VIC No Car Insurance - Car Accident

[kohsa]

I was going to car service centre, when i was just entering the car service centre I hit the wall of that auto service centre. There were just 10-15 bricks fell down, no major damage on the car. Unfortunately I didnt take any pictures of wall damage at that time. The car accident happened at 13 April 2015.

My car was uninsured at the time of incident - no car insurance. I gave my details to owner of the car service centre. The owner told his insurance company will contact me. after that i left.

The wall damage was not that much. I was expecting just about $1000-2000 because I talked with a builder they told that it could be repaired within $2000, so I thought I could pay for that.

After 1 week, I got mail from his insurance company informing that i should pay the repair cost, and there was written that they will contact me after all repair cost is known. Its been 3/4 weeks and I didn't hear anything from them. Then I decided to call them to know about the repair costs. I called them, they told me exact repair cost is not known yet, but it could cost around $25000, and after everything done they will send me the bills.

$25000 thats too much. How could I pay that much money for that little damage on the wall,
so at this moment what I should do, can anyone help me? Thanks in advance.

 

[Sarah J]

Hi Kohsa,

Ask the car service centre to provide you quotes, photographs, a detailed breakdown of the costs.

 

[kohsa]

Hi Kohsa,

Ask the car service centre to provide you quotes, photographs, a detailed breakdown of the costs.

Thank u sarah for your reply,
I just want to ask , r they supposed to provide me the quotations before they repair???

 

[Sarah J]

Hi Kohsa,

There is no requirement they provide you with quotations for repairs. It is good practice to do so, so that they can evidence they have tried to mitigate their loss and the expense is reasonable. Eventually, if you refuse to pay and they pursue the action, it would be an action for property damage (and/or debt). In this case, if it falls before court, they may need to prove that the costs incurred for the damage is reasonable, that they tried to mitigate the loss, and that 100% of the loss was caused by you (to prevent the claiming compensation for damage that existed before your accident).