to ask this woman if I can get another quote for the damage I did to her car?

[headfairy]

I accidentally bumped cars with someone this morning. She's been to a garage for a quote and for a scratch on her bumper she's been quoted £250 which includes 6 hours labour. Would it be really bad of me to ask if I can arrange another quote at another garage. I guess that would mean her taking the car out to another garage, which might be an inconvenience to her. But I feel a bit silly accepting the first quote she throws at me, especially as it sounds a lot.

Headfairy, I wouldn't be happy with mobile repairers because of the type of paint on my car (assuming she has metallic paint on her car).

It was an accident. You didn't look at her and go I know, I'll just try and mess up her car.

And it's a scratch! Just a scratch. It's not like you caved in the bonnet and ripped the doors off.

And you are taking total responsibility for it and ensuring that it's sorted

It's not a big deal and I am baffled that she appears to be wanting to make it one.

If she's being unreasonable about it, when you are taking responsibility for what is just a tiny accident, then I'd be tempted to say, you know what, forget it. I will give you my insurance details and you can make a claim through them. It was an accident and you are being really OTT about it.

You can text landlines, headfairy.

I'd ask her to show you an itemised copy of the quote, I don't think it's unreasonable to want to cover your own back and make sure you're not being diddled.

Is she carries on being a nightmare then tell her you'd rather go through the insurance as you've got protected no claims. She may not like it, but then if she is going to be so difficult and unpleasant it's just tough luck.

I don't suppose you got a photo at the time did you? I reversed off my drive a couple of years ago into a car that someone had parked almost directly opposite. It was daft place to park and the weather was bad but in fairness I hadn't registered it and was in a rush so was my fault. The owner came out of the house she was visiting and wanted to take details etc as it was a new car and she was fairly unpleasant. I'd only being doing about 5mph and it was patently obvious that there was no damage but she insisted on taking photos and was clearly planning to try it on. I said 'Oh, that's a good idea' and took a couple of my own. Never heard from her.

If I'm ever in a similar situation again I will make bloody sure I take photos.

I had the gentlest, tiniest bump with someone in April. Small dint on his car, not a scratch on mine. He is suing me for a "written off" car and personal injury!! Yes, I went to the garage who said it was a write off, who thought his car was so wrecked there's no way a tiny bump with my undamaged car could have caused it. Alas, the insurers accepted his claims and bang go ten years no claims. OP yes ask for a second quote, you're well I your rights to, but by comparison you are getting off pretty lightly!

I would just give her my insurance details and forget about it. I have on average one bump a year, often more. Often my fault, I must admit. And yet, my insurance has never gone up by more than £60 in a year. I often change insurance companies, but they are well aware of my little bumps. So, I don't think your insurance would go up by £250 and therefore what's the point of doing all the leg work yourself?

bird I said upthread I had a small bump (I was stationary and other car was perhaps 5-10mph) and the first quote wrote my car off straight away. One of the other quotes was not that far off, so it's not necessarily wrong. I was lucky to find someone who did it cheaper.

Yes text her landline saying you cant answer phone as at work

If you damaged her car, she is within her rights to have it repaired at the garage of her choice, assuming they are reputable. It's not up to you to tell her who should fix it, it's just up to you to pay for the damage that was done.

Someone did the same to my Mum a few weeks ago. It was a young lad who had only had his license a year, and my Mums car had been bought new in the last month. This guy (and his MUM ) tried to tell my Mum she was out of order for wanting the car to go back to the dealership it was bought from to be repaired, because it probably did end up being a few hundred more expensive that way. And they wanted to keep it away from the insurance. My Mum insisted it went to the right place and that it went through insurance, because the problem is that if he had agreed a price to pay on a quote, my Mum would have ended up with a bill if there was any hidden damage found after the quote was given and agreed to.

Plus, this garage gave out a courtesy car so that while it was being repaired my Mum didn't have to go without her car. That wouldn't have happened if she had just agreed to go with a quote from a company chosen by the guy whose fault it was. In the end his insurance paid for everything, because although it looked like just a tiny scratch, the bill actually ran into thousands. I thought my Mum was making a mountain out of a molehill to start with and thought she coudk have just done the guy a favour by keeping it simple, but she was absolutely right to chose to have it done her way.

This guys insurance premiums have probably rocketed, but that isn't my Mums fault.

To be honest that sounds quite reasonable.

I scraped a bumper on a Jag, few scratches no displacement. £900 to repair. I let the insurance company deal with that.

The other person is perfectly within her rights to go through insurance companies to get it repaired and frankly as you are inconveniencing her by asking for another quote, this is her time and petrol not yours, to allow you to hopefully save a couple of quid. She should not have an inferior repair, she should not have to use her own money to sort it. I assume your car is fine and you will not suffer any inconvenience due to this accident.

Take the quote you have been given and frankly offer her some flowers and a sorry card for doing you a massive favour.

