Cycle /car collision

Amazingfun

Hi I am not sure where to ask so please redirect if it's wrong.

A friend of mine was involved in a collision with a car. He shot too early on a red light and connected with the drivers side, leaving a scratch. There was no damage to the bike and he got a good few bruises/quite a fright etc but no serious injuries at all. At the scene the driver said everything was ok and that it was just fine no one was hurt.

Cue a week down the road: he just got a text saying that the drivers window isn't working and that he will be responsible for the repair cost. Now I have no idea how this works- but how does he he know that window damage was caused by him? The reason it feels suspect to me is that he had no damage to his bicycle and it seems very unlikely (to me-but is why I am asking) that an impact that didn't even cause a dent/scratch on his bike could cause such serious damage to the car.

2nd question: He doesn't have extra money really, living on a very tight budget. He was prepared to make an offer of payments on the repair of the scratch but although the car owner hasn't given a number on it yet it seems he expects this window repair to paid in full by my friend. Does making any payment amount to a legal quagmire for him?

Thanks for any advice.

***no charges have been laid but there is an open investigation by the Garda but he hasn't heard back anything from them at all since the incident.

kirving

Your friend should offer some money to pay for the scratch to be fair.

If it's a new car, that might mean getting the whole door resprayed which would be a good couple of hundred, if the driver will accept a SMART repair maybe on an older car, then that will still be a few hundred. How bad is the scratch? Have you a picture? If it was me, I'd want it repaired.

The side window is completely unrelated as far as I can tell, if your friend wasn't injured, then the impact can't have been any worse than a football smacking the window. Tell the driver to get lost with the window issue, I really can't fathom that one, but fair is fair, he scratched the car, so it should be repaired.

Amazingfun

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Your friend should offer some money to pay for the scratch to be fair.

If it's a new car, that might mean getting the whole door resprayed which would be a good couple of hundred, if the driver will accept a SMART repair maybe on an older car, then that will still be a few hundred. How bad is the scratch? Have you a picture? If it was me, I'd want it repaired.

The side window is completely unrelated as far as I can tell, if your friend wasn't injured, then the impact can't have been any worse than a football smacking the window. Tell the driver to get lost with the window issue, I really can't fathom that one, but fair is fair, he scratched the car, so it should be repaired.

I am in 100% agreement and believe me my is too friend to too re his responsibility for the scratch. He is just a bit confused as to how to handle this now as it's just a text from the driver. Is it better to say nothing until hearing more from the Investigation or just to reiterate his willingness to pay for the scratch repair but not the window?
No he doesn't have a picture as it was very traumatic for him at the time/scene of the accident. He wasn't thinking about taking pictures unfortunately but he did see it and (believing it wasn't there before) he saw just a light medium size scratch on the drivers side. There was no deep gouge or paint on the ground or anything like that is what I mean.

Just not sure what's his next best move. He hasn't replied to the text yet. And no it was not a new car.

Little CuChulainn

I'm not sure what kind of investigation you think the Gardaí will be doing but they don't look at the civil side of it. Your friend will probably get a ticket for cycling through a light but that will be the end of the involvement of the Gardaí.

Amazingfun

I don't know to be honest. Just figured it would be premature to respond to the driver when the investigation is still open? It's a frustrating situation as the driver seemed very nice in the beginning but it seems now things may be going to turn a bit nasty if he is told that there will be no window payment offered. Also there can be nothing but installment payments offered as my pal hasn't got hundreds of extra dosh around to pay it all at once.

Little CuChulainn

Amazingfun wrote: »

I don't know to be honest. Just figured it would be premature to respond to the driver when the investigation is still open? It's a frustrating situation as the driver seemed very nice in the beginning but it seems now things may be going to turn a bit nasty if he is told that there will be no window payment offered. Also there can be nothing but installment payments offered as my pal hasn't got hundreds of extra dosh around to pay it all at once.

Nasty how? He is already paying for the damage to the door. It's not like the guy can claim whiplash. It doesn't cost hundreds to repair a scratch on a door.

Amazingfun

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

Nasty how? He is already paying for the damage to the door. It's not like the guy can claim whiplash. It doesn't cost hundreds to repair a scratch on a door.

