Mini cooper front bumper scuff.

Johntegr

A colleague of mine (learning to drive) stalled on a bit of a slope and rolled back in to a cooper.

Minor 4 inch scuff, about 2 inches high, just by the fog in the bumper.

She was shaken and admitted liability, even though I told her not to as he was up her hole not even a foot from the back of the car. Seriously, learner driver, on a hill, and they decide to go bumper to bumper. Serves them right.

Anywho, he's looking for €250 to correct the damage to the paint. She contacted her insurance company.

I told her to get him to give her a quote breaking down the €250. She doesn't know anyone in the trade so she's not going to just hand over €250 in case he pockets it and then goes and claims off her insurance aswell.

Her insurance did advise if it's a small sum then just pay it herself to keep her no claims for next year but she wants to be sure that she only pays for it once.

Fiona

Can she offer to settle directly with the garage who will do the work?

Owen

250 is a reasonable price. If the guy went through Insurance, he'd be entitled to claim for a new front bumper, painting and fitting, there wouldn't be much change out of 800 Euro.

Get him to sign some form of receipt that states 'Paid in full', or something similar - it won't be worth the paper it's written on, but in 95% of cases it's a deterrent to stop people playing silly buggers with claims afterwards.

Johntegr

mrs crilly wrote: »

Can she offer to settle directly with the garage who will do the work?

That's the thing, he wants the money. I've told her if he wants the €250 to let her insurance company write him a cheque for €250 and then she pay back the €250 to them.

I told her to tell him he can choose where he wants to have it done but he's to give her a written quote of it and not just say he wants €250.

Owen wrote: »

250 is a reasonable price. If the guy went through Insurance, he'd be entitled to claim for a new front bumper, painting and fitting, there wouldn't be much change out of 800 Euro.

Get him to sign some form of receipt that states 'Paid in full', or something similar - it won't be worth the paper it's written on, but in 95% of cases it's a deterrent to stop people playing silly buggers with claims afterwards.

TBH I think if he's going to have it fixed he'll do it himself. He was quick enough to give an estimate of how much it would cost to repair so probably deals in cars/body repair or something.

Jemmy

At the end of the day they hit his bumper & if he doesn't want to get it fixed just yet that his prerogative but like it's been said get something in writing to say she has handed over the cost of repairs.

If someone hit your car & you decided you didn't want to fix it just yet because you wanted to get something else done in a few weeks time, should you not be paid?! Of if you'd prefer the cash in your pocket & didn't give a hoot about the car should you not be paid?!

Damage has been done, damaged needs to be paid for simple as!

Johntegr

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna go park up a learner drivers hole in the hope they'll roll back and hit my bumper.

Anywho, she has no problem whatsoever paying to have it rectified. It's him acting the Mickey Jagger and just demanding a sum of money. He wont even give his name for her to pass on to her insurance company. All he's given her is a policy number. So it's not as simple as in this case.

Nonoperational

Still, even if he fixes it himself for €50, it's still cheaper paying €250 and keeping your no claims bonus. Short of paying the repairer directly a signed receipt like Owen said is as good as you can do. €250 is perfectly reasonable for repairing a front bumper regardless of the size of the damage. It's about the standard price for a repair and paint job on a front bumper. Putting it another way, if you hit someones bumper €250 is about the best you can expect to get out of it for.

Jemmy

Johntegr wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna go park up a learner drivers hole in the hope they'll roll back and hit my bumper.

Anywho, she has no problem whatsoever paying to have it rectified. It's him acting the Mickey Jagger and just demanding a sum of money. He wont even give his name for her to pass on to her insurance company. All he's given her is a policy number. So it's not as simple as in this case.

Not getting smart here but you can't get thick with him for being behind her in traffic, I mean she stalled and rolled back that's not his fault! Could have been alot more to it for all you know, sometimes we don't like to admit our errors to friends! Did she have a fully licensed driver with her even becuase from the sounds of it she's not that confident behind the wheel?

She can ask him for a copy of the quote & just get him to sign off on that that it was the agreed amount & she paid in full. Problem solved.

Fiona

She could always get the Garda involved I suppose if he is not giving her the information that she needs to proceed with the claim?

