Help NEEDED - Car Scratch that will cost £500!!

michaels

I am really glad you feel morally responsible, I am fed up with all the dents and scratches my car picks up in carparks and it is not free - I have a 300 quid insurace excess but it is never worth claiming small amounts anyway, even with protected no claims the next premium is increased.

However I would make sure that your child actually did it and that they are not just trying to get someone else to pay for a seperate incident and then make them an offer for the repair based on a reasonable quote, under the circumstances this weould be fairer than a main dealer bodyshop price where they like to charge several hundred quid to fix a scrath that could just be tcut and polished out.

[Deleted User]

Tell them to take a running jump!

Sounds like a con to me.

richardsimkiss

personally I'd follow this approach.

1) Ask your son what happened, i'm sure you'll have an idea if he's being genuine or not.

2) Ask to see the damage, use common sense in looking at the matter (is the scratch at the same height as his handlebars, etc).

3) a scratch won't cost £500 to repair unless it's an obscenely long and deep scratch which has deformed the metal. You will almost certainly be able to get it repaired much cheaper.


Don't feel morally obliged to pay up unless you are 100% convinced it was your sons fault, and if it you do feel you should pay up, sort out the repair yourself, it's the only way to avoid being ripped off.

At the end of the day you *could* outright refuse to pay, and there's is virtually nothing they could do about it, from the sounds of things there is no evidence, no witnesses, and he's a young child. I think its nice that you want to sort it out, but it would be such a shame to see an honest gesture from yourself be taken advantage of.

Big_Momma_3

I contacted Chips Away, and then the family of the vehicle. They weren't happy to be inconvienced by having to take it somewhere else for a quote - and I kind of put my foot in it saying that I felt sure his rubber handles couldn't make the scratch - of which I have now been told is 4 inches long with a big dent (!?)

Having a baby in a couple of weeks and being argued with on the phone to pay up for my son's mistake is really frustrating... and I think I just want it all done and dusted. I just hope Chips Away come under £500 - as then I am stuck, as I said that their quote would be cheaper (based on what I had originally thought was a one inch scratch, which my husband had seen at the time.)

It is all hearsay and you said this, and we say that - and I got the 'are you accusing us of lying' bit... which I guess I was, yikes!

Anyways, our solicitor thinks that no insurance policy will cover it, as our son is not liable... so we are stuck!

tomstickland

You're not stuck. You don't have to pay for it; they could take you to small claims court if they wanted, but at best they'd have a 50-50 chance with no real evidence.

Do you think that he did do it?

If you do think that he did do it then pay for it to be repaired. However I don't see it costing more than £150. A friend had a wing straightened and sprayed for that.

Don't give up because it's too much hassle - it's your money. But, if your son is responsible then do the decent thing like you seem to want to anyway.

gk172

Big_Momma wrote:

I contacted Chips Away, and then the family of the vehicle. They weren't happy to be inconvienced by having to take it somewhere else for a quote - and I kind of put my foot in it saying that I felt sure his rubber handles couldn't make the scratch - of which I have now been told is 4 inches long with a big dent (!?)

Having a baby in a couple of weeks and being argued with on the phone to pay up for my son's mistake is really frustrating... and I think I just want it all done and dusted. I just hope Chips Away come under £500 - as then I am stuck, as I said that their quote would be cheaper (based on what I had originally thought was a one inch scratch, which my husband had seen at the time.)

It is all hearsay and you said this, and we say that - and I got the 'are you accusing us of lying' bit... which I guess I was, yikes!

Anyways, our solicitor thinks that no insurance policy will cover it, as our son is not liable... so we are stuck!

Dont know if this will help but on reading this post a few things sprung to mind, what kind of people come up and say you owe me £500 did they see your son doing it? if they were reasonable people why didnt they chap the door to come to some compromise as after all it its just been xmas and who has £500 lying about? Also if they are expecing you to pay shouldnt you be getting the quotes instead of them so that you then know you arnt been ripped off? Your hubby saw a 1 inch scratch and now its a 4 inch scratch with dent - have you looked at the height of the bike/handle and is a 5 year old capable of denting to that degree and does the scratch meet the bike handle height?

We had a scratch bursting the primer on our 2 week old car a few years ago and they said the respray would be front and back door and wing to blend the colour in (metalic paint and mondeo) so big car big paint/repair and it was £350 ish and that was from arnold clark so probably not the cheapest so where £500 comes from

deanos

If you do want to pay then insist you have the choice of where it goes , it does seem like a very high quote to me i had a scratch on the bottom of my door and it was £80 to get sorted out it was about 2 inches long but only a couple of mill wide needed to get it sorted so the car didnt rust.

I would also ask to see the quote as well !

tomstickland

They weren't happy to be inconvienced by having to take it somewhere else for a quote

They sound very ungrateful and I think you should not take any abuse from them. After all, you are offering to pay for something. If it was me and they got too funny about it then I'd seriously consider telling them to take it to small claims court if they want to.