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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this fair? Someone hit my car.

76 replies

KitKat1985 · 15/04/2018 20:42

Someone hit my parked car on Wednesday. It was very clearly other drivers fault and he acknowledged this. Left me with a tennis ball sized dent at the back and scuffs across 3 panels. We exchanged details and the guy said he would rather resolve it between us rather than through insurance. However I was quite literally in the process of moving house (it was actually my removers that saw the accident) so I've only just really thought what to do about it. The thing is my car is a 12 years old and has 109000 miles on the clock. A quick check on Autotrader suggests the car is probably only worth a few hundred quid anyway, although obviously the dent will de-value it a bit more. From experience a proper dent / scuff repair over 3 panels will probably cost more than the car is worth. It would also mean having the car in the repair shop for 2-3 days which is a pain in the arse with my work commitments etc. Is it fair to just ask for £100 towards the value knocked off the car, or is that not really the done thing?

OP posts:
RedHelenB · 15/04/2018 20:46

If you're happy with that I think that's fair.

MatildaTheCat · 15/04/2018 20:47

I think he’d bite your hand off!

Nobody wants an insurance claim against them as it carries on costing you for years. Get an independent person to give you a quote and then decide how much to ask for. A mobile body repair person is miles cheaper than using a garage.

HumptyD93 · 15/04/2018 20:49

If its worth only a few hundred then I doubt a dent will make much difference in value.

I would get the car looked at by a mechanic. It is possible that there could be further damage (I think I have heard about chassis/frame bending/folding, etc....I dont drive so dont know the terminology)

It may look like a little bump but it could be worse underneath so see a mechanic and see what they say and go from there.

Original poster
KitKat1985 · 15/04/2018 20:50

Okay, that's good. Didn't want to be mega cheeky but just trying to find the most sensible and hassle free way of resolving this. I'll message him and say he can either offer me £100 towards the value knocked off the car or pay a garage for the dent repair if he would rather.

OP posts:
Original poster
KitKat1985 · 15/04/2018 20:53

I think it's probably just cosmetic damage from my (albeit limited) knowledge of these things. I haven't seen any evidence of mechanical damage. I suspect the car will probably need repairs in the next year or so which will be worth more than the car anyway, and will result in it going to the big car park in the sky. [Sheds small tear].

OP posts:
bimbobaggins · 15/04/2018 21:16

I would ask for a couple of hundred

WeirdyMcBeardy · 15/04/2018 21:17

Same thing happened to my car. Turned out it was badly dented under the wheel arch, looked like a scraped bumper and that's all but we did go through insurance. Don't assume there isn't more damage than it appears. You should ask for more than £100 tbh. Get a garage to properly quote you for the cost and make him pay. If you go through insurance, your insurance will go up too as you will be classed as an at risk driver! I was fuming when it happened to me and my premiums went up while I was safely in my house and some plonker was speeding on ice.

HermionesRightHook · 15/04/2018 21:19

I reckon just ask him for £150 - that's less than having it repaired would be but you can then put that towards the next car. If it's a big sort of dent than that might be the sort of amount that will get knocked off if you traded it in or sold it to one of those big car warehouse places.

Original poster
KitKat1985 · 15/04/2018 21:22

I don't really want to go through insurance to be honest. I had a car stolen nearly a decade ago and it hiked my premiums for 5 years.

I've texted him and he's just replied saying he'll call me tomorrow, so don't really know what he's thinking.

OP posts:
Pinkvoid · 15/04/2018 21:37

Take it to a garage and get a quote, whatever they say it will cost bill the guy that. Then it’s up to you whether you actually fix it or scrap it and get another car.

BakedIllaska · 15/04/2018 22:29

Was he a nice guy? Was he a dickhead?

If the former, just go with the £100 since the cars second hand value is not worth much more than this anyway.

If the latter, go to a garage and get a quote. But I expect you'll have to go through insurers anyway, if it ends up being multiples of hundreds.

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 15/04/2018 22:31

I’d get a quote and then ask him for the money.