Just the tone of his interaction has changed radically. Initially it was all concern for the state of my friend's health (it looked very bad at first as he couldn't talk or move for the first few minutes after the collision but he really just had the wind knocked out of him and minus a few bruises/soreness turned out to be perfectly fine). Now the tone is very business-like and the driver seems to think that just by saying the window is his responsibility that that's that and there is no more to say about it. I don't agree but again am not sure what is the "right" move next for him. Offer again to make instalment payments for the repair of the scratch and just not really mention the window or just say outright that he won't pay for the window?

Just to add: the driver seems not at all interested in repairing the scratch. But wants the window done.

groovyg

Op first of all your friend was completely in the wrong. Breaking a red light and colliding with a car is playing with fire. He is lucky he's still bloody here.
Were the guards called to the accident? I wouldn't be paying anything to the driver until he/she has a receipt for damages.

A friend of mine had a minor accident and there was a tiny scratch on the other car it cost her a grand to get it repaired.

Amazingfun

groovyg wrote: »

Op first of all your friend was completely in the wrong. Breaking a red light and colliding with a car is playing with fire. He is lucky he's still bloody here.
Were the guards called to the accident? I wouldn't be paying anything to the driver until he/she has a receipt for damages.

A friend of mine had a minor accident and there was a tiny scratch on the other car it cost her a grand to get it repaired.

Yeah we are a grateful he wasn't killed believe me. As was the driver of course The point now is that it's gone from "scratch" last week to "scratches" this week and now a claim of damage on the inside of the car resulting in a window that won't work. It seems completely implausible to me that a relatively minor collision that didn't even damage the bike could now be the cause of damage on the inside of the car.

Anyways he went to a FLAC advice center and they told him to see if he can get the CCTV footage. As for replying the advice was to gently and non aggressively state the bafflement regarding the increased claims of damage a week later. Truthfully I don't see how this is going to go well no matter how it's stated since won't it be seen by the driver as him being accused of lying?

Such a mess.

Were the guards called to the accident? I wouldn't be paying anything to the driver until he/she has a receipt for damages.

No funny enough the guards weren't called to the scene but the driver reported it himself on the way home and a guard then called my pal to see if he was ok and to ask what happened. He hasn't heard anything since but wil be talking to him tomorrow about the CCTV etc.

And yeah I don't think any monies ought to be given now until there is an "official" damage tally. Thing is I don't know what his defense is against the rising tide of damages now compared to the "scratch" this started off as?!

stevenmu

I'm not a mechanic by any means, but if your friend hit the side of the car hard enough that he was stunned and couldn't move or talk for a few minutes, then it sounds very plausible that the window mechanism could be damaged.

It's very possible that your friend impacted against the window itself, transferring a lot of energy through to the mechanism.

Also keep in mind that car panels will often deform quite a bit on impact and will bounce back in to place with barely a mark left. So it's possible a lot of the impact was against the door, pushing the door panel in and damaging the window mechanism, while not leaving much visible damage.

Your friend could potentially ask for an independent assessment of the damage, however it would be at their own expense, and I'd suggest there's a high chance that a mechanic/assessor would not be able to definitely state the cause.

Amazingfun

stevenmu wrote: »

I'm not a mechanic by any means, but if your friend hit the side of the car hard enough that he was stunned and couldn't move or talk for a few minutes, then it sounds very plausible that the window mechanism could be damaged.

It's very possible that your friend impacted against the window itself, transferring a lot of energy through to the mechanism.

Also keep in mind that car panels will often deform quite a bit on impact and will bounce back in to place with barely a mark left. So it's possible a lot of the impact was against the door, pushing the door panel in and damaging the window mechanism, while not leaving much visible damage.

Your friend could potentially ask for an independent assessment of the damage, however it would be at their own expense, and I'd suggest there's a high chance that a mechanic/assessor would not be able to definitely state the cause.

I take your points as valuable , and thanks for replying, but can tell you he did not hit the window (we've been over the sequence of events many many times now in reviewing what happened). The car was still moving (slowly) and didn't come to a stop until he was on the ground. The bike initially made contact with the driver door....the rest of him was knocked off the bike and made contact briefly with the rear door of the car and then he hit the ground hard (hence the wind knocked out).

My point was how could the impact be so great as to not cause a bit of damage to the bike? It just doesn't seem to make sense but then again why would the driver lie about it really....

