Page 13 | 6 year old son collided with car

SaviTavi · 2021-07-28T18:02:17+00:00

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?

tallulahhula27 · 29/07/2021 17:23

Regardless of whether the child rode into the car, the car still injured the child. Genuinely I would be more concerned about the wellbeing of a 6 year old than I would about lining my own pockets.

Having said that, I can appreciate the car needs to be repaired and that's what insurance is for. Accidental damage, which this clearly is.

BoredZelda · 29/07/2021 17:43

Struggling to see how people can't understand how a person can be at fault if they hit the side of a car.

If you are driving along a road and a car pulls out in front of you, you will hit the side of it and it will be their fault. This happened to my husband and the police were clear it wasn't his fault.

That's not so say this woman was or wasn't at fault, and either way she should have reported it the police because a person was injured, but just because he hit her, doesn't mean it was his fault.

MyFartWillGoOn · 29/07/2021 19:40

@BoredZelda

Struggling to see how people can't understand how a person can be at fault if they hit the side of a car.

If you are driving along a road and a car pulls out in front of you, you will hit the side of it and it will be their fault. This happened to my husband and the police were clear it wasn't his fault.

That's not so say this woman was or wasn't at fault, and either way she should have reported it the police because a person was injured, but just because he hit her, doesn't mean it was his fault.

Struggling to understand how, having read all the OPs posts, you can't see how it is clearly her sons fault?

She was approaching the end of a cul de sac and slowing down, he was on a footpath that led onto the pavement, went down a slope and failed to brake so went over the pavement, straight into the road and hit the side of her car.

I think it's been fairly well established he is not legally responsible and the woman should go through her insurers but even the Op admits she wasn't close enough to stop him going over the pavement and into the road.

Hoppinggreen · 30/07/2021 07:21

@tallulahhula27

Regardless of whether the child rode into the car, the car still injured the child. Genuinely I would be more concerned about the wellbeing of a 6 year old than I would about lining my own pockets.

Having said that, I can appreciate the car needs to be repaired and that's what insurance is for. Accidental damage, which this clearly is.

Getting your car repaired is hardly lining your own pockets is it?

HoppingPavlova · 30/07/2021 07:50

Getting your car repaired is hardly lining your own pockets is it?

Well, it could be. For instance someone writes any old figure on a piece of paper, demands the $$ and doesn’t bother to get any work done on the car. They demand a figure but get the car fixed for half of that and pocket the rest. Someone could work with their dodgy BIL who owns a car repair to significantly over inflate the cost of repair, put it on an official quote, spend a fraction on the repair and halve the remaining profit. All sorts happen, people are chancers. I’d never pay anything unless the claim came directly from the person insurance company and I knew I was at fault and didn’t have a leg to stand on.

IWantT0BreakFree · 30/07/2021 07:51

I feel so, so sorry for the car driver. But the law is an ass, so it sounds like you're off the hook OP. Happy days. Such a shame that someone who has done absolutely nothing wrong has to either find a significant amount of money (that she may well not have either) or live with damage to her car that was completely avoidable and caused by someone else. It's entirely foreseeable that an unsupervised 6 year old (6!), on/near a road in a group of kids with bikes, was going to be at risk of being hurt (or worse) by a vehicle or causing damage to someone else's property. That's why most parents don't allow their 6 year olds to play in the road. Your negligence (unfortunately not in a legal sense it seems) has resulted in a significant financial loss to someone who was just going about their business. The fact that you are now also trying to blame her for hurting your son is absolutely disgraceful. As are the suggestions from PPs to threaten her with ambulance chasing solicitors.

vivainsomnia · 30/07/2021 09:15

Here we go! I don't have the money to pay for something I should so I'm going to try to justify why the other person is at fault so I don't have to.

I sympathise with your stress, it must have been frightening and it must be tough to now have to face paying for something when your income is low, but please accept responsibility and teach your kids the importance of doing so. You were wrong in a number of accounts, don't make it even more wrong.

