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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to feel I am being ripped off? any car mechanices out there?!

22 replies

510fudge · 18/08/2010 20:10

Hi all

Last week I was in a twon about 40 mins drive from where I live. I was reversing out of the car park space and bumped into a taxi behind me. I was obviously v shaken, but I remember checking over my shoulder and looking at the camera in my car (the one that shows what's behind you) and didn't see anything.

Anyway, damage to my car was zero. His had a front light that wasn't broken but was pressed in a little bit (the weight of my car had obviously pushed it in). Also, the small panel in which the front light sits (and extends to the side of the car) was also pushed in a little- but not broken or dented. I had to look at the other side of the car to compare as it didn't look damaged to me. When I compared i could see that it had been pushed in a little.

Anyway, the guy has called me tonight with an estimate for it to be repaired- he says it will cost £285. Seems very high to me and conveniently below the insurance threshold of £300 (which I think is a common level).

Am I being cynical to think he has elevated this as high as possible? Does this seem a high sum for such a repair? Honestly- all it looked like needed doing was the light and the panel being repositioned. Does anyone have any knowledge of this type of thing? I could ask him for a written estimate for the repair but how do I know that it's genuine? As he lives far away from me not like i could ask him to go to a garage of my choosing.

And I do have a niggling doubt about the 'accident'. apparently there has been a spate of taxi drivers bumping into cars and claiming money recently. although obviously I cannot prove this and as he was behind me I think I have to accpet responsibility??

Any help would be much appreciated.

OP posts:
Original poster
510fudge · 18/08/2010 20:14

God, sorry about all the typos!!

OP posts:
thelunar66 · 18/08/2010 20:14

I would say that sounds about the right price.

A friend of mine had a car roll back very gently against his front light, which bent the front bumper in a bit... bill was £350.

Thing is... your taxi driver man probably needs to order a whole new front bumper, and then there will be labour costs which are about £80 an hour.

What make of taxi was it? Merc cost an arm and leg!

nightshade · 18/08/2010 20:23

i hit a newish car last year, which was still under warranty and needed repaired by dealer.

cracked light and dented bumper, which needed replaced and resprayed.

£1,800 for the privilege.

i think your quote is o.k!!

Original poster
510fudge · 18/08/2010 20:25

Wow! Didn't think such little damage could cost so much! It was a 2005 Vauxhall - thank god nothing more expensive. Oh dear, husband is going to be most peed off with me.

OP posts:
Tiredmumno1 · 18/08/2010 20:48

My dh says what vauxhall was it and what car were you driving?

Original poster
510fudge · 18/08/2010 20:50

It was a vauxhall astra and ours is a honda CR-V. Why? (Hope you are not taxi man's wide!)

OP posts:
Original poster
510fudge · 18/08/2010 20:51

That should read wife not wide..... oh dear, been a long day.

OP posts:
Tiredmumno1 · 18/08/2010 20:54

Lol no i am not. gimme a mo to tell hubby

Glitterknickaz · 18/08/2010 20:54

I had an accident nine days ago.
The damage to my car was far more extensive, both front wings and the front panel, bonnet and bumper have to be replaced, basically all the panels in the entire front end.

My point is that the headlights need repositioning. They are each held in by five clips, these plastic clips are £25 each.

This is on a 2008 Citroen, but you can see how quickly the parts add up...

Tiredmumno1 · 18/08/2010 20:57

Right so there was no damage to your bumper. was there any damage to his bumper?

Original poster
510fudge · 18/08/2010 21:02

Well our bumper (plastic bit) has got some scratches on. no damage to his bumper as far as I recall - just the light and the panel that the light sits in pressed in- as in the whole of it pressed in (and not dented).

OP posts:
Tiredmumno1 · 18/08/2010 21:09

right dh says thats near impossible, he does not believe that, the bumper would be the first thing to be damage, so one of them would have been half pulled off, when you seperated the vehicles. and paint from your car would be on his bumper.

did you feel it when you hit him?

dh says to deny it was your fault as it seems like a scam, just to try and get money.

if it was genuine it would cost you alot more than what he is saying

Original poster
510fudge · 18/08/2010 22:00

I do think it's possible that the black bit of my bumper hit his light...... thr CR-V is quite high up. I did feel....

