Car park bump, was I wrong to insist on proper repair

rob7475

Hi,

Just after a bit of advice about an incident in a car park.

I was leaving the car park and driving along when a car reversed out of a space into the passenger door and front wing of my car.

The driver eventually admitted he was at fault after initially denying making contact with my car. He tried to get me to let him "come round to my house and T'cut the scratches out".

I had a good look at the damage and there was a small dent around the edge of my passenger door where he made contact, probably about the size of a finger nail. I told him a dent wouldn't polish out so he'd be better off letting insurers deal with the claim. He denied being able to see a dent so I told him, I'd let insurers assess it and decide how best to repair. All the while, his partner was getting irate claiming they never reversed into my car (which he'd already admitted he had).

He asked if i'd let him pay for the repair to avoid losing his no claims so we decided he would follow me to the local bodyshop and get a quote off them for the repair. They quoted £750 as the paint will need blending on 2 panels which he wasn't happy about so I again offered to let his insurance deal with it so he only had excess to pay. In the end he decided to pay for the repair and has now bank transferred the money to me so I can pay the bodyshop.

My car is 6 year old but in immaculate condition. Is it fair for me to expect the third party to get the car back into the condition it was in before he drove in to me. The damage is very minor but there was no damage before so I don't think I was out of order to expect a proper repair. If my car had been old and already had knocks and scrapes, I'd have proably told him to cover a bottle of cutting compound and improved the appearance myself.

paul_c123

Yes.........

........but why does it need painting if its just a dent? Or is it a dent and paint damage?

Brie

you should be reporting it as otherwise you might run into problems with your insurance cover.  Normally T&Cs say any incident needs to be reported.

MyRealNameToo

rob7475 said:

Just after a bit of advice about an incident in a car park.

I was leaving the car park and driving along when a car reversed out of a space into the passenger door and front wing of my car.

The driver eventually admitted he was at fault after initially denying making contact with my car. He tried to get me to let him "come round to my house and T'cut the scratches out".

I had a good look at the damage and there was a small dent around the edge of my passenger door where he made contact, probably about the size of a finger nail. I told him a dent wouldn't polish out so he'd be better off letting insurers deal with the claim. He denied being able to see a dent so I told him, I'd let insurers assess it and decide how best to repair. All the while, his partner was getting irate claiming they never reversed into my car (which he'd already admitted he had).

He asked if i'd let him pay for the repair to avoid losing his no claims so we decided he would follow me to the local bodyshop and get a quote off them for the repair. They quoted £750 as the paint will need blending on 2 panels which he wasn't happy about so I again offered to let his insurance deal with it so he only had excess to pay. In the end he decided to pay for the repair and has now bank transferred the money to me so I can pay the bodyshop.

My car is 6 year old but in immaculate condition. Is it fair for me to expect the third party to get the car back into the condition it was in before he drove in to me. The damage is very minor but there was no damage before so I don't think I was out of order to expect a proper repair. If my car had been old and already had knocks and scrapes, I'd have proably told him to cover a bottle of cutting compound and improved the appearance myself.

Assuming there was no damage to their vehicle then there would have been no excess for them to pay; you only pay an excess for own vehicle damage being claimed. 

You're entitled to the devaluation of your vehicle that they caused, thats most commonly proxied by the cost of repair. The cost needs to be reasonable, so you can't take your 10 year old Mini to the Rolls Royce garage to get it fixed but you dont have to accept a botched job or some random bloke trying to fix with t-cut. 

You can also just take the cash and live with the damage if you arent bothered by it. 

Grey_Critic

A Dent - I would have gone to someone like this https://www.chipsaway.co.uk/services/minor-dents/

MeteredOut

You were well within your right to insist on either a full repair at his cost, or going via the insurance, but its hard to say if that was over the top without seeing the damage. eg, could it have been repaired just as well by chipsaway. Although in good condition, it is 6 years old.

rob7475

paul_c123 said:

Yes.........

........but why does it need painting if its just a dent? Or is it a dent and paint damage?

Yes, there’s paint damage too. Scuffs that have gone deeper than the paint (you can feel them when you run a finger nail across them). 

The scuffs run across two panels so both need painting. 

rob7475

MyRealNameToo said:

rob7475 said:

Just after a bit of advice about an incident in a car park.

I was leaving the car park and driving along when a car reversed out of a space into the passenger door and front wing of my car.