Have you considered too how frightening your negligence would have been for her? I almost hit a kid who ran on the road to catch a ball, when his mother was oblivious talking to a friend. Thankfully was driving under the speed limit and managed to stop without touching him. The mum came and started shouting at me in a very aggressive way. I get that she had the fear of her life, but she didn't consider for a second what I went through. I had nightmare for months afterwards when I didn't stop and hit the kid. It was horrible.

Don't be her!

AlfonsoTheMango · 30/07/2021 10:39

@IWantT0BreakFree

I feel so, so sorry for the car driver. But the law is an ass, so it sounds like you're off the hook OP. Happy days. Such a shame that someone who has done absolutely nothing wrong has to either find a significant amount of money (that she may well not have either) or live with damage to her car that was completely avoidable and caused by someone else. It's entirely foreseeable that an unsupervised 6 year old (6!), on/near a road in a group of kids with bikes, was going to be at risk of being hurt (or worse) by a vehicle or causing damage to someone else's property. That's why most parents don't allow their 6 year olds to play in the road. Your negligence (unfortunately not in a legal sense it seems) has resulted in a significant financial loss to someone who was just going about their business. The fact that you are now also trying to blame her for hurting your son is absolutely disgraceful. As are the suggestions from PPs to threaten her with ambulance chasing solicitors.

Well put. I feel sorry for the driver, too.

MarshaBradyo · 30/07/2021 10:43

@IWantT0BreakFree

I feel so, so sorry for the car driver. But the law is an ass, so it sounds like you're off the hook OP. Happy days. Such a shame that someone who has done absolutely nothing wrong has to either find a significant amount of money (that she may well not have either) or live with damage to her car that was completely avoidable and caused by someone else. It's entirely foreseeable that an unsupervised 6 year old (6!), on/near a road in a group of kids with bikes, was going to be at risk of being hurt (or worse) by a vehicle or causing damage to someone else's property. That's why most parents don't allow their 6 year olds to play in the road. Your negligence (unfortunately not in a legal sense it seems) has resulted in a significant financial loss to someone who was just going about their business. The fact that you are now also trying to blame her for hurting your son is absolutely disgraceful. As are the suggestions from PPs to threaten her with ambulance chasing solicitors.

Ditto well put

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 30/07/2021 11:29

Snap.

Howshouldibehave · 30/07/2021 11:33

I feel sorry for the car driver as well.

It seems that it’s absolutely fine for parents to let their young children cause hundreds of pounds worth of damage to other people’s stuff, because they didn’t watch them closely enough! And fine for the OP to accept she is to blame and say she’d pay if she had the money, but as she’s a bit skint, then she won’t.

chunderwunder · 30/07/2021 16:53

So if a child runs out in front of a car and gets run over, it's ok for the car driver to go after the parents to pay for damage to the car?

That sounds highly unlikely, yet it's the same situation.
(Child 'causes' the accident, driver is not at fault, damage to car). The law wouldn't be different based on what level of injury was sustained.

chunderwunder · 30/07/2021 16:56

It was an accident. The prioritising of a possession over a child on this thread is bonkers.

MarshaBradyo · 30/07/2021 17:00

You can prioritise the safety of a child by letting them cycle in a park or whatever.

But someone has to pay for the damage and it shouldn’t be the person who was not at fault.

Hoppinggreen · 30/07/2021 17:41

@chunderwunder

It was an accident. The prioritising of a possession over a child on this thread is bonkers.

It’s not a binary thing People can hope the child is unhurt while feeling sorry for the poor driver who’s car has been damaged.

IWantT0BreakFree · 30/07/2021 20:13

It was an accident. The prioritising of a possession over a child on this thread is bonkers.

In what way is the car being prioritised over the child? Such an odd and inaccurate way to frame the situation.

The child has minor bruising (from his bike) and there's absolutely nothing in the OP to suggest that the driver would have had reason to believe he was injured. Besides, bruised child or not, the car is damaged and someone (likely the poor driver who is blameless) will have to pay for the repairs.

It was an accident on the child's part but was completely forseeable and avoidable by the OP.