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I ran into the back of a car when the driver stopped unexpectedly (to me) to let some pedestrians cross the road. I was just exiting a mini roundabout so was only going 5-10mph but just couldn't get my hands to the brakes quick enough. I hit the plastic bumper quite hard resulting in some surface scratches and slight deformation of the bumper round the brake lights. The driver has taken the car to a coach works and turns out the bumper is cracked and the brake light is damaged - total estimate £1078. The driver has decided to claim on their insurance - they have a £250 excess. I don't have liability insurance.
Now I accept it was my fault and £1078 was a bit of a shock - but what's the best course of action?
1. Offer to pay the £250 excess
2. Offer to pay the total £1078
2. Wait until the driver's insurance company contacts me
3. Something else
Has the driver asked you to pay anything?
Has the driver asked you to pay anything?
The £250 excess
May have some kind of cover on your house insurance
May have some kind of cover on your house insurance
I'll check
YMMV but I'd try to find the £1078.
And then find another £25 for insurance (I am insured already as it happens)
Do you have home insurance? You may have public liability insurance via this. This should be your first port of call.
If as you describe it was my fault, i'd start finding the money.
You may find the drivers insurers won't chase you to recover the cost but don't bank on it.
Hope you/the bike are OK.
sounds like you're getting off lightly so far! Worst case scenario is the insurance company tries to recover full cost from you. Hopefully household insurance provides some cover. Otherwise for the future something like Cycling UK provides full cover with no excess for less than a quid a week.
Worst case scenario is the insurance company tries to recover full cost from you
Will this be just the £1078 or could there be extras on top?
Hire car while his bumper is fixed?
Sounds like the driver is doing you an incredible favour. They will be stuck with a claim on their insurance for the next 5 years with the related hike in premium.
Note to self - setup insurance/ by membership for wife who bikes to work every day and somehow I’ve neglected to bother sorting this out for.
May have some kind of cover on your house insurance
That paid my liability when I unwisely put myself in front of a Peugot a few years ago. The driver's insurance company contacted me directly, I put them on to my home insurers and I heard no more about it. My home insurance paid for a new bike too.
Will this be just the £1078 or could there be extras on top?
I'd expect you to have to pay the full costs, ie repairs, driver's excess and any car hire and so on while the repairs are done. If the driver took out legal cover with their insurer they'll chase you for all that, if not the driver will have to get the ball rolling AFAIK. If you'd hit me I'd be looking for my full costs.
May have some kind of cover on your house insurance
I did when this happened to me. Caversham bridge in Reading back in my Uni days, ploughed straight into the back of a car stopped on the bridge, just not paying attention. Totally smashed his back window and broke his spoiler, blood everywhere. My friends thought it was hillarious.
Driver was great. There was a surgery by the bridge, they patched up my chin, we filed an accident report with the police and then he gave me a lift to the hospital to get stiches.
Anyway, parent's house insurance paid for it all, minus the excess on their policy.
.
Week later housemate rode into the back of someone on Shinfield Road, smashed their rear light and broke his bike. They just drove despite it being clearly not their fault. We think he may have been uninsured and not wanting to draw attention to themselves, can't think of any other explanation
I'd be wanting confirmation that the driver needs to pay the excess. We were rear ended last year - as it was 'no fault' no excess was payable. I presume it all gets recovered from the other party ... sorry!
Will this be just the £1078 or could there be extras on top?
Yes, there could, as others have said, hire car is the obvious one, but delivery / collection / inspection costs for the damaged vehicle might be involved too. With hindsight the best option (or least worst) would have been to offer the £1078 directly, if he agreed to do this without insurance involvement.
It might be too late now - if for example he's already had a hire car and phones his insurance today to say, actually I've thought about it and I don't want to proceed with the claim, the insurance company will want the hire car costs back from him, and he in turn will doubtless (and entirely reasonably) look to you to reimburse. Similarly, they might seek to charge storage for the vehicle if it's been at the repairers for a number of days.
It coul d be a company or lease car. All incidents would go through insurance to prevent costs down the line.
My Co. would pay any excess I happened to incur, but with an uninsured 3rd Party they would consider getting the excess back as a win.
Just phoned the insurance company - they tell me I've got Personal liability cover (via House Insurance) and should wait until the driver's insurance company get in contact. They also told me not to pay the excess as this is non recoverable.
Am I missing something here?
EDIT: yes, I am, "hands to the brakes," ignore me.
this is quite likely!Am I missing something here?
A grand? That's just absurd. Is it a car or a faberge egg?
