Car Was Rear-Ended, Other Party Refuses to Pay Full Repair Fees (Both Parties No Insurance)

unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 12:34
Last edited 05/07/2019 - 15:10 by 1 other user

My car was rear-ended in a stationary position in front of traffic lights on May 23, so over a month ago. Other party is obviously at fault. He was not insured and my policy also happened to have expired 5 days prior, on May 18.

I got a quote from a local repair shop; it was around $1300 for the back. I offered to take $1000 cash to fix up a bigger dent in the front of the car. However, the driver would not pay anything more than $600. He also proposed to take the car to fix himself, which I rejected because who knows what dodgy repair shop he'd take the car to.

He has not been cooperating as of late and responds very late to my messages. I've contacted my insurance company and they basically said my car was not insured at the time so they can't do anything about it and for me to take legal action.

So what are my avenues right now? Should I contact the police, take the matter to VCAT (if so, what are the fees involved?) or via some other means?

I'm based in Victoria.

Thank you in advance

EDIT: So apparently the insurance company I'm with does have a grace period after the policy expires that covers the car, but is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. I'd told that the chances are 50/50 and they'll call back within 10 days.

Automotive

Comments

  • mbck on 05/07/2019 - 12:37
    +4

    I thought car insurance compamy gives you like 2 weeks breather in between policy expiring and restarting?

    • John Kimble on 05/07/2019 - 13:16
      -2

      ha

      • Dreamcast on 06/07/2019 - 16:23
        +2

        I think it's a tumor.

    • brad1-8tsi on 05/07/2019 - 14:13
      +29

      Only if you don't make a claim in that 2 weeks.

      • chriise on 06/07/2019 - 13:37
        +2

        Then what would be the point of the breather? (Not saying you're wrong, just not sure how that makes sense).

        • knk on 06/07/2019 - 14:00
          +2

          exactly

        • brad1-8tsi on 08/07/2019 - 08:53

          There's no point to it from the consumers side.

          It's to induce the lazy purchaser to stick with them, pay up and not shop around.

        • HighAndDry on 18/07/2019 - 14:36

          Easier to renew, basically.

  • pyramid on 05/07/2019 - 12:38
    +21

    my policy also happened to have expired 5 days prior

    popcorn time…

    • AdosHouse on 05/07/2019 - 12:54
      +4

      Hope you have enough to share.

    • CMH on 06/07/2019 - 01:02
      +4

      I wonder if this collision didn't occur would OP have remembered to renew his insurance…

    • Dan_ on 07/07/2019 - 13:23

      Popcorn time is reserved for uninsured At Fault drivers.

      If someone is a sufficiently skilled/vigilant driver, can't really fault them for being uninsured as long as they're prepared to foot the bill in the event that they do slip up.

  • whooah1979 on 05/07/2019 - 12:39
    +3

    Check you expired policy. It may have a grace period between payments where they may still cover you for collision.

    • pyramid on 05/07/2019 - 12:58

      I suspect 18th May was the expiry date including usual grace period from insurance company. OP - whats real story mate.

      • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 13:22

        May 18 is the expiry date of the comprehensive insurance policy, I didn't know about grace periods and will enquire further.

  • bob smith on 05/07/2019 - 12:51
    +5

    Don't waste the police's time.

    VCAT is your option

    • AdosHouse on 05/07/2019 - 12:55
      +10

      Police won't deal with it anyway, it's a civil matter.

    • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2019 - 13:03
      +6

      "Don't waste the police's time."

      They will tell you that. Will take a minute.

  • spackbace on 05/07/2019 - 12:59
    +5

    Take the $600 and move on. It's not worth the stress and angst.

    Other party could claim they can't afford to repay you at more than $10/week

    • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 13:05
      +2

      Other party drives a Mercedes, I find it hard to believe he cannot afford full repair fees…

      • spackbace on 05/07/2019 - 13:08
        +7

        Doesn't negate what I said.

        How much is a day off work, the stress leading up to it, and the $65 court fees, worth to you? If that value exceeds $400 then just take the $600 and accept what happened

        • Illian on 05/07/2019 - 13:16
          +1

          Also have to factor in the remaining cost of the repairs which OP would then have to pay, as well as the value of the principle of the thing. Don't know about OP, but it would be worth it to me.

          • spackbace on 05/07/2019 - 13:18
            +6

            @Illian: Except OP is more focused on a dent in the front rather than the dent in the back, which means it's likely a relatively insignificant dent (which is why the other party is disputing the repair quote).

