WWYD in this situation? Our neighbour reversed into our car this morning and damaged the front bumper. He was very apologetic and said that he hadn?t seen the car until it was too late.
But we were parked in a bit of an awkward place for him, which we didn?t realise at the time, and feel a small sense of responsibility. Our driveways are next to each other, but we had parked our second car across the end of the driveway. Usually we put it somewhere else but there hadn?t been anywhere else to park it yesterday. So he reversed out of the driveway and swung the car round, right into ours and cracking our front bumper and number plate.
However, our bumper already had been scraped on one corner and the quote to get the work done was too high for us, so we didn?t get it done. This is part of the same bumper that will now be replaced by the insurance work so this has ended up being a bit of a result for us. Not massively because we were ok having a scraped bumper, but will obviously be getting a new one now.
So we wondered what the right thing to do would be. I thought that maybe we could offer him half of his insurance excess for goodwill. I know we don?t have to and that technically he reversed into our car. I do think that the insurance companies will rule in our favour as the car was visible and he could have avoided it. But we will be getting a new front bumper, without the existing scrapes and I know what it?s like when you are on auto-pilot in the morning.
Or am I being too soft?