My son (22) parked his car outside a friends a short while ago. A neighbour knocked the door to explain he's reversed out of his drive into the road and collided with my sons car, which was nice of hime to be honest in this day & age.
The damage to my sons car was creased bodywork around the N/S/R wheel arch and rear quarter area. Car is driveable, until rear seat carries weight, at which point the crush damage impinges upon wheel travel and tyre rubs.
The car is worth around £1000.
My question is this - the neighbour is going to sort his damage out via his insurance policy, and wants the insurance details of my son for the full claim story. My son isn't sure whether or not to use his insurance to repair his car as it's of such low value, and would almost certainly be 'written off' as uneconomic to repair.
This would mean he'd have to start looking for a replacement car with all the risks that entails (current car is a family cast-off from many years) and he'd need to put £900 towards a new insurance policy, as well as losing his hard earned No Claims Discount which is very worthwhile in terms of cost at 22yrs of age.
The neighbour can only offer £150 in cash towards any DiY repairs.
Son does not want to run the risk of accepting the £150 and drive a potential MoT failure, so is thinking he may go down the insurance claim route but this will mean he's going to need to find another £900 for policy renewal.
What should he do in order to be recompensed & what advice can anyone give, please?
The damage to my sons car was creased bodywork around the N/S/R wheel arch and rear quarter area. Car is driveable, until rear seat carries weight, at which point the crush damage impinges upon wheel travel and tyre rubs.
The car is worth around £1000.
My question is this - the neighbour is going to sort his damage out via his insurance policy, and wants the insurance details of my son for the full claim story. My son isn't sure whether or not to use his insurance to repair his car as it's of such low value, and would almost certainly be 'written off' as uneconomic to repair.
This would mean he'd have to start looking for a replacement car with all the risks that entails (current car is a family cast-off from many years) and he'd need to put £900 towards a new insurance policy, as well as losing his hard earned No Claims Discount which is very worthwhile in terms of cost at 22yrs of age.
The neighbour can only offer £150 in cash towards any DiY repairs.
Son does not want to run the risk of accepting the £150 and drive a potential MoT failure, so is thinking he may go down the insurance claim route but this will mean he's going to need to find another £900 for policy renewal.
What should he do in order to be recompensed & what advice can anyone give, please?