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Original poster

My careless driving nightmare

18 replies

cathcat · 20/07/2008 23:46

Nearly a month ago I reversed into a stationary motorbike. The owner was very reasonable about it and said he would find out the cost for a repair. He said it would not be too bad. Then he phones and says it will be £300. Gulp. So I said I would need some paperwork to verify this price. Nothing happened for 3 weeks. Now the paperwork is here and it is £400! I am very annoyed and pissed off (at myself) and at him, is he mucking me about or what? Maybe I should have done it through insurance but my excess is £210 plus my insurance would have gone up. Plus it would be too late to tell them now; they would want to know why I didn't report it to them at the time...?
Any thoughts?

OP posts:
Quattrocento · 21/07/2008 00:12

Just wanted to post to express sympathy. I don't think you are in any sense time-barred from reporting the incident to your insurance company but you need to work out what the effect is of claiming on your insurance. So you said you would lose £210 in excess. This means that IF your premiums are likely to go up by more than £190 over the next however many years your premium will be affected then you shouldn't claim. TBH I wouldn't claim in any event, because of the accident that is waiting to happen. By that I mean, claim for this tiddly accident, it affects your no-claims. The accident that is waiting to happen (say a major shunt) where you will HAVE to claim on your insurance would then render you pretty close to uninsurable. So I'd pay.

I share your misgivings about whether or not he is messing you about but really, there's not an awful lot you can do other than perhaps suggest that you get a garage to look at it.

pinkyp · 21/07/2008 00:12

This bloke could of taken the bike to some one at a garage and got them to make the invoice quote more expensive than it is, (he might not of done).
Does it say on the paperwork what parts and work need doing? You could ring some garages yourself and get some quotes, obv then you will know if your being ripped of or not.

If you do find one thats alot cheaper then phone the man back up and tell him you think that garage is over priced and you wont pay for it to be done there when you can get it done alot cheaper elsewhere. I'm sure the bloke with the bike doesnt want to go through insurance either so he will prob cut his losses and just get it fixed where you find. If he's not budging tell him you will have to go through the insurance then as i can't afford to get it fixed there,

Sidge · 21/07/2008 00:14

Whether you claim or not apparently you are supposed to inform your insurance company of any accidents anyway. It may not affect your premium much at all.

Original poster
cathcat · 21/07/2008 00:20

Thanks for these, I think I will do some detective work phoning around tomorrow just to see if the price he has sounds reasonable. So annoying, I can think of a million better things to do with £400!

OP posts:
Freckle · 21/07/2008 04:43

To be fair, he should be providing at least 3 quotes, so you can see that he is obtaining the best price. Ask him to do this - or take the quote you have to an independent garage and ask what they would charge for the same work.

Inform your insurance company of the accident in any event, or you could find that you invalidate it for that "accident waiting to happen".

Freckle · 21/07/2008 04:47

To be fair, he should be providing at least 3 quotes, so you can see that he is obtaining the best price. Ask him to do this - or take the quote you have to an independent garage and ask what they would charge for the same work.

Inform your insurance company of the accident in any event, or you could find that you invalidate it for that "accident waiting to happen".

ScotsLassDownSouth · 21/07/2008 09:57

A few weeks ago I was stationary at a junction when a young lad drove into the back of me. He wasn't going very fast, but he did damage the bumper. He was very apologetic and asked if we could come to a "private" arrangement as he was a new driver and was worried about his no-claims. Well, I was quite sympathetic (my own DS has just started driving) so I agreed.

I took the car to 3 different garages and the quotes ranged from £200 at a local bodyshop to £350! at the main dealer. I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe £300 - £400 is correct? In my case, the bumper damage was really not too bad but the garage will have to remove it, get rid of the scratches and then repaint it so it's quite a lot of work.

My sympathies, though.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 22/07/2008 02:18

I can't see how it is at all "fair" that this bloke should be expected to chase up at least three quotes when OP was in the wrong!

