Woman takes out sons bike

So 4 days after son gets his first bike, a CBR125, he parked it outside
a friend's house and the friend's neighbour tries to park her car where
his bike is, knocking it over in the process. She did the decent thing
and owned up and said at the time she'd pay for any damage.

daylight reveals damage is:-
indicator broken
gear lever broken
fairing cracked

Quote from DH Motorcycles in Bath is £500 odd

Woman refuses to pay saying "I've spoken to my brother and it can't
possibly cost that much"

What is the best course of action to take now?

 

Get a pro-forma invoice, give her 5 days to pay, then sue the fucking blind
**** blinder.

 

I wouldn't phaff about - let the insurance bods sort it, it's a clear
cut case, espcially as she's admitted liability.

 

He hasn't got her insurance details as she didn't want it to go to
insurance, but he has got he address and registration number. Police?

 

+1

Bet she pays up when you ask for her details so you can report it

 

Well, I'd give her 1 day to agree to a private arrangement then contact her
insurer. I'd also remind her that I will be getting a taxi from A-B and
expecting her to pay the cost, so the quicker it is sorted the less she
will have to pay.

 

If she refused to exchange insurance details then she committed an offence.
This will provide lots of leverage to get an early settlement. I would
visit her and politely ask for the insurance details as she is legally
obliged to provide them, give 24 hours to make a private settlement, making
sure you cover out of pocket expenses as well as repairs.

If she refuses to give the insurance details again then get very suspicious
and insist on an immediate settlement as she was probably uninsured. If you
get the cash then you have a moral dilemma, keep quiet or grass her to
plod. Obviously, if she does not give you any insurance details and refuses
to pay then there is another moral dilemma, report her to plod, get Bonwick
in or both.

 

Go round with the written quote, and show her the cost. Be polite and
say she's welcome to call the dealer and verify you aren't pulling a
fast one. Then ask if she still wants to pay or would prefer to put
it through her insurance.

 

And then kill her first born child. It's the only language these cage
drivers understand, etc.

 

wrong. she has to legally give her own details not insurance details,
and it seems she did that.

 

*Impressed*

 

Send a few lads round to roll her car on its roof and leave a note; "see how
much that costs".

 

Seems reasonable

 

"Fine. Let's have your insurance details, please."

 

That's the way to do it. We've had this a couple of times, it seems
that your non-motorcycling types assume cost of repairs to be akin to
fixing a pushbike: they have no idea of the cost of even a small
fairing panel (which is, let's face it, ludicrous in any case). So
rather than have to admit to their insurer that they've fucked up, they
offer to settle. When they see the cost, they have the "OhShit" moment
and generally need to have a sit down and a cuppa before they can start
to calculate the most expeditious route for them to get out of it.

The problem is that once the heat of the moment has passed, they've
convinced themselves that it wasn't really their fault and that it is
most unfair to be asked to pay for it.

The really harsh reality kicks in when they've worked it out: 500 quid
now, or ?300 excess plus a hike in premiums for the following couple of
years, not to mention the tarnished record - and all for a moment's
inattention when parking (or in the case of the Barbara Cartland-alike
that felled Elly's CBR, unparking, when she failed to notice she was
pushing the toppled bike down the road for several metres).

Polite but firm, that's the way. Keep it legal and clean and it will
all happen in due course.

 

I recall Twatty who skittled my K when he decided to go walkabout on the
M25. Damage was light, and it's hardly concours anyway, so I tallied it
at 350-400 quid, made it up to £500 to allow for my hassle, and thew
that figure at him and his Dad.

His Dad went all Essex on me, so I went the legal route. The assessor
his insco sent round was incredulous. "Five hundred pounds? That's
really all you asked for? I'm going to tell the company to rip your arm
off." Cheque arrived in another couple of days.

Silly fuckers could have sorted it all out, but by fucking me about,
Twatty wound up with a lovely stripe on his insurance record. And him
only 17 and just three weeks beyond his test pass as well.

Wonder what his renewal figure was this year?

 

Sounds like good advice. Do we have to get son's insurance company
involved? There was a Watchdog programme on recently that had evidence
of drivers policies being increased if they were involved in an accident
even when they were not at fault:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2010/11/car_premiums.html

 

It depends on the woman's InsCo: some will deal with you, some will
only deal with your InsCo.

I've read the article and it bears out what I've read here and heard
elsewhere: renewals have gone up. If you stick with the same InsCo,
expect to pay more - there's still cheaper insurance out there, but
it's the old "New Customer" thing. They don't give a toss about
current, 'loyal' customers, they want 'new' business, even at the cost
of 'old' business, so it seems.

In taht article they quiote Admiral as posting profits 21% up on last
year - and increasing premiums across the board by 22%. So they're not
squeaking, they're just raking it in. I can't see a not at fault claim
costing any more than the routine hike, TBH - and they've changed the
wording anyway: from "Have you claimed on insurance in the past
three/five years" to "Have you been involved in any incidents in the
past 3/5/10/146 years.

They've got us all ways round, so I'd just stick it in the hands of the
insurers and let them get on with it and then at least your lad gets a
shiny bike out of it.

 

As said elsewhere, an insurance claim may well **** up your son's
insurance as much as hers. I presume that 500 quid includes labour to
fit it all? If so, I'd try asking her for just the parts costs, & keep
the fairing in its box until it's time to sell the bike as he'll almost
certainly bin it before then.

 

Yes. Tell them, and make it absolutely plain that you are not making a
claim, but pursuing a claim against the other party on your own.
That's what I did. It's also what we did when some twonk rear-ended
The Doctor's Micra.

Come renewal time, the car insurers *did* try and load my premium
because of the Micra incident and I told them, politely and firmly, to
get stuffed and, magically, the surcharge was dropped. Bastards,
whichever way you slice it.

But, yes, tell them. Otherwise it could really come back to bite you,
years hence.