Broke someone's wing mirror whilst driving. How should I approach it?

jonj123

Hi all,

So the other night when I was driving at night in a narrow road I accidentally hit a car's wing mirror and the mirror broke. Just as a backround it was an old w reg car. I knocked on the door of the house opposite who turned out to be the owner of the car. I gave him my details and asked him to get a quote and send me a receipt and I'll pay the money into his bank. However he's texted saying that he's got a quote for £200 and wants me to pay him money in person and he hasn't sent me a receipt of the quote. What is the best course of action to take?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Quentin

Assuming you were hoping to keep this a secret from your insurer:


If you don't trust him then tell him to deal with your insurer. (You can reimburse your insurance company any costs they incur over this to keep your NCD intact).


But he won't send you a receipt till you pay him, and if you trust him then £200 is probably cheaper for you in the long run.


Do dummy quotes online with and without this as a claim on your record to see what difference it makes to your record.

neilmcl

I wouldn't give him any cash until he has a receipt for the work done or an invoice so you can pay the repairer direct.

Quentin

neilmcl wrote: »

I wouldn't give him any cash until he has a receipt for the work done or an invoice so you can pay the repairer direct.

Trouble is if you want to keep this away from insurers then you are always at a disadvantage when you are the "guilty" party.


If the innocent third party can be trusted, then a cash settlement (and a receipt) to close the matter is just as "dangerous" as paying for the repair after its been carried out.


Either way you have to trust the third party not to disclose this to his insurer as if he does then both parties have it registered on their "claim/incident" history.

Idiophreak

£200 doesn't seem crazy money, especially if it was body-coloured. Someone smashed one of mine a few years back and it was £250 odd....

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Maybe a W reg car but factor in a few things. color coded (all new ones come primered he has to pay for painting), heated electric and colour coded can run into £££'s to buy new.


my suspicion is that he has a had a quote for new and intends to buy from salvage and put some cash towards having it fitted if he isn't DIY savvy and have some cash left for a pint down the local.


either case, you were the one at fault so his intentions are really NA your still going to have to pay him, or deal through insurance and pay those to settle and protect NCB, but expect to have small increase in premiums for 5years.

marc7

pay up or go though your insurance
the 3rd party is the innocent one here
but isn't trusted to sort a quote out

Idiophreak

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

my suspicion is that he has a had a quote for new and intends to buy from salvage and put some cash towards having it fitted if he isn't DIY savvy and have some cash left for a pint down the local.

Why's that your suspicion?

TBH, if someone smashed my mirror, I'd go to the garage, say "how much does it cost to fix this?" then ask for that amount.

I'd not make every effort to minimise inconvenience to myself and would make no effort to minimise cost to the person that trashed my mirror.

If the person wanted to pay the garage directly, that would be even better.

aileth

Hang on a sec, are you saying JUST the mirror part broke or are you saying the whole wing mirror broke? If it's just the glass, £200 is incredible. We had a 2001 reg a-class which had the mirror glass smashed by an errant football, and I think it cost us £15 off ebay. It was heated and electric.

If the whole wing mirror is knackered, sounds about right tbh for a whole replacement. For a W-reg though you could probably find one 100% condition in a scrappy, but he may not be so amicable to accept that.

BeenThroughItAll

aileth wrote: »

If it's just the glass, £200 is incredible.

Not really; if it was something like a S Class, 7 Series, Range Rover, etc with photochromatic mirrors, the main dealer price of a mirror glass plus fitting could easily be £200.

jonj123

Thanks for the feedback so far. So if I ask him to sign a piece of paper saying that he has received the money would that be sufficient evidence in case he later contacts my insurer and claims he hasn't received the money?