            Priorities don't seem to be the new dent on the back.

            I wonder how much of a clunker OP's car is!

            • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 13:26

              @spackbace: It's a 2017 Volvo Xc90 D5. Quite big visible dent in the front from carelessly hitting a bin on the side of the road while doing a 3-point turn. Compared to the barely visible dents in the back yeah I'm inclined to fix up the front.

              You're right the other party has seen the front dent and is using that as leverage against me.

              • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2019 - 13:40
                +15

                @unfinishedsentenc: So, you asked money from the guy that crashed into you to pay for a separate bigger dent that you caused yourself to the the front of your car earlier on before this guy ran into you?

                Wow, that's almost scamming. I think this guy has every right not to trust your payment quote and offer to have his own nominated repairer make the repairs instead for only the damage he caused himself to the rear of your car.

                • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 13:52
                  +7

                  @[Deactivated]: Are you serious? The quote is for damage to the back of the car that he caused. That quote is $1300. I'm willing to take $1000 to fix up the front which I'd caused because it's much bigger of an issue that I haven't got around to fixing. How is that scamming him? He's paying less for the damage he caused.

                  • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2019 - 14:04
                    +8

                    @unfinishedsentenc: Have you got a pic of the bigger more of an issue $1000 damage to the front of the car caused by you and the smaller barely visible $1300 damage to the rear caused by him?

                    • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 15:04

                      @[Deactivated]: I believe I wasn't very clear, the front of car costs between $2-3k to fix, I'm just intending on using the $1000 to cover part of that cost.

                      • brendanm on 05/07/2019 - 16:43
                        +9

                        @unfinishedsentenc: If your insurance "only just ran out", why aren't you using it to fix the $3k damage you did to the front of it?

                      • holdenmg on 06/07/2019 - 00:03
                        +1

                        @unfinishedsentenc: If the front cost $2-3k to fix and this damage is unrelated to the Driver Rear-Ending you, why didn't you claim this on your Insurance before it lapsed?

                      • Roll Eyes on 06/07/2019 - 09:36
                        +4

                        @unfinishedsentenc: A $3k big dent from hitting a “bin” at low speed?

                        Ok.

                      • Love a bargain on 06/07/2019 - 12:25

                        @unfinishedsentenc: Should just pay the excess and claim on your insurance

                  • Love a bargain on 06/07/2019 - 12:24
                    +1

                    @unfinishedsentenc: If someone tells me that they can fix a bigger problem for $1000 (that I didn't cause) but the quote for the smaller problem (that I caused) was $1300, I'd think the quote is dodgy too. Wouldn't you?

                  • HighAndDry on 18/07/2019 - 14:39
                    -1

                    @unfinishedsentenc: You realise you've basically told the guy that the bigger dent only takes $1,000 to fix, but the smaller dent which they caused will somehow cost $1,300? Com'on mate, no one's gonna buy that.

              • MrHyde on 05/07/2019 - 13:45

                @unfinishedsentenc: I wouldnt want to pay for the front dent. You need to provide a quote for just the back dent and if its barely visible dent; $600 may be appropriate.

                • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 13:53

                  @MrHyde: The quote is for the back dent only. It's not a cheap car.

                  • websterp on 05/07/2019 - 14:06
                    +19

                    @unfinishedsentenc: Then don't skimp on Insurance.

                    • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 14:11

                      @websterp: Insurance expired 5 days prior to the incident and haven't had a chance to renew it. I've since renewed it but obviously was too late.

                      • onetwothreefour on 05/07/2019 - 21:52
                        +20

                        @unfinishedsentenc:

                        haven't had a chance to renew it.

                        This is such a bs excuse, it takes 5 minutes online to renew insurance, some insurance companies even auto renew unless you call them to cancel. I call BULLSHIT! You are just lazy.

                        • 13 on 06/07/2019 - 08:57
                          +2

                          @onetwothreefour: Yes i have to agree with 123, you lazy idiot

                        • Love a bargain on 06/07/2019 - 12:28
                          +1

                          @onetwothreefour: Totally agree. Rego, insurance, license, etc are just something that you just have find time to deal with before they expire no matter what (well, unless you're suddenly hospitalised, etc). Period.

      • brad1-8tsi on 05/07/2019 - 14:15
        +12

        Can afford car, can't afford insurance.

        There are quite a few luxury car owners out there that should be driving a Chery

      • Hithere on 05/07/2019 - 15:51
        +9

        Other party drives a Mercedes, I find it hard to believe he cannot afford full repair fees…

        That's how he can afford to drive a Mercedes - he doesn't pay for anything unless dragged kicking and screaming into court.

