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?

@lifeisacarcrash

Just a warning. Beware of We Buy Any Car. If the online valuation is £560, by the time they've been over it with a magnifying glass, the actual offer will be more like £5.60. That is NOT an exaggeration. You'd get more from the scrappie.

As others have said, go through your insurance and if your car is written off as not economical to repair, you can ask for it back. This happened to me when my £700 car was stolen - only the door and steering locks were damaged but the insurers still wrote it off. I got it back plus about £200 which was enough to replace the locks.

Go through insurance even if it gets written off, that way he won't get away with it. Tell him thats precisely what you will do if he doesn't take responsibility and pay for the repairs.

Hey Op - go through insurance... and cancel the cheque. 😉
Seriously though, good luck with your claim. The outcome might even be better than you expect. The insurance company valuations can turn out quite well, so fingers crossed.

Go through the insurance!

You legally have to tell insurance anyway, whether you make a claim or not.

Straight to insurance if he doesn’t want to pay. Inform him of this and make it clear you aren’t going to accept a lower settlement. His insurance will be affected and the likelihood is he will pay the bill.

He sounds like a dick.

Clever, I like that…

"Official" bodyshops are also more expensive because they are required to provide a courtesy/hire car, as well as having to use new parts etc., so can easily be 2, 3 or 4 times as expensive as private firm Bob on the local trading estate.

If your claiming off his insurance you can refuse a write off and demand that they repair your car.
Its if it was your insurance you were claiming off you would have to accept it and buy it back.

No matter which insurance you are claiming from, you cannot force them to pay for repairs if they cost more than the value of the car. That is the limit of their legal liability.

It will cost him a fortune as his insurance on a Lamborghini will already be high and now he’s at fault. He’s being an arse when he really doesn’t have the upper hand here so I’d go through your insurer and tell him you’re fed up of trying to be reasonable to save him money.

Tell him you will be making the insurance claim if the full amount isn't paid with 24 hours.

Go through insurance but then say you dont want your car written off so can you have a cheque for the repairs, ive had to do this twice as people have hit me and would have written off my car and say you will get the work done.

I would just go to insurance right away. Its not his decision to make.
My car was written off two years ago. Tell insurance you want tk keep the car. They send you the money and you either pay for repairs or get a nrw car and sell the old one for scrap.
Dont sell it to the insurers. They offered me 5 grand for my car for scrap. I then contacted several breakers and sold it to them myself for ten grand. Took me a bit more time and hassle but I doubked what insurers were offering. Plus i got the vale of the car from insurers write off.

I'd go to the police, as his refusal could be an indication he is not insured or perhaps is facing a motoring crime.

When old cars are written off you don’t usually get enough money to buy another. A similar thing happened to me. The quote for repair from the insurance contractors was more than insurance company were willing to pay, so I got a quote myself from another garage, paid it myself then argued that the insurance company were unreasonable to scrap a car for cosmetic damage, when it was in perfect working condition and for its age had very few miles on the clock. I got the money in the end.

You might be pleasantly surprised - three years ago a delivery driver reversed into my parked car (I was in it) and wrecked the driver’s side door handle and dented the door. I was expecting a quick repair, but they said they were writing it off, so I priced up a similar replacement at £1,500, and expected to have to fight for that. They actually offered me £4,300 - I nearly bit their hand off! They did offer me the chance to buy it back, but I wanted to upgrade anyway, so I declined.

Say to him - take it or leave it - or go via the insurance.

Insurance or small claims court.

Tell him you will go through the insurance. If he gets a fault claim on his insurance on a Lamborghini and loses his NCB it will cost him an absolute fortune. You have him by the short and curlies, and he deserves it because he is being a dick. If they do write your car off, buy it back and either drive it with a couple of dents (if it's old, do you really care?), or get a little local garage to fix it. I have bought two back and got them repaired like that, and both times I made a profit. You have nothing to fear except fear itself!

But insurers usually appoint expensive bodyshops. If you buy the car back and get it done yourself it usually costs a fraction of the price.

Always go through insurance

Tbh I don't blame him. I wouldn't spend £1000 to repair a car worth £500. Just claim on your insurance. Your days were numbered with that car anyway.

OP has already got her own quotes to get her car repaired. She wants the other driver to pay the full cost of repairs even though the cheapest quote is more than her car is worth. Regardless of whether she involves insurance, the most she will get is the value of her car. If she insists on getting it repaired, she is going to have to make up the difference herself.

We buy any car will offer you the trade price, not the retail price. Your insurer should offer you the retail price of the vehicle (so enough to go and buy it again). Who is your insurer? When we made a claim it was super easy and straightforward.