It's a tough lesson to learn as a learner, I know I rear ended somebody within 2 minutes of my Dad handing me the keys to my car

I had to fork out €450 to get her rear bumper fixed. I did however get a copy of the estimate from the garage before I paid out. Whether she went ahead with the repair is another thing but at least the intention was there.

Needless to say I know where the brake is now and how to keep my distance from the car in front :pac::pac::pac:

Owen

Johntegr wrote: »

I've told her if he wants the €250 to let her insurance company write him a cheque for €250 and then she pay back the €250 to them.

Not being smart, but I wouldn't give her that advice. She's just starting out at the bottom rung of the driving ladder, and even though there will be no claim pending against her it will be on file that she's had this tip. Also, they'll probalby charge the 250 Euro, and whack on an admin fee on top.

Fiona

Owen wrote: »

Not being smart, but I wouldn't give her that advice. She's just starting out at the bottom rung of the driving ladder, and even though there will be no claim pending against her it will be on file that she's had this tip. Also, they'll probalby charge the 250 Euro, and whack on an admin fee on top.

If my memory serves me correct this is how I paid my claim via the company, not sure if I have any notes on it I doubt it but it was never held against me?

Johntegr

It happened here. It's a junction we use to get in and out of the car park in work. There was no traffic, he was just parked up her hole while she was waiting on the lights to go green and she rolled back and as he was right behind her she tipped him before she got to the brakes.

Neither involved are native to Ireland but she's not silly enough to just hand over €250 to some lad on the side of the road because that's what he says the damage will cost. Especially now with him being very sketchy about not even wanting to give her his name for her insurance company.

If it were me and I happened to park too close behind someone, particularly a learner, I'd beep if they started rolling back. Not wait for them to roll in to me.

Jemmy

Again tell her to ask him for a copy of the quote & just get him to sign off on that that it was the agreed amount & she paid in full. Even meet at a garda station & get one of them to sign off too if she's that suspicious.

No point analysing it tbh, it's done now you can't change what was done/said.

nogoodnamesleft

I had something similar to to me a while back except it was my car that had sustained the damage due to the negligence of another party. Got details of the other driver, insurance, name etc. I was decent about it got a number of quotes for the damage and gave her the lowest one but she stated playing games.

In the end I put it went through her insurance as she refused to pay. Initial cost of the repair was 800euro, when it was settled through the insurance it cost in the region of 1500euro + a claim on her policy.

In your colleagues scenario if I was in the other parties shoes and someone demanded this and that from me like your suggesting. My patience would be wearing thin and I would just put it through the insurance with the most expensive quote I could find as I would feel you were wasting my time.

Johntegr

Jemmy wrote: »

Again tell her to ask him for a copy of the quote & just get him to sign off on that that it was the agreed amount & she paid in full. Even meet at a garda station & get one of them to sign off too if she's that suspicious.

No point analysing it tbh, it's done now you can't change what was done/said.

He wont get a quote for her.

See it can work both ways. She can pay him the €250 in cash and then along the line he tries claiming again off her insurance. Seeing as she's contacted her insurance company and they've told her they can't do anything without his details and he wont give them to her, she could just tell them she's paid him in cash.

Then it turns into trying to prove money was/wasn't handed over.

The circumstances are irrelevant at this point as she's admitted it's her fault. Whether it was deliberate or not doesn't matter because she's trying to sort it. It's him who's not playing ball and there's no way she's going to give him €250 when he wont even give his name, let alone a quote on repairs.

There's not an awful lot she can do, I just said I'd ask if €250 would be right for the damage done because she said he was very quick to jump out of his car and tell her it would cost €250 to fix it.

Owen

mrs crilly wrote: »

If my memory serves me correct this is how I paid my claim via the company, not sure if I have any notes on it I doubt it but it was never held against me?

It won't be on your actual record, but you can be damn sure this particular Insurance company will have it off the books as a note on the file.

Owen

Johntegr wrote: »

he was very quick to jump out of his car and tell her it would cost €250 to fix it.

Maybe he's just a car enthusiast like the rest of us and picked a fair price between what a SMART repair would cost (100 Euro) and what a top end bodyshop would cost (400 Euro)? Even before I got into Bodywork, and before I got into the Motor Trade in general, I'd have had a handle on what an average repair would cost from having spoken to friends who'd been unfortunate enough to have accidents.