      • Roll Eyes on 06/07/2019 - 09:41
        +7

        You’re driving a $100k car without insurance and can’t afford to fix the damage you’ve done either…

      • juzza87 on 06/07/2019 - 10:07

        But they cannot afford insurance?

      • filfa on 06/07/2019 - 17:21
        +2

        I drive an A45 AMG, if I rear-ended someone I probably couldn't afford to pay the full repair fees (I could if I liquidated some investment(s)). I can, however, afford to pay my insurance.

      • Punda on 07/07/2019 - 09:37

        I find it hard to believe a Mercedes owner has no insurance? How do you know that for sure?

      • wyrmy on 07/07/2019 - 10:54
        +1

        Exact same thing happened when my parents got hit by a Mercedes in a parking lot. They tried to weasel out if it every way possible including bribing dad with $500 on the spot hoping he won't realise the repairs cost a lot more. Then they took him to a backyard hack tyre repair shop where the owner pretended he doesn't speak English and tried to deal directly with the Merc owner..
        Turns out he was not insured to drive his girlfriend's car in Australia.

  • beautysnippets on 05/07/2019 - 13:01
    +1

    A quick Google shows VCAT fees

    https://www.vcat.vic.gov.au/resources/goods-and-services-fee…

  • CMH on 05/07/2019 - 13:09
    +3

    VCAT doesn't deal with car collision matters. Have to go straight to court for that.

    This is what this guy is betting you're not going to do.

    Best option is to take his $600 offer but don't sign anything. This allows you to pursue the matter further, with the $600 being a deposit for the total amount. (Just don't mention the whole deposit thing).

  • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2019 - 13:10
    -6

    If he's offered to get the car fixed by his own mechanic/smash repairer then I think that's pretty reasonable considering you both are uninsured. Just make sure to personally deliver the car to his nominated repairer and get a copy of the receipt from them for work done. Don't just deliver the car to his home address otherwise he might try and bang the dents out with a hammer himself in his home garage watching youtube lol…

    • apsilon on 05/07/2019 - 13:22
      +13

      You've got to be kidding. Never ever take it to the repairer they suggest. Even if its a legit smash repair place the odds are they're mates and he's told them to just make it look pretty as cheap as possible and it'll be a half arsed job that's not properly repaired.

      • juzza87 on 06/07/2019 - 10:13
        +2

        In saying that an insurance nominated repairer disconnected both of our dash cams and used 3/4 tank of petrol to presumably drive people around. The persons mate could do a good job with the repair, it's truly a gamble unless you're able to choose your own repairer who you know won't stuff you around/do a good job.

        • apsilon on 06/07/2019 - 10:41

          That's true and it's why there's far more to choosing an insurer than finding the cheapest price. Some will even approve the use of used, reconditioned and non genuine parts for repair.

    • smartazz104 on 06/07/2019 - 10:51

      Yeah his own smash repairer is probably the Habib brothers out the back of the local industrial estate, great idea.

      • macrocephalic on 07/07/2019 - 00:12

        He stipulated to deliver it yourself. Presumably if the OP turned up to an unmarked shed then he wouldn't leave the car there. If he took it to a licenced smash repairer and received a receipt for the work then I don't see a problem.

        I know a few smash repairer, get a few beers into them and they'll tell you all about the dodgy work they do for the insurance companies. I listened to one last year complaining about how they don't get paid enough, so they just use the marker to circle lots of areas of the car which aren't damaged, take photos, and bill the insurance companies for it.

      • TEER3X on 07/07/2019 - 11:37

        Habib brothers do a mighty fine job

    • spackbace on 05/07/2019 - 13:19
      +5

      Wait, a lawyer is only going to take $300…?

      You sure about that? Lol

      • plmko on 05/07/2019 - 13:21
        -3

        For a letter, yes.

        • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2019 - 13:35
          +3

          I think no win, no fee lawyers filter small cases like this out at the start. They have nothing to work with. If they take the entire amount there will be a complaint. There might be multiple days of work, then if they make money they have to pay tax and rent. The ACCC have quite a large warchest to spend and they can't make Belle Gibson pay, instead she spent her money on an African safari and gambling.

          • Seraphin7 on 05/07/2019 - 13:58
            +3

            @[Deactivated]: Correct. You don't just rock up to a "no win, no fee" lawyer and say "I'll have one of those".

