Bumped a car, excessive quote

[lilsquish]

morning, last week i bumped a car in a school car park causing slight damage to both cars.

I exchanged details and took photos of the damage. Very slight, scrapes - no dents. The owner stated she would take it to a garage to get a quote for repair. All fine.

When i got home, my huaband wiped down the scrapes with some T cut and it was good as new. I contacted the other owner and suggested she try this however she wanted to take it to a garage instead.

My husband had a quick look at her car the next day (it was in school carpark) and 100% certain the damage was less than my car and would buff out.

Now iv just had the quote from the garage through and i feel its very excessive.

Theyre quoting £550, itemising repair abd repaint in two areas and refitting the bumper.

Has anyone had any experience if this and know what i can do?

I wanted to settle it without claiming insurance to prevent premium going up etc but i feel this quote is ridiculous.

Its definitely a real quote etc, I dont in any way think the girl is trying to get anything more than she is due, i think the garage tho has bumped up the bill as they think insurance is paying........help!!

This happened to me pulled out at a car and hit it so no speed . My car was fine the other car was scratched . The quote was £600 which I paid I thought it was high but I already said to not contact insurance and it was my fault , I just wanted it sorted because I was mortified that I had pulled out without looking .
Would I do this again probably not because £600 is a lot but my insurance is quite low .
Pay it if you don't want to get insurance involved, you could request another quote but she could decide to go to her insurance.

I did a very similar amount of damage to someone's car recently. The quote was £150 from a repair garage. She needs to get more quotes.

wow thats not what i meant!!

i was merely saying the make and model as a previous poster had asked if it was a merc or something.

i said the damage didn't warrant a respray, not the type of car didn't warrant a re-spray

sorry my reply was to Lochroy

But you don’t know if the damage warrants a respray.

As I said, when it Halle Ed to me, the mother wanted me to accept a buff out. But when I got that done, I could still see the scratches.

It’s really not your call. Sorry.

Happened.

Ffs. Autocorrect mangle.

It's galling but you either pay up or you get the insurance to.

Similar thing happened to me. I knocked someone's wing mirror off. Literally just knocked the mirror at low speed and no other damage to the car. I thought it would be hardly any money just to replace it so offered to pay up.

But the car was really old (not some kind of classic car just an old banger) and had a fixed wing mirror (hence why it came off) so it cost me hundreds because the whole panel needed replacing.

But I damaged it. It was my fault. I have to pay. Honestly I doubt the whole car was worth what I paid to fix that wing mirror but that was nothing to do with the owner. I was in the wrong to have hit it so I paid.

The age and condition of the car or what you would personally accept is not relevant. You damaged it you pay.

if it doesn't buff out then absolutely id pay to get it resprayed

Hi OP, you are aware that even if you pay for it when you come to renew you will still have to declare it as an incident (albeit it as a no claim incident) and it will still affect your premium.

OP you seem to be quite deliberately ignoring the question regarding your insurance company. Have you notified them?

I didn't tell my insurance about the wing mirror I must admit. I honestly didn't think you had to if you were paying.

The guy who hit my car probably thought the same as you do. It had barely a mark on it when in reality it was in the garage for a week and the bill went into the thousands.

It went into a BMW approved repairer and even if it hadn’t been an insurance job, that who I would have had fix it. I wanted it back to the way it was before the damage.

Honestly, attitudes like your annoy me.

I did a very similar amount of damage to someone's car recently.

How do you know without seeing it?

I think if it was my car that got hit I would want it looked at and repaired by a proper garage not the person at fault's DH. I just wouldn't trust you. Surely you can see that from her POV she has nothing to gain and everything to lose by going with your plan.

OP I feel for you. I think it is a nice scheme for everyone involved, and the insurance don't care either as everyone makes their money. I have been in a similar situation before, but the person was taking even more the piss.... 2000 was her quote, and she signed up with a really agressive claims insurance. nightmare! The best solution was to just let my insurance know and ignore all their calls.

Do you know anyone in common that can broker this. I think the worst part is that it will ruin the school pick up environment.

A car rolled into the back of me on a hill and looked like little damage until i looked closer at home. The bumper was cracked and as it was a lease car i wanted it repaired properly - cost was £900 ish.

