Curb damage (not my fault) Insurance or not?

[silver75]

OK... on my way home today I got into a scrape with a fellow in a merc. Theres this one way system that is allways busy with traffic. There are two lanes one for going left the other for the right. The left hand lane is allways busy so what people do is drive up the wrong lane and cut in right at the end. Fellow tried to force his way in and I though "sod that I'm not having it", he continued to force his way in and I had no choice but to use my horn as we would have collided. By now my cars front wheel was against the curb to the point that I was stuck.
I had to reverse to free myself (the sound was awfull).
So heres me now shaking with rage... I drive up to the guy and managed to pull up in front of the guy and stop, got out and politly enquired what he thought he was doing and that he will have to pay for my wheel... Fella denied every thing and said if I dont like it I could call the police... anyway to cut a long story short the man eventually gave me his insurance details etc, so my question is, is it worth me going through the insurance or should I just pay up myself, also is the damage repairable or will I need a new rim? I think they are machined stainless steel not sure...
[URL="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h23/silver75_2006/curb-1.jpg"][/URL]

 

[Broken Byzan]

OUCH!! probably worth seeing if you can get it reconditioned TBH cheaper than your excess i expect and you can get him to pay

 

[Mart]

HMM, probably not worth it, not guantee that you'll get anywhere with it, would drag out for ages, and if you didn't get a claim, the insurance company would now know of this incodent, if you can get him to pay you cash to refurb, then do that.

 

[jojo]

YIKES!, I personally would have just let him in, I wouldn't risk my set of rims for anything, he gained 5 secs and you lost an alloy! It's the way we are today in this world, best to just move on, as you have no proof(apart from your word against his) that the damage was caused by him, and he'd feel like a prat, paying excess just to replace one of your alloys, so can't see him owning up...

 

[TDI-line]

Why don't you ring up your insurance and ask for advice.

May seem strange to them if the 3rd party recieved NO DAMAGE but gave out his insurance details for blame.

 

[Olly_K]

I know what you were trying to do silver, I hate people that do that, I NEVER let people in, I'd just get the alloy done yourself and forget about the whole thing

 

[silver75]

YIKES!, I personally would have just let him in, I wouldn't risk my set of rims for anything, he gained 5 secs and you lost an alloy...

See what your saying I by no means am a saint when driving, but I would never force me way infront of someone, especially when you can see people have been queuing up in the right lane, and infuriates me when I see people infront of me letting them in, delaying my journey even further ... I know it doesnt make sense to go through the insurance, I just feel I cant let this man get away with this but it looks like he will

Ill ring my insurance company today and see what they say..

and if I had smacked him one, which i was this close to doing Id have ended up in trouble

 

[nervus]

Wouldn't bother with the insurance TBH though they will try and persuede you to go this route. He may end up being blamed but with no witnesses (ahem... cough cough are you really sure one of your random mates who could be made out to be a stranger didnt witness it from behind?) this will go to joint blame at best. It will drag on for over a year, you'll loose your excess, no claims and end up paying elevated insurance for the next 3 years! Been there, done that.

Are your wheels diamond finished? If so, its difficult to repair them but if there just painted then your looking at £40

 

[silver75]

Yep I know how they work, they will try to make me claim. Ill tell them I will only go through with it if he accepts liabilty if not then forget it...

Are your wheels diamond finished? If so, its difficult to repair them but if there just painted then your looking at £40

The only description I can find for my wheels are "bright silver with machined lip" ?

 

[Mart]

This happened to me once, someone in a Merc as well tried to force his way in front of me whe approaching a width restriction. He flew past me and tried first to get in front on the car in front of me, who moved forward, so I also moved forward and stayed close to the car infront, finally the guy pulled in behind me, honked his horn, and as I looked behind me, he was giving me the ****** sign. I stopped my car, got out, (his face was classic, looked like he **** himself, being I'm 6"4), he closed his window. I walked to his window, told him what I thought of him, and drove off.
But because he'd left it so late to pull behind me, and was now in a mood, he just floored it, and I heard the clonk, as he whacked the curb, gave himself a nice puncher!
Saw him a couple of times too after that, just use to look and laugh at him!

 

[silver75]

Quality!

 

[Geordie Mike]

There's a ridiculous bus lane in aberdeen where there is one @rse in a BMW that feels it's his right to plow past all the quing traffic on a morning. I saw he was behind me one morning and stayed in the bus lane, moving the same speed as the rest of the traffic - though he was going to mount the curb at one point! Everyone else was laughing, and of course I got let in no problem!

Mike

 

[icenutter]

Looks like mercedes drivers are the new BMW drivers. I'll watch out next time on the road!

 

[TDI-line]

Nice one Mart.