Need Advice - Car Insurance knock for knock??

1170 Views 16 Replies 10 Participants Last post by BlowMonkey, Oct 4, 2006

HerbieRidesAgain!

Discussion Starter · Oct 3, 2006

OMG!!! - My little brother scraped together enought ££'s to buy his first car and drove it to school last week because school is near my house and we were going to do the oil change on it that evening. (all properly insured etc.etc.). Anyway, he managed to prang the door of his teachers car whilst parking; A crease about the size of my hand on the back door of her faded purple M reg Corsa. He went to find her and explained / apologiesd etc. and asked if he could pay for the repair rather than go through the insurance. No probs, except she has since gone to the most expensive garage around (Ex-rover main dealer) and got a quote for just under £500!!! - surely more than the value of her battered up corsa.

I have suggetsed on the phone to him that he asks her to take it to the guy who normally does our bodywork and we pay the garage direct, but she is very keen for him to give her the cash!!!.

Where do we stand (I reckon it's about £200 of work) - can she insist on going via the insurance companies?
Will it go knock of knock?
Can I insist that we go to our guy?

Any advice, appreciated.
Thanks.

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SPANNERBOY

· #2 · Oct 3, 2006

as it was your brothers fault,she can take it where she likes ,but suggest to her she is being unreasonable and your man will do it cheaper,alternatively take it to the head of his school and tell him she just realy wants the cash

HerbieRidesAgain!

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 3, 2006

Ta for that.
If she won't budge, I'm not going to give her the ca$h, I'll pay the garage direct, even if it's the expensive one.

Cheers.

CheekyMonkey

· #4 · Oct 3, 2006

HerbieRidesAgain! said:
OMG!!! - My little brother scraped together enought ££'s to buy his first car and drove it to school last week because school is near my house and we were going to do the oil change on it that evening. (all properly insured etc.etc.). Anyway, he managed to prang the door of his teachers car whilst parking; A crease about the size of my hand on the back door of her faded purple M reg Corsa. He went to find her and explained / apologiesd etc. and asked if he could pay for the repair rather than go through the insurance. No probs, except she has since gone to the most expensive garage around (Ex-rover main dealer) and got a quote for just under £500!!! - surely more than the value of her battered up corsa.

I have suggetsed on the phone to him that he asks her to take it to the guy who normally does our bodywork and we pay the garage direct, but she is very keen for him to give her the cash!!!.

Where do we stand (I reckon it's about £200 of work) - can she insist on going via the insurance companies?
Will it go knock of knock?
Can I insist that we go to our guy?

Any advice, appreciated.
Thanks.

its his fault - he has to pay the costs of getting it sorted; but she has a duty to mitigate her loss - that means she's got to take reasonable steps to keep the figure down

he should have reported it to his insurers, so he's not lily white himself and needs to be careful before trying to throw his weight around

She may well not be insured fully comp (on an old car) but even if she is, I can't see her insurers paying out on it and not pursuing him (but I'm not an insurance expert)

But she'll have to at least pay an excess and claim that back if he refuses to play ball for cash and she goes through insurance in the end - which will be a nuisance to her

It does sound like she's just after the cash and not going to get it repaired - why not tell her that you think that's what she really wants, which is fine, but she'll need 2 quotes, one from your chosen guy, and then you'll do a cash deal ?

Once she knows she's not getting £500 cash come hell or high water, she might still prefer £150 to being without her car for a while, having the hassle of claiming, and ending up with no cash, just a dent sorted out on her old car

SPANNERBOY said:
as it was your brothers fault,she can take it where she likes

I don't think that's quite right - it still has to be a reasonable thing to do

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HerbieRidesAgain!

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 3, 2006

Well, just persuaded our panel beater to have look in his lunch break (still need to persuade her), he says it might come out without any need for paint etc. in which case, about £50 should do it. If it needs paint, he says he can do it for under £200 - and I know he's really good. Big difference eh?

I agree that bro's in the wrong, but we've all had a bump and the paperwork is a nightmare - no-one was hurt and neither of the cars is anywhere near pristine (her other front wing is munched!!), all the kid is trying to do is get her sorted without having to pay the insurance company extra on top of his £2500 premium for an 1100 banger! and not pay for any extra repairs as per her 'off the record' request to the guy in the expensive bodyshop, although credit to him, he refused to add-in the other, unrelated dents on her car.

He's given her three options, (i) go through the insurance. (ii) £200 to do with whatever she likes, or (iii) he'll get it repaired with our chap. - I think that's reasonable.

I'm starting to want it to go through the insurance becasue she's being so bloody awful, let her have the hassle of filling out the forms and them writing off her car if she wants to be awkward - they'll pay her bottom book which is about £300.

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CheekyMonkey

· #6 · Oct 3, 2006

all sounds fair enough (though I'd have offered her £150 not £200 if he reckons £200 is the cost

)

Wasn't criticising your bro at all - we've all been there (well, I have anyway!)

HerbieRidesAgain!

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 3, 2006

I didn't take any offence, I know he's in the worng and if it was my car I would want it put right regardless if anyone else thought it was a banger

I'm just a bit protective of little bro' and get p'd off that she's trying to get the wonga, getting the dent sorted on his wing has taken second place to getting her sorted out, he's wroked his backside off with a weekend and evening job to buy this banger and wants to keep it tidy so he can sell it to fund uni next year so it's not as if parents are chucking money at him or anything.

