Zero chance I’d be paying anything in these circumstances. It’s his responsibility to have suitable safe parking on his driveway, especially if he’s renting it out for commercial gain.
Thanks Deegee. I agree. I don’t want to fall out with him and lose him as a customer, I also don’t want to be taken for a mug and pay anything towards something that clearly isn’t our fault.
I might say to him I would actually prefer to go through insurance so get his insurance to contact me - because then I’m sure there’s no way they could put the blame on us.
I’d angle it as wanting to do it professionally as that is what insurance is for.
If you do that, your insurance company will simply pay it immediately and you’ll have a claim against you. They won’t ‘investigate’.
Think how much it would cost to send a man out to inspect the damage (1 day plus mileage) then write a report (few hours) etc. Their costs will be £400 just to do that, and they have no way of recovering those costs even if they find you aren’t at fault.
Even the administration of sending letters and arguing on your behalf will cost a few hundred, and again they can’t recover those costs. They won’t do it. They’ll just pay up.
Plus half of that cost is (£120?) is probably lower than your excess anyway.
Personally I would either flatly refuse to take responsibility, or more likely just pay it and move on. I’ve got way better things to spend time on than worrying about a £120 bill. Its tax deductible too, so you’re only looking at £96.
