Legal Advice Please!

[chinkeboi]

Hi all.

I recently got into a car accident. Maybe some of you have been through this so advice will help.

Long story short. I rear ended a white 2000 hatch model corrolla. It was at low speed approx 5km/hr. The damage to his car was a circular crack about the size of a tennis ball to his rear bar. that was all.

It was pretty much my fault. I spoke to him and he agreed to deal with it privately. Next thing you know I get a letter from his insurance company asking for $1900. Do you guys think that is roughly around a fair price? According to the quote he's repainting both rear quater panels, replacing the rear bar and reo as well as many other miscelaneous things.

I really dont believe it'd cost that much to repair the minor damage.

What options do I have? I'm pretty sure i'm entitled to an independant quote. But does that mean i choose a panel beater for the quote or?

Thanks guys ... its doing my head in -_-

Edited March 19, 2008 by chinkeboi

[KRY-57L]

If he has issued you with a letter ring your insureance company now! I mean pick up the phone this second. Pay your ecesss & let them deal with it. Its not worth lossing sleep over, that why you pay insurence.

[chinkeboi]

sorry ... forgot to mention that i only have third party fire and theft.. and if you've had experience with justcar.. i'm pretty sure you'd know that i am really reluctant to go through them.

my excess is a few hundred short of what he's asking for..

and jsutcar charge through the roof as it is

[KRY-57L]

For peice of mind, from a legal point of few & saving your own ars3 its still worth ringing them. You pay them to do you dirty work.

[EJD001]

rolla rear bars arent that expensive, i sell them all the time at work.. and work on the rear 1/4 panels sounds a bit weird, unless they did actually get damaged.

[KRY-57L]

There could be structual damage under the guards but i find it hard to fathum. :|

[NYTSKY]

Without seeing the damage its hard to say.But $1900 sounds steep.

[KRY-57L]

The cars already been fixed. :|

Just doesnt sound right to me.

[chinkeboi]

ok an honest description of the damage to his car.. a tennis ball sized circular dent which goes in about 2-3mm and has cracked the paint. this is on the right centre of his rear bar..

the rear bar so popped out A LITTLE on the right side.. so that there was a .5mm-1cm gap only on the right side of his rear bar where it connects to his rear quarter panel.

So in all of this.. i agree with the replacement of the rear bar.. most likely the reo was dented.. and since he's milking it.. he would probably replace it... but there was absolutely no damage to the paint of any other panels..

[gt-ahhh!]

mate next time crack out your phone and take photos!

thats bollocksed. i wouldnt bother making a claim to be honest, but it will save you the hassle of dealing with it.

[chinkeboi]

yeah.. in hind sight thats what i should have done

so tip for those out there TAKE PHOTO'S OF DAMAGE AT THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT

also.. try and get the other guys reccount of what happened on paper.

its just abit sudden.. ur crusiing along and then crash.. ur world gets thrown around and u forget to do silly little things like that -_-

[Cassbo]

and since he's milking it..

If you got a letter from his insurance company that it might not be him that is milking it. I think your lucky, my brother hit a Magna in the tail, similar amount of damage (from my brother's description anyways...) and the cost of fixing that was like $5,000, or $1,500 for the excess. At least you had the sense to drive a car WITH insurance.

[chinkeboi]

yeah..

HOWEVER.

the bill is for 1700 (for some reason the front page on the demand letter isn't inclusive of gst) and my excess is $1800

Sometime's I wonder. Justcar is the single biggest rort int his country. technically its only uses are if you cause more than about $2000 damage. Anything less and your kidding yourself by paying $1000 a year for their shitty service.

Well update: I've managed to get a a hold of some photo's of the guys car from his insurance. Looks worse than i remembered it to be.. but then again i was a little hazed going from cruising to get a feed in the morning to a $3000 car crash

Not sure if i can even dispute it.

[D_I_F]

Load of shit.. $500 MAX!!!!

I just got a quote for a respray for the GTR rear bar because I had some idiot ran into the back of me yesterday afternoon.. nothing broken or dented just scratches.. Asshole

[Sheng]

Load of shit.. $500 MAX!!!!

I just got a quote for a respray for the GTR rear bar because I had some idiot ran into the back of me yesterday afternoon.. nothing broken or dented just scratches.. Asshole

mm chicks driving gtrs thats what you get

[br3tt]

I have been in the same situation.. we planned to dispute outside of Insurance, next thing i get a letter from the bitch's insurance crowd demanding money.

For a celica front bar that just needed to be popped out, apparently her headlights and reo needed to be changed (and they werent even dented/broken - i saw them after it was all removed).

$1850 later (thanks justcars).. some bitch has a brand new front on her celica and im eating bread and water for a month.

[GTR R35]

If ANYONE hit my car I would always put it through insurance, for exactly the reasons we are reading here. Dealing with someone who thinks they know how much it should cost, is not my problem.

5km/h inpact can cause panel damage and plastic bars hide damage. We can assume that he might be ripped off, but the end of the day he will have to pay up or be sued by the insurance company, that will costa heap more.

Learn to either not hit cars, or find cheaper insurance excess.

[GTR32G]

It would not be hard to find $1800 damage,

If you damaged the rear bar reo, good chance the beaver panel got damaged and

Could have also damaged the boot floor if the skyline is low and you went under the corolla,

If this is the case some Toyota corolla beaver panels join over the rear

Qtr panels and can easily just split the seal between them, then Painting of the

Rear qtr would be required,

Then to paint the Qtr would need to remove the rear Qtr windows if it has them depending on which model, sedan or hatch?

Then parts need: Bar ,Reo, Bar mounts, under the bar there are qtr vents these crack easily, Sealer kit for windows, Any badges, possible Exhaust damaged?

And there you have it $1800 gone….

[Zilch*]

Man that still sounds steep, do what I do in future, keep a digital camera in the car(so you can check the photo is good) and yeah if anyone ever asked me to dispute it privately I'd say no. It's a hassle I don't need that's why we pay insurance every year

[NRV155]

True comments guys. I would have put it through insurance too. No offence to you, but in her eyes you could just pay a mate to do a dodgy patch up job and send her on her way. I dont know you therefore do not trust you, im paying for the trust of the insurance company. Its just unfortunate bad luck man.