Friendly Neighbour Turns Sour

LSunnykid on 22/09/2022 - 21:45
Last edited 23/09/2022 - 10:49 by 1 other user

Have a neighbour on two occasions hit my car that was parked on the street. Apparently reversed off their driveway and hit my car. Wanted me not report to my insurance company but instead go privately with their mechanic of choice to fix my car and they pay for the damages. WTH?!

I called insurance company and they advised me that I can ignore their text messages (she texted me at 6am!) and just let them handle it which I did.

Now we aren’t on talking terms which I don’t mind.

Has this happened to you?

Home & Garden

Comments

            • Technics on 23/09/2022 - 21:43

              @ItchyBallsack: If you don't seem to be enjoying the company of anyone at the party then maybe it's not everyone else.

              • ItchyBallsack on 23/09/2022 - 21:58
                +1

                @Technics: Lol i get along with everyone, u seem like the person who would call the police if someone lights up a joint

                • Technics on 23/09/2022 - 22:14
                  +2

                  @ItchyBallsack: I can image you would. You seem like a unique and special joint ignoring badass and such. I'm sure everyone would be blown away by how much of a personality you have as demonstrated by how casual you are about minor unexceptional drug use.

                  • ItchyBallsack on 23/09/2022 - 22:18

                    @Technics: Haha if everyone is like u then this world would be a better place? I think not

                  • ItchyBallsack on 23/09/2022 - 22:20

                    @Technics: And also its not about being badass or whatnot, its about not giving a F**K to shit going on around u.

                  • ItchyBallsack on 23/09/2022 - 22:21

                    @Technics: And thats how i get along with all my neighbours. And i live in an apartment.

  • Davo1111 on 23/09/2022 - 19:26
    +4

    The insurer will send a letter of demand for the amount. They can cut a cheque out to the insurer and that's the end of it

  • Alexxx on 23/09/2022 - 20:17
    +1

    Sounds fine to me, I had a friend reverse into my car and they didn't want to go through insurance so I had to run around getting 3 quotes. Once they found out the price they said it was too much and stalled before telling me they wanted to go through their insurance.
    I told them if that's the case I'll just lodge a claim with my insurance and they can worry about it. In the end they gave me cash for the quote I had but we never spoke again.

    Next time I'll just go through insurance, just drop off the car, get the hire car, and pick mine up when it's done. No running around getting quotes, fighting about prices and going without a car while it's getting fixed and if there are any issues with the repairs the insurance company will sort it out without me needing to ask for more money.

    • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 23/09/2022 - 20:33
      +1

      Why are people, who are at fault, so worried about claiming on their own insurance lmao. Premiums will always go up anyway.

      • CalmLemons on 23/09/2022 - 22:48
        +2

        goes up astronomically if you declare previous claims in the 3-5 years before depending on insurer, we're talking 20-60% here, not the usual 10% rise if you're lazy and don't get new quotes every year.

        • DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 23/09/2022 - 22:53

          WoW!

        • Davo1111 on 24/09/2022 - 10:08

          I don't think this is an at fault claim.

          The neighbour receives a letter of demand for the amount, and sends a cheque back. Their insurer doesn't have to get involved.

          I used to think that insurers were inflating prices, until (when I got into an accident), the quote was half what they got quoted privately.

          • CalmLemons on 24/09/2022 - 21:52

            @Davo1111: Yes. Many insurers just fix at cost now. I fixed a windscreen for $1700 and insurance said they would only pay $750 cause that's how much it would have cost at their repairer. I was being rather lazy though and I just wanted the problem gone.

            Markup on mechanical repairs is huge.

      • Alexxx on 24/09/2022 - 08:43

        There are a few tricks you could use here.
        I had home insurance with one insurer and car with another. Had an at fault claim in the car and new premium was 50% higher the next year, got a quote with the insurer I use for my home and it was almost the same as I was paying before even though I declared the accident.
        Car insurer gave me minimal no claim bonus, home insurer went from 65% to 60%.
        Plan is to have both insurance with the same company for 3 years then go back to having separate companies for each.

