them only to be accused by some pompous twat of allowing my son to go around damaging expensive cars at will. I wouldn't deal with them after that so they sent a solicitor's letter addressed to my son. They were horrified when I called to let them know they were writing to someone under age and couldn't get off the phone quick enough.

That was a bit of a palaver though. So I would just tell your daughter to block him

The insurers won't care for such a low value. They will not waste their time. Especially as the OP's DD could counter claim/sue for injury now post collision if she has a bad neck, head, visible bruising or god forbid a concussion. The lack of report from the driver and what could be seen as coercive or aggressive communications to a minor are a no-go.

Insurers - They literally won't care. They will take the excess and move on. Its likely damage to a panel and better off being repaired by the driver by an garage without going through insurance anyway.

If the vehicle is stationary, waiting at a junction, and just gets flown into by a cyclist at full speed, essentially T-Boned -then I understand your viewpoint.

That’s clearly not the case though as she would have seen him straight in front of her. She didn’t see him as he was hidden by the hedge as he came up to the junction.

You haven’t had to pay for bodywork lately if you think it’s going to be a small amount @MintTraybake.

Young adult starts at 18 in the UK. 17 is a child regardless of you believing this is a young adult. This thread seems to have really wound you up, without you even knowing exactly what's happened

@Sfuandtired do you not feel that you and your dd should reimburse the driver for the loss caused by your daughter?

genuinely, I’d want to pay

@Sfuandtired

OP, I would not worry at all. Cyclists and pedestrians are vulnerable road users therefore the driver will automatically be classed as ‘at fault’ with his own insurance. You can report it to the police. Police will likely send a letter to driver to declare his insurance details and be liable for the offences of driving with carelessness and failing to stop and report an accident.

You do not have to pay for anything. He has to go through his insurance…even if technically it was not his fault. You can give driver the option of moving on (you not reporting it etc etc) but if be wants to persist then everything should be done according to the law meaning either he reports himself or you report him to the police and then insurance gets involved…but the law is on the cyclists side…

Why shouldn’t she pay for damage she caused? Sheesh. If someone damaged your car I’m sure you would expect them to pay for it. Take off your rose tinted glasses and tell your daughter she needs to pay up. I can’t believe you think she’s not liable.

This is factually incorrect on so many levels

How exactly is the driver supposed to know her age.
She went into him, she said she was fine, nothing wrong with her calling the police.
Even OP didnt call the police straight away, she came on MN instead! 🤣🤣

Given the speed she had to be going at (on a pavement and the wrong side of the road ) to be flung off her bike I think she wasn’t even looking.

God help any pedestrian in her path!

I see OP hasn’t come back to update on her daughters and her way forward.

Hilarious isn’t it MissBedelia

People really need to read and understand their responsibilities in life.
So many entitled and uninformed these days.

Slowly: Car and cyclist in collision, cyclist went over handlebars and hit head on window. No-one is so obtuse as to think you can detect a head injury from asking person is ok. Car driver should a. Have asked cyclist age, b. Called police and ambulance. c. Failing that should have reported to police within 24 hours.

You don’t have to be going fast to go over the handlebars just come to a sudden stop.

@MissBedelia yeah? Because 3 months ago, this exact same scenario happened to us. Cyclists had dashcam which clearly showed our car stationary at a t-junction and cyclist turned very fast smashing into car. (Poor guy was late to work). Our insurance said exactly this to us and after searching online - forums said same thing. Police letter came through 12 days letter with these offences. Thankfully we had video of stopping, passing info and cyclist dashcam showed car being stationary and police cleared us of offences….did my insurance lie to us? Genuine question…because we had to pay excess to fix car…If so, then I will get them for misinformation….

Let’s just quote this bit of the Highway Code:

Everyone suffers when road collisions occur, whether they are physically injured or not. But those in charge of vehicles that can cause the greatest harm in the event of a collision bear the greatest responsibility to take care and reduce the danger they pose to others. This principle applies most strongly to drivers of large goods and passenger vehicles, vans/minibuses, cars/taxis and motorcycles.”

I have as I reversed into a basement pillar in a London hotel not long ago. It just jumped out at me!
Costs were circa £400 for a small panel repair to the Tessie, but still less than the voluntary and involuntary excess, plus the increase in insurance I was likely to see from a claim.

I have said numerous times I'd also be fuming if the cyclist rode into my stationary car and caused damage. However if both were moving, then it doesn't matter what side of the road or pavement the cyclist was on. One of those unfortunate "non-fault claims" that will result in increases in costs if claimed. If OP decides to offer something as a gesture of goodwill then good for them.
The driver is likely to suffer a lot of costs to go through court if the Op doesn't agree and i don't know the full implications of the OP DD being under 18 either.

Personal level - I wouldn't bother.
For Mumsnet? People will rage and be offended for the other party in this and die on their soapbox.

Really
Man asks female cyclist her age……I’d love to see that thread on MN!
Maybe he has reported it to the police…we don’t know

OP just came on MN worried that she’ll have to pay as ‘dd hit car whilst riding her bike’

She wasn’t posting from the hospital getting her daughter checked over either!

If you were stationary I have no idea how you would be at fault.
Same as the car involved here. But it does mean going through insurers or going through courts and having to prove blame.
Sad times on the excess!!

OP's daughter is 17. Do you seriously think insurers wouldn't pursue a claim against her if she had been driving a car? Why should riding a bike be any different?

You do.
If you’re slowing down because you’re coming up to a junction you have
-time to swerve
-stop
-might wobble the handle bars and fall sideways

not career over the car damaging it.
Like I said before it’s physics but you don’t believe in physics so the reasoning here is getting nowhere.

That’s a very good point!

Have you got legal cover?

It's not necessarily who is at fault, but when the other party is uninsured (cyclists for instance), your fully comp insurance will only pay for your 'losses', which is the damage to your car, because they cannot realistically get it back from the person who caused the damage. Because of that they won't pay personal injury, hire cars, excess etc, unless it is deemed as (A) 'no fault' to you and (B) they have a policy they can recover the money from.

If you have got legal cover you can recoup any other losses (like excess) through that, but it takes ages and a lot of time has to go through the motor insurance bureau.

Insurance companies are the biggest scammers around, telling this poor guy to go through his insurance is just the icing on the cake for him IMO.

If you were stationary I have no idea how you would be at fault.

The same way insurers deem you to be at fault if your stationary and empty car is hit by a driver who then drives away. If the insurer can’t reclaim their costs it’s deemed a fault claim. Crazy I know.

It’s not reasonably foreseeable as a driver that a cyclist will appear from
the pavement across the junction.

it seems accepted that she hit him, rather than vice versa.