NSW Kid Collided Car in Driveway - Whose Fault Is It?

[skylar]

A quick explanation of the layout of my street. I live on a Cul De Sac where all the driveways in the area are on a hill with each house divided with a long fence reaching all the way down the driveway. I was heading into my car still parked on my driveway and I began to reverse. I reversed the car for a bit and then stopped, realising I had forgotten something inside the house. At this point in time, my car is stationary but I had reversed until my car was almost off of my own driveway.

As my car stops, a neighbour's kid comes racing down my next door neighbour's driveway on a bicycle and slams right into the my car, creating a dent on the side of my car. As I have never been in a car accident before, I left my vehicle to make sure the kid was alright and afterwards I called my parents.

My parents are close with the kid's family and told me not to call the police or worry about the situation and the child himself admitted that it was his fault for slamming into my car as he wasn't looking where he was going. His mum then apologised profusely to me and took photos of the damage he did to the side of my car. There is a large dent and scratches along the side of my car where the backlights are.

However, I am concerned that they will not follow up with this and fix the car like they promised. My parents have assured me to not worry as the family is trustworthy, however, I need some legal advice as to what I should do. They have admitted fault however I didn't make them sign anything admitting that it was their fault nor have I filed any police report. I need to know what to do please. Help.

 

[Tim W]

You are right to be concerned.

Life Lesson: The more people say "Trust me", the less you should actually trust them.

You will do well to get copies of the pictures before you Start Anything.
If they ask why you want them, then just say something like
"it's for the insurance".

 

[sammy01]

I'd get 3 quotes asap and then hand over the paperwork to the parents.

 

[Rod]

If your parents are going to interfere/intercede on behalf of the other side, then I suggest you tell your parents to accept responsibility if the neighbours refuse to pay.

See what they say to your proposal. In the meantime take pictures and get your 3 quotes. Also contact your insurance company to see what their process is.

 

[Zerojay]

Suggest you first discuss with your car insurance company how they see things will pan out if you were to lodge a claim, especially in respect to your excess and no claim bonus. Depends on your policy wording, but It could be that if you provide the name and address of the kid, then your excess will be waived and the claim will be deemed as faultless. I am not a legal practioner but I think you cannot sue a minor or his parents, in a situation like this, so neither can your car insurer. In other words your insurer is very unlikely to take any recovery action against the kid or his parents. You can confirm this point before lodging a claim.

Please let me know who you are insured with if you want an opinion on the wording.

If your insurer will not waive your excess and the claim will affect your no claim bonus, then don’t claim. Ask your neighbours to check with their house /contents insurer as the liability section of that policy may provide cover for your damage and your neighbour will then only have to pay any excess that is applicable. House polices generally cover liability for incidents occurring on the insured property and contents policies provide liability cover anywhere else in Australia.

I do not give legal advice, just my opinion based on working for an insurance company for over 20 years.