Made a little chip in the paint on neighbour's car when I was reversing out! Gutted and not sure what I need to do next.

[Anendlessseriesofunfortunateevents]

I'm so gutted. 11 years of no claims on my car insurance. Today as I was slowly reversing out of my parking space I clipped my neighbours car when I was trying to check that a small passenger's mum had got their seatbelt on. 😢

I was going so slowly I didn't think there would be a mark but when I got home they pointed out a small paint chip right in the middle of the front of their car.

I've apologised and said to let me know how they want to proceed.

Went back out to the cars half later to take some photos and they've gone out so can't for now!

What do I need to do here? I've never had anything like this before as a driver.

I'm having a rough time emotionally in other areas of life and my anxiety is terrible. This feels like the icing on the cake but I know rationally that it's sortable.

I want it all to be sorted in a way me and neighbour are both happy with. And ideally doesn't cost me my no claims discount. But if it does, it does!

If it was my neighbour I'd ask them to get it fixed and I'd pay. But we get on well.

Seeing as it’s a neighbour and you know each other, I would offer to get it fixed privately. This exact thing happened to me, but I was the neighbour who got hit. I got my car fixed and they paid. I let them know when it was being done and how much it was and they transferred the money over. So that’s what I would try first.

I scratched a neighbours car & they got someone to come & fix it (it was £300)

if this chip is tiny they may actually just take a cash contribution and repair it later - in which case ask to see a quote for the repair & transfer the money

Is his car a solid colour? Because I had a chip once and used nail varnish on it and you couldn't tell the difference at all

Ask for a few quotes and pay. Probably be around the £2-300 mark.

Were they annoyed and combative with you? Or were they ok?
If they were fine, then just pay to fix it. You don’t need to go to insurance for a paint chip.

But if they’re angry at you for driving off without checking and writing a note/chapping their door then it might be more difficult to get them to be reasonable about and just sort it out.

I hit someone recently in a car park ( more than a chip ) and she got 3 quotes and she took the one which was going to be quickest which was actually the cheapest. She was absolutely lovely about it. I felt like an absolute waste of space at the time and cried but she couldn’t have been nicer.

I left a note and I just paid… didn’t go through insurance

That's why you buy insurance. Report all the details to your insurer to protect your indemnity per all insurance contracts.

Neighbour wasnt aggro or anything like that. They're nice and we generally get on well. One of their household damaged a fence of mine last year and I was very reasonable about it.

They said their dash cams sent a notification to their phone, I also have dash cams but don't have this feature. I was driving slowly and had the Aircon loudly blasting and kids being loud so didn't hear any impact sound, just felt a very small nudge if that makes sense and genuinely didn't think there'd be any mark. We were running late but I was going to check the car when we got back. If genuinely didn't think much of it in the moment.

I'm sure my excess is about £200, maybe 3. I'll have to check.

Hopefully neighbour will be back home this morning and we can have another chat.

You offer to pay for repairs 🤷

Well yes. I just wanted people's experiences and advice is it better to just settle it ourselves and a rough idea what sort of amount I'd be looking at if anyone has been in a similar situation.

Oh gosh I'd happily do that on my plain functional old car but wouldn't suggest it on someone else's ha ha.

There's is silver, and I know nothing about cars but it's a bit newer and nicer than mine.

Chips Away are great to come and deal with this. No need to deal with insurance. Google them and ask for a quote. No drama! It sounds incredibly minor.

Get a quote from a SMART repairer and pay for it direct, or go through insurance.

Our neighbour did this to our car, she didn't want to go through her insurance as she was worried it would end up costing her more. They took a photo and got a quote from a local garage - it was £800 - she said she'd pay it in monthly installments.
She was a nurse and her dh was a porter at the local hospital, they didn't have spare funds, I was desperately uncomfortable about taking money from her, thankfully dh agreed too and so we told her to forget it. It felt like the right thing to do. We'll take the hit on the car being devalued when we sell it.

I got a big bit of damage repaired from a hit and run (was parked at the supermarket) for £450 this year including a dent. Look for an independent not one of those chains

My neighbour’s gardener sent a stone flying through my rear window when I was a student, smashed the whole thing and broke the rear wiper clean off (Citroen C1, the whole back of the car is glass!)

He left a note with profuse apologies, sorted me out with taxis to and from work, and paid for the repairs privately.

For a little chip, get a quote from someone mobile like Chips Away, so you don’t end up with hire car fees if it goes to a body shop.

Insurance every time. If it was my car it would be having a proper body shop repair.

I've used Chips Way before, quick and good value in my experience

This is the chip. Small but right at the front and just off the centre. (Photos take a while to load on mn).

I'll have a look at all the options with my neighbour.

I don't want any bad feelings between us.
I was more just unsure of the best way to get it all sorted eg between us or insurance taking into account excess, no claims, etc as I've never had this scenario before I was wanting to hear others experiences that's all.

To fix that properly is a full bonnet paint and that becomes a blend into the wings. If you’re not claiming for damage to your car then you won’t pay an excess.

The only problem is and the reason I wouldn't entertain going privately off insurance is it's often the unseen damage that is the most expensive. My husband had somebody into the back of him a tiny scratch but loads of unseen damage.

Am I being a bit dense, how would clipping a car cause such a tiny chip? Are you sure you did that, I can't picture how that would happen