Johntegr

Owen wrote: »

Maybe he's just a car enthusiast like the rest of us and picked a fair price between what a SMART repair would cost (100 Euro) and what a top end bodyshop would cost (400 Euro)? Even before I got into Bodywork, and before I got into the Motor Trade in general, I'd have had a handle on what an average repair would cost from having spoken to friends who'd been unfortunate enough to have accidents.

I'll throw in the towel.

If someone rolled into me and they were willing to go through insurance I'd let them. What do I care where the money comes from, so long as my car get's repaired. I definitely wouldn't be telling them they're not getting my name and details and start demanding money off them without even giving them a quote.

Owen

I thought he did give his policy details though? Surely that's all that's needed with a reg and policy number, and you even have his phone number to be communicating with him thusfar?

I dunno ... you seem to be getting very edgy about it, it seems like a simple bump and a guy asking for a few quid to fix it to me. He's not even taking the piss with the price.

Johntegr

Owen wrote: »

I thought he did give his policy details though? Surely that's all that's needed with a reg and policy number, and you even have his phone number to be communicating with him thusfar?

I dunno ... you seem to be getting very edgy about it, it seems like a simple bump and a guy asking for a few quid to fix it to me. He's not even taking the piss with the price.

How am I getting edgy it's not even my car in question here? Yes she has his number but every time she calls to ask for his details, which her insurance company have asked her to get he refuses to give them and just asks does she have his money.

When she rolled into him he jumped out of the car and told her she has to give him €250, without even looking at his bumper.

She didn't think to take his reg and he didn't take her insurance details and he'd only give her his policy number. As I said above she's not native to Ireland and only been driving the last year or so. So she isn't clued in on what to do when there's a minor tip.

All she has is a phone number and insurance policy. No name, address, reg, nada, he wont give it to her.

tuxy

You would think the more experienced driver that was with the learner would have calmed the situation and not let her admit full liability there and then. She would be in a better situation. Did the fully qualified driver panic too?

That said €250 sounds like a fair price, she is lucky many people would have demanded more.

Owen

Johntegr wrote: »

How am I getting edgy it's not even my car in question here?

Apologies, I've misread some of your posts - you know the way, it's a text only interface and you can't tell the emotions behind the sentences, and you put your own slant on them.

I'd just give him the 250 at this stage, but under the condition that he signs a receipt with his name and adress on it that he provides so there is an onus on him not to take it further (Onus, not legal obligation, but hopefully enough to deter him).

Johntegr

Owen wrote: »

Apologies, I've misread some of your posts - you know the way, it's a text only interface and you can't tell the emotions behind the sentences, and you put your own slant on them.

I'd just give him the 250 at this stage, but under the condition that he signs a receipt with his name and adress on it that he provides so there is an onus on him not to take it further (Onus, not legal obligation, but hopefully enough to deter him).

Not to worry. My apologies for the mix up.

I don't think she has a problem sorting him for repairs but he hasn't rang her once and when she rings him it's a dead end.

I'll just tell her €250 is a fair price for his repairs and leave her be. It's not my headache.

Maybe she'll learn to use her handbrake in future.

savagecabbages

I had a similar situation where some friends damaged a neighbours car after a night out. I was annoyed as the owner, and agreed to act as an intermediary to get the car fixed. The owner got an ott quote from a bodyshop for €600, though the car was hardly worth that! Owner demanded the €600 be handed to him, while I was only willing to pay the bodyshop -even in advance of the work if he wanted. He ended up getting the guards involved, and told them a very one-sided version of the story. I got loads of stick at the start, but once I explained the situation properly the guards instructed that the bodyshop be paid in full and the owner could drop his car in for work whenever he wanted.

Money spent 6 months in the safe in the bodyshop, before the owner there rang me telling me to collect the money...
While I wasn't happy letting the lads get away with it, I wanted a fair outcome but the owner was chancing his arm looking for a quick buck...

My advice, refuse to pay anything until he produces a reciept for the quote, and once he does, pay the garage yourself.

seagull

The thing is, he doesn't actually have to have the car repaired. He is entitled to be reimbursed for what it would cost to have it repaired, but pocket the cash himself rather than having the repairs done.