He still hasn't replied to the text from the driver. Doesn't know what to say and my head is about melted now as to what to advise :P I don't see any way for him that isn't going to result in him owing a lot of money, money he hasn't got, so I guess he will just have to bite the bullet and tell the driver the truth about his finances.

barbs84

The window mechanism is in a the door upon the door frame getting hit by the bike it can knock the mechanism off its runner. It happened to me when my door got hit but its simple enough to fix no parts
needed

Amazingfun

barbs84 wrote: »

The window mechanism is in a the door upon the door frame getting hit by the bike it can knock the mechanism off its runner. It happened to me when my door got hit but its simple enough to fix no parts
needed

Hey that's great news as I was imagining a 1000 euro price tag for that. Thanks for the info, although I am sorry you had to find out about it the hard way too it sounds .

goz83

Amazingfun wrote: »

I take your points as valuable , and thanks for replying, but can tell you he did not hit the window (we've been over the sequence of events many many times now in reviewing what happened). The car was still moving (slowly) and didn't come to a stop until he was on the ground. The bike initially made contact with the driver door....the rest of him was knocked off the bike and made contact briefly with the rear door of the car and then he hit the ground hard (hence the wind knocked out).

My point was how could the impact be so great as to not cause a bit of damage to the bike? It just doesn't seem to make sense but then again why would the driver lie about it really....

He still hasn't replied to the text from the driver. Doesn't know what to say and my head is about melted now as to what to advise :P I don't see any way for him that isn't going to result in him owing a lot of money, money he hasn't got, so I guess he will just have to bite the bullet and tell the driver the truth about his finances.

And we were recently talking about cyclist insurance, but most people seemed to think cyclists should be immune from insurance, because they apparently cause so few accidents. Anyway.....it sounds like the door was hit with enough force to cause damage to the internals of the door. Slamming the door with enough force can damage components in the door, so it's not surprising that a cyclist running a red light would cause this damage. If your friend hit the ground hard, then he likely hit the car hard too. The lack of damage to his bike is really just an extra blessing on top of his minor injuries, when you consider the danger he put himself in.

Your friend coming clean about his finances isn't what I would call biting the bullet. It puts the not at fault driver in a bit of a situation, because the driver has to foot the bill, or live with the damage while your friend pays off a tenner a week. Not exactly fair imo. Finally, the driver is entitled to be compensated for damage your friend caused. The driver must produce an estimate (or up to three estimates) but does not have to spend the compensation on repairing the damage. Not repairing the damage would impact the sale price by circa the amount of damage.

Amazingfun

goz83 wrote: »

Your friend coming clean about his finances isn't what I would call biting the bullet. It puts the not at fault driver in a bit of a situation, because the driver has to foot the bill, or live with the damage while your friend pays off a tenner a week. Not exactly fair imo. Finally, the driver is entitled to be compensated for damage your friend caused. The driver must produce an estimate (or up to three estimates) but does not have to spend the compensation on repairing the damage. Not repairing the damage would impact the sale price by circa the amount of damage.

Ok...but he doesn't have insurance and doesn't have the money. Apart from it being unfair, now what?

Atlantic Dawn

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

Nasty how? He is already paying for the damage to the door. It's not like the guy can claim whiplash. It doesn't cost hundreds to repair a scratch on a door.

Yes it does, typically a scratch means a full respray of the entire door in order for it to blend in and look the same post as pre crash. The only difference to this might be if the car was brand new in which case you might get lucky.

goz83

Amazingfun wrote: »

Ok...but he doesn't have insurance and doesn't have the money. Apart from it being unfair, now what?

He could sell his indestructable bicycle to help pay for the damage he caused.

Amazingfun

goz83 wrote: »

He could sell his indestructable bicycle to help pay for the damage he caused.

No need...everything has worked out fine. He got over the fear and just talked honestly to the driver and they've both agreed to an amount he can handle and that wasn't anywhere near as bad as first imagined.....but thanks sooooo much for your helpful suggestion!

goz83

Amazingfun wrote: »

No need...everything has worked out fine. He got over the fear and just talked honestly to the driver and they've both agreed to an amount he can handle and that wasn't anywhere near as bad as first imagined.....but thanks sooooo much for your helpful suggestion!

Happy to help