Advice after incident on motorway.

[Sidders]

Right guys I was heading down to Car Culture meet tonight in my Megane F1, when some lads splitter fell off his mini and hit me causing a fair amount of damage. Luckily I caught up with him at the meet and he admitted it was his car ect. I recorded this conversation and showed him the damage details exchange details all done no.

He then calls me an hour later and asks to meet up. This time with a few heavys in tow. Questioning the damage and pretty much telling me that there was no way that this damage occurred from the splitter. WTF absolutely raging he also admitted he had not insured his car as having a modified splitter.



How do you see this going ?

 

[Sidders]

Right guys I was heading down to Car Culture meet tonight in my Megane F1, when some lads splitter fell off his mini and hit me causing a fair amount of damage. Luckily I caught up with him at the meet and he admitted it was his car ect. I recorded this conversation and showed him the damage details exchange details all done no.

He then calls me an hour later and asks to meet up. This time with a few heavys in tow. Questioning the damage and pretty much telling me that there was no way that this damage occurred from the splitter. WTF absolutely raging he also admitted he had not insured his car as having a modified splitter.



How do you see this going ?

 

[Tim.]

Call your insurer, let them do the work.

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

Call accident exchange.

 

[RIC172]

Find some even bigger heavies

 

[davo172]

Call your insurer, let them do the work.

This ^^^

 

[davo172]

Call accident exchange.

Have you used them?

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

Have you used them?

Using them at the moment mate.

 

[Landyman]

Were you hoping he’d cough up for the damage to your car? That ain’t gonna happen once he’s had a chance to think about it.
Call him and ask him how he wants to proceed.
Either he pays for the damage to your car, or you contact your insurance and the Police to report it.

Do you have the part that fell off his car? I guess you don’t which is a shame but it’s likely to go your way anyhow, particularly as you recorded the conversation you had with him.

 

[car.crash]

Don’t let him bully you. Hopefully he doesn’t have your address but either way do what’s right and call your insurance and a 3rd party as Ron suggested.

 

[Addicted]

Just go through insurance as above, that's what it's for. You have his admission of guilt, so him telling the insurers/police otherwise is a criminal offence.

 

[botfch]

If he turned back up with heavys, Report it to the police and then insurance.

Only other thing is, I’m not 100% on this but if the other person didn’t know you where recording them I don’t think they will accept it. But I could be wrong on that one.

 

[R3k1355]

You have any pictures of his car where the splitter has come detached??

Cos all you have now is a story and some pictures of a bashed up Megane

 

[Landyman]

He’s got the conversation recorded where the guy admits it was his car that the part fell off.

 

[RIC172]

He’s got the conversation recorded where the guy admits it was his car that the part fell off.

Yeah but you can’t legally use it unless you have evidence they agreed to the recording

 

[Louis]

dashcam?

 

[imprezaworks]

I feel a @sagara moment

 

[Rob]

If you kept the splitter, there would have surely been your bits of paint all over it?

The guys sounds like a douche though, I’d go down the police and insurance route tbh.

 

[Clio_fool]

Definitely report it to the police and your insurance. I'm sure his insurance would be intrested to hear that he has modified his car and not declared it, especially as its made his car a danger to other road users.

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

Yeah but you can’t legally use it unless you have evidence they agreed to the recording

I don’t think that’s 100% correct. My understanding of it is that a recorded conversation between two persons is not prohibited. The problem arises if the recording is given to a third party. But even then it can be argued that it is in the public interest for it to be admissible in court.

 

[Sidders]

and a recorded admission

 

[car.crash]

Please report back and tell us you’ve already got the ball rolling on this.

 

[Darren S]

I see two issues here. One getting the insurance involved (which unfortunately is going to be very likely) and potentially two - the insurers get wind of where you were heading to.

A decent hot hatch conveniently following another (hot?) hatch will get the insurers in a flap. "We're you racing? We're you up his arse as not to avoid the fallen splitter? We're you trying to prove that your car was better?"

