Small collision advice

bambinaUK

I was in a supermarket car park and reversing out, I was 90% out of the space when a car on the opposite side reversed into the back left of the bumper.


Other driver immediately apologised and admitted liability, saying his reversing sensors weren't working properly and I must have been in his blind spot. He was quite young and driving a Corsa.
We exchanged details.

Body shop said it would cost £130 to repair the scratches on my car, tiny little scratch to the other drivers car, which I took a photo of. So I messaged the other driver with this info.

Now the other driver has said he has 'taken advice' and thinks it is 50/50 and that we should pay for our own repairs! He is happy to go through insurance, but would prefer not to due to his age.



My partner thinks I should just leave it , I can appreciate why, as it will be a faff to contact the supermarket to ask if they have video of the incident, then go through the insurance for a claim that will probably cost me more in the long run when it comes to renewal.


I can understand why the other driver wouldn't want to put a claim in , but I am of course really annoyed that it looks like im going to be landed with a bill for the repair.


So give me your advice and what do I say in my reply to the other driver?

Ms_Chocaholic

Can you not get the scratches polished out? Is the £130 for a paint job?

jimbo6977

If either of you reports it to an insurer (and by the way your insurance contracts oblige both of you to do so) then you both lose out.

AdrianC

bambinaUK wrote: »

I was in a supermarket car park and reversing out, I was 90% out of the space when a car on the opposite side reversed into the back left of the bumper.

So give me your advice

Reverse into spaces.

couriervanman

AdrianC wrote: »

Reverse into spaces.

Keep telling my other half to reverse in and drive out........may as well talk to a brick wall.

In supermarket car parks your reversing out 50% blind until you can see whats coming

Aylesbury_Duck

bambinaUK wrote: »

I was in a supermarket car park and reversing out, I was 90% out of the space when a car on the opposite side reversed into the back left of the bumper.


Other driver immediately apologised and admitted liability, saying his reversing sensors weren't working properly and I must have been in his blind spot. He was quite young and driving a Corsa.
We exchanged details.

Body shop said it would cost £130 to repair the scratches on my car, tiny little scratch to the other drivers car, which I took a photo of. So I messaged the other driver with this info.

Now the other driver has said he has 'taken advice' and thinks it is 50/50 and that we should pay for our own repairs! He is happy to go through insurance, but would prefer not to due to his age.



My partner thinks I should just leave it , I can appreciate why, as it will be a faff to contact the supermarket to ask if they have video of the incident, then go through the insurance for a claim that will probably cost me more in the long run when it comes to renewal.


I can understand why the other driver wouldn't want to put a claim in , but I am of course really annoyed that it looks like im going to be landed with a bill for the repair.


So give me your advice and what do I say in my reply to the other driver?

If you were still moving when the collision happened, I think you're both at fault, so my advice would be to agree to each pay for your own repair (personally if it's a light cosmetics scratch or scuff I wouldn't bother) and notify your insurer for information purposes only, to cover yourself if the other party later decides to renege on the agreement and inform his insurer.

bambinaUK

Thank you for all your responses, all fair comments.
I want to reply to him and half of me wants to give him some grief and the other half wants to say something constructive to a young driver, I need to calm down first though.

bambinaUK

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

Can you not get the scratches polished out? Is the £130 for a paint job?

Three big scratches down to the black plastic (red car) and a general graze right round the corner of the bumper. So the whole bumper needs spraying unfortunately.

AdrianC

bambinaUK wrote: »

Three big scratches down to the black plastic (red car) and a general graze right round the corner of the bumper. So the whole bumper needs spraying unfortunately.

Sounds eminently smart-repair.

neilmcl

bambinaUK wrote: »

Three big scratches down to the black plastic (red car) and a general graze right round the corner of the bumper. So the whole bumper needs spraying unfortunately.

£130 sounds like a bargain then.

As others have said unless you have witnesses, video evidence then this will go 50/50 for sure.

neilmcl

AdrianC wrote: »

Sounds eminently smart-repair.

A decent SMART repair is still going to be around £100 or more and probably stand out more than getting the whole bumper resprayed.