DH involved in an accident in June, other party is asking for more money. We genuinely don't know what to do.

[RaisedFromPerdition]

DH was following a car while on his pushbike in June and the driver braked suddenly to avoid hitting a pedestrian who had stepped out. DH saw what was happening without time to avoid hitting the back of her car. He managed to swerve and only made contact on the bumper.

Obviously he admitted it was his fault as it was but he has no insurance as he was on his push bike. He said he would pay reasonable costs. He said there was a scratch on the bumper but no other visible damage (obviously acknowledging there might be more damage that was unseen).

We had a flood of solicitors letters within a week and finally two quotes for repair. One for £500, one for £700. The £700 one said that the entire rear of the car needed new panels and/or resprays. DH caught the bumper and nothing else.

DH phoned his work's legal advice line and they said to ask for the car to be taken to our garage for a further quote. We trust our mechanic and have known him for years. He said he wouldn't touch the repair with a barge pole. He knows the woman through another incident and described her as 'litigious'. He advised just paying the lower quote and chalking it up as a bad experience.

So we did. We said about a month or so ago just to get the work done for the lower quote and we'd pay it.

We've just had another email from the solicitor. They want another £100 for more work that they've found.

We just don't know what to do. We barely have the £500, now it's £600.

What do we do? Pay up? Hope that's it?

DH was on a pushbike fgs. He clipped her bumper. But the mechanic was very clear. Do not push her unless we want a court battle.

If she hasnt had the repairs done yet, it may be worth asking an accident damage motor engineer to examine the car before the repairs are made.

And admitting liability is fine - she can only claim in court for the actual cost of fixing damage caused by your DH, Not for the general pimping.

It would be a small claims court matter (so cost are limited). Also, you have agreed to pay reasonable costs of repair - so she has no reason to go to court. If she does sue - she has to cough up all the court fees up front, and a judge is unlikely to award her costs (i.e. make you pay them) if you have already agreed to pay for the damage DH caused. As I say though - it is vital that you get your own report on what damage was caused.

Just to stress, dh hit her car. He is happy to pay for the damage he caused. He's a reasonable man. But hundreds of pounds for a blardy scratch?

Right, will try and find out about an accident damage motor engineer.

Our mechanic saw the pics before he saw the car. He laughed and said she was taking the piss. Then he saw who it was and went white.

I don't know why it has to be recorded as a police accident. It just does. He was on his way to work and therefore he was required to let them know.

as fuschia says, ignore her and only if you get a summons pay up. it actually might go against her if she takes it to court. your DH has photos of the damage and the judge may decide that tehre is no way it is £600 worth of damage, also the fact that she has left it so long to get it fixed.

'Then he saw who it was and went white.'

Why, who is she?

well if he's happy enough to pay the damage he caused, get it checked at a garage of your choice and pay the quote directly to the garage. or just offer her £250 and tell her no more.

Couldn't you sue her for your dh breaking his wrist ?

i also bumped into the back of a car a few years ago. my car hardly touched hers as we were going so slow and she jsut decided to stop where she was, maybe her phone went or something. unfortunatly i hadn't noticed whether her car was damaged beforehand but the bump that was there was far too high up to have been caused by my car. she still claimed £7500 of my insurance though as i had no proof if her car was already damaged.

Have you checked with your house insurance company to see if he is covered under the public liability cover?

IMO it was her fault, she stopped too quick - or the pedestrian in fact.

I don't have any advice though, sorry.

To sum up: Get a accident repair motor engineer to make an assessment of the damage. What damage was done to the bicycle? Do not answer her letters.

FA as far as i know, anyone who goes into the back of someone is at fault- you are supposed to keep a safe distance. unless there were excpetional circumstances.

Oh sorry...I didn't realise.

fuschia, I don't know who she is/was. Just that our mechanic had dealt with her before and said she was 'litigious'. He said he wouldn't get involved. He was apologetic but said she wasn't one to let this go without a fight.

Thank you for all of the help.

DH's bike wasn't damaged, which is odd considering it caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to her car. Or maybe dh caused the damage. Maybe he's Robocop.

We're definitely not covered on house insurance. Well we weren't. We are now as we've been stung and learnt a lesson.

We're going to look into an independent motor engineery whatsit.

If you go into the back of somebody, it is always your fault. Sadly.

Were all her brake lights working?

i didn't either FA until it happened to me. the woman infront literally slammed on the brakes and as we were going slow, i wasn't very far behind her, it was coming up to traffic lights so all the cars were closing in together but she suddenly stopped way before the lights, there was a road to the left and i wonder if she had suddenly decided to go that way instead of sit at the lights but i can't be sure. but she really did just stop suddenly, and i had nowhere to go except into the back of her. i did brake as fast as i could but still nudged her. her car didn't even move but when i got out to swap details there was a big dent but way too high up for it to have been caused by my car. anyway my insurance company paid out straight away as it was 'my' fault apparently.

I assume so. DH saw her brake but it was an emergency stop. He wasn't able to avoid her.

God.

Stupid bitch. I hope one day she crashes into a QC.

Riased I would seek further legal advice from your DH's work line and go from there. I assume that what he pays his fees for and especially as it's been recorded as a police accident he should be able to go through it that way. I wouldn't give the go ahead for the work, I would get a solicitor involved and ask them to look over it. Can the solicitor at work do that?

I don't know about the work thing. I know that as part of the federation he's entitled to free legal advice over the phone. But I suspect they'll say he's admitted liability and just to pay up. He will ring them on Monday and find out what they say.

We just don't want to incur more costs along the way. We're in the middle of buying our first house and we're already giving everything we own to the conveyancing solicitors.

Is there anyone he can speak to in the traffic department that could help him?

When My family or I have had bumps and car fires or something, Usually the Insurance Company has sent a Motor engineer to assess the scale of the damage.

It really is worth your while to ask an independent insurance claim assessor to go and examine her vehicle. The cost of commisioning him will probably stop her in her tracks.