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.

Have you building insurance , you may be covered by the legal liability section
DD scratched a car with her bike when she was 6 . Our building insurance covered it . It was a 600 pound bill

Can the OP tell us what make and model of car it is please.

Don't worry about court costs. This will be a small claim if she goes to court so you won't need a solicitor. She has to pay the costs (which are actually very low) and can only reclaim them from you if she wins. You have photos of the scratch. She is going to find it hard to convince the court that fixing that (or indeed any damage caused by a low speed collision with a bicycle) will cost £600, especially if the car is only worth £1k as you say.

If I were you I would insist on an independent engineer's report on the car. If it indicates significantly more visible damage than the photographs you can draw your own conclusions.

If this does go to court I would expect the evidence of a policeman backed up by the other police who attended the scene of the accident regarding the extent of the damage, especially when confirmed by photographic evidence, to outweigh anything she puts up.

I don't know make or model off the top of my head. DH has all of the documents at work with him. Is it relevant?

No buildings insurance, we're in rented accommodation.

Traffic dept may know something that could help. Will remind dh to check.

The traffic cops at the scene all reassured dh it was just something that could be fixed with whatever a 't cut' is. Means nothing to me.

I am reassured that it's a small claims court thing. And that we're not going to be immediately sued for thousands.

T-cut is polish ,so if witnessess thought that the scratch would polish out then the scratches could have only been on the surface and not right through to the base.

Unlss he catapaulted into the back of her at speed, there is no bloody way he caused £500 damage, no matter about £600. She's blatantly taking the piss. I have free legal advice through work - do you want me to ask them what you can do? This has made me v cross.

T-cut is a scratch remover, it sort of fills in the scratch so to speak.

I honestly think that this woman is taking you for a ride, her car was hit by a bike and she's claiming that he did £600 worth of damage. I'm very dubious that she's being truthful, if you do agree to do the work. I would make it a stipulation that you have it done at an independant garage where you both have come to an agreement about the work, not somewhere that she chooses. This way you can be sure that the work that is being done has been caused by the accident.

LadyBiscuit, thank you but please don't go to any trouble. I've gone past anger and am just sad that this lady's after money we don't have.

We're definitely going to pursue an independent garage. I'm rather surprised that she hasn't had the work done already. Clearly it's not causing that many problems for her.

DH said that he would have checked the cyclist was alright, apologised, had a bit of a laugh and shared sigh of relief, exchanged details just in case and not even bothered having a scratch checked out.

It all seems so silly.

Are you dealing with her solicitor or has she put it to her insurance company and they have instructed a solicitor?Its just solicitors time and letters arent cheap nowadays and you said you have had quite a few,so perhaps the extra is for the solicitors fees.

Ok your DH, hit her, if he caused the damage then he is liable to pay but, only for the damage he caused - she sounds like she is taking the piss.

I agree with everything prh47bridge has said. The small claims procedure is straight forward and relatively cheap.

Make it clear that you would like the car to be assessed by another garage of your choice. If she refuses she will appear unreasonable. The fact that your DH has already offered a sum of money will also be taken into consideration and the fact that you have police witnesses who can confirm the visual extent of the damage can only be a good thing.

Does anyone know what the time limit is in the small claims court for this type of action? because it sounds like she's trying to screw you out of as much as she can, while she can!

Well we had letters from her insurance company at first, then the letters started coming from her solicitor. We responded to every letter. We are now dealing with her solicitor. The extra money is definitely for the work on the car. We are not paying for her solicitor.

I am only worried now that because we already asked for our mechanic to look at it (she doesn't know that he didn't quote, just knows that we subsequently accepted her lower estimate), she might say we've had enough time and refuse to let somebody else take a look. But she's moved the goalposts by asking for more money so surely we can check that this money is necessary.

I really don't think that as a cyclist you are liable to pay ANYTHING even if it is was your fault.
i think it comes under "uninsured" other party, as if you hit a pedestrian and your own insurance takes the hit if you want to claim through it. which considering the repair will be minor, no one does.
I'm not v impressed with your dh's police legal dept here, can't anyone give him any better advice?
so what if he claimed responsibility. he claimed responsibility for a "scratch that could have been polished(t-cut) out". not for £600 worth of damage!!

