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.

She should not call you a hitch an is overreacting. Howvere someone else made a very good point about if she goes ith her first choice she can't then complain to you if she's not happy with the result. If you get a slightly cheaper quote , you can bet she will complain.

" 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."

Always provided of course that the estimate is reasonable.

There is no compulsion on anyone to pay an unreasonable figure.

I'd be careful. The next quote she presents you with may be from a main dealer...

And the quote you were given over the phone is worthless, the mechanic hasn't seen the car so tbd £150 could double or triple very easily.

VW Beetle bumpers are plastic, and the idea is that if you damage them you can take off the entire bumper and replace. I think they come ready-painted as well. It might be cheaper to replace the whole bumper than have the scratch repaired.

I had a guy reverse into my 6month old alfa romeo and the scuff was £125 to have re-sprayed. The guy did the whole bumper becasue of where it was. I also, off my own back, went to 3 different garages.
I don't think it would hurt to ask and tbh i thought it was standard procedure

I had a massive dent in my door, although the paintwork wasn't damaged at all. I got the dent devil man out and it cost £50!
I had a quote from the main dealer for over £1100, and another quote for £750 from a different garage.

Yes echo what another poster said - you need to inform your insurance

You don't need to claim, just make them aware of what happened and tell them no damage done, you are sorting it out yourselves.

Stops her down the line making a big claim for personal injury or whatever and because you didn't inform them, you won't be covered.

Update: I'd be interested to hear opinions as to what I should do now...

The mobile repair man I sent round last week has been back to me to quote for the work. He says basically the whole bumper needs to come off and be resprayed. He says there's damage along the length of the bumper and underneath. His exact words were "it looks like the sort of damage you get from nudging a kerb". Now the quote she had done for me last week at a garage of her choosing distinctly circles one area of damage on the outside corner of the bumper, which is where I saw damage immediately after the accident. She pointed it out to me and said that's what my car had done to hers. I mentioned to the mobile repair guy that we have an estate car (told him which one) plus the accident happened on a steep hill, I was higher up the hill than her, and he said it sounded very unlikely to him that the damage she showed him was done in those circumstances.

I don't want to assume she's pulling a fast one and go in guns blazing - which is what dh wants to do - but I'm trying to work out my next move.

Any thoughts?

Go via the insurance.

We've got a body shop and dh says £250 sounds about right, about £50 of that will be vat.

Mum The mobile repair guy did say he would probably quote a similar amount. But he also said that was because it would be to repair the damage she showed him. He said if it was a simple scuff on one corner of the bumper it would have been nearer £150 (he says because they don't have garages they're able to keep their costs lower)

I'm very tempted to go through the insurance company and flag up my concerns to them. Dh is reluctant as he thinks our renewal costs will be higher as a result.

I'm trying to keep things friendly because the chances of me seeing her outside the school gates over the next 9 years are pretty high. She was probably have as bad a day as I was when she called me a bitch.

Maryz I did cause some damage to her car, but not all. I'm going to pay, but not for every bump and scrape she's had over the last few years.

Headfairy this sound like one of those situations where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't

Infinity I think you're right.

Maryz I think that's probably the very reason to take it to the insurance company. That way it's all above board. She can get her car fixed as it was... if she trys to claim for damage that was done earlier then that's up to the insurance company to decide.

It's all just a conspiracy by the car manufacturers to get us to shell out for repairs.

You are not wrong.
They will be making millions from cosmetic "bumpers".

headfairy the insurance company won't decide, they will just pay it, its more expensive for them to argue it. You'll still have your NCD, you just won't be able to bargain them down come renewal as someone upthread pointed out.
She may or may not be being honest but sadly you will probably just have to suck it up.