To be annoyed at having to pay for this car to be re-sprayed?

[emmabrown123]

Before I start I'll just say - I know I have to pay for this!! I'm just wondering where I stand about knowing whether I'm being a bit diddled or not!!

My 3 year old son was riding his bike along the pavement and as he came round the corner there was a car (brand new Audi) parked taking up the majority of the pavement. His Dad was behind him and shouted at him to stop, he didn't and subsequently scratched the car, over 2 panels.

We wrote a note explaining the damage, took some pictures and left it at that. The scratch was long but didn't look too deep.

That was about 10 days ago, today we've had a message from the owner saying it's going to a garage tomorrow and may need a full respray of both panels.

My husband thinks that's rubbish and that it could be sorted without respraying, I have no knowledge on the subject.

We will obviously cover the cost, although it bloody irks me because the car was (and always is) parked ridiculously and blocking the pavement for anyone pushing a buggy / in a wheelchair. My question is - is there anything I can do to check that they're not having a respray when they don't need one?! And is there anyway I can lower the cost (prices ranging from a couple of hundred to over a grand have been bandied about) as I'm not sure where we're going to find the money as yet!!!

Or do I just suck it up and find some way to pay it?!!

In some places parking on a pavement is absolutely fine. The ”driving on the pavement” thing is a red herring.

This thread makes me dispair of people! About 10% commenting come across as decent people. So many would happily cause damage and run off, loads don't seem to get that riding a bike on a pavement is as "illegal" as parking on it, mothers that think their little cherubs should be able to do anything in the name of developing!

I very lightly scratched a car while parking last year. On looking at the car I was relieved to see it was barely scratched. Someone had done similar damage to my car previously (and left a fake number) and it had cost £150 to polish out. However the car I scratched was a new 4x4 BMW and the BMW garage said it would probably need a new bumper and be nearly £2k. I was stupefied but just let the insurance deal with it from that point. Weirdly it didn't come as a claim on my insurance (my car had another £100 polish and was good as new so I never claimed for mine) or put my policy up.

I think you are doing the decent thing paying up but if you are suspect about the costs or extent of work i'd insist on getting a second quote that you seek out.

The ”driving on the pavement” thing is a red herring.

Really?

How do you get your car onto a pavement then without driving it there?

Pavements are for pedestrians, not for motor vehicles. Some car owners are just so entitled. They can’t think of any other place to park so fuck the people who can’t get by on the pavement.

From the Highway Code

Rule 244
You MUST NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement in London, and should not do so elsewhere unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and people with prams or pushchairs.

So unless there were signs permitting it, which I doubt, the motorist shouldn’t have been on the pavement.

And

You MUST NOT drive on or over a pavement, footpath or bridleway except to gain lawful access to property, or in the case of an emergency.

So whilst of course it doesn’t give carte Blanche for someone’s property to be damaged, it’s not just fine and dandy to be parked on the pavement. The car driver should be at least aware his own conduct was less than perfect in all of this.

Pavements are indeed for pedestrians. The only wheels should be pushchairs and wheelchairs. Take the bike away until you get to a cycle path.

Let the child scream. He and you will scream a lot louder if he is crushed by someone reversing out of their drive, or if knocks someone over.

Spectacular missing the point on this thread. You are very lucky that he only crashed into an object.