You can hear the conversations from the insurers now..... If there's a way for them to squirm out of it - they will do.

 

[RIC172]

I don’t think that’s 100% correct. My understanding of it is that a recorded conversation between two persons is not prohibited. The problem arises if the recording is given to a third party. But even then it can be argued that it is in the public interest for it to be admissible in court.

Yes but surely the recording is worthless if it can’t be used in court

 

[Sidders]

I see two issues here. One getting the insurance involved (which unfortunately is going to be very likely) and potentially two - the insurers get wind of where you were heading to.

A decent hot hatch conveniently following another (hot?) hatch will get the insurers in a flap. "We're you racing? We're you up his arse as not to avoid the fallen splitter? We're you trying to prove that your car was better?"

You can hear the conversations from the insurers now..... If there's a way for them to squirm out of it - they will do.

I was 4 cars away in a different lane the splitter went airborne

 

[Sidders]

Please report back and tell us you’ve already got the ball rolling on yes I have called insurance today

 

[leedsboy]

What on earth was the splitter made out of?

 

[davo172]

What on earth was the splitter made out of?

Carbon (steel) !

 

[Sidders]

He said it was fibre glass more of a defuser with undergrad so a substantial size.

 

[davo172]

He said it was fibre glass more of a defuser with undergrad so a substantial size.

So did they threaten you not to report it?
What did they say?

 

[Sidders]

So did they threaten you not to report it?
What did they say?

No he called and asked I we could quickly chat about it before leaving which I obviously agree to. When I got there he was waiting with a mob some of who were sizeable chaps. From there they all pitched in to which end I said this doesn’t concern you do 1.. I must mention that i am 6ft 4 at 16 stone so was not overly fussed about the bigger boys lol. more pissed off to be honest at the ambush.
His dad has called today to talk it over and seems reasonable. Surly if it goes through the insurer his lad will have his insurance cancelled for not declaring mods ect.

 

[davo172]

No he called and asked I we could quickly chat about it before leaving which I obviously agree to. When I got there he was waiting with a mob some of who were sizeable chaps. From there they all pitched in to which end I said this doesn’t concern you do 1.. I must mention that i am 6ft 4 at 16 stone so was not overly fussed about the bigger boys lol. more pissed off to be honest at the ambush.
His dad has called today to talk it over and seems reasonable. Surly if it goes through the insurer his lad will have his insurance cancelled for not declaring mods ect.

Yep his insurance will be void if not declared mods

 

[JamesBryan]

Imagine if it was a motorbike following the guy.

Rider could have been decapitated.

 

[Chrisgti6]

Imagine if it was a motorbike following the guy.

Rider could have been decapitated.

You can apply that logic to many things in life, but if you worried about everything that 'could' happen you'd never leave the house!

 

[Rob]

Yep his insurance will be void if not declared mods

Only void for repairs to his own car, they still cover all others involved

 

[JamesBryan]

You can apply that logic to many things in life, but if you worried about everything that 'could' happen you'd never leave the house!

The same as there's no accounting for idiots not properly securing splitters/undertrays securely.

 

[R3k1355]

Only void for repairs to his own car, they still cover all others involved

Won't they then invalidate the insurance policy going forward though??

It's a question that gets asked when you take out insurance.

 

[Gus]

Investigate the cost of a new wing and spray. Your splitter should attach back on with issue .

My thinking is this would cost no more than 300 to sort out .

Reporting it to insurance will likely cost you more than that over time .

My advice is to try and use the recording to persuade the other guy to pay. If he doesn't then tell his insurance company that he is running a sizeable amount of mods and that he is bragging about not declaring them. But don't go through insurance , pay it yourself as a last resort

 

[Landyman]

Yeah but you can’t legally use it unless you have evidence they agreed to the recording

Nice that the law supports the criminal more than the victim

 

[R29TJR]

Make sure you report the incident to your insurance company irrespective, even if it’s just for information purposes.