driver reversed into me - refusing to pay for repairs

[lifeisacarcrash]

A man reversed into me the other day. I parked behind him, a normal distance away. He went to pull out and didn't look in rear mirror, and revved up his lamborghini and crashed back into me. He has damaged my front bumper and grill.
It was caught on dash cam, he admitted full responsibility in writing and didn't want to go through insurance.
I got two quotes to get it repaired, agreed to go with the lower one but he's now refusing to pay it saying my car isn't worth as much as the quote. Fair enough it isn't, but it's my car, that though ancient was in good repair, and now the front bumper is cracked.
If I go through insurance it will be written off as it's so old and not worth as much as the repairs would cost. It is still completely drivable.
I just find it so frustrating that this man can basically get away with making a mess of my car and walk away from it and though it shouldn't matter I do find it particularly galling that if he's driving a Lamborghini he's clearly not short of a penny.
Any advice?

Insurance

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

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.

I'd go through insurance out of principle me.

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 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.

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.

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.

Exactly this.

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

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

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!

Always, always, always go through insurance.

Go through the insurance then buy your car back. We did this, Just ask the insurance company. At least you will have your car and he will have to pay a higher premium next year so win win.

That is why you should go straight to insurance.

Always go through insurance. Something very similar happened to me and he didn’t want to go through the insurance (obviously), but I wasn’t prepared to take the risk of taking his word. It is a hassle but not as bad as having the other party mess you around.

He won’t ’definitely’ pay more - if his ncb is protected, quite a few companies don’t load if it is a first accident in three years (obvs it may not be)

This is why you pay insurance. Don’t let him get away with it.

They can’t get away with it. You have them on dash cam.
you can go to the police.

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

Insurance every time.

Check he has insurance and go through insurance.

If you have it in dashcam and it was less than 7 days ago you can submit the footage to your local police service.

The insurance company will probably allow you to buy it back from them for a token amount and you can continue to drive it (as long as damage is cosmetic)

YABU because you should have gone through insurance in the first place.

Yes, they'd probably write off your car, but you may have been able to buy it back and use the write off money to have it repaired and get it back on the road, maybe by using second hand parts that smaller/independent bodyshops tend to use for older cars.

The insurance firm has to pay you the open market value of an equivalent car of same/similar condition, which is higher than scrap value or we buy any car or PX value. So try to find equivalent cars on the internet or local used car showrooms and provide the insurance company with that evidence.

It happened to us. Idiot neighbour across the road didn't put her handbrake on when she parked in her sloping drive and it rolled back into our old banger. She wanted to pay at first, but soon started getting argumentative about repair costs, so we went through insurance instead, against her will. Car was only worth £1k per we buy any car. But her insurance firm initially offered £2k and we talked them up to nearly £3k because we found similar cars on ebay and auto trader and ours was a lot better because it was very low mileage, full service history, and immaculate condition (as evidenced by photos provided), so after haggling, we got a few hundred more than the others we found which were in poorer condition. We bought it back and had the repairs done, using scrapyard parts sourced by a local small bodyshop, for just £1500. Then it was good as new (or at least as good as it was before the stupid idiot wrote it off). That was 5 years ago, and it's still going strong so well worth doing.

The OP can do that herself too!