            What they don't tell you on the ads is that they look at your case, consider your chances of winning, work out how much THEY CAN GET OUT OF IT, and then determine whether or not they'll take on the matter.

            These guys aren't interested in this cr@p.

          • plmko on 05/07/2019 - 14:34

            @[Deactivated]: Not sure what you're trying to say, there is no case, never said to pursue a case. Just some productive communications.

            Worked for me. And even if I had to front some money, I'd like to make people sweat a bit.

            Most people in car accidents attribute crashes as an attack on their ego/personal skill so they get defensive and irrational. But after a few weeks they cool off and if you present them with a prisoner's dilemma choice….

            • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2019 - 14:51
              +3

              @plmko: So you engaged a lawyer to draft a letter (but with the pre-agreement of no further legal escalation) on a no win, no fee basis? If the letter achieved nothing, the lawyer got nothing. Letter works, lawyer gets ~$300?

    • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2019 - 13:50
      +2

      There is still a fee and that fee including court costs will be greater than $1300.

      If the guy who hit the car still refuses to pay them you will have to go to court again. It's not worth pursuing this in court.

    • altomic on 05/07/2019 - 15:13

      Pinko - Have you actually done this?

  • iforgotmysocks on 05/07/2019 - 14:05
    +8

    Lol. Imagine how easy this would have been if you had insurance.

    • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 14:13

      If only I'd remembered to renew on time :/

      • try2bhelpful on 05/07/2019 - 14:54
        +1

        It does happen. Stuff gets lost in the shuffle. Sometimes you have to cop the lesson life hands you. Been in your position, got a lawyer to write a letter and still had to shell out. At least no one was hurt.

      • varunynr on 06/07/2019 - 08:57
        +1

        Mate the insurance generally gets renewed automatically with the payment date of the renewal falling few weeks after renewal. Explore if you can claim with them. Just ask for payment to be deferred. And I just can't imagine people driving xc90s and mercs being out of insurance and not knowing the risks they are exposing themselves and others to.

      • MrBear on 06/07/2019 - 12:45

        One thing you can't get away from is an insurer letting you know to renew a policy. You must have tried hard to ignore all those emails and letters and phone calls?

  • websterp on 05/07/2019 - 14:46
    +17

    In 2015 you were a 17yo student earning a bit of cash working casual……
    And fast forward 4 years, at 21 you are driving a car that is worth 80K and a car usually driven by soccer mums from the leafy suburbs. Did you too get a job at Westpac and bought this car as an investment with high yield or just having rich parents?

    I'm just curious…

    • millhouse on 05/07/2019 - 14:52
      +4

      I can only assume the bin collision has impacted the high-yield investment in the Volvo.

    • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 15:00

      I'll leave it to your imagination ;)

      Is the Westpac comment a reference to another post?

  • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 15:07

    So apparently the insurance company I'm with does have a grace period after the policy expires that covers the car, but is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. I'd told that the chances are 50/50 and they'll call back within 10 days.

    • [Deactivated] on 05/07/2019 - 15:15

      Call tails.

      • onetwothreefour on 05/07/2019 - 21:56
        +2

        Call tails.

        Tails never fails!

        • resubaehtgnolhcs on 08/07/2019 - 16:59

          Tails never fails!

          Tails never fails in New South Wales!

    • enzioFirenze on 05/07/2019 - 15:15

      should have renewed your policy at least after the accident, that would have increased your chances

      • try2bhelpful on 05/07/2019 - 15:19

        Yeah, but it borders a tad on fraud if you don’t mention the accident. Given the, relative, small amount the OP might be OK. It will be interesting to see how this affects the premiums though. If they do come through they will only get the dent at the back fixed.

      • unfinishedsentenc on 05/07/2019 - 15:25

        They would not give me comprehensive as the car has been damaged, only have third-party until the dents have been fixed.

        • try2bhelpful on 05/07/2019 - 15:42

          That sounds logical. Just be grateful you didn’t his something really expensive.

    • Baysew on 05/07/2019 - 15:58

      Let's hope it all goes well and Mr Mercedes gets a rude shock.

    • zambuck on 08/07/2019 - 11:15

      Some years ago I was insured via an insurance broker and I hadn't received a renewal notice despite my calling them a couple days before the expiry. Insurance industry policy is that policies expire at 4pm. My car was written off at 9pm on the day the prior policy expired.

