Someone tipped my car this morning...any advice please?

FutureGuy

hey all,
I was reversing out of my car parking space this morning on the way to work. As I began to move forward, another gent reversed out from his space without looking and scraped the back bumper of my car. It was an almost nothing collision, like I ran over a coke bottle.



He admitted fault right away and I took his number and reg. He was a nice gentleman, clearly a business man working in the city. He asked what I wanted to do and I told him that there was no reason to involve insurers for little things lke this, but I might give him a call later.

What's the etiquette here...it's only a few small scratches but they are noticable. Would I be an ass to ask him to pay for the retouching or do ye just put it down to a bit of misfortune and don't contact him?

I'm sorry but I've never been in this situation before. How much would it cost to repair the scratches?

Thanks all!

Vegeta

Personally it would depend on the value (or future resale value) of my car.

My car is a 12 year old piece of crap so I wouldn't contact him or get it fixed. Not worth the time and effort on my own car.
IF my car was a significant asset and a scratch like that devalued it then there would be nothing wrong with contacting the guy and agreeing about the best way to get it repaired.

Don't be shy, embarrassed etc about contacting him if you think a repair is the way to go. If he was a decent chap to speak with I imagine he'll be ok about the whole thing.

In terms of price, wouldn't have a clue.

FutureGuy

Vegeta wrote: »

Personally it would depend on the value (or future resale value) of my car.

My car is a 12 year old piece of crap so I wouldn't contact him or get it fixed. Not worth the time and effort on my own car.
IF my car was a significant asset and a scratch like that devalued it then there would be nothing wrong with contacting the guy and agreeing about the best way to get it repaired.

It's a 2009 Focus and would probably sell on in about 2 years.

jayok

Ideally the car would be restored to pre-incident condition, but it's a matter of personal taste. Personally, something like this won't bother me too much on an older car (i.e. I've a 9 year old car) but on a brand new one, I'd like to keep it that way.

Why don't you get a price to touch this up and decide? For example, if this would be touched up for €100 (no idea) then so be it. It always helps when parties are nice.

<edit> same as Vegeta, didn't type as quick!

listermint

Price one of the smart repairs, thats your best option they can call out and do it on the spot. Give him the quote

endacl

I'd contact him either way OP. Even if you do nothing about the mark I think it would be right to let him know there's a bill he won't be getting. Even just drop him a txt to close the issue, so to speak. No harm in letting him know you did him a favour. He might be inclined to pay it forward.

GRMA

Some careless gobsh!te scratched your car, get money off him to fix it, if he isn't hit in the pocket he won't change his ways.

My car is quite old, it's a 99 but I love it and would be upset if it was scratched. So even though it's worth fcuk all I'd have it fixed.

jasonb

Yep, I'd recommend the same as everyone else. Get a quote first, and then decide if you're ok leaving the car as it is, or whether you want it repaired (if you're looking to sell on, repairing it might be the way to go). When it comes down to it, the other party has been sound about this, but it's still his fault, so try not to feel bad if you want it repaired, that's your right.

And like endacl says, if you decide not to get it repaired, do let the other guy know, so he's not worrying about it...

J.

Vegeta

FutureGuy wrote: »

It's a 2009 Focus and would probably sell on in about 2 years.

Contacting him either way is a good idea actually. If it were me, I'd be looking to repair it. That's a new'ish, popular model which you'll be looking to sell. Those scratches are noticeable, they're not horrendous or anything but I suppose they won't help resale value either.

As others have said ring a few local repair places beforehand and get ballpark quotes for the repair.

endacl

GRMA wrote: »

Some careless gobsh!te scratched your car, get money off him to fix it, if he isn't hit in the pocket he won't change his ways.

I don't know that a possible lapse in concentration would be enough to class him as a gob****e. These things happen. He does seem quite willing to put it right. 'Change his ways'? Do you know something we don't? Is the dude rampaging all over town tipping off bumpers? Sounds like the OP just wants opinions on whether or not its worthwhile chasing it up.

GRMA

endacl wrote: »

I don't know that a possible lapse in concentration would be enough to class him as a gob****e. These things happen. He does seem quite willing to put it right. 'Change his ways'? Do you know something we don't? Is the dude rampaging all over town tipping off bumpers? Sounds like the OP just wants opinions on whether or not its worthwhile chasing it up.

Reversing out from a parking spot without looking makes you a gob****e in my book, very dangerous thing to do.

bazz26

GRMA wrote: »

Some careless gobsh!te scratched your car, get money off him to fix it, if he isn't hit in the pocket he won't change his ways.