  • drfuzzy on 23/09/2022 - 20:24
    +5

    Next time the neighbour hits your car they will probably drive off and pretend it was someone else.

    • ItchyBallsack on 23/09/2022 - 21:15

      Exactly this

    • ItchyBallsack on 23/09/2022 - 21:16

      Or they will hit it with a hammer or an object instead of their car 😄

    • HumbleCat on 24/09/2022 - 00:41
      +1

      Nothing an Amazon Ring Doorbell with 24 hour recording cant solve

      • drfuzzy on 24/09/2022 - 01:11
        +1

        How will a doorbell stop someone driving into your car on the street?

  • Miss B on 23/09/2022 - 23:24

    They don’t have to go through their insurance just because you do. They can just set up a payment plan with your insurance company. Also, as people mentioned, they might not tell you when they inevitably hit your car again soon, so probably best to get a dashcam that will show it was them for when it happens. I would go through my insurance too.

    • smartazz104 on 24/09/2022 - 11:09

      More than likely this upstanding neighbour actually has no insurance.

  • ShannonN on 24/09/2022 - 09:20

    Buy the neighbour a reversing camera so it will never happen again and tell them you chose to go through insurance as you don't have the time to chase up quotes and use dodgy repairers that do the bare minimum repairs on the cheap as that's why you are fully insured

  • Vote for Pedro on 24/09/2022 - 10:34

    Apart from no longer talking, what else has ‘turned sour’?

    • smartazz104 on 24/09/2022 - 11:10
      +1

      Maybe the neighbour looks at OP funny now.

      • Vote for Pedro on 24/09/2022 - 13:41

        I have a great relationship with my neighbours. We nod and smile at each other and occasionally the odd ‘aint the weather lovely’ and we move on with our lives.

  • rlay3 on 24/09/2022 - 10:41
    +1

    Yes, once by neighbour across the road, and another time by next door neighbour. But nothing came of it because:

    1) We're on good terms - they informed us and were apologetic.
    2) It's an older car with existing scratches and dings. The damage caused was small and didn't bother me.
    3) We've accepted by parking on the road it's going to get dinged. And we pretty much do it to satisfy my wife's desire to prevent anyone else parking in front of our house. (See Superwog S2E01 - The P Plates)

  • Tiredman on 24/09/2022 - 14:03

    The cheek of offering to use their mechanic of choice.

  • dumvamp on 24/09/2022 - 14:38
    +1

    Im with the guys that say report it and use insurance. If this has happened multiple times, and its the same driver, then they are that bad a driver that IT NEEDS TO BE ON THEIR INSURANCE HISTORY.

    they want to handle it privately to keep it off the record, then when they cause a major accident or death later they can say, oh "but they have a clean driving record".

    Thats straight up bullcrap and manipulation of the current and future situations.

  • Littlevu on 24/09/2022 - 15:39
    +2

    Long time ago I got rear ended. The guy wanted to pay for damages which was fine by me. I got a quote and gave it to him. He didn’t want to pay me but to the repairer. I said no.

    Legally if someone damages the car they need to pay for the damages. I am allowed to keep the money and not repair it if I wanted to skip the repair. I am also not obliged to go out my way to get multiple quotes.

    Legal advice was from the head of legal and I ended up going through insurance cause I was only prepared to help out only so much before it became a major pain in the ass.

  • BertieBrown on 24/09/2022 - 16:06
    +2

    Been there, and done that.

    Much better to go through insurance. Repairs are usually covered 100% through insurance. You’ll get your money or the car actually fixed for certain. If there’s any hidden damage to the car that they can’t see straight up edit - and you don’t go through insurance (like the fuel tank or even the chassis) you’ll be back hassling them for more money (good luck with that). You’ll have everything in writing. Etc etc.

