Can anyone recommend a cheap panel beater?

– Police report, get them charged with criminal damage.
– Get 2-3 quotes to repair damage
– Get witness reports from all involved
– Take them to ACAT. You can represent yourself, small claims is designed for a normal person to go through the tribunal.

Perhaps this is a lesson to not just have 3rd party. You gambled at lost.

krats said :

Comprehensive Insurance Does Not Cost $4000.May Be You Will Consider It In The Future,Then Again I Bet You Don’t.

As an under 25, scum of the road P plater, i think the excess of our car is pretty close to that. At least OP had insurance i suppose.

If you were parked at work, are they responsible for customer(?) actions??

Legal action. If you know who did it and you have footage of them doing it then go for it. Also hit them up for the court costs. It will teach them a valuable lesson and you’ll get your car fixed.

Comprehensive Insurance Does Not Cost $4000.May Be You Will Consider It In The Future,Then Again I Bet You Don’t.

Classified said :

OK, all may not be lost. You say you have third party insurance – is this third party property? If so, you may well find that it actually covers your car if you can nominate the at fault party.

Won’t cover squat. Third Party insurance only covers you against claims made by a third party and \ or a third parties insurance company.

I’m with the others, take them to the small claims court. You won’t be up for big money to do so, and I don’t even believe you really need a lawyer in a small claims court, as it’s a court set up for legal laymen so to speak.

All you would need is proof that the items where dropped onto your car (undoctored photos will work), and if you have one of the items any sort of identification marks such as serial numbers will go along way to proving your case.

As for the issue that they don’t have money, thats between them and the courts, a court can as others have said take funds out of bank accounts, deduct money from pay, or sell assets until the bill is paid.

Classified said :

OK, all may not be lost. You say you have third party insurance – is this third party property? If so, you may well find that it actually covers your car if you can nominate the at fault party. So here’s what to do:
1) Make a formal police report, and turn over your video evidemce. Name the people involved. Gte a pollice report reference.
2) Call the insurance company, tell them your car has been damaged and you want to make a claim, and can clearly identify the responsible party. Give them the names and as many details as you have, and the police report reference.
3) Insurance company may well fix your car, and will then chase these idots to the ends of the earth to get their money back.

+1 for Fred @ Auto Dentist

I doubt the OP will get their car repaired using TP insurance, it’s called Third Party for a reason! The purpose of it is to cover the OP incase they run into another vehicle or property (house etc). perhaps if another vehicle that was insured ran into the OP’s vehicle then the insurance companies can sort it out amongst themselves and the damage would be fixed (OP may need to pay excess?).

It would be a pretty big job to repair the car with the roof caved in, $4K sounds pretty conservative but AD may be able to cut a few corners and use some second hand parts to do it cheaper.

The rear 1/4 panel is an easy repair but I’d still guesstimate $1-1.5K to fix.

OK, all may not be lost. You say you have third party insurance – is this third party property? If so, you may well find that it actually covers your car if you can nominate the at fault party. So here’s what to do:
1) Make a formal police report, and turn over your video evidemce. Name the people involved. Gte a pollice report reference.
2) Call the insurance company, tell them your car has been damaged and you want to make a claim, and can clearly identify the responsible party. Give them the names and as many details as you have, and the police report reference.
3) Insurance company may well fix your car, and will then chase these idots to the ends of the earth to get their money back.

Lodge a claim with the ACT civil and administrative tribunal (ACAT) ?

Your quote is under the $5000 (?) limit for small claims. The tribunal has power to take some of their wages (over time) and auction off belongings to repay the debt. Looking at the photos, there aren’t many belongings left!

carnardly said :

Sue them.

Even if they take 10 years to pay you back, it’ll might make them think twice next time before being idiots.

I’ll sue them for the damage and pain they’ve caused me since people now think I’m a hopeless driver.

But seriously though, if I sue them, what if it doesn’t work? Then I’ll be stuck with a bigger bill!

Can anyone recommend a cheap lawyer? No, it’s ok. I’ll find one.

Sue them. Even if they take 10 years to pay you back, it’ll might make them think twice next time before being idiots.

DUB said :

ThatUniStudent said :

Ahh, that’s not fair, no teasing, we want the video proof! Come on, it will be funny as heck.

+1.
Damage to property is a crime, you have a video of it, but these people are known to you, and you don’t want to sue them.Would you like to tell us a full story?
P.S. I think your quote is pretty cheap. People usually get charged $800+ for a smallish dent.
Honestly-I think your car is a write off, your roof looks f00ked.

Definitely a write off. That’s my friends car. No one would pay 4 grand to get that car fixed! The video footage is surveillance footage taken from where I work. It shows them coming in and out getting the chairs, but because we don’t have a camera on the back balcony it doesn’t show them actually throwing them.

I don’t personally know them, but the cops who saw the footage do.

I don’t think they’ll have any money to pay me if I do sue them. And I’m pretty sure they’re all in jail for other misdemeanors anyway. Boourns.

Civic Smash Repairs – 23 Lonsdale Street, Braddon . 6249 1780 (They are hard to find in Yellow Pages, but are in White Pages and also the online YP)

Had some work done by them many years ago and was very happy with them. More recently had a quote and was very pleased by the figure quoted – much less than I had thought. Unfortunately, some %#@@%^ ran a red light and wrote off the car before I could get it fixed or compare quotes.

ThatUniStudent said :

Ahh, that’s not fair, no teasing, we want the video proof! Come on, it will be funny as heck.

+1.
Damage to property is a crime, you have a video of it, but these people are known to you, and you don’t want to sue them.Would you like to tell us a full story?
P.S. I think your quote is pretty cheap. People usually get charged $800+ for a smallish dent.
Honestly-I think your car is a write off, your roof looks f00ked.

That’s a rear quarter.

They’re gonna cost heaps to fix.

If you know who it is, and have a police report proving it’s them, i’d sue em.

I always thought your car was damaged due to poor driving skills…but this is an outrage!

Ahh, that’s not fair, no teasing, we want the video proof! Come on, it will be funny as heck.

As for cheap panel repairs, try Auto Dentist at 76 Shepperd Street Hume, behind the kitchens place and Pharleys.