I'd go through the insurance. DH did a slight bump in mine last year,no damage to mine, slight scratch to bumper of someone's old car. They were in it at the time but it was definitely DH's fault. We put it through the insurance (I had protected no claims), my premium didn't go up this year. A friend said that even if we didn't actually claim we should tell them in case the other driver came back a few weeks later claiming whiplash or similar.

The only diffference premium-wise was that normally I get it down by shopping around, this year I could not get it so much as a pound lower than my renewal quote. Also it's a bit of a pain having to dig out the details of every bump when you need quotes for the next 5 years or whatever.

A guy bumped my car 7 hrs after I had got it 120 miles home he dented the bumper he had only been driving 4 days it was dark and he had no lights on pratting about with his friends!
To make matters worst he drove off!!! Luckily the good old curtain twitchers were on form and saw it all needless to say I caught up with the little toe rag!!
In his in experience he admitted all lol and nearly cried when i told him incould report him ti the police for messing around at night with no lights on and leaving the scene of an accident ( albeit a small one ) but didn't want to tell his parents or go thru insurance I said fine ill get quotes and let you know, I got 4 quotes and all came back at £600+ needless to say he had to tell daddy and surprisingly daddy stumped up the cash but not before trying to bribe me to go through my insurance which I'm glad I didn't As 2 months later I scraped a wall and knew my only option was to go thru insurance!!
But for the record my insurance this year didn't really go up infact it went down ( protected no claims also ) but I think if the lad had been offered a £250 repair bill he would have been dead chuffed with that!

I'd take it if I were you. As others have said its reasonable.

I can't believe people get that wound up about a scratch on a bumper. Clues in the name surely? One of the joys of being on the road is the odd knock or scrape whether you do it yourself or someone else does it. Ignore the bad behavior on her part, it's ridiculous.

Go through the insurance. That's what it is for. Then offer something if she doesn't want to.

There may be more damage than a scratch on the bumper.

It could also mean the bumper needs replaced if it has been pushed off its screw mounts

My friend had someone run into the back of her the other week. She was astonished when the garage said it would be over £220 to repair the damage ( and that was mates rates ) she didn't really want to involve the insurance. They also checked the brakes as if she'd had the handbrake on it can do damage when the car is shunted forward
She was also in so much pain in her neck and shoulder I had to drive her to the doctors the next day

I would take someone hit the back bumper on my car looks like a scratch, but actually bodywork is bent it is going to £4500 to repair (yes it is an expensive car). Sometimes the scratch is the tip of the iceberg.

Haven't read whole thread but make sure you get her to sign a liability waiver in case she tries to pin anything else on you as she'll have three years to do it in.

Your insurance company will refuse to have anything to do with it a you admittdbliability without involving them and didn't declare thenaccident.

For comparison purposes, I took my car to the garage this morning for the same reason. Scratches on back bumper. They quoted me £200. That's to do the whole bumper.
That was the most expensive bit of crappy reverse parking along a granite post I've ever done!

I'm with Hecate here - puzzled as to why she's making it a big deal. 250 sounds quite fair to me and you'd be rude to ask her to take it to another garage, but she has no reason to get cross with you.

I've had small scrapes and I've never even bothered to paint them in if they're on the plastic bit of the bumper not the metal - it's not a big deal! And when it's the metal you can get touch-up paint really cheaply. I can see why someone with a nicer car might want a proper job, but not why she'd swear at you when you did it or leave you so many missed calls.

she's sent me the quote now, it's a really scrappy bit of paper from a teeny tiny garage down the road from us... I haven't suggested it to her yet, but the mobile repair company is a nationwide reputable company (a friend at work has said they used them once and they were really good). And she wouldnt' have to leave her house.

Thanks for all your stories and advice... going to mull it over with dh. Just suffice to say I'm not a 17 year old lad who's been driving for five minutes :o I'm 42 and been driving 25 years and have never had to make a claim for an accident that was my fault (had a couple that weren't my fault though).

That sounds quite reasonable given that garages usually charge in excess of £60 per hour for labour.

If I were you I would pay it.

If she isn't happy with the result it will be harder for her to complain and ask for more money if she has chosen the garage.

Discussing it and getting more quotes will take time, and at best you won't save more than about 50 quid. Make sure you pay the garage by cheque though, so you have proof.

Just pay it. It sounds like a plausible quote, really, and you were in the wrong, her life has been inconvenienced and she's losing time herself dealing with it...just accept it, pay it, and move on.

she's sent me the quote now, it's a really scrappy bit of paper from a teeny tiny garage down the road from us... I haven't suggested it to her yet, but the mobile repair company is a nationwide reputable company (a friend at work has said they used them once and they were really good). And she wouldnt' have to leave her house.
To be honest, I'd be furious if someone hit my car, we agreeed in good faith to handle it without a claim, I presented them with a genuine and relatively modest quote, and then they tried to talk me into using a cheaper mobile company that a friend used once. It won't go over well, and honestly - even if she were to agree to go get three quotes, she could choose the garages.

You could ask her politely if she would be willing to consider using the mobile company, but try not to fall out over it

please notify your insurance co; you can invalidate your policy by not declaring