Child bashed car door

[stoneyfaces]

This morning I was parked in the school carpark, both me and the next door car were parked properly (neither too close etc) the kid in the back of the next car was jumping around a bit and being a bit silly, but then swung their car door out and took a massive dent out of the side of my car.

It is going to cost a lot to repair- it’s damaged 2 panels and it’s quite a nice car. The mum of the kid said it was just an accident, and I should claim on my insurance- she wouldn’t give me her insurance details as she said it wouldn’t be covered because her car was stationary and it wasn’t the drivers fault (I suspect she might be right). Should she pay out of her own pocket for the damage?

On the cost side of things ... we had a very unlucky spate of accidents over a short period of time a few years back. Long story short 4/5 were non fault however as you'd expect our premiums did go up and as a major one was outstanding (HGV hit us on a roundabout spinning is 360degtees while moving. Scary but miraculously no one injured) as the lorry driver was a lying fucker and dragged it out, come renewal all quotes we're eye watering elsewhere due to this outstanding claim. So we stuck with Direct Line.

When it was finally resolved I called them after moving to get specific dates and recovery costs so I could be accurate in declaring to new insurers. I was absolutely gobsmacked when advised that as 4 were no fault I was due a rebate of what that incident increased premiums by!!! Worked out to be a few hundred quid.so definitely worth checking later.

So many typos. Apologies

You've got four choices here:

1. Go yo her and request she pays, saying you'll put it to the nsurance if she doesn't. But she may still decline.

1. Take it to your insurance company who should get her insurance company to pay but your premiums may go up.

1. Pay yourself.

1. Live with the damage

It may be worth getting a quote for the repair before you make any decisions

Totally agreed the other woman is a bully and an entitled one at that

You did not open the door, nor did anyone else in your car.

A child opened the door in her car and as a driver it is HER responsibility.

We've had it done to our cars - we often park away from others a few years ago a woman putting aa child in a seat and her bottom smacking on her car door as he bends toward and the door hits our new car. I went over as she quucikly looked ack and carried on strapping kid in. We said "hi, but you have just smashed your door into our car and there is a mark on it" He said sorry to his credit and stuck his head back in the car. We had to ask him again and asked who is going to pay for that. He started a small rant as being bust with kid and his wife stood lookingeating a , what looked like a burger - their car was a small, newish car.

We said we need your isnurance he ignored us - so we took pics etc - back home the same day, we tried this scratch remover thing socst us 15 quid, it alsmost did the trick and legt a very small ding - you cant see it unless standign at a certain angle

If the madamge had been greater and as we took pics we would have put it to the insurance and followed through via a Samll Claims route to teach this nasty, careless people that damaging other people hard earned property means you need to sort it out

When it happens, often decent people like us are left stunned as we would never do that and offer to pay via insurance or cash.

These entitled people need a good test of Karma

Well that numbering went wrong!

OR

Small calims and if you have it in you, OP, go down that route.
However, if it is one of those types that is living from hand to mouth and you win in small claims, they will claim they are penniless as they are other than their latest Iphone etc, you may be hard pushed to recover it

In the scheme of things - get a quote re small paintless reapirs or see what insurance says

Good luck

Yes she should pay because her child did the damage but how will you make her if she is saying she's not going to other than contact your insurance company and hope they will deal with it?

This and also tell them she refused to give you her insurance details.

Am I the only one confused with the difference in responses between Ops post and the one about a dog eating a kids football?

According to mumsnet, a child opening a door damaging another person's car, and the parent must pay for repairs, but a dog eating a child's expensive football is just one of those things and the dog owner can walk off without paying a penny?

She should have to pay. I’m not sure how you prove this though but she was bullshitting you. Did you get her reg?

Yes, and based on bitter experience she’ll probably deny having anything to do with it, OP’s premiums will go up considerably for years and it would have been cheaper just to pay out of pocket even if it seems really expensive at the time. It sucks because OP did nothing wrong and the woman is an entitled twat who needs to put the child locks on but that’s just the likely reality. Or just don’t repair it. My car is quite wide so has a few of these small dents clearly from inconsiderate car park twats and more on the back from where I’ve opened the boot and failed to spot overhead pipes in a particular underground car park but I’ve just left them. It’s a thieves favourite so I’m hoping it’ll make it less desirable, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself as a consolation.