I had a quote recently for a dent and a scrape and it was over £300 for two adjacent panels. The garage was not at all fancy.

AvoidingDM · 15/04/2018 22:36

It shouldnt hike your insurance it's not your fault. The question is would you rather have the car written of and buy something newer?

I'd take a guess that repairing the 3 panels properly would be the best part of a grand. Your far too cheap at £100.

digestOfDigest · 16/04/2018 05:36

I think the £100 sounds fair. More is a little blackmaily. You've said that the car is old, not worth much and destined for scrap when something major next goes wrong.

AvoidingDM - it will hike the OP's insurance even if not at fault she's statistically more likely to cost them money in the future.

liminality · 16/04/2018 06:00

I think it's really nice that you don't want to take the piss. I had a very small accident at the end of last year, the guy also didn't want to go through insurance and let me just pay him for the part - he fixed it himself. I was super grateful as if it had been an expensive car I would have been absolutely challenged at the time to pay for it.
He could have sent it to a garage and got quotes and really gone to town, but he wasn't an asshole and the part wasn't that hard to fix and he wasn't, and I will remember that in the future if it happens the other way around.
Not everyone is out to take everyone for all they can get.

tortelliniforever · 16/04/2018 06:05

It may look like a little bump but it could be worse underneath so see a mechanic and see what they say and go from there.

True. Someone hit my car but didn't stop. Angry It cost me £900 which my insurance wouldn't pay!

CaptainHarville · 16/04/2018 06:10

I think that's fair. DH was in same situation with an old car and offered to accept £100 which they refused so he had to claim through insurance. By the time the car was repaired and the hire car paid for the claim was something ridiculous like £2000.

londonrach · 16/04/2018 06:39

Someone did say to me. Went thrugh insurance. As old car (best in the world as no electrics to go wrong hence why ive got it) insurance wanted to write it off. I had to fight alot to stop that. Eventually his insurance gave me £1000 and i got it repaired at a garage which cost me more than £1000. This car was worth alot more to me than that as ive had it since new, its reliable unlike the new cars and i know its history. It cost more than £100 op to fit. Up to you if you want to do it that way but be careful as i think you got be in trouble with insurers if they found out.

wentmadinthecountry · 16/04/2018 06:47

Neighbour reversed into me - he apologised, admitted it was entirely his fault and sorted it straight away on his insurance.

However, our insurance quote has gone up for this year - I might be the type of person prone to leaving my car somewhere silly it could be hit. It was in my drive!

Slartybartfast · 16/04/2018 06:50

When this happened to me, I took my car to a local friendly garage for them to assess the cost.

I too have had someone bang into me and a bit later had problems with my exhaust. you cant tell underlying problems a bump can cause.

PattiStanger · 16/04/2018 06:55

Don't believe the poster who says it won't affect your insurance, it almost certainly will, rightly or wrongly that's how it works.

I don't see anything wrong in what you want to do, I know someone who sorted out a similar issue in a car park on the spot, but had older cars, neither wanted to involve insurers and it was fine

Foreverlexicon · 16/04/2018 06:56

I bumped someone’s car once. Just a small scratch on the front and cracked the numberplate.

She wasn’t concerned about the scratch as it was old and a bit bumped anyway, just asked me to replace the numberplate which I did for £27 but I would of happily given her £100 for loss of value. Much cheaper in the long term!

Oblomov18 · 16/04/2018 06:57

Get a quote. A dent and panels could be £600 easily. It's very expensive to repair such things that look so 'minor'.

ShotsFired · 16/04/2018 07:02

I probably wouldn't bother with any repairs for a car of that age and value. If he pays you cash (based on a quote for repairs as pp say), bank it towards the next vehicle.

DD43 · 16/04/2018 07:17

Do it if you want OP, but i have to say that i would be dubious about giving you cash if it was me you asked..

@tortelliniforever

Someone hit my car but didn't stop. It cost me £900 which my insurance wouldn't pay!

Why?