Car accident -does this sound normal?

jjcczz1221

I had a car accident yesterday which my car got hit in front of my house as the other drive is reversing his company van and unaware that my car has pulled over and stopped. I sounded the horn but it was too late. The bumper was damaged with a big dent and one side falloff a bit.

The driver is from a heating supplying company who is doing some work on one of the houses next to mine. He is in his fifty or sixties and seens decent. I took the insurance detail from him and rang my insurance company straight after the incident.

He came to my house today and ask me if we can do it off the insurance and he will find me gagarage and will fix it to my satisfaction. I agreed as I would be happy as long as it can get fixed and besides the damage is only on the bumper.

He rang me later on today and said that he found a guy who can fix it and he can come and collect the car tomorrow from me.

It just that he is going to collect the car tomorrow which is a bit strange to me. Am I putting myself in a risk if anything goes wrong？

FitzElla

Someone offering to pay to fix the damage themselves rather than go through insurance is pretty normal. You are entitled to get the car repaired to the exact same standard so I would be asking who "this guy" is, what garage he works for, and a detailed invoice for his work. If you are not happy with any of it I'd be looking to get your car fixed at another (reputable) garage.

Flibble

Yeah... If that's the way he wants to do it, I'd be telling him you'd rather pick a garage of your own choosing to get it fixed at and he can settle the bill. I personally wouldn't let him take my car himself, especially not knowing the reputation of the guy it's getting done with.

Toots

If I were you I'd be finding out who "this guy" is and does he work in a garage or is he someone doing it in his shed. He hit you, you're entitled to choose where you get it repaired. If he doesn't play ball, just go through the insurance. Personally, I'd be insisting on going to a reputable repairer (not necessarily a main dealer) but somewhere that you know is decent.

chuckles30

There are two ways of looking at it...

1 - he is completely genuine, happens to know someone who can fix your car, and is trying to fix everything up as quickly as possible without any impact on his insurance.

2 - you think he's going to collect your car tomorrow and never see it again? As Fitzella said, be 100% happy. Ask him for the name of the garage etc. Check it's genuine....phone them up/call over to them.

I think it's probably the first option myself.....more a case of who he knows etc!!

dudara

Moved to the Motors forum

dudara

Atlantic Dawn

Risky...
you have no idea where he is bringing the vehicle
you don't know what kind of job they will do
what if the car is with them for days, weeks, months and is never repaired properly
do you have any comeback if after a few weeks the paint starts to peal or distort
will you get a replacement car while yours is away

punisher5112

As above you need more info but good to see you aren't looking to find ways of making more out of it.

I would suggest find out who the guy is and would be a lot happier myself if I knew he had a good name for repairs at the minimum.

.G.

Bring the car to the repair place yourself, the old lad pays the bill. No way I'd be letting some random dude drive off in my car.

coylemj

superg wrote: »

Bring the car to the repair place yourself .....

+1 and if you don't like the look of the place, take your car home and ask your man to nominate an alternative repair shop.

Atlantic Dawn

Also if your man himself is driving the car away he is highly unlikely to have anything other than Third Party cover while driving your car.

Eric Cartman

This guys incentive is obviously for this to get fixed on the cheap, bring it to a garage you're happy to get the work done in , get a quote, call him with the price and tell him when your car will be done so he can show up and pay the bill.

no way in hell would I hand my car to some lad and have him bring it to a garage of his choice.

_Brian

By agreeing to keep it away from Insurance your being decent and doing the guy a favour, maybe even save his job depending on how his boss reacts to the whole thing.

However you are still entitled to a perfect job and your not guaranteed this if you know nothing of what is to be done. The minute you let this guy drive off in your motor your open to accepts whatever comes back be that a great job or a complete bodge job.

Contact him and say you are still up for the deal but on your terms, find a reliable reputable repair company and get a price, if he's happy then proceeds, if not go to the insurance.

One word of caution though is that there is a seven day limit on reporting accidents to both insurance companies and by missing this your disadvantaging the chances of going through the insurance at all.

