to not pay the woman who ran over my son her car repairs?

[annabel1972]

Hi

Not posted on here before so hello! Also would appreciate help with a dilemma I'm having.

Basically someone ran my son over 2 months ago and she wants me to pay for damages to her car. I have 2 reasons for no wanting to pa (well 3 if Icount being totally skint) but:

1. Whilst I wouldn't say that the accident was 100% her fault in her position I would have stopped in time.

What happened was that I picked my son and daughter up from school (it was really busy as there are 800 children at their school). When we went to cross the road I said that we'd cross when there was a gap but unfortunately my son (8) misjudged it and walked out. I screamed at him and he stopped where he was but the cars wing mirror caught him and was damaged (the glass broke and the mirror was detached). We were all quite shocked by what had happened and I said I'd pay for the damage and immediately took my son to A&E.

Fortuntately my son was fine.

Later on her husband phoned to see how my son was and to say that they'd go through insurance for the damage to the car.

1. I know for a fact that from the paperwork she's sent me she's only paid £25 for repairs but is trying to claim on quotes for over £300. I feel as though she's trying to profit from running my son over as the invoice she's paid is for a part that would be no good unless she's had the other work done.

Now she's threatening me with court and I don't know what to do. My insurers have said I'm not liable and that she's lucky I'm not suing her, but after googling this it seems like such a grey area.

Morally I'd like to tell her where to go - am I being unreasonable?

Honest opinions very much appreciated...

The main thing is your son is okay.

Regardless of who's "fault" it was, an 8yr making a misjudgement is just that! Its no different to someone clipping your wing mirror in a car park, its a pain in the butt, but not the end of the world.

I would be taking all correspondence to the CAB and asking them to help you write a letter to the bailif company director/manager about the threatening behaviour. Chances are she might not have actually got permission to use the headed paper.

I'd leave your insurers out of it nothing to do with them. If she wants to persue it deal directly with the insurance company and advise them your son is very traumtised (even if he isn't) and that you're seeking medical/legal advise.

I would then see a no claim no win solicitor show them the bumpf and let them persue the matter, if you get anything out of it put it in your sons saving account for a raining day.

She is being unreasonable, I hate driving past schools at schools out time and crawl by

A few month ago a woman walked out into the road into the side of my Dh's car and damaged the electric ariel - She was very apologetic and was okay, but his ariel wasn't. At no point did he even think to ask her to pay for it - it cost £250 to replace as it was broken in two. I think the driver is being really unreasonable to ask you to pay anything.

You can buy replacement stick on mirrors from Halfords for £6. If the casing is fixable then £6 for a mirror and a bit to reattach the casing wouldn't come to much more than £25.
If you go to an expensive garage of course it will be more but unless you are very wealthy why would you? Only if you think someone else is footing the bill
This was bad luck for the driver. Bad luck happens. She should fix the mirror as cheaply as possible and write it off. There is no way in hell I would ask the parents of a child I'd hit to pay for repairs.

"My insurers have said I'm not liable and that she's lucky I'm not suing her"

Do you have legal assistance on your insurance? Wonder if you could have a chat with them. If they agree with the above, then get them to put it writing, i.e that you have no liability.

So her DH said that they are going through insurance, you could call their bluff and provide them with your insurance details... your insurance co will just tell them to naff off.

All the correspondence is personal, albeit on her companies letterhead, despite it not being a bailiff matter (she's using that paper to scare you into paying up imo.)

You seem to be well within your rights to say that you've taken advice on the matter, and that you've been advised that you oughtn't to pay anything.

If she continues to pursue this, you will refer the matter to the police.

YANBU
Silly woman.
Tell her to take a short walk off a long pier.

Did she report the accident to the police?
Isn't she legally supposed to if someone is injured?

Actually can your road insurers help in this case? Since you weren't driving but were a pedestrian, it's hard to see which insurance (house or car) could handle it. I think she probably is trying it on, and she was obviously not driving carefully (enough) or she would not have hit your son. My guess is that she's trying avoid handling it through her insurance at all- it doesn't look too good on her record that she hit a pedestrian and her premiums could be massively increased because of it. Defo tell her to take a running jump.

diddl- yes there is rightly a higher duty of care on car drivers. Obviously some pedestrians do not behave carefully, but in an encounter between a car and a person, the person usually comes off far worse than the car (luckily in this case this was not the case) and it makes sense to enforce a higher duty of care on the person piloting the lethal weapon. Common sense (except in the case of 8 yo and 12 yo boys it would seem) usually enforces a certain amount of caution in pedestrians.

I don't quite understand why the driver should absorb the cost of the damage caused by someone else's kid.

