Reversed into a 'friends' car

Treaders71

My Step daugfhter was visiting a friend from school for the afternoon, when my wife and i went to collect her, I reversed our car ( I have recently passed my test, but my wife is a long time driver, I am only a named driver on her vehicle insurance) and accidently overshot it and hit my daughters, friends, mothers car.. I caused a small dent on the rear drivers side as well as a ding and some paint loss on both cars.. I have taken our car to a body repair company who say it will cost approx £140 + VAT to fix the panel damage and paint on our Hyundai; my daughters friends mother has had a 'guy' they know look at it and they are being quoted £400..
I think, looking at our damage and the cost, that this is excessive.. we know they have damage on the rear passenger side and wonder if they are trying to claim for both sides and get us to pay it.. this 'guy' is a family friend of theirs.. We have asked them to take their car to the same place as ours given that we are offering to pay away from our insurance companies, but they are refusing.


What should we do, how many quotes should they get and what, if anything, can we ask for in terms of their getting a quote? We think asking them to go to the place we are using is reasonable but we feel they are trying to 'scam' us a little bit..what to do???

[Deleted User]

If you're trying to avoid telling your insurance, then you leave yourself open to whatever they want to do to get their car fixed.

If you think they're trying to scam you, then you'll also need to play by the rules and report the incident to your insurance.

Ebe_Scrooge

To be honest, £400 is not a lot for a professionally-done repair job - even very minor damage is expensive to repair properly. You basically have 2 options - let them use their repairer if you want to pay for it your self (assuming they are not willing to use your preferred repairer). The other - and probably more correct - option is to go through your insurance company, let them sort it out and they'll use one of their approved bodyshops. If you want to avoid going through the insurance, you're not really in a position to dictate which repairer the other party uses.

alfie1950

If you don't want to go through insurance your in their hands....

spadoosh

After an accident you should report it to your insurance company.

Firstly youre not a car repairer. Youve got zero expertise in assessing damage of the car and or the cost of fixing it. Panels, spraying and removing dents generally cost far more than the average person thinks. So youve got nothing to back up you think its not that damaged.

Secondly youve not followed the rules of your insurer when you signed up to them. By not reporting your accident and allowing the insurers to deal with it youve opened up yourself to the possibility of being scammed. Your insurer wouldnt get scammed because they check, and they know what theyre checking.

Thirdly. Youre being asked for £400 for the repair. Theres also no guarantee that that will be the end of the matter either. Versus presumably declaring the minor accident to your insurer and having your insurance premium increase by no more than a couple of hundred quid over the next few years. And the wird thing is you pay presumably hundred more every year to protect you in exactly this type of instance but thought you could handle it better yourself because youve heard your insurance premiums will go up (they dont always do, mine went down upon renewal after an accident).

Just do what youre supposed to would be my advice (go through insurance), its tried and tested. Your way always leads to someone who doesnt know what theyre doing trying to be a solicitor/mechanic/insurer. It rarely works well.

Johno100

It happens to the best of us.

https://youtu.be/01Z9RkUBctQ

Aylesbury_Duck

Just put it through your insurance company, for all the reasons given above. You obviously distrust the other party, so why take the risk of them "scamming" you? They are entitled to get any damage repaired as they choose and you have no say given the accident was your fault.

foxy-stoat

£140 + vat for a repair sounds like a dent removal and machine polish, I wouldn't like being forced to go down this route if it wasn't my fault if I was them - I would go to my own trusted garage.

If you don't want to pay for the £400 then put it through your insurers.

jeradon

What they said. Going through your insurance is a better solution and less hassle on your part.

Penelopa.Pitstop

foxy-stoat wrote: »

£140 + vat for a repair sounds like a dent removal and machine polish, I wouldn't like being forced to go down this route if it wasn't my fault if I was them - I would go to my own trusted garage.

If you don't want to pay for the £400 then put it through your insurers.

Considering new driver behind the wheel, going through insurance will cost much more than £400 over the next few years with increased insurance cost due to at fault incident.

System

The damage you had on your car is completely and utterly irrelevant and just because you don't have much on yours doesn't mean you couldn't have caused £1000s to another vehicle. Damage on the side, especially on a car with metallic paint, could easily end up with a large part or even the whole side of that car having to be repainted so the repair doesn't stick out. £400 is not an expensive repair for bodywork.