Scraped another car - insurance job?

rosyposyjm

My mum has scraped another car while parking. Nothing on mum’s car, but fine scratches/scuff on the other. My mum didn’t realise think she’d hit anything. 

She doesn’t want to go through insurance as she’s worried it will raise her premium. She gave the man her phone number. 

He’s called her and said it will cost £600 as the whole panel and door needs respraying. 

Can we ask him to get more than one quote and give us proof of this or should she just give in and go through her insurance?

Any advice welcome!

scaredofdebt

You can ask him to get more than one quote, but he doesn't have to.

If insurance companies get involved, in my experience, they may ask for more than one quote.

AdrianC

You have a simple choice.

Accept the nice man's offer not to go through insurance...
...or go through insurance.

You can of course ask him nicely if he wouldn't mind getting a few more quotes, please...

(BTW, I presume she won't be lying to her insurance about whether this ever happened or not, when she gets quotes over the next five years?)

Grumpy_chap

£600 sounds very fair to me.

scaredofdebt

rosyposyjm said:

My mum has scraped another car while parking. Nothing on mum’s car, but fine scratches/scuff on the other. My mum didn’t realise think she’d hit anything.

Maybe time to stop driving, is she elderly?

Funnily enough this happened to my car yesterday, car was parked, Range Rover scraped it badly down the side trying to park in a mini-sized gap, elderly woman drove off but came back soon later oblivious to it all.

Sandtree

rosyposyjm said:

Can we ask him to get more than one quote and give us proof of this or should she just give in and go through her insurance?

You can ask him whatever you want and he can tell you where to go.

There is no legal obligation for a claimant to provide multiple quotes and even if multiple quotes are provided there is no obligation to go for the cheapest, if a case gets to court it comes down simply to if the judge believes the repair costs were reasonable (reasonable not cheap). 

As politely on the grounds you know you cannot insist. £600 for two panels plus blending is not a bad price though.

BOWFER

I really don't get people who pay decades of insurance premiums, only to be too scared to use it.....
It's not like she's a youngster whose insurance will be badly affected

Supersonos

Your mum should've done what many people have done to me over the years - just drive off and not say a word.  

BOWFER

Supersonos said:

Your mum should've done what many people have done to me over the years - just drive off and not say a word.  

Thankfully getting easier to catch these people, with the proliferation of cameras in cars and elsewhere.
Then they get done with leaving the scene of an accident.

born_again

rosyposyjm said:

My mum has scraped another car while parking. Nothing on mum’s car, but fine scratches/scuff on the other. My mum didn’t realise think she’d hit anything. 

She doesn’t want to go through insurance as she’s worried it will raise her premium. She gave the man her phone number. 

He’s called her and said it will cost £600 as the whole panel and door needs respraying. 

Can we ask him to get more than one quote and give us proof of this or should she just give in and go through her insurance?

Any advice welcome!

You could ask one of the companies that do touch up at your home to come and give a quote.

Aretnap

As the others have said you don't really have "rights" in this situation. You either come to an agreement that you're both happy with, or you go through insurance. If you go through insurance, your mum's insurance company will most likely regard his quote as reasonable and will not argue the toss over it. They'll be mostly interested in keeping him happy so that he doesn't put in a claim for an expensive hire car through a claims management company. 

You can ask for anything you like of course but if you're the one who is keen to avoid insurance you're not in much of a position to insist on anything.