The OP has admitted it was the kid's fault, so why is it wrong of the driver to claim it back? Parents are ultimately responsible for their children.

And yes, the driver can be glad that the kid wasn't hurt, but that doesn't change anything about that it was the kid who ran out.

Fwiw, pedestrians of all ages often behave like idiots and step out in front of traffic, cars as well as bicycles, probably feeling safe in the assumption that it'll always be the driver (or cyclist) at fault, even though it's them who are behaving dangerously in traffic.

I'd eat a slice of humble pie and go through insurance. A wing mirror can easily cost 300 quid (the plastic stick on thing from halfords would e.g. not repair a heated, lacquered electric wing mirror

I am sorry to interupt post but find it extraordinary that any one of the past posters could possibly think this action is reasonable on behalf of the driver.

As a driver in charge of a dangerous piece equipment (i.e CAR) you are obligated to be in control of it. It is always the drivers fault when hitting a pedestrian in a residential/school area, that is why there are speedbumps/crossings etc. I admit that for many drivers there are sometimes difficulties in seeing clearly if lots of parents park cars on the road, but all the more reason to SLOW down.

Now if OP hadn't been there and this had happened would she still be liable?, it is easy for a child to misjudge a cars speed as they have no experience in driving themselves so have nothing to compare to.

OP do not pay this woman, out of a matter of principle I would prefer to pay a solicitor £300 for some advice than pay for her wing mirror!!!!!!!!!!!

Admittedly accidents do happen, but that is why we are all insured FFS!

Sounds to me that the driver doesn't want to contact her insurers (who in any other situation would pay up no doubt) as it will reflect badly on her future insurance - by hitting a CHILD not by claiming.

Pls remember:

1. this woman in using threatening behaviour and language when you were contacted by her husband and told that the matter was at a close on the day it occured.
2. your DS is 8 yo
3. you are a responsible parent who went to pick up her children and sadly your child misjudged the speed of the car.

this all screams accident!

Please call a local solicitor and ask their advice or visit the CAB to see what the situation is. Contact the bailiffs co and say you are distressed by the use of this headed paper and you could go so far as to say you have sought legal advice in this matter because you hadn't had any earlier communication about it etc.

You could get petty and sue the woman back (I would but then I am petty!) and use this money to put in to a bank account for your son if you won - which I think you could possibly do. There was a scam years ago where down on their luck people would jump in front of a car for a payout. She should have been biting at your hand so that you don't sue her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long post - sorry, but the woman OP talking about makes my blood want to boil!

agree with widowwadman, tbh if this had been my child i would have just paid the money in the first place and it wouldn't have come to nasty letters and legal action.

Ok OP, on your house insurance there is usually a legal indemnity thingy (technical much?) which you can turn to if you are getting sued. Also sometimes you get legal cover with your car insurance, which is the same kind of thing.

When I worked at an insurance brokers, I was told that if you are driving and hit a child/cyclist legally it is ALWAYS your fault, even if they run out in front of you. As a result I am always ultra careful around bikes & schools. Seriously your insurers are right, she is lucky you aren't suing her. She doesn't legally have a leg to stand on.

Glad your son is alright BTW.

YANBU. This woman is taking the piss. She is using the fact that she works for bailifs and effectively trying to bully you into paying her 300 quid. Even if you were liable and should pay, she should have got several quotes, not just given you a receipt as a done deal.

That happened to me once - I went in the back of someone at a roundabout, totally my fault. The car I went into was an old banger, and it didn't appear that I'd done much (if any) damage. I didn't hear anything from the driver until several months later I received a quote for several hundred pounds in the post. The quote was on headed paper from a company that still had '01' (instead of 071 or 081 as it was then - twas a long time ago) as the London dialling code! I knew instantly that the driver was taking the piss and was probably a bit skint that month, so thought they'd try their luck. I wrote back, asking for 2 more quotes from reputable garages and never heard any more!

She is a chancer and she is abusing her 'power'. I think you have been given some great advice on here - do not pay her a penny. Write to the bailif ombusman to complain, write to the bailifs to complain, call your insurance company's legal people to get further advice, and perhaps all further communication with her should come from them? That should put the frighteners up her!

Am very pleased your DS is ok.

I cant believe this woman!! I think she is taking the pure piss out of you op.

I would not speak to her at all,i would send a letter to the headed paper office & ask them to confer with your insurance comapny from now on & leave it there.