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 22/07/2008 02:37

PS, as a follow-up, if the bike had any fairing at all (that's the big plasticky bits, to make it more aerodynamic) it'll cost a bloody fortune. I bought my DS a brand-new 125 last August @ £1250 OTR. He hit a car in November (50/50 responsibility on that one, no insurance claims made by either party because DS didn't realise how much damage was done and it's not worth pursuing the other driver) and although the only actual damage to the bike was broken fairing and a set of forks (£160 for the forks) the bike was described (by the bike shop) as a write-off.

That's how much a bit of plastic costs.

Can you see if you can reach a private agreement to purchase parts via a breaker, and contribute to/pay his labour costs? Many bikers are able to do work themselves, or have friends who are willing to help.

kerryk · 22/07/2008 10:46

someone reversed into my drivers door once and i took it to the local garage.

the mechanic told me he could push the door out at next to no cost but he would fix a few other things needing done on my car and make the invoice out for the door so the other people would have to pay.

i never went ahead with it of course and went to a difffrent garage but it did not seem to me that it was the first time the mechanic had done this.

duomonstermum · 22/07/2008 10:56

that actually sounds quite cheap.DH was shunted from behind and his repair bil came to nearly 2500. and that was with crash bars!! it depends on what part has been damaged. in his case even though it didn't look like a lot of damage was done when it was taken to the garage they found that the exhaust had been pushed in that far that they needed to replace the whole thing, which makes it v expensive cos of the ammount of work it takes to take the bike apart etc.

figroll · 22/07/2008 11:15

Hi

If I were you I would ring the insurance company and forget all about it - just pay the excess which will save you £190.

We had a problem once that we tried to deal with ourselves for the same reason as you, but got such a lot of hassle from the driver that I ran into, we contacted our insurer. From that point on we heard nothing from the nasty man who kept ringing us up - and my insurance premium wasn't affected either.

You are insured for your own protection, so why not use it - it will definitely reduce your stress to go through the insurance company.

lurkingdad · 22/07/2008 19:46

I would second going through the insurance, what happens if once it is in the garage they find something else wrong that costs another few hundred pounds? Insurance is there to cover this stuff and take the hassle away from you

Lemontart · 22/07/2008 20:10

I agree about going through insurance. Never a good idea to avoid the insurance if you have bumped a bike - rarely such a thing as a cheap bike claim. Expensive things, bikes. Ours got "tapped" once and cost nearly 500 to sort out the fairing! Some idiot messing around sat on it when parked and dropped it The man ran off laughing (drunk). Whole thing witnessed by our elderly neighbour who phoned the police - too late and disinterested to do anything. Ended up coming out of our insurance

Original poster
cathcat · 23/07/2008 01:20

Thanks everyone for your comments although my head is spinning a bit with indecision ...plus my dad was taken into hospital tonight just to heap on the misery.

OP posts:
thumbwitch · 23/07/2008 01:54

I did this once several years ago and the cost of the repair was a lot more than I bargained for, but I had left it over a month before contacting my insurance company. They dealt with the claim and then refused to re-insure me as I had not informed them of the accident within a month; so be aware that might happen.

figroll · 23/07/2008 13:06

Cath - for goodness sake just let the insurance company deal with it. You have got your hands full with your dad and you will find that you can just forget about it - one less thing to worry about.

Good luck for your dad - hope he is better soon.

xx

Original poster
cathcat · 24/07/2008 14:49

Okay I have just phoned insurance company so it is all in their hands. Good news is I actually don't have to pay any excess as I am not claiming for any damage to my own car (if I understood the person correctly). So I am just going to save the money I have not had to spend incase my policy costs a lot more when it is time to renew but that is not til next May so no point worrying about it just now. Thank you everyone.
My dad still in hospital, things not great, Figroll you are right, one less thing to worry about.

OP posts:
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