Young lad crashed into my car, exchanged contact details and wondering what to do next?

[itno]

Young lad last night misjudged a gap between parked cars and on coming traffic thinking both he and the on coming driver could pass each other. Outcome was he hit the on coming driver and careered into my car that was parked legally. Cannot tell extent of the damage on my car in the dark, rear bumper is scratched, rear alloy wheel is scratched and rear quarter panel is deformed and scratched. Also, the car has been pushed onto the kerb where before it was next to the kerb so was more than a glancing blow.

The lad stopped and exchanged details with myself and the other driver but now wondering what to do next? Contacted police who said that because no one was hurt they are not interested in the matter any further and to either handle matter through insurance or privately. The lad said he was going to talk to his dad who was responsible for the car. Never had an incident like this and wondering what to do if the dad wants to handle the repairs privately instead of through insurance. Or should I just notify my insurance company anyway and let the other party decide what they want to do based on the cost of the damage. Would appreciate any advice on how to proceed if the other party wants to resolve the matter outside the insurance companies.

TIA.

 

[itno]

Thanks for the reply Lashout, waiting at the moment for the light to assess the damage and see if the car is driveable before taking to garage to assess the damage. Failing that will call out breakdown recovery.

Agree with the comments on the rear quarter damage where this youthful inexperience accident could be quite costly. Having thoughts of an angry/upset father on the doorstep which at the moment is another thing to worry about as not having a good time at the moment as my mother died the other week.

 

[itno]

Note that you should be claiming from HIS insurance though, not your own.

Will do where awaiting further contact about lad's/dad's insurance details. Lad did not have the details on him at the time as he said his dad had the documents so have exchanged full contact details. Also have got the license number of the car. Lad seemed genuine enough but don't envy him when he tells his dad.

 

[itno]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated

Good luck mate, hopes theres no underlying damage from the impact

Don't know the damage yet, the repairers have been out and taken photos, will get back to me later with an estimate. Still don't know if the car is safe to drive. Have noticed that the rear right door is sticking when opened.

As said, you need to be contacting his insurers to get it sorted.

That's if you ever get the details

Phoned my insurance who have been good at handling this. Gave them all of the owners details and confirmed that the lad's car had insurance and they will handle the rest from here. So far so good.

Am I the only one who, after reading the thread title, had the words "FINISH HIM" echo in his head?

Lol

 

[itno]

Damaged rear quarter panel and sticking door does not bode well for the future of your car unless it's particularly valuable.

It's not a particularly exclusive car, plain old 2010 Citroen C4. That said, the sticking door does make me wonder about any underlying chassis damage that may result in the car being a write off. Hopefully not and just that the rear panel can be replaced. Problem with C4's is that the read panel runs the length of the doors so not going to be an easy or cheap job.

 

[itno]

Update:

Not much to report other than been messed around by hire car company and not sure of the garage. Hire car company had decided the car was driveable and was not entitled to a car but did not communicate this to me. In fact they kept me waiting all day without contacting me as the insurance company said they would. This meant I have missed a day's work. It took two calls to the insurance company to give them a rocket where I told them I am not driving the car until I have in my hand a piece of paper from the garage or some other authority that the car is driveable. They accepted this last night and said there would be a car in the morning, just call. Did call where they started the same thing about the car being driveable until I told them to check the records again. However, the hire company were unable to supply me with a car in time for me to drive to work where the representative let slip they would not have any cars in until this afternoon because they were all out.

The car was parked in the location for at around 12 hours, I was in the house when I heard the crash. Lad said he was "sorry" and "had misjudged" the distance and speed. He did not say how fast he was travelling. My car was parked close to the kerb, less than an inch away where after the crash both wheels on the one side of the car were on the kerb. The handbrake was on and car in gear. I am deducing that the car was hit more than the glancing blow the garage is claiming saying the damage is superficial. This I have had to argue with them today where until I have official confirmation the car is driveable, in writing, the car is as far as I am concerned not in a safe condition and I would not be comfortable driving at legal speeds in it. The insurance company already accepted this last night but the garage and the hire company have been dropping the ball somewhat.