Browney7

Also, make sure you either get cash from him to pay the guy before it gets fixed. That or get a price from a garage you like and get the cash off him. If you fix it he could turn around after and say "what crash?"

ba_barabus

_Brian wrote: »

One word of caution though is that there is a seven day limit on reporting accidents to both insurance companies.

Got a source for that golden nugget?

The rest is 100% though.

OP find out who is doing the work. A bad repair looks terrible and damages the cars value come trade in time. Ask who it is and if you use a mechanic ring him to check the repairers reputation or ask him for a recommendation.

dev100

jjcczz1221 wrote:

He rang me later on today and said that he found a guy who can fix it and he can come and collect the car tomorrow from me.It just that he is going to collect the car tomorrow which is a bit strange to me. Am I putting myself in a risk if anything goes wrong？

What's the make and model and of your car ? If it's a 10 year old fiesta I wouldn't be getting hung up if it was a brand new car then I'd be going to my own source . If someone hit my car id be bringing it to my panel beater anyways to get checked out , which he operates from his own home place . I believe in karma so it wouldn't be the case I'd be making money on it or screwing the other party it would be just that I know the panel beater and he does an excellent job.

jimmycrackcorm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Risky...
you have no idea where he is bringing the vehicle
you don't know what kind of job they will do
what if the car is with them for days, weeks, months and is never repaired properly
do you have any comeback if after a few weeks the paint starts to peal or distort
will you get a replacement car while yours is away

He has all the insurance details and it's not like the other driver has a dastardly and devious plan to steal the ops car by conveniently waiting for him to arrive back and bump into him.

I had a similar scenario years ago where the other driver offered the same, the guy painting also then did a little extra work for me for next to nothing when I asked for some additional touch-ups seeing as he was painting anyway.

Atlantic Dawn

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

He has all the insurance details and it's not like the other driver has a dastardly and devious plan to steal the ops car by conveniently waiting for him to arrive back and bump into him.

I had a similar scenario years ago where the other driver offered the same, the guy painting also then did a little extra work for me for next to nothing when I asked for some additional touch-ups seeing as he was painting anyway.

He has "insurance details" that may or may not mean the guys vehicle is insured, he has not contacted the guys insurance to verify the vehicle was insured and if driver was actually covered to drive it.

coylemj

It's possible that the guy who's lined up to do the repairs works in a genuine body shop and is planning to do his mate (the van driver who crashed into the OP) a favour by repairing the OP's car outside of regular hours but that could end up getting dragged out over several weeks during which time the OP has no car.

If this is a kosher repair job done for honest money with some kind of a comeback if the job is botched then if I was the OP, I would insist on driving the car myself to the body shop and checking it in for a regular repair done to an agreed schedule and for an amount of money which the other guy is prepared to pay, preferably in advance - what happens if the OP goes to collect the car and the other guy has done a runner?

If you let someone come and collect the car, there's no knowing (1) how long it will take (2) who is doing the job and (3) the comeback if you don't like the result.

jjcczz1221

Thanks everyone for your input.

I called him (the driver) last night and told him I can either pick a garage locally and give him a quote before proceed or I can go to the garage he perfers but to drive over the car myself. He then told me he will meet me in the garage that he mentioned.

I drove the car to this garage today which is about 50 minutes away from where I live and met him and the repairer in this garage, handed over the key and he drove me back to my house. However, when I collected the car today, there are two issues that I found:

1. The damaged area is very noticeable as there is a darker colour around it. I asked the guy, he told me it could be the shadow of the wall (there was a wall on the side of the car when I collected it), I insisted that it does not look like a shadow and he told me everything will be ok when he finishes the polish on Saturday (Yes, the work is unfinished and I have to drive the car back to this place on Saturday to get it polished!)

2. The bumper is not completed painted, barely half of it. It is not that obvious, but if you look at it closer you can tell the difference.

I called the driver who hit my car and he said just let the garage do its job and if I am not happy about it on Saturday, I can give him a call.

I just had a new baby 5 days ago and am very annoyed that I need to spent one more day on this matter and I don't think by polishing the car, the darker colour on the damaged area can go away!

jjcczz1221

Eric Cartman wrote: »

This guys incentive is obviously for this to get fixed on the cheap, bring it to a garage you're happy to get the work done in , get a quote, call him with the price and tell him when your car will be done so he can show up and pay the bill.

no way in hell would I hand my car to some lad and have him bring it to a garage of his choice.

