Hi all need some advice... sorry it's long!
I recently had a bump in my car which needed fixing, our insurance organised a courtesy car and took our old car away for repair.
When the courtesy car arrived.. I was asked to sign a contract following rules such as no smoking no pets and that DENTS weren't covered etc and he told me to check the car... I did this and all seemed fine ( admittedly I wasn't as thorough as I could be- I was trying to manage twin screaming babies and was a little harassed)
I drove the car around for three weeks and was extremely careful, I had no bumps or knocks.
The car repair company brought my car back yesterday and before the mechanic went near the courtesy car announced "oh you have put a lot of dents and scratches on this car haven't you love!" I was surprised at this as I had been very careful with the car and hadn't noticed any marks when I cleaned it 20 minutes before.
I said I couldn't see any damage and hadn't bumped the car and he pointed to my son bike further up the drive and said "well I suspect your children have hit the car going past it" I told him I doubted it as my children bring their bikes through the house but he insisted that's what caused the "damage"
I asked him to show me the damage and he pointed to a tiny hair line scratch on the door and another small scratch on the other side, he said not to worry as it was highly likely that these scratches would polish out and in fact when he polished the scratches the one disappeared completely and the other was barely noticeable in fact he couldn't find it when he tried to show me for a second time! He said the scratches may incur a very minimal charge got me to sign some forms without explaining what they were ( again I was foolish not to check what I was signing more thoroughly)
Whilst this was happening my husband rang and told me that I needed to take photos, I ran in to get my camera ran out and the guy had driven off ( I can't be sure he knew my intentions )
An hour later my husband received a call to say they needed to respray both doors at a cost to us of £402 and I had told them my son had caused this with his bike
My husband demanded pictures
The boss of the firm rung my husband the next day to tell him that he has decided the scratches were fair wear and tear and there would not be a charge! ( no pics were ever sent)
I am fuming.... I know I'm made some stupid mistakes but think I'm too trusting especially of a company who I thought was legitimate, I want to report them to trading standards or contact my insurance who works with them mainly to try and prevent them doing this to vulnerable people but my husband does not want to rock the apple cart and is worried about the implications as I believe the paper work I signed but never had a copy off may have admitted liability.
What if anything should I do!?