Neighbours dd scratched my car, wwyd?

[Gribbles1]

So the neighbourhood kids are playing outside the front with my dd last w/e. There's a couple from up the road, my neighbours dd & her friend and my dd. 5 in total. They were 'making potions' with petals etc & generally playing nicely. Age range 6-8. All is fine. I'm keeping an eye out every once in a while and they all seem fine. They also played on the drive to the side of the house where the car is, so I can hear them but not see them. Anyway, yesterday I went to use the car and there are REALLY bad scratches all over the bonnet, quite deep. I asked my dd what happened and she was shocked. She said the neighbours dd was the only one sitting up on the bonnet (where the potion mixing was being done) and they were all handing her up stuff (leaves/petals/water). I think what's happened is that she was sitting with her feet tucked under and the metal buckles of her shoes have gouged the paintwork. My dh is going to go absolutely mental when he finds out. He's away on business and returns this Friday. I haven't spoken to the neighbours yet because I needed to calm down. My dd was in pumps that day, no buckles. Wwyd?

I think if you were checking on them but didn't see her sat on your car, you are going to have to just suck it up

I would go to Halfords and get a paint mixed up to the exact colour of the car. You can get this by giving the car serial number inside the bonnet, to the side of the engine. It comes like a large nail varnish. Then I would paint them over and say nothing.
After that, ban children from going within 3 feet of your car.

Put it down to experience. If you were letting the children play on the car (!!) then you can't blame them for scratching it. A child of that age wouldn't realise that her shoes might scratch.
You said you were keeping an eye out, so must have seen them sitting on the car.
Next time, tell them no-one is allowed on the car or near it - surely you can stop them playing up the sides etc?

My rational side is saying unless you actually witnessed it happen, you're going to find it difficult to attempt to get money out of the parents to pay for repairs.

My fishwife knee jerk reaction is what the fuck was a child doing sitting on a car bonnet to play???

from inside the bonnet, of course

So, it was an accident then.

Phone one of the mobile scratch fixers like Chips Away and get a quote.

You have to pay though. It wasn't the DDs fault.

and it would be totally unreasonable to ask the parents for money.

Unfortunately you can't prove it. We have neighbours who's kids don't give a stuff about other people's property, inc cars. Even if you saw their kids do the damage, chances are they'd ask for proof and possibly refuse to pay up.

I'd say it was an accident. All the children were playing the same game, just so happens it was neighbours dd on the bonnet and the others handing stuff to her. It's one of those things. I would suck it up and tell my own dd there is absolutely no playing near the car in future.

If chalk it up to experience.
You cannot seriously think the child's parents should pay when it was an accident and they were playing on your property?
It isn't even a careless/reckless accident, because what child would think of shoe buckles? (granted it's odd to sit on the car, but not totally bizarre, and not done from naughtiness. It could just as easily have been yours, and if she'd been in buckle shoes that day...

Touch it up ASAP as best as you can afford because of rust.

FWIW I had just finished laying a walnut engineered floor when my sister came over. It took us a while to work out that the pitting and one or two outright gouges were buttons on the pockets of her hipster jeans. I never told her!

for goodness sake, watching, 'kids who do not give a stuff' - sounds like these children were allowed to sit on the car, and were very small. Therefore not their fault at all.
If someone came knocking on my door in these circs, I would tell them to do one.

They were on your property under your supervision.

Gribbles, your best bet, in this case, is to take the good advice of AdaLovelacesCat ! (Did I just say that ) 😄

I would say it is nigh on impossible to get a good, invisible repair using the paint things from Halfords. Better to mention it now rather than be caught out having tried to hide it.

How could you not see her sat on the bonnet?

I would tell my child she is absolutely not to ever sit on the car nor let her friends sit on it. then get one of those mobile chip /scratch removal people out

Yes, I agree you just have to live with it. You certainly can't ask your neighbour to pay.

Have you tried polishing with T-cut? That will show how bad the scratches are and you can take it from there.

Kids don't realise at that age that buckles would dent cars especially as she wasn't playing maliciously and intended the damage.

I'd get it repaired and count your losses. I would however just remind the little girl about respect for others property and shoes or not she shouldn't sit on cars. Just like you wouldn't sit on her possessions.