6 year old son collided with car

[SaviTavi]

A woman is trying to bill us for damage to her car after she was coming out of a cul de sac and collided with my 6 year old son on his friends bike. She was coming straight on (was luckily slowing down) and my son collided into the side of her car.
She claims she didn't see him despite seeing him and his friend playing as she went into the cul de sac and thinks we should pay for the damage to the side of her car to stop her insurance increasing. While I was sympathetic because she uses her car for work (and was driving away from a job) my son was Injured from the handle bars hitting his chest and I took him to A&E to get checked over. He's got minor bruising. The woman has been rather cheeky and messaged half an invoice of "damage estimates" which have been hand written and have no header from a garage. My son dented the wing panel and the handle bars have scratched the passenger door. These estimates are from a family friends garage.
She's not reported the incident to the police but is demanding we pay. She hurt my son and I'm cross she's trying to get about 400 quid from us.
Legally do we have to pay?

Is the bike damaged? I’d be sending her an hand written invoice for a new bike and the necessary things to make your son feel better sooner. You know, the important stuff like magazines to read while he recovers, goodies.. the usual.

Just when I thought the idiotic posts on this thread could not become more idiotic, they do.

@ElaineMarieBenes

Tell her to start CC proceedings against your DS? She has insurance and should report to her provider - in not reporting the accident she may be in breach of her policy. You could also tell her you are considering a no win / no fee personal injury lawyer to represent your son regarding the injuries he sustained?

Injuries? Good luck getting a lawyer - even the lowest of the ambulance-chasing scum - to take on a case where a child ran into the side of a car and got "minor bruises".

@ElaineMarieBenes

Tell her to start CC proceedings against your DS? She has insurance and should report to her provider - in not reporting the accident she may be in breach of her policy. You could also tell her you are considering a no win / no fee personal injury lawyer to represent your son regarding the injuries he sustained?

Why?

@AlfonsoTheMango

Is the bike damaged? I’d be sending her an hand written invoice for a new bike and the necessary things to make your son feel better sooner. You know, the important stuff like magazines to read while he recovers, goodies.. the usual.

Just when I thought the idiotic posts on this thread could not become more idiotic, they do.

You said it. How idiotic

I’m saddened to read some people’s viewpoints about those with very little money. One poster has said “If you were a decent person you would pay the £400”. I expect if she did have £400 OP might be considering that option. It doesn’t make her a dishonourable person just because she can’t afford to dish out large sums of money!
For what it’s worth OP, I would just repeat that you can’t offer her any compensation for the damage so she will need to got through her insurance (she likely won’t bother).
Hope your dd is feeling better now

*ds sorry

OP I think you should just feel grateful it wasn't a less careful driver, your son losing control of his bike and possibly passing in front of a vehicle going a bit faster could have been horrific.

I sympathise about the £400 but I think it's distasteful to try to shift the blame onto the driver. She did not collide with your son and hurt him - he collided with her and damaged her car.

I think honesty would be the best policy here. "I'm really sorry but I don't have the money and I'm not insured - there's no point in pursuing me because I don't have it."

I'd be surprised if she takes it further. But please don't blame her, that's just shitty.

Well I was being lighthearted

My point is; something awful happened to each party involved. A little boy got physically hurt and a grown woman got a dent in her car wing. You’d think she would be slightly more compassionate, while OP’s 6 year old is at fault so should probably hand over his piggy bank

Ok, OP, with the further information about you not having the money available, I'd just inform her of that and tell her she'll need to go through her insurers who can then deal with you directly if they think they have a claim against you.

I wouldn't be admitting blame to her because legally I don't know if you have any. If her insurers do contact you and you're found liable, I'd also be requesting more than one quotation to ensure it's a fair one.

If you had the money I stand by the fact that morally I absolutely think you should pay it and I think PPs are racing to you saying you were "cross" about her trying to get you to pay, when it seems you have no business being cross with her.

On a separate note, are you the one paying for all the individual items in your house that are insured? If so, I would seriously recommend you look at scraping those individual policies and replacing them with one contents policy that includes coverage for them and everything else besides and see if it isn't cheaper and as well as better protection to do it that way.

*reacting

@Baystard

OP I think you should just feel grateful it wasn't a less careful driver, your son losing control of his bike and possibly passing in front of a vehicle going a bit faster could have been horrific.

I sympathise about the £400 but I think it's distasteful to try to shift the blame onto the driver. She did not collide with your son and hurt him - he collided with her and damaged her car.

I think honesty would be the best policy here. "I'm really sorry but I don't have the money and I'm not insured - there's no point in pursuing me because I don't have it."

I'd be surprised if she takes it further. But please don't blame her, that's just shitty.

What a lovely, sensible post. Nice to see some grace amidst the dross.

@Whinge

She hurt my son and I'm cross she's trying to get about 400 quid from us.

Your OP said the above, but your newest post shows she didn't hurt your son. He rode off the pavement into her car, there was no way she could have avoided or prevented this.

