A lady has given me her name and address following her attempting to reverse into my drive way (in order to turn around) and demolishing a pillar.

Presumably I should make a claim against her car insurance for the cost of repair/reinstatement?

Depending on the cost of repair she may want to pay for it herself, depending on excess etc. Get a quote sharpish and contact her (which you will have to do for insurance details in anycase) and go for pound notes.

Assuming it's not a big job, the insurer will normally ask for a couple of quotes first. If it's over £1000, they will most likely send an adjuster out to agree costs.

Might be worth getting the quotes and asking the lady if she wants to settle privately in the first instance?

I'd get it done on insurance - if they get half way through the £50 job (or whatever) and realise there's more damage than they thought then she's not likely (and perhaps unable) to pay up an additional £1000 (silly numbers but it makes my point).

Plus, if it's an insurance job you're guaranteed a courtesy car to abuse

Plus, if it's an insurance job you're guaranteed a courtesy car to abuse

A courtesy pillar, shirley?

Chris

Courtesy car, she damaged a piller!!!

Yeah go insurance as if she demolished it she will be claiming anyway for damage to her car. Best to go that way anyway.

A courtesy pillar' date=' shirley?

Chris[/quote']

Guess who was scan reading at work

why don't you let her pay for the damage. get some quotes and then get it done. then get her to give you the money. it's not fair that you go through insurance if she wants to give you cash for the damage.

my girlfriend had an accident once and she said she would give the driver cash for the damage after he got some quotes. The next day she got a call notifying her that he had spoken to the insurance company. He got paid out and her insurance went up a lot.

unfortunatley for him his car was a write off as it was an old banger and he wouldn't have got alot for it at all.

If he had gone the cash route my girlfreind would have given him far more than he would have got from the insurance company. It was like a double blow for both my girlfriend and the driver of the other car. he lost out and so did my girlfreind but if they went the cash route then both parties would be happier.

just somethin to think about

I've done both routes when Velma was injured. The first incident was when someone was trying to park, they took out her wing :( but left a note and they only lived along the road so sought of knew them anyway. I took it to a guy that does bodyshop repairs for a dealer and he gave us a quote which the guy who injured her payed for privately (it was his work van and his employer didn't want the premiums to increase)

The second time was a Doctor at work who has just about damaged everyones cars there she was driving on the hospitals insurance in a hospital car and I claimed off of that It didn't cost me anything as I didn't go through my own insurance company. Now I've got Big V I'm just glad she's left

I would personally always go through the insurance - that way you're guaranteed to get the money. What's to stop someone saying they'll pay and then not coughing up if the quotes for the repair are more than they expected! To be brutally honest, I don't care about the other person's insurance premium going up - if they're at fault then they have to accept the consequences

Chris

I would personally always go through the insurance - that way you're guaranteed to get the money. What's to stop someone saying they'll pay and then not coughing up if the quotes for the repair are more than they expected! To be brutally honest' date=' I don't care about the other person's insurance premium going up - if they're at fault then they have to accept the consequences

Chris[/quote']

such a nice chap! I suppose you either trust people or you don't......

Chris do bear in mind the person lives on her road and she knows where he lives. I'm sure they will pay up.....get them to pay up before hand! then not a chance of them getting away without paying, if the cost is higher than the quote then it's the builders fault.