What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

A teenager damaged my car and won't give me his name - how do I get him to pay for the damage?

I own a catering trailer and was preparing breakfast for the leavers at a local public school who had hired out a private village sports centre. The school leavers were worse for wear from alcohol and had dragged a table tennis table outside. They decided to bring it back into the club house and the table fell in half damaging the bonnet of my car. The person responsible would not give me his name but I have his phone number. How to I get him to pay for the damage?

Asked on 11 July 2017 by Ben Johnson

Answered by Honest John
You will struggle if he is under the age of 18. It's very hard to get reimbursed for your loss under tort law, especially if negligence cannot be established. Your claim is with the school who contracted you and would be on their public liability insurance, it would then be up to them to try to recoup this loss from the young gent.
Similar questions
My friend returned to his car to find a note saying he had damaged another car in supermarket car park. This was not true, there was no incident. He now finds his premium has gone up as he reported an...
When you use supermarket hand car washes, you hand over your keys for the car to be washed while you shop. So, what are the insurance implications if your car gets stolen whilst in the care of the car...
Recently, it would appear that several local residents in our otherwise pleasant housing estate have had their cars bumped in a local car park outside a row of popular shops. In each case, the offending...
 

Value my car

Save £75 on Warranty using code HJ75

with MotorEasy

Get a warranty quote

Save 12% on GAP Insurance

Use HJ21 to save on an ALA policy

See offer