The driver eventually admitted he was at fault after initially denying making contact with my car. He tried to get me to let him "come round to my house and T'cut the scratches out".

I had a good look at the damage and there was a small dent around the edge of my passenger door where he made contact, probably about the size of a finger nail. I told him a dent wouldn't polish out so he'd be better off letting insurers deal with the claim. He denied being able to see a dent so I told him, I'd let insurers assess it and decide how best to repair. All the while, his partner was getting irate claiming they never reversed into my car (which he'd already admitted he had).

He asked if i'd let him pay for the repair to avoid losing his no claims so we decided he would follow me to the local bodyshop and get a quote off them for the repair. They quoted £750 as the paint will need blending on 2 panels which he wasn't happy about so I again offered to let his insurance deal with it so he only had excess to pay. In the end he decided to pay for the repair and has now bank transferred the money to me so I can pay the bodyshop.

My car is 6 year old but in immaculate condition. Is it fair for me to expect the third party to get the car back into the condition it was in before he drove in to me. The damage is very minor but there was no damage before so I don't think I was out of order to expect a proper repair. If my car had been old and already had knocks and scrapes, I'd have proably told him to cover a bottle of cutting compound and improved the appearance myself.

Assuming there was no damage to their vehicle then there would have been no excess for them to pay; you only pay an excess for own vehicle damage being claimed. 

You're entitled to the devaluation of your vehicle that they caused, thats most commonly proxied by the cost of repair. The cost needs to be reasonable, so you can't take your 10 year old Mini to the Rolls Royce garage to get it fixed but you dont have to accept a botched job or some random bloke trying to fix with t-cut. 

You can also just take the cash and live with the damage if you arent bothered by it. 

They would have excess to pay as they claim would have been against their insurance as it was their faul. There was more damage to their bumper than my car. 

GrumpyDil

If they choose not to claim for their damage, which sounds very likely from the description, they would not have to pay any excess. 

Bigphil1474

Personally I wouldn't have bothered unless my car was high value, some sort of classic, or I was thinking of selling it. But you can do whatever you think is right for your circumstances.

Aretnap

rob7475 said:

MyRealNameToo said:

rob7475 said:

Just after a bit of advice about an incident in a car park.

I was leaving the car park and driving along when a car reversed out of a space into the passenger door and front wing of my car.

The driver eventually admitted he was at fault after initially denying making contact with my car. He tried to get me to let him "come round to my house and T'cut the scratches out".

I had a good look at the damage and there was a small dent around the edge of my passenger door where he made contact, probably about the size of a finger nail. I told him a dent wouldn't polish out so he'd be better off letting insurers deal with the claim. He denied being able to see a dent so I told him, I'd let insurers assess it and decide how best to repair. All the while, his partner was getting irate claiming they never reversed into my car (which he'd already admitted he had).

He asked if i'd let him pay for the repair to avoid losing his no claims so we decided he would follow me to the local bodyshop and get a quote off them for the repair. They quoted £750 as the paint will need blending on 2 panels which he wasn't happy about so I again offered to let his insurance deal with it so he only had excess to pay. In the end he decided to pay for the repair and has now bank transferred the money to me so I can pay the bodyshop.

My car is 6 year old but in immaculate condition. Is it fair for me to expect the third party to get the car back into the condition it was in before he drove in to me. The damage is very minor but there was no damage before so I don't think I was out of order to expect a proper repair. If my car had been old and already had knocks and scrapes, I'd have proably told him to cover a bottle of cutting compound and improved the appearance myself.

Assuming there was no damage to their vehicle then there would have been no excess for them to pay; you only pay an excess for own vehicle damage being claimed. 

You're entitled to the devaluation of your vehicle that they caused, thats most commonly proxied by the cost of repair. The cost needs to be reasonable, so you can't take your 10 year old Mini to the Rolls Royce garage to get it fixed but you dont have to accept a botched job or some random bloke trying to fix with t-cut. 

You can also just take the cash and live with the damage if you arent bothered by it. 

They would have excess to pay as they claim would have been against their insurance as it was their faul. There was more damage to their bumper than my car. 

There's have been no excess to pay if the only thing he'd claimed for was the damage to your car.

Separately he could have chosen whether he wanted to deal with the damage to his own car himself, or claim for it on his insurance as well and pay the excess.