If you'd hit me, I'd probably ask for the price of a new taillight, but bumpers are supposed to bump.
Sorry, probably doesn't help much.
Unless by “I don’t have liability insurance” you mean you were driving illegally without TP cover, of course.
Read the OP. Couldn't get his hands on the brakes, is the clue. This forum may be all about RS6s most of the time but sometimes it's about bikes.
Yeah, I realised about ten seconds after posting that...! Oops.
bumpers are supposed to bump.
Modern bumpers are supposed to absorb impact damage by breaking internally.
Am I missing something here? Why on earth would you be paying his excess? That’s his problem, tell him to jog on.
My thoughts exactly - tell him to do one.
He can go to small claims court if he wants, but probably won't get very far if you contest it
(wasn't all my fault m'lud, I was riding along and he just stopped in the middle of the road etc etc)
I had a similar experience about 18 months ago - 100% my fault when I somehow managed to rear end a car that stopped quite suddenly but really I wasn't paying enough attention and collected the back of it quite hard. Notwithstanding the 4 broken ribs, punctured lung and bloody sore leg and massively bruised ego I also fel ta duty to make sure the driver was not out of pocket in any way. I gave her all my details and offered to pay for all damage/excesses etc. I rang her a couple of weeks after and she said that it was with the garage then I heard no more, i rang her again and left messages. MOnths later I got two letters in the post - one about my accident and the other dated same day, same ref saying ignore the accient letter it was sent in error. Odd. And i never did have to pay anything.
A grand? That’s just absurd. Is it a car or a faberge egg?
If you’d hit me, I’d probably ask for the price of a new taillight, but bumpers are supposed to bump.
I ran into the back of a car a year or two back. Got out and had a look and couldn't really see any damage, possibly a scuff, but it might have been dirt. The driver didn't want to get into insurance because of all the "accident that wasn't your fault" phone calls, so we agreed that he'd get an estimate and then we'd decide where to go from there.
I was thinking it might be £100 or so for a T-cut. It wasn't. It was over a grand. BMW (part of the Faberge group) main dealer and apparently it could have compromised something or other inside (probably the car's entitlement sensor). So I handed it over to insurance and bought a new grill bracket for my car for £7 as it was a bit bent.
I don't blame the driver, why should he lose out because somebody hit him, but the dealer is taking the piss, and frankly what is the point of bumpers if they don't protect the car from small scale bumps. Cars should have big rubber strips like pilot boats. No more parking across two spaces in Lidl in case somebody scratches your door.
and frankly what is the point of bumpers if they don’t protect the car from small scale bumps. Cars should have big rubber strips like pilot boats.
Bumpers are there to protect the occupants not the car itself. Pilot boats are intended to make contact with their clients, cars are not.
The driver has taken the car to a coach works and turns out the bumper is cracked and the brake light is damaged – total estimate £1078
On first look that's excessive however both time's I've been bambi'ed the repair cost has been around the 800 quid mark, that's with me finding the bits on ebay either 2nd hand or through resellers of look a like parts and me and dad swearing at and going in the huff with each other while fitting them.
Throw the time spent doing that in at commercial rates (varies depending on where they went anything upwards of 30 quid an hour)
If you’d hit me, I’d probably ask for the price of a new taillight, but bumpers are supposed to bump.
They aren't though, these days they are flimsy plastic cowlings that cover the actual bumper which is a hefty great big bar of metal. The plastic acts are a barrier and shield, below 10mph and you're probably ok, tap a sheep with it, and it'll hopefully be ok; any faster the plastic is trashed as the metal bar whacks into the obstruction.
When bumpers were bumpers they were those big chrome or rubber covered metal bars on the outside of vehicles.
He can go to small claims court if he wants, but probably won’t get very far if you contest it
(wasn’t all my fault m’lud, I was riding along and he just stopped in the middle of the road etc etc)
Are you advocating a road user admit to careless cycling as part of a defence???
You're required to leave enough of a gap between your vehicle and the one in front to allow for thinking and stopping time; in dry conditions that's usually said to be 2 seconds for cars, although IIRC the stopping distances and times stated in cyclecraft are longer (presumably because historically bikes have terrible brakes)
Ride or drive into the back of someone its presumed to be your fault unless you can show good reason why not.
I once went into the back of a car as a youngster (cheap canti brakes, not set up very well, a bit close to the car, and thought they were just checking their speed when they were in fact stopping to let someone come up the hill).