My car is quite old, it's a 99 but I love it and would be upset if it was scratched. So even though it's worth fcuk all I'd have it fixed.

Let's not overreact to the situation here, its a light scrape and the other party has already admitted fault. Would you like to be screwed over if you were the offending party?

PizzamanIRL

You might regret it in a couple years when you try to sell it and a future buyer will bring up the scratch and possibly want a reduction in selling price.

Either way it's gonna cost you if you get it fixed or when you try to sell it.

It wasn't your fault so no need for it to cost you anything.

Get a price for fixing and decide from there. He seems inclined to pay for it if he had no problem giving you his details.

discombobulate

Personally i'd imagine that it would effect the resale value of your car. I know when I look at a car that things like this glare out at me and subconsciously make me think less of the car. It'll be a 5 year old car when you go to sell it so in likelihood could slightly effect sale potential.

I think getting it touched up would be a fair way to go. You'd be well within your rights. Either that or a nominal payment from him to reflect potential value loss for you. I know a friend of mine got a small nick on their new Clio. She was happy enough to live with the mark instead of getting the bumper replaced which she could have insisted on so they settled on 300 euro.

GRMA

bazz26 wrote: »

Let's not overreact to the situation here, its a light scrape and the other party has already admitted fault. Would you like to be screwed over if you were the offending party?

How is paying to fix damage you caused being screwed over?

discombobulate

bazz26 wrote: »

Let's not overreact to the situation here, its a light scrape and the other party has already admitted fault. Would you like to be screwed over if you were the offending party?

I'd say getting him to pay for a touch up wouldn't be screwing him over. Screwing him over i'd say would be insisting on a new bumper.

bazz26

GRMA wrote: »

How is paying to fix damage you caused being screwed over?

Yes, getting him to pay for the scrape to be put right is fine but lets not make it out to be worse than it is. He has admitted fault and from the photo it doesn't look like a big job. Your original post called him a gob****e for making a mistake and suggests he should be made pay through the teeth for it.

Zillah

Give him a call, tell him you plan on getting the scratch touched-up, and would it be ok if you sent him a copy of the receipt and he would reimburse you. Given that he was nice about it earlier, as long as it's not a huge expense, I imagine he would be quite amiable. I'd suggest you keep it light-hearted, make it clear its mostly in case you wanted to sell it in a couple of years and it could devalue the car.

Maybe get an estimate from someone first so he will know what the bill is likely to be so there won't be any surprises.

Caliden

Don't feel obliged to NOT go through your insurance.
That's what it's there for at the end of the day.

It was mentioned on the radio recently that over 30% of accidents aren't reported to the insurance companies....madness

ants09

FutureGuy wrote: »

He admitted fault right away and I took his number and reg. He was a nice gentleman, clearly a business man working in the city. He asked what I wanted to do and I told him that there was no reason to involve insurers for little things lke this, but I might give him a call later.

What's the etiquette here...it's only a few small scratches but they are noticable. Would I be an ass to ask him to pay for the retouching or do ye just put it down to a bit of misfortune and don't contact him?

First off all OP sorry for your troubles.

That scratch would cost around 200 - 250 euro's to fix imo

I was in a suitation like yourself but it happened in my work carpark and well me being nice at the beginning i decided to get a estimate to repair the car and give it to the driver and not to go though the insurance.

IMO it was a big mistake as i was taken for a ride

Your car is your pride and joy and if the shoe was on the opposite foot would he do the same for you ?

I cant tell you what to do but if it was me i wouldnt give him the opportunity and just go though his insurance.

Maybe its because what happened me but for peace off mind etc and if you want your car to have a few scratches then well forget it but if you want your car to look reasonable well when selling then have it repared

djimi

Caliden wrote: »

Don't feel obliged to NOT go through your insurance.
That's what it's there for at the end of the day.

It was mentioned on the radio recently that over 30% of accidents aren't reported to the insurance companies....madness

The reason insurance policies have an excess if precisely for something like this; unless the bumper needs replacing (which is obviously doesnt) I doubt the guy could go through the insurance even if he wanted to, or it would end up being a couple of hundred quid claim at the most, which is a ridiculous thing to lose your NCB over.

djimi

OP if it were me I would be as nice as possible about, but the guy would be paying whatever it took to put my car in exactly the same condition as it was before.

I dont see why you think you would sound like an ass asking him to pay for it; he is the one who damaged your car, so why should you be out of pocket to put it right (either now in repairs, or later down the line when you go to sell it)?