You are right. I shouldn't have done it. The work looks terrible already even it is not fully finished. I guess I will have to wait until Saturday and see what the final result looks like!

jjcczz1221

_Brian wrote: »

By agreeing to keep it away from Insurance your being decent and doing the guy a favour, maybe even save his job depending on how his boss reacts to the whole thing.

However you are still entitled to a perfect job and your not guaranteed this if you know nothing of what is to be done. The minute you let this guy drive off in your motor your open to accepts whatever comes back be that a great job or a complete bodge job.

Contact him and say you are still up for the deal but on your terms, find a reliable reputable repair company and get a price, if he's happy then proceeds, if not go to the insurance.

One word of caution though is that there is a seven day limit on reporting accidents to both insurance companies and by missing this your disadvantaging the chances of going through the insurance at all.

I just got a phone call from my insurance company as they are gathering some details about this incident. I told them I have agreed to go off insurance but I also asked if I can go back to the insurance claim if anything goes wrong. The lady on the phone told me that I go back to the claim at any time and she will keep the case open for another 10 days. This is an instant relief for me as if there is anything goes wrong on Saturday, I will have the option to go back to insurance.

jjcczz1221

dev100 wrote: »

What's the make and model and of your car ? If it's a 10 year old fiesta I wouldn't be getting hung up if it was a brand new car then I'd be going to my own source . If someone hit my car id be bringing it to my panel beater anyways to get checked out , which he operates from his own home place . I believe in karma so it wouldn't be the case I'd be making money on it or screwing the other party it would be just that I know the panel beater and he does an excellent job.

The car is not that old, its 2010 Toyota Corolla. From looking at it the only damaged area is the front bumper that's why I agreed to go off insurance when he knocked on my door the other day.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Why didn't he finish the job in one go? Your now driving around in a car with bare paint and no lacquer finish on it?

Once its finished if your not happy then tell the other driver so and tell him you want it done again or you will go through the insurance company and get it done. Your car is 7 years old and so the original paint may have faded slightly and when the new paint is applied it will be darker and so wont match. If its only bumper damage then insist on the entire bumper being painted and not just the damaged area as it will never match otherwise. If the damage extends to panels then you'll need all panels on that side of the car painted to match (if the newly painted area is significantly darker than the older non damaged areas)

jjcczz1221

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote:

Why didn't he finish the job in one go? Your now driving around in a car with bare paint and no lacquer finish on it?

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote:

Once its finished if your not happy then tell the other driver so and tell him you want it done again or you will go through the insurance company and get it done. Your car is 7 years old and so the original paint may have faded slightly and when the new paint is applied it will be darker and so wont match. If its only bumper damage then insist on the entire bumper being painted and not just the damaged area as it will never match otherwise. If the damage extends to panels then you'll need all panels on that side of the car painted to match (if the newly painted area is significantly darker than the older non damaged areas)

He probably did not have the time to get everything done today and I need the car for tomorrow.

There is a colour difference between the damaged area and other area in the newly painted area which is not normal. I will see how it will look when he have it finished on Saturday.

JohnBoy26

jjcczz1221 wrote: »

He probably did not have the time to get everything done today and I need the car for tomorrow.

There is a colour difference between the damaged area and other area in the newly painted area which is not normal. I will see how it will look when he have it finished on Saturday.

You are entitled to bring the car to whatever repair place you like. I would find a good bodyshop and get the job done properly. The car should be put back to it's pre accident condition.

jjcczz1221

Regarding to the repair in the garage he found, it was a rough job, the surface of the bumper is not balanced properly and the paint is not even the right colour - that's why it looks darker in the damaged area (the repairer asked me to drive the car back this week for repaint as he will order the correct paint for me, but there is no way I am going to driver the car back to him)
I have told the other driver that I am going to find my own place to fix it properly. Since then, I have taken the car to three different garages and passed the quote to the other driver and he is happy for me to go for one of them.
I will have the car fixed this week and hopefully, everything will be ok.

goz83

Another fine example of why it's a good idea to choose your own body shop.