Anyway, dh has called him back and offered to split the cost of his repairs 50;50 but he wasn't too taken with that offer!! I reckon we will end up paying. Argh. At leats dh is being nice about it - probably because he ran up a phone bill of £260 last month by accidentally keeping connected to the internet (or something) on his phone. really not been a good month. But thanks all for your responses - as ever on MN v helpful.

OP posts:
Tiredmumno1 · 18/08/2010 22:16

Thats ok op. was there any reason you didnt take it through the insurance companies?

Vallhala · 18/08/2010 22:18

It really depends on underlying damage to an extent but more to the point on the nature of the repairs. If new parts are required or if realignment would necessitate a partial respray then it could quite possibly come to the sum given, especially at a main dealer.

You can call the owner's bluff and say you are considering putting it through your insurers so would he please send you his garage's estimate with a full breakdown of costs.

Otherwise you may just have to accept it and pay up.

(Former service manager to a main dealers).

ballstoit · 18/08/2010 22:26

If it's his damage only you wouldnt pay the excess on your insurance. If your worry is that your premium will go up next year this may not be the case. Try running a test quote through confused.com or something.

I reversed straight out of my drive into my neighours car in February Blush. In my defence both me and the baby had been up all night with a stomach bug, but I digress. I was going to pay for damage to their vehicle but ended up going through my insurance as it was too high and came at the same time as my end of winter fuel bills.My insurance was still cheaper this year than last, so perhaps worth checking efore you spend the best part of £300.

Myleetlepony · 18/08/2010 22:36

Car mechanic DP behind me says that isn't unreasonable. Sometimes these jobs that look like nothing involve more work to repair than we might realise.
I think it's a case of either ask for a copy of the quote, but I'm not sure if that will help. Or go through insurance.

Original poster
510fudge · 19/08/2010 10:51

yes perhaps worth checking out the insurance point as may be cheaper than we think. thanks again.

OP posts:
SeaTrek · 19/08/2010 11:51

Doesn't sound unreasonable to me either.

Somebody scraped (along the side) my car when reversing out of a the space next to mine, looked like fairly minor damage across three panels. £1000 and three days later... Thankfully, the person left a note so it was all done through his insurance.

BextheBambi · 19/08/2010 13:43

Sounds quite reasonable to me.
I bumped the back of a car going 15mph and took off the trim from their bumper, woman driving the car had made an emergency stop at a green light that had just turned yellow.

I had to pay £1890 for her to get the trim fixed. We asked for photo evidence, a misterious crack had appered since the bump which funnily enough wasn't in our photos.

so some people do like to con the other party out of money.

zipzap · 19/08/2010 13:55

Don't suppose you were able to take any photos of the damage while you were at the scene?

Or were there any others around that witnessed what happened - or a CCTV at the location? Might be worth ringing up council if it was a general space, shop or car park owners if it was one of those and seeing - they might be aware of a spate of these accidents or know that it is in a convenient cctv black spot. If we have to live in a country with the most cctv's in per square mile, might as well make use of them when you do need them Grin.

Might also be worth calling the local police in that town and the local paper to see if they know of a taxi scam going on.

zipzap · 19/08/2010 14:10

Other thing to be wary of talking to insurance is even if you decide not to claim through them, if you talk to them they know you have had 'an incident'.

An old man reversed out of his space and drove into dh in a car park - straight away he admitted it was his fault for assuming that there was nothing coming (he's checked when he got into the car Hmm rather than as he was reversing!).

We told our insurance but as the man had admitted responsibility it all went through his insurance. When it came to us renewing our insurance they upped the policy significantly because they said that regardless of fault, anybody who had been involved in a claim was statistically more likely to be involved in another claim and therefore they had to increase the quote to cover this risk Hmm

This is despite having no claims protection and not actually making a claim, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time when some doddery old bloke forgot to check before reversing out Angry. Seems a very convenient way to extract more money...

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