If the bumpers have parking sensors in they can be easily damaged and would need to be replaced and wouldnt be cheap.

sorry im not deliberately ignoring any questions, i dont know how to quote and to be honest quite upset that posters are claiming im being rude about her car and expecting her to accept a botch repair. absolutely not the case.

Thats the last thing i want, i just wanted a fair repair job.

its the quote im annoyed about, i feel the garage are trying to rip me off, not the car owner. she was lovely.

it was very low speed impact, her alarm didnt go off or anything and i wasnt even sure if i had actually touched her car as the noise was minor (if id had my radio on id prob not have known id done it)

anyway, no i havent notified my insurance. id didn't think i needed to for such an incident. but now i know that i do, i will.

If you think you are being ripped off then go through insurance. That’s what they are there for.

@Doug

i didnt mean my husband would repair it!!! it would be a professional.

i only mentioned my husband as he had managed to get the scrapes out of mine and when he looked at hers it was even more minor.

I'm with you. Our local bodywork shop is very popular, my dad managed to scrape and dent his car (not a small one, very visible) and they charged him around £150. They do a very good job, they're not bodgers.
Similarly I had complimentary dent and scratch insurance on my Range Rover. The technicians that came out each time would give a rough estimate of how much they'd have charged and it was rarely more than £100. I'm certain the RR garage would have charged upwards of £500.
That said, if you go to a main garage, it doesn't surprise me that the quote would be at that level. It's a bit awkward as my high excess would mean I'd rather just pay for the repairs outside of my insurance but, equally, she's entitled to choose where she has her car repaired. If you get on well with her, I'd have a chat and see if she's willing to try another bodyshop garage.

its the quote im annoyed about, i feel the garage are trying to rip me off,

But they have given you a quote with a breakdown of cost! That's not a rip off. Yes, she should maybe get more quotes but equally you should be going through your insurance company who have the specialist knowledge required to deal with this. I have to say though, I have a mechanic, and auto electrician and a bodywork guy who I use regularly for various vehicles, business and private and if I was having a repair done 'off insurance' I would want to use my place of choose as I know these people to be good at what they do. I wouldn't be happy with someone like you OP, trying to avoid insurance but also dictating which (as in, more quotes and take the cheapest) garage repaired my car.

i wasnt even sure if i had actually touched her car as the noise was minor (if id had my radio on id prob not have known id done it)

Refresher lessons maybe? This is really worrying. Your EYES should guide you into a space, not your ears.

thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

i will contact her and ask if i can arrange a mobile body shop repairer to look at it and provide a quote.

that way she isnt wasting her time driving to different garages etc.

Bodywork repairs are surprisingly expensive, OP.

If someone had scraped my car I wouldn't put myself to the effort of schlepping round three garages to get quotes I'm afraid (I know you haven't suggested that, but other posters have), I'd just tell my insurance company and let them get on with claiming the cost back from the driver.

I suspect the amount you would pay in a raised premium and your excess would be less than paying the garage to sort it. DP bumped a car in a carpark recently and the bill was huge, we were glad we'd gone the insurance route. It hardly affected our premium.

What Duplo said.

I reversed into a cars bumper in car park last month.
Mortified. First ever prang in 20 yes.
I didn't know what I was meant to do, but his insurer contacted mine.
My no claims discount is luckily protected, I checked with my insurers when they called.
My premium will probably go up but it'll be spread over the next few yrs.
I'll look around for quotes as always when insurance runs out.
If the insurer I'm with is not too much more I'll carry it on.
I normally always change for a better deal but will have to take it on the chin.
I wanted to avoid garages, quotes etc and the guy I bumped into was ok with that.

Just pay it.
Or involve your insurance company.
I had some kid reverse into me, hard enough to break my number plate, it meant a new bumper because as someone else said, they are single use. It was about £800 all in.
He called me complaining, I had his dad threatening me.
I had to deal with all of the inconvenience of booking time off to collect and drop off my car for repairs, I had to drive some crappy hire car (whilst taking financial responsibility for it)
It was an utter utter ball ache.
Just sort the poor woman's car.