There’s something really wrong with the British insurance system though, I had a few no fault claims when living in the US and not once did my premium go up, although I did have to go to the police station once to report a tree as a perpetrator to prove I wasn’t at fault, which was interesting in itself.

Edit: sorry that was in response to @MumblesParty !

I had a no fault claim and it didn’t affect me at all.

Surely if it's a new car you have minor damage protection with the manufacturer so just get it done at the next service. If it's over 5 years surely that's just general wear and tear damage that you either live with, T-cut or get sprayed privately if it bothers you that much. I reversed DHs car into the gate 2 panels sprayed £300 and a lot of remember the time!

Her liability would depend on whether she failed to exercise reasonable care in controlling her child. Arguably she should have had child locks on the doors

she wouldn’t give me her insurance details as she said it wouldn’t be covered because her car was stationary and it wasn’t the drivers fault (I suspect she might be right)

She isn't right.

This link explains that if you damage another stationary car when opening your car door, you need to exchange insurance details.

Yes, it was the child who actually opened the door, but it was her child in her car, so it's her fault. She's talking absolute bollocks.

https://www.rtaclaims.co.uk/post/opening-car-door-hitting-another-car-uk

What a truly shitty person she was. She was wrong too, she has to give you her insurance details and has actually failed to comply with s.70 of the road traffic act. Call 101 for advice if you don't want to call your insurance company yet.

Probably you are.

I assumed it was probably different posters on different threads with different opinions. 🤷

OP, this happened to me once while parked at a petrol station.

I was parked, he was parked beside me (tight spaces but we were both clearly within our lines). He was oblivious to my car, swung his door open with force and made a surprisingly large dent in my car.

Initially he was very arsey about it. I just passed his details onto my insurance (l did have a witness who was also parked). A few days later, I'm assuming after the insurers made contact) he called and said he would settle up all costs. I'm not sure what the insurance company said but I'm assuming it wasn't going to be worth him losing his no claims for.

I hope you get yours paid for too.

@stoneyfaces she’s making stuff up. You can probably get this done by one of the specialist ‘spot’ repairers (you’d be surprised) or a local bodywork specialist so I would get some quotes and she can pay for it. Or she can get quotes. If she refuses then insurance can sort it out. Even if she is not fully comp she must have third party insurance, which is the bit of her policy covering your car. I’ve had this - person paid the garage for me as didn’t want the insurance hassle.

Phone your insurance company give them her registration and let them sort it out

This

Am I the only one confused with the difference in responses between Ops post and the one about a dog eating a kids football? According to mumsnet, a child opening a door damaging another person's car, and the parent must pay for repairs, but a dog eating a child's expensive football is just one of those things and the dog owner can walk off without paying a penny

Dog owners logic.

Someone hit my last year - reversed back into me quite fast. Non fault, no excess & no clams bonus not affected by my insurance went up over £200 & said it was down to that. Did some online quotes both adding in the non fault claim and leaving it off to see if any difference & the claim added beween £150 & £400 with various companies so you may still be penalised but why should you be out of pocket fixing it?

my car had quite a bit of damage as whole front bumper & a side bit needed replacing & i needed a hire car for over a week so i couldn’t afford to fix it myself & had to go through insurance

No wonder insurance companies make so much money. All these fully comp policies with so much reluctance to claim just in case next years policy goes up.

Exactly, same as these drivers opening their car door into the path of motorcycle riders....it's an accident and that's why you have insurance, if someone else did something. Stationary car or not. Driver or not.

She should pay you - morally she is completely responsible. Can you tell her that you don't want to go through your insurance, as it may raise your premium, so you will be sending her the repair bill. If she does not comply, threaten to sue her - even if you don't mean it - a solicitor's letter might be worth the cost, to get her to pay up. And she has her own insurance (hopefully).