Glad you ds is ok.

look through your household insurance- you will probably have a legal assistance section- this should give you advice. the public liability section may even pay out.

reading between the lines, they have changed their mind about going to their insurers because the insurers in a million years would not persue this against you, they would not even write to you.

anything you said at the scene can be disregarded- shock etc frequently makes people apologise etc- a court would probably disregard it.

it is totally true that accidents are not always the drivers fault- the fact that the damage is to a wing mirror could imply that a child has simply walked into the side of the car.

really- check out your contents insurance- might provide the answer

I do wonder why someone would have this happen and think "I know, I'll post on Mumsnet".

Why's that Dragon?

I am now a bit of an expert at this sort of scenario
I am bvery engry on your behalf.
My child fell of his bike and damaged a parked car. I was stung for £280 which we decided to pay purely on the grounds of they are neighbours and it was going to get nasty and at tne end of the day, we have to live around here.

Legally you are not liable, it was an acccident. Morally, well it's your call.
my thread is here,
there is some good clarification of the legal aspect, if you trawl through my hand-wringing

Would you think "Oh, I know, I'll post on that website I've never posted on before", Rindercella?

YOu should be covered under your Buildings insurance, for your house under the legal liability section.

My DD accidentally scratched a car with her bike when she was 5. I gave the people my name and address and said we would pay, however they started insisted on an expensive repair when it could have been done by someone else for a lot cheaper.

My Insurance company took over everything. They decided to pay out as DD was just out of my sight. But if they had decided I wasn't liable, court would see it the same way.

But they wouldn't deal with the other people direct, they insisted on talking to their car insurers.

Another poster said
"But hang on, an 8 yo misjudging it... - he can't be liable, I'm sure - he'd be way under the age of criminal responsibility, which is 10, and this isn't a criminal matter."

But the parent may be responsible because she didn't have control over him or made him walk out when it was dangerous (not OP case)
My DD was only 5.

The buildings insurers paid out everything and there was no excess .

Ignore my post I should have read the rest of the thread

I wouldn't pay out though, tell her if she really wants her money to go through insurers.

Dragon, lots of people find MN through different ways - how many members are there? 400,000? Then there are probably 400,000 odd reasons why someone has posted on MN.

The OP could have quite easily found MN through googling legal matters.

My first post (under a different nickname) could have quite easily been read as an extreme reason. No-one questioned it though, for which I was grateful. And I posted it in AIBU.

Let's face it, we post anything from bum sex to what's the best primary school in Hackney. This OP doesn't seem odd in the least to me.

Annabel, i work in insurance including a long stint in motor and legal liability claims.

THe reason she is not claiming through her insurance is that her insurance company have told her that she will a) have to pay her excess which is probably around the £200 mark making it not worth it, and b) will affect her No Claim Bonus and cost her a load more money at her next renewal. The reason they have told her that is because they will consider this an own fault accident. They know they have jack shit of a chance if getting a recovery let alone a contribution from you or your insurers.

You said that you initially admitted liability to her. Was that only verbally? Please tell me you haven't put anything in writing!. If it is all verbal then that is good. Pay her NOTHING and make no further admissions. In fact dont speak to her at all. Verbal admissions are not worth the paper they are written on (contradiction intended)

You said she works for a bailiff company and is sending you nasty letters. I believe you also said that you have legal liability cover through your household insurance. Excellent. Tell her to address all future correspondence to your insurers. Give her your insurance policy number or claim nmber if the claims depart ment have given you one and the address of your insurers claims department.

As a claims officer i would dearly love to get my hands on a knobjockey like this. Too often we have to pay out on claims which you just know are inflated or downright fraud. It is soo satisfying to be able to send out a "on ya bike" letter of denial to a claimant like this.

Claiming through your legal liability cover shouldn't have any real affect on your household renewal. Especially where the costs are low and no liability is established.

Good luck. Happy to help further if you need it. Dont be afraid to use your insurance cover. you pay for it, you might as well get some benefit from it!

"Claiming through your legal liability cover shouldn't have any real affect on your household renewal. Especially where the costs are low and no liability is established."

Agree and it really does take the hassle out of it.

She didn't exactly 'run him over' did she

But surely it's for the two insurance companies to thrash out and you can just step away and leave them to it?

Adragonsforlife - MN is a great way of getting advice from other people, trying to find out if you are being UR and getting moral support from people. Please don't knock the OP for wanting to know what to do in a situation in which she is being bullied. Some of the initial thread might say some things that are technically not right (i.e he was hit not run over) but it got you reading didn't it?

It is nice to have somewhere to come to get advice from various people from various walks of life, Dragonfly is a brilliant example of this and imo has given some great advice from someone who works at the other end of the insurance phone. Go Dragonfly - any insurance issue am coming straight to you.

I think issues with neighbours definitely need a different approach than this bullying woman because you don't want to start something that could ruin a longterm relationship and get nasty as this can also now cause issues if you are in dispute when selling you home.