AIBU to think my BIL should pay?

[gettingtogrips]

My BIL lives in Paris and came over for the weekend with his son (18mnths old) to join us visiting relatives in Yorkshire. We live just outside London and because with the 2 child seats and 3 adults we would not have fit comfortably in one car we offered him our smaller car to use for the journey. He accepted and we insured him on our policy.

He drove the car through a pot hole at speed and punctured a tyre. The next day he took the car for a new tyre and paid about £60. When he returned the car to us we immediately realised it wasn't right and took it back to a garage to have it looked at. It turns out the (alloy) wheel is buckled and needs replacing at a cost of £285.

So AIBU to think that he should pay to replace the wheel he broke?

YABU, that is what the insurance is for. He already paid £60 to sort what it appeared the initial problem was.
The pothole wasn't his fault.

Is it covered by insurance?

But if I claim on the insurance won't that raise my premiums in the future?

If it was damaged by a pot hole, can't you claim for it? Prob not worth it for the amount though..

Someone with more info will be along soon, I'm sure.

I agree, it's an insurance claim. Wasn't his fault, and he's family, and you offered him the car. Just make a claim.

do you have protected no claims on your policy? If so, just claim and make him pay the excess..

You offered him the use of your car, therefore you accepted the risk of another user.
Insurance is there in case of an accident, there has been an accident and now you can use it.

Yes your premiums will rise, but again, you offered the car to your brother and accepted the risk. Why on earth would you insure him on it if you are then going to ask him to pay the costs of an accident?
(yes, I know you have to do it for legal reasons.....)

It will raise your insurance.

If I were your bil (which I am not) I would be mortified and offered to pay all the damage I caused. I know the pothole wasnt his fault, but as a driver, he should have slowed down. He was driving somebody elses vehicle, and has a duty of care to the owner of the vehicle.

The alternative would have been for him to hire a car, and you kindly lent him YOUR car to save him money.

He might not have seen the pothole.
Was he over the speed limit? How do you know what speed he was doing?

V unfair to now ask him to pay out for this after the car was offered to him as a mode of transport.
Accidents happen.

Thank you for all your replies, I think it's because I would be mortified and pay just like QS has said so I'm a little miffed that he's not done the same. Money isn't tight for him so it's not a huge deal. It's just awkward

It was one of those country roads where it's national speed limit and he originally said he was going at 30, now it's risen to 40 and he hit the pot hole because he had to "swerve out of the way of an oncoming car".

It sounds to me like he was going too fast for the road at that point.

The difficulty with claiming on the insurance, if you have 3 claims within a certain period, you can be refused insurance cover.

Somebody smashed a window on our car in, and we claimed on the insurance. I reversed into a pillar in my local shopping centre car park, and I claimed on the insurance. A refuse collection van undertook me (rather than overtake) and damage the side of my car and the engine. The car was away for 2 weeks, I had a courtesy car, and all was fine, until it was time to renew my insurance.

The premium had SHOT THROUGH THE ROOF, so I called pretty much all insurers in the UK, and NOBODY would insure me because of my amount of claims (which had been reported into some sort of central insurance thingy). I was stuck with current insurer, with a ludicrous premium and access.

So, appeal to his good nature and get your bil to pay.

I would also be mortified to have damaged someone's car that they kindly lent me and would insist on paying the entire cost of the repair. He sounds like an arse.

It is unclear from your OP wether BIL knows about the second cost and wether he has refused to pay it tbh.

He knew we were going to have to get a new wheel and he didn't offer to pay at that point. Now we've researched it and found out the cost, we've yet to go back to him with the details. I'm hoping we won't have to ask him for the money but was wondering whether I'd be right to.

You could maybe ask him to pay the excess on your insurance - how much would that be?
Have you had any other claims in past few years and is your NCB protected?
I personally would be like QS and offer to pay but he doesn't have to - he knows he was insured. (Did he pay you the extra to go on the policy btw?)

We are a little in the same position as you.
We lent our car to a friend who was visiting, and he reversed over a "bump" and tore of some of the bits under the car. It cost £500 to repair it. When he heard what the cost was, it took him a day to consider his options, and then basically told us he would pay for the cost of repairs. He apologized for having taken so long to come to the right decision, and hoped he had not caused us any stress.

Does insurance even cover it?

I did this a few years ago and I was going a lot faster than 40.

I think he should offer to pay. I would had I done it to someone elses car.

I'm sure I've seen advice on here saying to go and take a picture of the pot hole, before they fill it in.

Might be worth contacting the council to see what they say? They may be liable (might be totally making this up, but only quoting what someone else said on here) hth