Someone crashed into me! Is this harsh?

salami1212 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:01

Well, i was parked up in an empty car park just about to have a smoke when I see a man and a daughter driving around with L plates on. I thought fair enough they arent any danger or anything.. When about a minute later I felt a BANG into the back of me.. I was a bit shocked seeing as I was THE ONLY car in the car park and they had managed to hit me lol..

I got out and obviously wasnt happy so started shouting a bit, the man was apologetic and I was just really confused how the hell she hit me, and apparently she lost control at 10 mph and couldnt turn right or put a break on.. I asked her how she could hit me in those circumstnces and she didnt reply, I assumed she didnt speak english. Anyways he said he would go through insurance and I said I didnt want to, too much hassle for a bumper so I said we would go to a garage and find out how much it is. Besides the girl was driving and she wasnt insured anyway.

I followed the man home and my friend came along with his boss to have a look as he was in the area. Told the man a price and he said he would go through insurance and my mates boss said we cant do that as the girl was driving so he would have to call the police. So the man got the money and we went on our way.. Is that harsh or was it his fault for letting his daughter drive uninsured?

Rich1988 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:04

your car got damaged, you got your money, no way would I want to go through insurance for something as small as that if I can get cash for it, so no I don't think you were harsh

TaKeN · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:04

How do you know she was uninsured? :confused:

EDIT - Ok, so she wasn't insured, wow that was clever of him!

m4cc45 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:05

Well - personally I would have gone to the police as this could bring repercussions upon yourself later (if they claim you hit them - unless you have CCTV in the area, etc.)

Personally I think you saved them a lot of aggro but on car parks no-ones insured so I'd consider youself very lucky.

M.

alex24 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:05

I don't think that's harsh. He took the responsibility for his action of letting the uninsured driver use the vehicle. It's good that he did pay up.

Delboy · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:05

Is a carpark considered private property? Doesn't that mean you don't need to hold a license/insured to be driving?

IAmATeaf · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:06

How do you know that the daughter was not insured?

And now onto the more general perverse questions, was she fit and couldn't you have got some greek vouchers from her instead and put up with a small ding on your bumper?

GolfNovember90 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:08

only if its a private car park, if its a public place, ie. the majority of the public would have access to it then you do need insurance

Burnsy2023 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:09

liambryan said:
only if its a private car park, if its a public place, ie. the majority of the public would have access to it then you do need insurance

Indeed. I don't know why the OP started shouting, seems a bit unnecessary to me.

RoysonBobson · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:10

Delboy said:
Is a carpark considered private property? Doesn't that mean you don't need to hold a license/insured to be driving?

My thoughts too. I thought it was quite common when learning to drive to start off on private property, ie an empty car park.

alex24 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:11

RoysonBobson said:
My thoughts too. I thought it was quite common when learning to drive to start off on private property, ie an empty car park.

It's not common to crash into the only other car in the car park though. I would have been peeved.

Burnsy2023 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:11

RoysonBobson said:
My thoughts too. I thought it was quite common when learning to drive to start off on private property, ie an empty car park.

Like has been said, it's still covered by the Road Traffic Act and so you need everything you'd need on the road.

salami1212 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:14

m4cc45 said:
Well - personally I would have gone to the police as this could bring repercussions upon yourself later (if they claim you hit them - unless you have CCTV in the area, etc.)

Personally I think you saved them a lot of aggro but on car parks no-ones insured so I'd consider youself very lucky.

M.

Well theres no cctv and I would say proove it.. At the end of the day, there car hit me on the front and mine was hit in the back so how could they claim I hit them, the police would laugh.

IAmATeaf said:
How do you know that the daughter was not insured?

And now onto the more general perverse questions, was she fit and couldn't you have got some greek vouchers from her instead and put up with a small ding on your bumper?

Because I said to him and he said no she wasnt. No no she was not fit at all.

Burnsy2023 said:
Indeed. I don't know why the OP started shouting, seems a bit unnecessary to me.

Because ive had the car for 2 weeks, and it was a public car park. She shouldnt have been driving there. It didnt bother me as I guessed she wasnt insured or had a license or she probably would have been on the road and im not the type to call police because of that, but when she hit me it just annoyed the hell out of me just because of the fact there was no way she should have hit me. The dad could have even moved the steering wheel away and drove on past and I would have been none the wiser.

It wasnt really the way it was dealt with, it was the amount the man paid up . Im not gonna say because it was quite a large amount of money but it was my friends boss who quoted it so I wasnt gonna say no .

Nige01010 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:18

So wait you have conned the man?

Janesy B · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:19

Nige01010 said:
So wait you have conned the man?

How do you get to that conclusion?

GolfNovember90 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:20

well think of it another way, you did him a favour,
had police been called his car would've been seized as it was being driven by an uninsured driver and the girl would have been given 6 points on her license.
much better to just cough up the cash i think

sigma · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:20

So basically you're feeling guilty for taking more money than the repair will cost?

Sounds harsh to me, yes.

Nige01010 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:22

Janesy B said:
How do you get to that conclusion?

Ermmmm.........

It wasnt really the way it was dealt with, it was the amount the man paid up . Im not gonna say because it was quite a large amount of money but it was my friends boss who quoted it so I wasnt gonna say no.

What does that say to you?

Burnsy2023 · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:22

How do you know she wasn't insured?

Janesy B · 25 Nov 2009 at 15:23

Nige01010 said:
Ermmmm.........

What does that say to you?

What about the inconvenience due to being left without the use of a car? How much does a hire car cost? What about the possible lost income due to the accident? Claims aren't just about the damage, it's everything else too. He's done them a massive favour and if he pockets a little bit who cares?