Around 2 weeks before xmas my car was backed into by a lad at work, the passenger door and wing were both damaged.

Because I know and work with the lad and our work has its own bodyshop he said he would pay for the repairs to the car without going through insurance (which I was happy with as I would of chose our bodyshop for the repairs anyway as I know the quality of the work)

The downside is he is a lazy sod and its starting to show, he is dragging his heels in the way of sorting out the repair, he has just sorted a replacement wing and door for the car after 2 months of waiting and tbh I'm getting fed up and lost a lot of love for my car in it's current state, I also get the impression he isn't going to be very forth coming with the cash to pay for the repairs either.

What are my options for getting it sorted out? Can I still contact my insurance and explain the situation as above and get it sorted that way or is there a time limit on which you have to declare it?

The other choice I was thinking about is a small claims court, I assume I would have to pay for the repairs myself then chase it up?

Are there any other options I can go down?

I think the time limit is something daft like 7 years. I'd see about contacting them ASAP.

I'd say that if it's not repaired within a month you are going through the insurance.

 

Gives him plenty of time to get it sorted or his insurance will have to deal with it...

If you decide to claim, you'll be going through HIS insurance, not yours. You've nothing to lose by claiming if its clearly a non-fault accident. As BossFox says, give him a time limit or ask him if he has the money to get it sorted. You don't want him to drag it out for a month and then still not pay up if he knew he couldn't afford it now. Does that make sense?

Thanks for the replies guys. I have told him he has a month to sort it out now or I contact his insurance.

I was just worried after X amount of time you wouldn't be able to make a claim anymore

Limitation period for a claim such as this is 6 years.

Sorry confused,   are you saying he has started the job and not finished.  ?

 

or has nothing been done to your car since the incident,

and a true estimate for the work can be done, to have the Accident Repair done ?

No physical work has been carried out on the car itself, he only just purchased replacement door and wing the back end of last week (second hand ones I shall add) and that was after I threatened him with just handing a bill for a brand new door and wing from TPS (£560+vat for the door and £86+ for the wing) if he didn't get on with it.

 

An estimate has been done, it's £540 for materials and labour.

If at all possible stay away from your insurance. They will record the incident on your file and even if it is not your fault it will be flagged every time you want to insure your car. I had a similar issue and it took months to get it sorted.

If at all possible stay away from your insurance. They will record the incident on your file and even if it is not your fault it will be flagged every time you want to insure your car. I had a similar issue and it took months to get it sorted.

 

+1 - I have exactly the same from a non-fault accident which went nowhere because a recovery vehicle driver denied the incident - after having apologised to me, his employer, and the garage he was taking my car to for having damaged my car! (made worse by the fact my son 'forgot' to video my car being loaded on to the transporter, as I'd asked him to  ).

 

Gaz