Is he trying to rip me off?

burdon1

Hi All,

Sorry this is a little long....

Last week I had a slight bump in the carpark at work, I was reversing about 4 MPH and scraped a car that was parked up being me. The owner of the car was not about, so I got out and checked both vehicles, mine as a slight bump, and his has a small scratch (a little like a scrape). I did the honest thing and reported it to security. The security guard completed an incident report and checked both cars and took photos. This happened about 20:00hrs and we found the owner of the vehicle at approx. 21:15hrs. The security guard took photos and looked at the scratch on his car and wiped his hand over it and advised that it "may" come out with a polish? mine needs to have the bump taken out.

When I met with the owner, he was happy with my honesty, and we both agreed to sort it out privately as there wasnt that much damage to either vehicle. I gave him my mobile number, shook hands and went on our way.

The evening after he sent me a text to advise that he had been to the garage the same night (after 21:30hrs), and they had given him a quote for £350 and listed all this work that needed to be done. I text him back and asked for a copy of the quote, as I thought it was a little steep. He replied 30 minutes later, and advised me that he had been back to the Garage, and for a quote, they charge £35, which he could get back if they carried out the work. So he wanted £375. I replied stating that the quote should be free. In his reply he agreed, and stated that he would get back to me.

This evening, he text me back and advised that this still stood. I have replied, stating that I want a quote in writing and it will be free. Over the weekend, I went to a garage, and they gave me an estimate of £40 to fix my car... all that needs to be done, is the panel to be taken out and the dint removed, and put back. There was more damage to my car? I mentioned it at the Garage about the chargeable quote and he told me it was a load of rubbish. He has offered to complete work on both cars and it wouldnt cost £120.00 for both (at a maximum). A bit of T-Cut would take the scratches of his car!

Sorry to keep this long-winded, but I feel that he is trying to rip me off. Anyone got any advice out there, would be much appreciated...

Sgt_Pepper_2

burdon1 wrote: »

Hi All,

Sorry this is a little long....

Last week I had a slight bump in the carpark at work, I was reversing about 4 MPH and scraped a car that was parked up being me. The owner of the car was not about, so I got out and checked both vehicles, mine as a slight bump, and his has a small scratch (a little like a scrape). I did the honest thing and reported it to security. The security guard completed an incident report and checked both cars and took photos. This happened about 20:00hrs and we found the owner of the vehicle at approx. 21:15hrs. The security guard took photos and looked at the scratch on his car and wiped his hand over it and advised that it "may" come out with a polish? mine needs to have the bump taken out.

When I met with the owner, he was happy with my honesty, and we both agreed to sort it out privately as there wasnt that much damage to either vehicle. I gave him my mobile number, shook hands and went on our way.

The evening after he sent me a text to advise that he had been to the garage the same night (after 21:30hrs), and they had given him a quote for £350 and listed all this work that needed to be done. I text him back and asked for a copy of the quote, as I thought it was a little steep. He replied 30 minutes later, and advised me that he had been back to the Garage, and for a quote, they charge £35, which he could get back if they carried out the work. So he wanted £375. I replied stating that the quote should be free. In his reply he agreed, and stated that he would get back to me.

This evening, he text me back and advised that this still stood. I have replied, stating that I want a quote in writing and it will be free. Over the weekend, I went to a garage, and they gave me an estimate of £40 to fix my car... all that needs to be done, is the panel to be taken out and the dint removed, and put back. There was more damage to my car? I mentioned it at the Garage about the chargeable quote and he told me it was a load of rubbish. He has offered to complete work on both cars and it wouldnt cost £120.00 for both (at a maximum). A bit of T-Cut would take the scratches of his car!

Sorry to keep this long-winded, but I feel that he is trying to rip me off. Anyone got any advice out there, would be much appreciated...

You could always go through your insurance.

colino

Lots of garages now charge for bodywork estimates. Why should they continue to give their considered, professional, realistic, written work away for free, especially as nowadays they only actually get a small percentage of the actual work and their written opinions are just used to extract cash for bashes that are never fixed?

I'm amazed that your garage is willing to do anything to a car for £40 and to prevent this drawing into a saga, I think you should just tell the other innocent driver, whos property you damaged, to claim off of your insurance.

