Paying off £37065 unsecured debt by July 2027 while continuing to travel this amazing world

Sarahwithlove

Well done on the sells, going well! I need to get better at adding stuff to vinted and fb marketplace 

Nintud

Aaaarggghhh! I’m so mad at myself.

i had a minor car bump back in November (on my birthday 😩). I was reversing my car out of a parking space and under steered. I caught the corner of the bumper of the car behind me and cracked the reflector strip. As the damage appeared so small we agreed to get the repair done privately. The other driver has just produced a bill for £670!!  The garage says three panels need re spraying as my 2mph nudge has scratched three panels 🤷‍♀️

I’m pretty sure I can’t have scratched the wheel arch and feel like I will be paying to repair old damage.

I could go through the insurance, but will have to pay £450 and take a hit on my insurance price next year.  Gutted at the impact this will have on my debt repayments. I could cry.

Moneywhizz

That seems excessive but I have heard of garages who up the price when they know someone else is paying. Can you say that it is much more than you expected considering the small amount of damage and you would like another quote? Also call their bluff and say that you just don't have that kind of money at the moment. I would be very careful not to hand over any cash to an individual, rather pay the garage direct and get a statement that there is no further claim on you. 

Nintud

Moneywhizz said:

That seems excessive but I have heard of garages who up the price when they know someone else is paying. Can you say that it is much more than you expected considering the small amount of damage and you would like another quote? Also call their bluff and say that you just don't have that kind of money at the moment. I would be very careful not to hand over any cash to an individual, rather pay the garage direct and get a statement that there is no further claim on you. 

The other party says she has had 3 quotes all saying the same repairs and this is the cheapest. The broken reflector is £22!!

MFWannabe

So the bump happened in November and they have only just produced a bill? Is it a bill or quote? 

I agree with Moneywhizz; you want another two quotes at least and question why 3 panels when you caught the corner of the bumper 

MFWannabe

Nintud said:

Moneywhizz said:

That seems excessive but I have heard of garages who up the price when they know someone else is paying. Can you say that it is much more than you expected considering the small amount of damage and you would like another quote? Also call their bluff and say that you just don't have that kind of money at the moment. I would be very careful not to hand over any cash to an individual, rather pay the garage direct and get a statement that there is no further claim on you. 

The other party says she has had 3 quotes all saying the same repairs and this is the cheapest. The broken reflector is £22!!

Insist on seeing the other quotes 
Call her bluff and say you’re thinking of going through insurance now as way more than you thought 

Nintud

£670 for this! How can I have scratched the wheel arch from where I caught the bumper?

MFWannabe

As above 
Insist on seeing all the quotes 
Call their bluff; say its way higher than you thought and you’re now thinking of going through insurance (they don’t know how much your excess is🤷‍♀️) 
Have you said to them how could your bump have caused any scratch / damage to wheel arch? 

TBH I can’t really see any damage 🙄

Moneywhizz

I would agree with saying that you cannot afford to pay that and you will have to go through your insurance. I can't see anyway that you could have damaged a wheel arch. Do you know any mechanics or garages that could give you some advice about this? It definitely seems like you are being ripped off, but I think this is common practice with some garages. My daughter had her car damaged when it was parked and they agreed  not to go through the insurance because it looked like minimal damage. She took it to a garage and they quoted a similar ridiculous cost. She found somewhere who would do it for a fraction of the cost. 

Cobweb18

De-lurking to say excess payments don't always apply to third party claims, only claims you make yourself. So there might not be an excess to pay. Only note of caution is there is usually a time limit of something like 48 hours to tell your insurance if you've had an accident.  However, maybe you could say they said they didn't seem interested in claiming because it was so minor. Alternatively just hand over your insurance details and tell them to follow it up via them.