I'd write saying that you've taken advice based on photographs of the damage, & are now prepared to offer £200 (or whatever you think is fair) in 'full & final settlement'; unless a separate assessment confirms her demand is reasonable.

If this is unacceptable to her, she has the option of Small Claims, but I think she'd have to prove the cost of getting the damage made good.

iirc the federation's legal advice was only given at a time before quotes were given. They just (rightly I think) advised that she give us two quotes from separate garages, we execute our right for our own quote and then we go for the most reasonable one of the three. I don't think they know how much she is claiming. They did tell us we had the right to refuse if we thought she was being unreasonable.

I would have thought that having made an offer of one of the quotes that she had provided would have some legal standing.
As you say she has moved the goalposts by asking for extra money,for all you know she could have reversed into a wheely bin since your dh bumped into her and trying to offset her costs onto you,a proper examination of this car is needed,Call me cynical but Christmas is coming.

Raised, for what it's worth - I reversed my car into a tree earlier this year , badly dented the boot and smashed the back windscreen. I had to have the entire hatchback/windscreen and bumper replaced and it cost just over £1,000. I have a reasonable new car too. It sounds as though she is trying to take you for as much as she can.

Without wanting to belittle your situation, I laughed out loud at your DH as 'Robocop'!!

OP I found The Cyclists Defence fund link on the net. It might be worth contacting them with regards to your DH's accident.

I was trying to look for the legal implications of your DH being in an accident but these people might be better placed than me to advice you.

I would also say as it's been put down in the stats as a police accident that the fed have a bit of an obligation to provide you with some assistance.

I think the woman your Dh bumped into is taking the piss hugely. Don't be frightened of her, and don't let yourself be scared by what your mechanic said about her. Of course, if she's like that, any work he does on her car will then mean he has a contract with her, and it sounds like she'd be hounding him forever after to respray/redo the work, etc-not worth his bother.
It's easy for others to say 'just pay up' (ie the mechanic, and the legal dept), but they didn't know how much she was asking for.
The Legal Dept told DH not to pay if he thought she was asking for an unreasonable amount. She is, so refuse to pay.
It's quite possible, as another poster has said, that she's backed into something in the past and done unseen damage to the car, which she is now blaming on your DH.
I once had someone drive into the back of me at low spead and didn't even bother to exchange details, as the bumper was only scratched and it was an old car. It was only later that I found there had been damage which had knocked the chassis out of square and this had put pressure on all 4 tyres, suspension and who knows what else. My (trusted) mechanic told me to always get the car checked if you hit anything.
I'm only telling you this to show that she could have had old damage that she's blaming on your DH. I think you're in a strong position as your Dh is a copper and his mates surveyed the scene at the time. If Dh had done any damage to the structure of the car, he would have done alot more damage to himself and his bike!
Go back to the legal dept, as it was 'officially' recoreded as a 'Police Incident', they should be handling it. Give them copies of all the communication so far and let them handle it. Do not respond to this woman's blackmail (unless it's to arrest her for wasting police time...Oh! and blackmail! ).

I would seek fresh independant legal advice on Monday morning. Is there a local solicitor that offers half an hour of legal advice free?

Take the photos and tell them your story.

Just a thought but have you googled the solicitors address to make sure it's legitimate?

Hope your DH is ok?

I wondered about the Solicitors as well,is it normal practice for a Solicitor to e-mail a third party?I always thought it would have been done by letter.

Hi,

I deal with insurance claims and tbh, it does sound like this woman is taking your DH for ride. The fact that your DH's bike sustained no damage, yet she is claiming for £600 worth of damage just doesn't add up. My position, if I were you, is that your DH can admit hitting the back of her car, but the damamge being claimed for is excessive and in your opinion is not causally linked to the collision his bike had with her car. You have photos of the damage - get a bike repair shop to confirm in writing that your DH's bike was undamaged following the impact. That is your proof that the impact did not have sufficient force to cause the damage being claimed for. You don't have to get your own independent report at this stage to get rid of her but it's up to you if you want to get a further independent opinion - it'll cost you about £100.

Also, if your OH's employer has recorded it as an accident at work, will their employer's liability insurance not cover this? Might be worth making enquiries along those lines - if his employer is recording the accident because it occurred on his way to work as an employee, they might have some involvement?