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.

I think we can counter any suggestion that he was going fast enough to cause significant damage to her car with the fact that his bike was totally undamaged. Surely his bike would have been damaged if he had done £600 worth of damage to a car?

We really don't need this right now. DH has emailed and said he stands by his last email. He would prefer not to go to court and would like to settle the matter now but he will not be paying £600.

He's not afraid of going to court. He was afraid that she could ask for more and more money and we have a child to feed. So it's either acquiesce to her increasing demands or go to court and risk that costing a fortune too.

It's very odd that suddenly it was £100 more. The work hadn't been started, she was still driving around etc, just suddenly wanted more money.

Plus, I don't really see what being a policeman has to do with it. He has only ever been in a courtroom once and it was to say yes, no, yes and give a time.

He knows no more about courts and procedures than anybody else.

That sounded snippy on reflection. Sorry. Wasn't meant to be. Just explaining that dh has nothing to do with courts in his job.

Have just phoned the garage directly. The added £100 is for a new bumper.

The £500 was new panels and a respray.

From what you have described that sounds pretty odd. I'd go over those photos of yours and have another chat with your tame mechanic but if the only damage caused was on the bumper I fail to see how a spray and new panels would stand up in court as a reasonable cost.

I'm just worried that what will happen is the court will say well dh did hit her, a mechanic has assessed the damage and this is the cost. What do photos matter?

I'm now back on we should just pay her and cancel Christmas.

Well she isn't accepting your perfectly reasonable offers. She didn't want to accept the original £500 which you were happy to pay. She wants £600. You said the court cost would be £65 didn't you? In which case worst case scenario is you have to pay £665 but you may have to pay considerably less. I think that for the sake of £65 it is a risk worth taking. Anyway if the woman won't accept the money you don't have much choice but to go to court do you.

Go to court. They will see (clearly) that she has been unreasonable.

Represent yourself. It will save massive costs and it could mean you get listned to. Solicitors get short shrift but people in person are often helped a bit more.

You have witnesses and statements.

Make a final offer and leave it at that. She is the applicant, all costs to go there will be with her.

Stand firm.

Poor you love Why are some people just so horrid?

Do not make any more offers.

The photos matter because there is a disconnect between the damage recorded at the time of the accident and the apparent amount of work required to fix it. This suggests that either the car has been damaged further or the garage is carrying out unnecessary work. That is what this dispute is about.

The hospital notes (provided for work) state that it wasn't anything to do with the speed at which he was travelling, but a 'crushing injury' ie he fell on his hand. It's because it was a road bike and you're effectively fastened to it because of the style of pedals/shoes. You fall differently. V common to damage hands/elbows in that way if you fall sideways. Would have happened if he was stationary and fell sideways.

We accepted the lower quote. We were happy to pay it. We were then asked for more money. Alarm bells started to ring.

The panels are left hand and right hand side rear (above and below bumper) and full respray for the back of the car. He clipped the left hand edge of the bumper only.

All along dh has been utterly reasonable. He agreed in writing to pay the lower quote. He had written a cheque even. Then they wrote again and asked for more money. We took legal advice. They solicitor we spoke to advised that we'd been reasonable all along and actually her behaviour was contributory. The solicitor suggested that an undamaged road bike didn't cause that amount of damage to a car.

We've phoned another garage today. They are accident specialists and are going to take a look for us.

What a horrible, horrible woman :( I don't think I've ever posted on this thread before but I have lurked. I just cannot believe people are so mean to someone who had an injury FGS!

Hope your accident specialists sort it out (and that you don't end up out of pocket more than the £500 you originally agreed to)

Personally I would withdraw the offer to pay anything.

Good luck with the other garage.

Well done on phoning another garage.

Given that it seems your DH has already admitted liability, trying to argue around that would be difficult, even if retrospectively there would be a case to not do so.

It seems the most sensible step is to do what you're doing, which would be to ask for quotes from a couple of other garages as to the cost of repair of the specific damage. Obviously, if they all come back at £600 then unfortunately that is the cost.

Hope you get some sensible quotes back and a helpful response from the accident specialist.

When you say she is going to take you to court what do you mean ? small claims court ?

I wouldn't worry about it too much but i'd make sure you Dh's boss knows all about it so he doesnt find himself up the creek about it at work.

I'm sure the court will find in your favour.

The woman sounds like a maniac.

"DH has offered her £200 as acknowledgment of the fact that he did hit her and scratch her bumper. He has pointed out that he had an adequate stopping distance on approach to the pedestrian crossing, she had to accelerate to past him and then slam on her brakes at the crossing, effectively taking away his stopping distance. He has also pointed out that his bike was undamaged entirely and he can provide documents to attest to this fact.

"

In that case I would stop admitting liability. If she drove in that manner I would see the accident as her fault. If I'm coming up to a junction, crossing, etc where I know I'm going to have to brake I would not overtake a cyclist and then brake infront of them. I would tell her this and then sue her for the injury to your DH. Get a no win/no fee solicitor. Yes he may have said he was at fault at first but he can say he was in shock and now he's had time to reflect and taken advise he's realised it wasn't his fault.

She's accepted joint liability.

We're going to agree to that tbh. It's just a relief not to be going to court. Our accident people will tot up the actual cost and we'll split it 50/50.

Thank you for all your brilliant advice.

Am obv the op but can't namechange, my stumps are hindering me.