car park bump: quick q

[Removed]

Hi guys,

 

on Friday Debbie had a VERY minor bump in the Yaris in a cinema car park in Liverpool.

 

She was reversing out, she said she checked and there was no car on the lane so she started reversing out.

 

Apparently out of another car park space, another car (fiat stilo) started driving in the middle lane and Debbie hit his front passenger side bumper, so lightly that it didn't make ANY mark on Debbie's car. There was a VERY minor scratch on his bumper, but Debbie failed to take a picture of the damage, as she was a bit stressed out by the whole thing, being the first time it had happened to her.

 

 

The guy mentioned the fact that he'd been ok to have it sorted without involving the insurance companies, to which Debbie said he'd get back to him after speaking with me.

 

She came home and told me what happened and the guy on Saturday rang her to tell her that to sort it it would be £145.

 

At this point I started handling the situation: Debbie's excess is £250. She will have 3 yrs NCB at the end of April.

 

Either way, she would have had to pay for it out of her own pocket, and not knowing the extent of the damage, I agreed to pay the £145, with the intention to go to his house today with G3 and G10 and see if it could be polished out.

 

I can honestly say the guy has just ripped us off, but I don't think we had any other option, as if she went through the insurance she would have had to still pay up to the £250 excess AND lose her NCB.

 

The guy had been smart enough to get a witness statement too, but the scratch was so minor and on the surface that it would have come off extremely easily with a little G3. I offered to sort it for him there and then and he refused, saying he'd worked at a bodyshop and you could cut through lacquer with the G3, which is bullshit as by hand there's no way in hell you can do that. At that point I told him that if he had worked at a bodyshop, he'd know full well that the quote was way too much and he was ripping us off properly.

 

I had him sign a document saying he'd received the money and that was a full and final settlement for the damage, and no other action would be taken.

 

At that point I gave him the money and f@cked off.

 

Do you think there would have been any other way to keep Debbie's NCB and pay less for the minor repair, which a Chipsaway would ahve probably sorted for no more than £50?

[Sarnie]

IMO theres not a lot more that you could of done. He obviously just pulled a figure out of the air. He could of said £245 instead of £145 which you would still have had to pay one way or another. The annoying thing is that after you'd left he probably just polished it out himself and pocketed the money.

[lomoto]

Difficult one this Val,

if you had called his bluff and told him to go through Insurance Co.. it may cost you more in the long run, or yopu could have just told him to stuff it ,and you may have got away with it Scott free ?

 

I think you probably did the right thing for the sake of £150, just put it down to experience

[Removed]

not myself, but Debbie's experience of course.

 

She is wiser now, I guess you learn from your mistakes.

 

Tim, what do you mean I might have got away scot free? as in he probably wouldn't have bothered reporting it to the insurance?

[bernmc]

You had the right to have his car independantly inspected and quoted, so you could have done that. Or got hime to give you 3 quotes from different body shops.

 

Lessons:

Camera!

Witnesses - get them to look at the damge.

Mirror, signal, maneuver, but keep using the mirror

 

£145 to save all the hassle... I suppose that's not too bad

[Removed]

You had the right to have his car independantly inspected and quoted, so you could have done that. Or got hime to give you 3 quotes from different body shops.

 

I did ask him on the phone, and he said straight away to forget it and go through insurance. At that point I knew there was something iffy.

 

Lessons:

Camera!

Witnesses - get them to look at the damge.

Mirror, signal, maneuver, but keep using the mirror

 

camera: first thing I told her! that's what mobile phones are for!

witnesses: again will pass this on to her, good advice

mirror...she swears she was looking

[Chris`I]

Well as you say, you have been done slightly as Chips Away could do it for say £50. At the same time though, the guy seemed like a bit of a **** so for the sake of £150 you've got it all done and dusted.

 

I guess it depends if you are a glass half full or empty man. Yeah it cost you £100 more than it could, but its also saved you £100 on what it would have cost through insurance. So lesson learnt and be content with it I guess.

 

As for cameras, I heard you cant use digi cams as you are able to doctor them. Is this true? I know friends that carry disposable cameras in their cars because of this.

[Guest prescience]

As people have said, I reckon you pay the money (as you have) and move on. It could have been a lot worse and after all a mistake was made.