Thanks for all the ideas and support.

garethj

· #8 · Oct 3, 2006

£500 repair bill on an old Corsa? They'll write it off and she'll have to go through the hassle of finding a new car.

I blame the ambulance chasers for 'compensation culture'. If it's all kept amicable and the car is returned to its previous condition everyone's a winner, surely? At least that's how it should be, rather than claiming for whiplash if someone turns their head too fast....

Minor rant over, good luck

HerbieRidesAgain!

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 4, 2006

I'm Furious - SKANKER!!!

Just to give an update for those who were good enought to help out with advice yesterday (and for me to blow off some steam!). The teacher 'refused to discuss the situation' with our kid yesterday, so today he approached her and explained that he would not be able to afford the £500 repair bill and asked if she would take the car to our sprayer who has agreed to let her have a courtesy car for the day the work is done. She said she had personal reasons for wanting to use the expensive garage (but wouldn;t say any more), so our kid said that he would at least like a comparison quote and said that if both quotes were that high he would have to put the claim through his insurance, to which she replied that he was a liar and changing what he had agreed and has told him she will be taking him to the headmaster later today....not sure why?!. I am furious that she seems to be bullying him and abusing her position and has clearly shown that she just wants the £500 ca$h!!.
I've told him not to mess about any longer, simply go through the insurance and if she appraoches him, just say that it's being dealt with.
I'm going to take an hour off later today and go to the school to find out what the hell she's been saying to the headmaster and put an end to this now.
What a Crazy Maisey!!

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Nige G

· #10 · Oct 4, 2006

Maybe he needs to "forget" he told her it was him that bumped her car?

DarkHorse

· #11 · Oct 4, 2006

the headmaster is hardly going to do anything it's not his responsible!

She really does sound like she's trying to bully him I'd complain to the head about her she's being totally unresonable!

Hope you manage to sort it out alright. After all he could have just driven off and denied all knowledge!

CheekyMonkey

· #12 · Oct 4, 2006

dear oh dear - I think you have no choice now but to go and see the head

how ridiculous !

what hope for the kids when the teachers are the bullies

mk1Gav

· #13 · Oct 4, 2006

Is the dent too bad for one of those mobile dent removers to do it? If they could I'd call them out to do it in the school car park, get it sorted (provided they don't need access to the inside of the car), pay them and then go tell her its been fixed. Then she can do sweet FA.

It's got nothing to do with the headmaster, and if they get involved it's more than likely they'll try undermine your brother. If it goes that far he needs to say he's worried that the actions of the teacher will affect his studies/time at college.

Get in there and say your piece on behalf of your brother, they talk to pupils like shite as they know they can get away with it, they have the attitude that 'they're only kids'. They won't be able to get around you like that.

Big Al

· #14 · Oct 4, 2006

HerbieRidesAgain! said:
Just to give an update for those who were good enought to help out with advice yesterday (and for me to blow off some steam!). The teacher 'refused to discuss the situation' with our kid yesterday, so today he approached her and explained that he would not be able to afford the £500 repair bill and asked if she would take the car to our sprayer who has agreed to let her have a courtesy car for the day the work is done. She said she had personal reasons for wanting to use the expensive garage (but wouldn;t say any more), so our kid said that he would at least like a comparison quote and said that if both quotes were that high he would have to put the claim through his insurance, to which she replied that he was a liar and changing what he had agreed and has told him she will be taking him to the headmaster later today....not sure why?!. I am furious that she seems to be bullying him and abusing her position and has clearly shown that she just wants the £500 ca$h!!.
I've told him not to mess about any longer, simply go through the insurance and if she appraoches him, just say that it's being dealt with.
I'm going to take an hour off later today and go to the school to find out what the hell she's been saying to the headmaster and put an end to this now.
What a Crazy Maisey!!

If there is no proof of him doing it (witness, CCTV) and no proof that he told her anything, let her go fuck herself! Her word against his.

Not the attitude I would normally take but I can't stand people like her!

good luck.

Zenith Blue

· #15 · Oct 4, 2006

Does your brother have access to legal advice? his insurance policy may include it, and he should be able to access it without making a claim. It may be worth looking into that route. I don't see what the headmaster has to do with anything, however if he's willing to mediate between your brother and this woman, that might work in your favour, give your brother the chance to show how reasonable he's being in front of someone the woman clearly views as an authority figure.

Big Al

· #16 · Oct 4, 2006

G4V BR said:
Is the dent too bad for one of those mobile dent removers to do it? If they could I'd call them out to do it in the school car park, get it sorted (provided they don't need access to the inside of the car), pay them and then go tell her its been fixed. Then she can do sweet FA.
.

I like that idea!

If any paint is involved it could be a problem though if the corsa really is old and FADED! Matching colours etc.

BlowMonkey

· #17 · Oct 4, 2006

Hmmm, Tell her you would like a second opinion from another garage as you feel the previous quote is high.

I am sure you are within your rights to say you are unwilling to pay for the damage until she does this.

The only thing she can do is take you to through the small claims court or demand to know your insurance details.

If it gets to court stage as long as you keep a copy of the correspondence asking her for a second quote it shows that you were still trying to move this issue forward and she was the one at fault holding the matter up.

If i was really in your spot i would go to the citizens advice bureau just to check exactly where your brother stands..... then I would give him a slap ..... best form of defence - deny everything

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