For a start there is no accident where you are perfectly in the right ....but a judge will award a percentage of the total repair bill to each of you so at worst you may get 70% or 60% of what the repair is worth to both cars,,,,so get 3 expensive quotes He suffered no damage so if you get say 3 quotes around 1500 and the judge awards you say 66% then you end up with $1K ...next you get a reasonable qoute and it should cover costs. Are you with me so far?:unsure: Next type up a letter of demand holding the other driver totally responsible even if he wasnt and accuse him of reckless driving which resulted in your damage then demand payment within 2 weeks or you will process the matter through the small claims court (most important that you specify the small claims court as legal representation is not permitted in this court and the judge will make a ruling.:wacko: You must be prepared to go that far and the judgement will most(?) likely go in your favour as you were prepared to take it further. Now what usually takes place is the chap who hit you will not want to go to court as he more than likely will have at least 3rd party property to cover the other car as I hope you have had the nouse to have got!!!! If not dont worry just proceed with this method. You more than likely will be asked to write a description of what took place by the insurance company and make sure you state you have a witness.. Dont own up to too much and avoid putting too much detail but say that you believe that the driver acted in anger and believe he tried to scare you. Which it sound like happened anyway. Now the funny bit if you have that 3rd party property your insurance company will pay for your damages and if you dont the other guys will be forced to. Yes thats how it works as insurance companies (bless their little hearts ) will not go each other in a court as it cost much more than the repairs.:thumbsup: The only problem with this which I have used successfully for 3 prangs my wife has had was if the other person does not carry this 3rd party property!:unsure: You are not going this bloke you are pursuing the insurance company and I reckon you will have a good chance of getting the car fixed for nix!! This took me 1/2 hour to write please have the courtesy to acknowledge that you have read it....all the best Zed Kid regards John
Just playin' the Devils Advocate here, Luig. Driver will reprt to his boss that a car that was parked in the left hand lane with his hazzards on who was picking up a passenger hit him as he rolled past. And another thing... when a party is awarded damages they must pay legal cost pro rata on the judgement. Soooo.... if that expensive quote that's really only a bad scratch inflated could incur 90% of the other parties legal costs, and they pay 10% of yours. Just fix it ZEDKID, hope someone does it for you at a great price cash. Not really your fault but you can't roll away and hit someone that's squeezing past the hazzard you created. It really has nothing to do with changing lanes. you moved and caused the collision correct? and even if you could argue otherwise we then have the issue of you being there illegally parked and illegally picking up a passenger. (two seperate offences) to muddy any judgement and character. No offence intended Luig... I know where you're coming from and sometimes a lil intimidation can work wonders in cases like this. And it's a good law, people get killed jumping in and out of cars at traffic lights so perhaps there is a lesson to be learnt. Fuck, I sound like my old man. thought that would never happen. Cheers,
not in a small claims court >> since the damage is less than $5000 it will go through the small claims court in which the person lodging the small claim pays the $50 lodgement fee (or whatever it is these days) and cannot claim that back as a cost if they win the case. Sucks but happened to me. Then if he chooses not to pay then your only recourse is to take him to a small debts court. And the saga continues.....
Let this be the end ZEDKID, fix the scratch out of your own pocket. Not worth the hassle (as you could easily be deemed at fault even though it may not be the case). More important things in life in the end and can do without the stress. You should learn not to pick people up at points like this because: A) it is illegal (and for a good reason);and B) You CANNOT control what other driver's do, so minimising any chance of them being a dick-brain has to be a good thing :thumbsup::LOL: Now I sound like an old fart (Lloyd? ) Cheers Rob
acknowledged Johny thanx for taking the time to educate me in the art of stitching people ... ur method sounds good but not in my case i think... as the damage is estimate to be 250-300 dollars, thats mates rates from a panel beater connection. Still im not gonna pay for it. i got a referal to a company that will harrase the guy for me for a fee that is payed to them only if i win. i will try and settle it my self but if the owner of the company tells me to piss off ill definatly get the largest quote and apply to that harrasment company. some of u have recomended that i fix the damage my self, i cant do this as im only 19 and study full time i still got exams at the end of the month and i just dont have a big sack of money that i can throw at this problem that i didnt create.
I had the opposite happen Years ago I reversed into a car illegally parked I might add but still my fault. It dented the front of his bonnet only. Anyway I did the right thing and left my details and what should have been a small repair blew out to be huge. I think this guy must have a mate who owned a panel shop and got half his car painted and every other dent on his car and got me to pay for it. Then it was me against the insurance company and I had to pay over a thousand dollars, and I did the right thing. Such a shame there are so many dishonest people and liars in the world that either take advantage of others or don't do the right thing. Life pays them back though as what goes around comes around and twice as bad.
Well ZedKid I wasnt really wanting you to stich him up but I thought if you felt that he purposely did it to your car because of your illegal action then a judge will bound to go him. But its all about stitching up the insurance companies and having a win there because I have seen heaps of times where they have stitched up the defenceless and pushed them aside. I wont go into detail but if you wish to pay for it yourself and move on then thats good as long as you dont carry a grude on your shoulder. However if it were me I would take them on even if it were for $50 regards John (Im a 53 year old cranky bugger but I still feel like 17 in my Z!)