 

On offering to do the work for him, can't see you letting him loose on your Z if the roles were reversed (excuse the pun)

[Removed]

 

On offering to do the work for him, can't see you letting him loose on your Z if the roles were reversed (excuse the pun)

 

there's no work to be done, polishing off that scratch even a halfords monkey could do

 

ah well, hopefully she'll learn from it

[lomoto]

Tim, what do you mean I might have got away scot free? as in he probably wouldn't have bothered reporting it to the insurance?

 

 

He may not even have been insured, or the driver was not insured for that particular car, very common now days

[Liam's Z]

Tim, what do you mean I might have got away scot free? as in he probably wouldn't have bothered reporting it to the insurance?

 

 

He may not even have been insured, or the driver was not insured for that particular car, very common now days

 

Nice little trick in this situation is check an see if tax disc is in date!!! 9/10 who don't have up-to-date tax don't have insurance

[Chris`I]

Nice little trick in this situation is check an see if tax disc is in date!!! 9/10 who don't have up-to-date tax don't have insurance

Good call

[Removed]

he lives in front of a Police Station... I'd guess his tax disk is up to date as is his insurance

[Liam's Z]

he lives in front of a Police Station... I'd guess his tax disk is up to date as is his insurance

 

I'm sure Debbie knew this whilst on the cinema car park

[Removed]

no but I did when I went to his house this morning

 

but good point for the "in situ" situation

[u2----]

On the other side of the coin, this happened to me recently!

 

(I know it’s not a Z, still trying to convince myself I don‘t need rear seats)

 

Fellow employee of mine nudged the car attempting to park, causing a bill for £220 cash for a front bumper respray! Scrape was too deep for Chipsaway.

Initially said he would pay out with insurance until his mother said it was just a scratch and would not be paying at all for the repair. Wtf! So much for trying to do someone a favour.

 

So I am now forced going down the insurance route and I AM determined to ruin his future car insurance for the foreseeable future to boot. If it your car that gets damaged guys it’s a very different story trust me!

 

£145 is a trivial sum to pay for saving yourself this hassle!

[Chris`I]

Surely that is not their choice. They damaged your car, therefore you can surely report them for crimial damage if they are not willing to "play ball"? Evil I know, but they cant just say they're not paying can they?

[u2----]

^^^^ Well no!

 

But that does leave you with only the Insurance route to go down. The very path I now find myself going down unfortunatley, if like TheMinel they had 'just paid' then I wouldn't find myself with all this hassle!

 

£220 was just to paint the front bumper btw!

[Chris`I]

Bah, why can't people just be responsible

 

Sure you can pay off a couple of local heavies down the pub to go treat their car in the same way they treated yours, bet they wont do it again then

[Chesterfield]

I think you took the path of least resistance Val. Going down the insurance would have no doubt meant you paying out on the excess anyway, and the NCB would have gone too - which would have cost more in the long run too.

 

As for the above with u2, how on earth the lads mother can say "its just a scratch, so we arent paying at all" is beyond me...

 

I suppose she comes from the group of people that just consider a minor scuff and scratch "general wear and tear" on a car. afterall that whats bumpers are for aren't they?

 

Shame you have to go down the insurance route, but perhaps it will teach the daft bint a lesson. She really hasnt thought this through. Depriving a young lad of his No Claims Discount is going to cost one hell of a lot more than a couple hundred to respray a bumper.

 

Im surprised that scuff is too deep for chips away though I thought they could tackle stuff like that?

[u2----]

 

Im surprised that scuff is too deep for chips away though I thought they could tackle stuff like that?

 

Well the guy said although he could do it, it would show again in a couple of months (as the car was 5 days old at the time I wasn't having that). On very close inspection you can see white dots where it is through to the primer as his car was dirty (dirt impacts the paint).

Now determind to ruin the guys insurance big time.

[AndyC]

As has been said before although it's clearly a pi** take I think £145 is a cheap price to get this all done & dusted. And you've done the sensible thing of getting him to sign the disclaimer. At least both yourself and the missus can move on without this hanging over you.

 

U2 - was it a work car park? If so, I'd be inclined to report it to a manager. Oh and have a word with the jumped up little s**t himself - wtf getting his mum to fight his battles for him!!!!!