McKneff

So your mechanic is giving a quote on a car he has never seen and saying it will come out with Tcut.
Clever man.

I get the impression you are really understating the state of the other driver's car to be honest.

You were at fault and it is in your terms and condition of your insurance that you have to inform them of any incident. Whether you claim for it or not.

If I was the other chap, I would be asking for your insurance details and going through them. You hit him remember. He has the right to take his car to any garage he wants to.

Edit - a tractor scraped mine a couple of years ago on the wheel arch,about a 4 inch scrape, it was the thick end of £1k to have it repaired.

zappahey

burdon1 wrote: »

He replied 30 minutes later, and advised me that he had been back to the Garage, and for a quote, they charge £35, which he could get back if they carried out the work. So he wanted £375. I replied stating that the quote should be free.

Bodyshops will rarely do a free estimate these days, since people get the quote for a minor repair, pass it to the insurer and then pocket the money without getting the work done.

Usually, the cost of the quote is taken off the final bill.

paddedjohn

Tell the other party you have photos and to get real, or get the insurance involved (you should tell the insurance about the bump anyway as in the terms of your policy)

JQ.

If you're not happy then claim off your insurance and be more careful in future.

My wife got hit recently by a 3rd party, a very minor scrape to the front bumper of a 6yr old car and it's costing £300 to get fixed because they have to spray the whole front bumper. That was the cheapest quote of 3 bodyshops so I don't think £350 sounds too unreasonable.

Notmyrealname

£350 is about the going rate to respray a panel and blend it in.

If yours needs to have a bump taken out I can guarantee the damage you've done is far more than "a little scratch which may polish out".

The problem you have is that you looked at it as it was getting dark and took photos in the dark. What won't have been seen will be all the scuffing that has also been done and there may be a deformation of the panel you hit.

If you don't want to pay out then you shouldn't go hitting other peoples static none moving large lumps of blatantly obvious metal.

Personally if you hit me, I gave you a figure to settle outside of the insurance and you played the game you're now playing I'd go through the insurance to stuff your NCD. Even if they are inflating the cost, thats the tax on stupid you have to pay to avoid going through insurance. You may have protected NCD but a claim for this WILL put up your insurance for the next few years.

Biglad_3

Notmyrealname wrote: »

£350 is about the going rate to respray a panel and blend it in.

If yours needs to have a bump taken out I can guarantee the damage you've done is far more than "a little scratch which may polish out".

The problem you have is that you looked at it as it was getting dark and took photos in the dark. What won't have been seen will be all the scuffing that has also been done and there may be a deformation of the panel you hit.

If you don't want to pay out then you shouldn't go hitting other peoples static none moving large lumps of blatantly obvious metal.

Personally if you hit me, I gave you a figure to settle outside of the insurance and you played the game you're now playing I'd go through the insurance to stuff your NCD. Even if they are inflating the cost, thats the tax on stupid you have to pay to avoid going through insurance. You may have protected NCD but a claim for this WILL put up your insurance for the next few years.

Likewise you will have to tell any new insurer that you have been involved in a claim accident. You might not be to blame but it WILL affect your insurance too ! See no winners in your argument.

JQ.

Notmyrealname wrote: »

Personally if you hit me, I gave you a figure to settle outside of the insurance and you played the game you're now playing I'd go through the insurance to stuff your NCD. Even if they are inflating the cost, thats the tax on stupid you have to pay to avoid going through insurance. You may have protected NCD but a claim for this WILL put up your insurance for the next few years.

^^^^ This.

When the other person hit my wife's car, we had 3 quotes within 24hrs and they were asked to hand over the cash within 7 days or we would just go direct through our insurers. The other party were great, never asked to see the quotes (despite being offered) and handed over the cash straight away.

As above, if I was the injured party and you did to me what you appear to be doing to this person, I'd just go straight to the insurance company and put my claim in as I'd no longer trust you to deal with. Don't forget the other person is doing you a favour.

jaydeeuk1

Biglad wrote: »

Likewise you will have to tell any new insurer that you have been involved in a claim accident. You might not be to blame but it WILL affect your insurance too ! See no winners in your argument.

But can't you can claim this diff back from the 3rd party until its at a level where you would have been before the incident?