Have had a few calls from the other party where I am not convinced they will be as apologetic as they were at the time. In fact I would say that one call was from the father who claimed to the son. How do I know for sure, I don't. My suspicion is based on talking to the lad at length at the time of the accident, calling him later with further details and hearing his voice on the phone, then he called me today where I could hear his dad in the background prompting the lad and fairly sure that was the same voice. They will, naturally, preparing a story in order to get out of the insurance. I am not entertaining dealing with this matter privately as I am not certain the other party will be willing to pay to have the car thoroughly checked over and pay the expense. Even privately, the cost is going to be significant.

The rear car door sticking I can only best explain as being like a fridge door when one experiences an initial resistance before the door opens. Hopefully, it is the result of the rear panel being slightly deformed and nothing more.

Do I think that I will come out of this without having to pay in one way or another, hell no. The insurance company so far have waived all fees due to non-fault but I'm sure they'll get it back next year when I renew the insurance. The insurance company have been pretty good so far, as soon as I gave them the license number of the other car they had the insurance details for the car and said they would take it from here. That said, I'm sure their positive attitude will change once they investigate the matter further. Plus being a bit of a worrier, I have thoughts that this will go to court and I'll be a witness ... who knows. Will have to see how this turns out where there will be ups and down, my main one being the garage at the moment where I'll post more when I have it.

 

[itno]

Do have pictures but they don't show much where the rear panel rim above the wheel is deformed/rippled and scratched. Rear wheel is also scratched and gouged but not significantly. Rear bumper is scratched and loose in one corner. To be honest it does not look that bad and the garage saying it is superficial damage is a fair assessment. The rear wheel does look to be not flush with the side of the car in comparison to the other wheel but not majorly so where I'm no expert so it may be alright. Does not look right to me and could not get the man from the garage to look at it. Literally, he was out of his car, walked around it much like when you take the car for a service and they do a visual inspection of external damage, took a few pictures, did not listen to what I was saying and showing with the rear door when he went in to take pictures of the mileage, and was gone. I'd say less then a couple of minutes. This did not inspire confidence.

However, the lads car was properly scratched on the front left bumper and there was debris from his bumper at the rear of my car. Plus, he pulled in because he found his car difficult to steer and fact he said later when I called.

I have driven the car around the block where it did pull to the left a little. I've got questions in my mind over the car being driveable where better to be safe than sorry.

 

[itno]

What's your insurer? Some will handle this for you and take on the job of contacting the other insurer and negotiating. More than are very good at this.

It's Citroen's own insurance as it came as part of a package when the car was purchased. I know they are not the biggest or cheapest insurance company but they've been okay so far. They said they would take on the job of contacting the other insurer and negotiating as soon as I gave them the license plate number of the other car.

 

[itno]

Recovery truck arrived and has taken the car away. Man asked what was the problem with the car where I showed him the damage. His immediate comment was the "wheel looks out of alignment" without me saying anything about the wheel. Would the car have been safe to drive with the wheel out of alignment? Showed him the door too where his said in his opinion to be expected and hopefully only the body that is deformed.

 

[itno]

Will try and get pictures up, probably not today as work is piling up. However, I await the disappoint and many replies of, "that'll T-Cut out, no problem".

 

[itno]

Update

Apologies for not keeping up to date with this thread, have been trying to catch up with work and on top of other things my girlfriend has been ill.

Here's an picture I took of the damage where the other ones more or less look the same.




The damage does look superficial but none of the pictures I took show the rear wheel facing in a bit.

Had a text from the garage today letting me know that they are going to have to replace the axel and guess this will add to the cost (already around £1000). The text also said the car would be ready next week. Heard nothing else from other party or my insurance company who said they would call within three days. Will chase up for a full status report.