A couple of weeks ago I was unfortunate enough to be involved in a minor collision in my Skoda Fabia. I was sitting in heavy traffic in the left hand lane of a dual carriage way, approaching a roundabout. The accident occurred when a taxi attempted to join the carriageway from a side road on the left. Instead of pulling in behind me he attempted to pull around me and join the right hand lane, as he did so he clipped the my rear bumper and light. Although he never explicitly said it was his fault, he seemed to accept liability did by saying that ?he could get it sorted out at a garage he uses... no need to go through the insurance?.
After asking friends and family I decided to take the car for a couple of quotes at local garages. Both quoted just over £300 for the work, due to the amount of labour involved. I contacted the taxi driver and he was amazed at the price, saying he wasn?t willing to pay this much since the garage he knows will do the work for £20!
Since I have not been involved in a situation like this I am not sure what the best thing is to do next. Obviously I want the car to be repaired to a good standard, at the taxi driver?s expense. I am concerned that if I don?t accept his offer of getting it repaired at ?his? garage there is a good chance that I won?t get any money out of him at all. However, I don?t want to accept his offer if the work is not carried out to a good standard as it will affect the value of my car.
I understand that I could go through my own insurance but since I have no witnesses I feel that this could be costly. However because he was pulling out of a garage forecourt he was in full view of the garages CCTV camera.If anyone out there has some useful advice to offer I would be grateful to hear from you. Thanks in advance.
Paul
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You need to inform your insurance company now. right now. At this very moment he could be putting a claim in against you, and if your insurance company are not aware they YOU could be paying HIS bill.
Lets face it. He aint gonna pay up - 20 quid is a joke, he knows it and you know it.
Get that claim form in now before you get stripped.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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You should inform yr insurance co., as it's part of the Ts and Cs.
You don't have to claim through them, though. I'd suggest that you write him a smart letter offering him two options: £300.00 cash, or you claim through yr insurance co., with five days to pay up before you put things in motion. He's trying it on, and/or trying to avoid a claim that will cost him NCB.
Put him under the pressure he deserves.
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if hes a taxi is there any point complaining to whoever authorises him?
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You have to inform your insurance company straight away, the taxi driver has no intention of repairing your car that he damaged to the standard that you should expect
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The bottom line is that you want your car repaired to a good standard, preferably (but not necessarily absolutely) at the lowest cost to yourself. Have you thought about swallowing your pride and paying for the repair yourself? Without knowing the value of your car and the details of your insurance it's difficult for us to pass an absolute opinion. Whatever you do, you need to report the matter to your insurer to prevent your policy being invalidated.
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L\'escargot.
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Do not get into any bargaining with the taxi driver.
1) Inform your Ins Co of the bump but you do not need to claim
2) Get the car Ins Co details from taxi driver (failing this your Ins Co will get it from Ins Co database + Reg No of the taxi)
Many years ago my nearly new car was side swiped, driver owned up but then later said they would not pay the "high cost".
I just requested Ins Co details or I would register bump with police / local authority licencing dept.
Within 5 minutes I had a cheque for the estimated repairs (£50 but 30 yrs ago this was a lot)
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After asking friends and family I decided to take the car for a couple of quotes at local garages. Both quoted just over £300 for the work due to the amount of labour involved. I contacted the taxi driver and he was amazed at the price saying he wasn?t willing to pay this much since the garage he knows will do the work for £20!
Well, get them to do it, then (and tell your insurance company, too!). If the work isn't good enough, then the fact that he's paid for the repair will tell against him should an action be forthcoming.
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I was warned many years ago not to have accident repairs carried out by a garage recommended by a third party.
You have no control whatsoever over the standard of the work that's likely to be done, nor over the timescale in which the necessary repairs are going to take place.
Also, they will almost certainly make you sign a certificate of satisfaction upon collection of the repaired vehicle.
As others have stated, you must inform your insurance company and then it's probably a good idea to find out the name of the third party's insurance company and write to them, unless, of course, the taxi driver wishes to make a realistic offer for the repairs.
It won't be £20.00 though! You don't need much damage to a modern car to get a bill of several hundred pounds very easily.
Good luck!
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You have no control whatsoever over the standard of the work that's likely to be done nor over the timescale in which the necessary repairs are going to take place. Also they will almost certainly make you sign a certificate of satisfaction upon collection of the repaired vehicle.
"If the work isn't good enough, then the fact that he's paid for the repair will tell against him should an action be forthcoming."
The OP has no real alternative to get the other party to pay, apart from to let out a little rope... No witnesses. Time has passed. The other party could just claim that the OP rear-ended *him*!
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Is there not two options:
1. Put matters in the hands of own Insurance Company and let them sort it.
2. Have repairs done ownself and then sue for damage through small claims Court.
Bear in mind Taxi Driveer could be trying it on having no Insurance of his own?
Option 1 to me is favourite.
dvd
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Absolutely DVD
same sort of thing happened to my son other party knew it was their fault but didnt like the cost & then got stroppy, wouldn't even give us their insurance details.
we left it to NU, they found out the other lad's insurance company & sorted it out, we got costs back from them with some delay but no real problem.
The only risk is if he is not insured but surely if he is a licensed taxi that should all be above board.
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I believe that it's now a criminal offence to refuse to give insurance details to someone who has a valid reason for wanting them, e.g. someone with whom you have just been involved in an RTA with.
If you request these details from the third party and they refuse to supply them, you can make a complaint to your local constabulary who are them required to investigate the matter and obtain the necessary details on your behalf. Should it transpire, subsequently, that there is no valid insurance in place, this is, of course, also an offence.
Perhaps DVD could confirm?
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It became an offence in the mid-nineties not to provide details of insurance, not seen many come to court though, MLC and the others may help with the real-world use of this bit of legislation. I believe that the Insurance companies now share this data across the industry to reduce fraud and speed up claims processing.
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Hi there, thx for the many replies! Have already reported the incident to my insurance company and they have his insurance company details (found it themselves, he didn't provide it). If I want to claim through insurance I have 30days.
Paul
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Correct Galaxy
Section 154 RTA 1988 says that.
Offence not to comply- max fine £2,500 - no points etc.
It has a little brother at Section 171 for those involved in injury accidents and who fail to produce to Plod.
dvd
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A bit of hindsight.If you are certain an accident is not your fault no matter how minor-refuse to move the vehicle and call the police.
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who will tell you in no uncertain terms to "go away" and may even nick you for causing an obstruction.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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If it was a licensed taxi contact the Hackney Carriage Office for the area.
As a condition of his licence I think he is obliged to report any accidents.
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