I think you're cross she wants you to pay for the damage to her car because you know you should have been supervising your son, and it's this lack of supervision that led to the damage to both her car and your son.

Exactly this - your son was Injured because he drove into the side of her car. She didn't hurt him, she didn't hit him. It's a complete accident, but as your child caused damage, yes you should pay. Accidents happen, and you know to be careful in future. You've had a nasty shock and I wouldn't beat yourself up further.X

@tallulahhula27

Imagine hitting a child in your car then having the gall to try and get money for it...

Well OP can only imagine that because it didn’t happen

You might be liable for failing adequately to supervise your child. Also your child may be liable if negligent, and it might be covered by your home insurance.

See this www.inbrief.co.uk/child-law/child-accidents-compensation-liability/

In no way is this the fault of your driver. However the driver should have immediately reported it to the police.

I would tell her to jog on.

Sorry to be direct but it sounds like this accident was due to your son not being able to control his bike. Her car is damaged. You are avoiding responsibility based on a technicality. This makes me very sad.

People on Mumsnet really have no idea what having no money is they think you can just magic up £400 from nowhere. That’s my rent. I couldn’t pay that straight away.

Ignoring the actual incident, often insurance plans attached to items are not good value for money. Unless irrelevant as the insurance has been paid up as part of the gift, you should consider buildings and contents as a more reasonable way to protect your expensive electricals.

On the other hand she might also be up against a wall with money and not able to afford the repair / increase in insurance.

@SaviTavi

She's claiming I owe her 400 pounds after receiving an "estimate" from a family garage. Saying the panel of her car needs replacing (it doesn't) She's also only sent the bottom half of the invoice, with no official header from a garage. She didn't report it to the police. She's not asked if my son was OK and I cannot afford 400 pounds.

I know my son caused damage. I know I should've been more vigilant. He's normally a very confident rider but was on his friends bike (as I mentioned). He's a little boy. I don't have home insurance, just individual insurance on different items as they were bought as presents.
I dont know how to come up with that money. I will watch my son more carefully in future. This will never happen again but I asked if legally I had to pay because I have never been in a situation like this.
I'm not denying blame.

You do owe her £400 (which actually is a fairly small amount of money when it comes to car panel damage).** You are entitled to get another quote of course.

All the other information is irrelevant, why does this stranger care that you will watch your son more carefully in future? Why does she have to pay for you mistakes?

Don't get me wrong it is very annoying to have to pay but it is your responsibility, you have a duty to sort it out and show your son how to do the honourable thing.

You do not owe her any money, ignore those ignorant posts. She has to go through her insurance, it is their responsibility to pursue any payment from you.

As said a hundred times, the woman should go through her insurance, the child needs more careful supervision on roads.
The two aren't mutually exclusive.

@Geamhradh

As said a hundred times, the woman should go through her insurance, the child needs more careful supervision on roads. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

Yes this ^^

This is legal matters thread

Many PPs are missing this point

The driver has a legal responsibility to mitigate her losses that means going through car insurance for the repairs. She will be out excess amount. Either car insurance will pursue OP for her child but that is unlikely as they will be worried about child injury claim, regardless of merit. Also you can't claim for increased premiums.
Many people have protected no claims at least for first one that year. So losses would be the excess. That is if the car insurance company chose to pursue it.
So the answer is to tell her to go through her insurance and OP does not have to reply to non legal requests to pay an amount the driver believes she owes her. Moral or ethical issues are irrelevant to what is legally required of OP. This isn't AIBU for peoples personal opinions in rights or wrongs.

So OP listen to the claims adjusters and those that have experience and knowledge in this field.

I doubt an insurance company will pursue a claim in this instance as the costs of solicitors letters will outweigh costs that could successfully be reclaimed. The driver can choose to put in small claims but she will be expected to have gone through her insurance so it will only be the excess she could ask for and a court if it agreed would consider facts that are disclosed , any counter claims and even if successful would likely do a low slow repayment
plan of £5 month. That's my experience of small claims against ppl on me as tested benefits. OP does not need to respond nor worry at this stage. Everyone piling on is not helping her.

Apologies I wrote a misleading sentence juxtaposition in one of the middle paragraphs.

Driver will be expected to go through her car insurance to mitigate her own losses if driver pursued it in a small claims court , if insurance company decided not to pursue claim against OP as a parent for their minor child - and several PPs in the industry have said why they are unlikely to- then the only claim the driver will have is her excess on insurance as that will be her out of pocket.

Courts don't calculate increase in premiums as that is what insurance is for and is not fixed as driver could change her insurance company or policy . Also many people have protected no claims that mitigates this loss further. So it tends to be an unquantifiable amount.

It may not seem fair to the driver if she did all she could. But it isn't for OP to feel obliged to pay for repairs or she has no legal order to do so and it is unlikely she will have. In OPs position where she does not have the luxury of affording to do the moral thing at cost of her rent or food for her child, then she is quite within her rights to not respond unless it becomes a legal matter.