      After some back and forth with the broker it turns out that not only hadn't they sent me a renewal, they in fact had never sent the original payment on to an insurer. The process I had to go through was to apply for insurance from scratch, as though I was applying the day before the accident, and the insurer would treat it basically as an admin screw-up and insure the vehicle as if it wasn't already written off. So I got to pay an entire year's insurance premium after my car was already written off, for five hours of coverage and a payout of the policy.

      So it could work out ok for you.

  • Godric on 05/07/2019 - 15:30
    +2

    No obligatory MS paint diagram request?

    MS Paint Diagram please

  • holdenmg on 05/07/2019 - 15:54

    Obligatory “That'll buff right out” YouTube…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vjAXB3G4Ys

  • toniyellow on 05/07/2019 - 16:12
    +1

    You can send a letter of demand as the first step, which will only cost you postage.

    Send it registered post so you have proof they got it.

    Yes you might not want to waste a day in court, but neither do they, so taking the first step might be enough to shock them into realising you know your rights and could pursue this.

    https://mva.financialrights.org.au/dtop/im-not-insured-and-t… has some info and a template you can use

  • Extreme on 06/07/2019 - 08:53
    +1

    This is it.

    Why do people think they can choose the repairer for an at fault accident, for the innocent party?

    The innocent party is required to try and mitigate losses, but it’s their car. They can choose whoever they want to repair it. So long as they can show how they have mitigated the offenders losses.

    Then they have to deal with their car being off the road also. Is the person at fault going to cover car hire during this period too? In some cases they can be held liable for car rental costs also.

    • spacemannn on 06/07/2019 - 13:38

      Because you can't trust the innocent party to get the right quote for the right part. I'm not calling OP a liar, but he could have easily gone to a repair shop asked them to quote both parts of the car (damaged front as well as back), told the shop to write that only the rear is getting fixed to get more money to fix both parts of the car. I know it's a stretch but assholes exist everywhere and they lie. The at fault driver will make sure that only and ONLY the part they damaged is fixed, which is 100% fair.

      • Extreme on 09/07/2019 - 09:17

        That’s the risk you take when you are in an at fault accident without insurance.

        Either way, the at fault driver has no way of knowing wether the quotes provided are legitimate or not. The victim has choice of repairer. Remember they weren’t at fault.

        The at fault driver has already disadvantaged them as it is.

        People under estimate the costs of this sort of work these days. It can easily cost $1k to repair just a small bingle on a bumper bar, without any form of structural damage beneath.

      • HighAndDry on 18/07/2019 - 14:42

        I'm not calling OP a liar

        I'd be happy to. He's quoting the other guy $1,000 to fix the front dent which OP admits is bigger, but apparently the rear small dent actually caused by the other driver will cost $1,300? I'll call BS all day.

  • Mrgreenz on 06/07/2019 - 09:19
    +2

    Did you tell him it was to fix up the dent in the front?

  • centrelink on 06/07/2019 - 09:54
    -4

    Take the guy to court and make it so expensive it bankrupts him in the process!

    • Metz on 06/07/2019 - 10:04
      +5

      So you think Mr. Mercedes is a bad guy and Mr. Op is a good guy? I think they are the same in every way. Someone who drive a luxury car but not paying insurance. They are the people causing the problems!

    • gimme on 07/07/2019 - 00:09

      Name checks out. I it's just trying to be ironical and I'm not paying for your welfare.

  • payless69 on 06/07/2019 - 10:01
    +2

    $1300 is the sort of money usually not worth going via insurance anyway. Even you are thinking to be at zero fault there is the excess and later the fact that you made a claim every other insurance is going to see and whatever you would get would drip to zero over time given the higher premiums one faces after a claim.

    Be friendly and take whatever cash he is willing to pay. Even mentioning another dent is lessening your chances of a satisfactory outcome.

    • trapper on 15/07/2019 - 13:27

      Wait, what? He's not at fault and his insurance would recover all costs from the other driver.

      There would be no excess, and no impact on his premiums.

  • smartazz104 on 06/07/2019 - 11:08

    given the higher premiums one faces after a claim.

    Weird, premiums seem to go up no matter if you make a claim or not…

  • Whisper Quiet on 06/07/2019 - 11:11

    Like so many people have said, in this post and countless others in the forums… If someone is going to give you cash when you don't have insurance - take it!!
    You'll end up spending the same amount if not much more going through court. Sometimes you just gota take it on the chin (I wonder if a pornstar coined that phrase) your fault for not being insured and that's the risk you take if someone rear ends you (maybe another pornstar quote). $3000 dent on your front bumper? Get another quote.

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