    I mean to be honest why bother having insurance if you’re not going to use it? I got rear ended years back and initially the estimate was low but then went up and up and up when they found more stuff wrong with the car (repairer might have been doing the dodge but it was all repaired by insurer).

    I’m all for helping people out, and I absolutely will if I can. I also don’t like to try and screw people over just because they don’t have insurance or want to do things to save money; I’ll try and help folks if I can but when it comes to potentially having a car that’s buggered and needs endless repairs I’m going to protect myself.

    Yeah it sucks when you have the blues with your neighbours for sure but it could just as easily be something else that leads to a big blowout, not just this stuff with the car (especially if they’re not talking to you now because they crashed into YOU and you’re just going through insurance - fair dinkum..)

  • pnalarobe on 24/09/2022 - 22:20
    +1

    My neighbour hit my car, she has a relo that owns a panel beaters and it was fixed without insurance getting involved. The repair was a cashy family rate, even got extra repaired for free. Not a half ass job either, good tint and blend

    I’m pretty good with my neighbour now, the past is behind us and we get along well.

  • Oz em on 24/09/2022 - 23:24

    Nothing annoys me more than the people across from me parking right at the end of my driveway every day and leaving their driveway empty.

  • Needles on 25/09/2022 - 00:06

    hit my neighbour's car and asked for a private deal. They asked for $920 and I gave them $1000 and said "keep the change"

  • spoonmugen on 25/09/2022 - 07:14
    -2

    "they advised me that I can ignore their text messages (she texted me at 6am!) "

    how's she dodgy??
    she texted at 6am - thats when she hit the car / other ppl will drive off and ignore it?
    she said she'll pay the repairs - she doesnt want HER premiums to go up/as it was prob worth not going through insurance?

    doesnt seem dodgy at all… what is dodgy is the OP saying he/she ignored the text and went through her insurance - without speaking/replying to said text
    and the neighbour knows the text was received because of the insurance claim…

    if i was the neighbour i'd be like ooofph - neighbour is an axxhole…doesnt wanna speak for things like this… ok… fair play

    and you're coming on ozb - asking why the neighbour isnt talking/being friendly with you now???
    LOLLLLLLL

  • karinab on 25/09/2022 - 21:52
    +1

    I am amazed that this happened twice.

    First of all, seeing as she is your Neighbour (!!!!!) What happened to just talking to her directly? What happened to actually physically taking yourself to her door and talking about it?

    Just say, sorry I meant to write back to you but haven't gotten around to it. say that you prefer to go through your insurance, no hard feelings, stuff happens, hope she is okay, was it a bad morning? etc usual chit chat …

    she is probably not talking to you because she is mortified that she hit your car.

    She was probably worried about premiums going up but that's not your problem. I don't think there was necessarily anything dodgy going on, otherwise she would have done a hit and run.

    Secondly, l think texting at 6 am is reasonable. Calling, not so much but she probably just wanted you to know immediately.

  • sashatheman on 25/09/2022 - 22:15
    +1

    If its your neighbor, you should have at least talked to them about it, instead of ignoring them completely.

  • Richmond Tigers on 26/09/2022 - 09:20

    I once got rear ended, driver didn't want to go through insurance because I reckon it was a son driving the parents car who was not covered and would stuff their premiums.

    They paid cash to fix it but I chose the smash repairs.

  • cupcake on 26/09/2022 - 13:46

    I'd rather not get a Christmas card from the neighbour.

    • spoonmugen on 27/09/2022 - 15:11
      -3

      neighbour did everything right?

      had an accident… sms'ed at 6am/prob when it happened/some ppl wouldnt admit fault - rather than let the OP find out during the day?
      sms was to get it fixed without insurance/as prob affected her/his premiums?

      op chose to ignore text and just go straight to insurer - now coming to obz asking why this neighbour isnt talking to them?

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