Bent my frame and forks, knocked out a tooth and got a couple of cuts on my face, plus a bit of a bruise on my brain despite wearing a helmet, and a sore neck - must have put a decent sized dent or two in the car, but I don't know cos I landed next to the passenger door or thereabouts, and then just waited for the ambulance.
The driver phoned my parents, who offered to pay, but the driver was just so thankful I was OK that she didn't want money from them - which was nice...
I suspect that if you are uninsured, the insurance company would be unlikely to pursue you for anything particularly high (e.g. weeks of hire car costs) as you'd simply be unable to pay them, or for that matter any legal costs they may incur trying to get you to pay them, and they'd lose out in the long run. That's not to say you shouldn't pay if it was your fault and you have the means.
Bumpers are there to protect the occupants not the car itself. Pilot boats are intended to make contact with their clients, cars are not.
Cars are not intended to make contact with their clients but of course they sometimes do.
Not that it'd make much difference, but I remember when body coloured bumpers first started to become a thing and I thought why the **** would anyone actually want a vulnerable part of the car to be painted and more prone to damage... My experience of having to leave cars with said body coloured bumpers on the street historically has been that I would not choose to paint these bits of the car.
They used to take a small impact with no damage, now it's a tiny impact - but look, new cars are shiny! All over!
Week later housemate rode into the back of someone on Shinfield Road, smashed their rear light and broke his bike. They just drove despite it being clearly not their fault. We think he may have been uninsured and not wanting to draw attention to themselves, can’t think of any other explanation
Not always. I've been driven into three times over the years. All whist completely stationary, once parked in a car park! I've been happy to shrug it off as no big deal each time. I know it'll cost me in the long run to go through insurers even for a non fault. A cracked rear light is £10* for a second hand one and 15 mins to replace, I'd leave a crack in the bumper if it was safe. Must admit, I tend to agree with phil re body coloured bumpers. They cost us all a fortune in premiums even if we never claim. Mildly annoying that I have to pay for someone else's vanity but each to their own.
* That's what I paid last time, I suspect the wife's car will be 10x that but still cheaper over all
Edit: just checked out of interest. £35-£50 on ebay, pleasantly surprised
I suspect that if you are uninsured, the insurance company would be unlikely to pursue you for anything particularly high (e.g. weeks of hire car costs) as you’d simply be unable to pay them, or for that matter any legal costs they may incur trying to get you to pay them, and they’d lose out in the long run.
I reckon it’s more likely to be the other way round; circa £1000 or less it’s probably not worth their costs to pursue, whereas multiple thousands would make good business sense to pursue.
Car component prices can be bat shit mental. My new to me car (it's badge has 4 rings - shoot me) has vaguely fancy headlights. They are not £3K fancy though which is the current cost of the part alone! I'm going to have to stop my usual habit of using them to nudge annoying cyclists out of the way.
Just checked my household insurance and Mrs C is indeed covered for third party damage when she ploughs into a stationary car with the monumental inertial a dutch commuter ebike can muster. Question - who has British Cycling or CTC (whatever its called now) membership for the commuter insurance and legal advise anyway even though their household insurance fills part of the gap?
I have done the same thing but at about 25mph and totally caved the back door of the 4x4 in with my body. Their insurer came after me a few weeks later, luckily my home contents insurance had personal liability and covered me and they were excellent - they said the most important thing is to absolutely not communicate with the drivers insurer - let them do it all, basically they chance as much as they can and know how to scare you into admitting liability, and your own insurer knows exactly how to get them to spin. I never hear another peep from either of them.
The sums they come up with are pretty spectacular. I saw the car I hit regularly after as was on same commute still, I was pretty sure he'd had a second hand rear door fitted so I'm not sure what the thousands the insurer wanted was all about.
Cars are not intended to make contact with their clients but of course they sometimes do.
Harvey, B. vs Benz, M. (2005)
With hindsight the best option (or least worst) would have been to offer the £1078 directly, if he agreed to do this without insurance involvement.
I love how nobody so far has quibbled that someone may in fact not have a spare grand sitting in a drawer somewhere gathering dust.
I love how nobody so far has quibbled that someone may in fact not have a spare grand sitting in a drawer somewhere gathering dust.
The Butler has a key to the deposit box.
If you’d hit me, I’d probably ask for the price of a new taillight, but bumpers are supposed to bump.
Sorry, probably doesn’t help much.
No, it doesn't, because it's nonsense 🙂
I love how nobody so far has quibbled that someone may in fact not have a spare grand sitting in a drawer somewhere gathering dust.
Plenty of people will have too though.