Is this unreasonable?

Zak Flaps

Hi.

I reversed into a car a few weeks ago...my fault i didn't see it.
Did a small bit of damage to the front. Only a slight knock. I don't want to go thru the insurance.
I asked him to get a quote from a garage guy to see how much it would cost to get fixed. He said he would in a few weeks as he was going away.

2 weeks pass.
The guy got a quote from a "lad he knows", says it will cost between €400 and €700 to fix, says "the complete bumper will have to be resprayed and maybe the sides as the colour of the car is not available anymore so both wings will have to be done." He want's it sorted asap!!

I asked him to send clear photos to show the extent of the damage so i could show to my garage guy to see if he could do it for cheaper. But this guy isn't having any of that. He wants his guy to do it, as it's round the corner from him.
It's either that or let the insurance companies sort it out.
Is he being unreasonable? I haven't been in this situation before. Please advise. Thanks.

PS: He did send some photos but they were crap, hard to see what's going on!

Rubberchikken

you'll get varying advice here. mine is go through your insurance.
people can be so dishonest in these matters.
yes the damage you did is probably tiny but this guy sounds like he wants parts resprayed that weren't damaged.

he can probably pick ' his guy' but greediness can carry people away.

Rubberchikken

you'll get varying advice here. mine is go through your insurance.
people can be so dishonest in these matters.
yes the damage you did is probably tiny but this guy sounds like he wants parts resprayed that weren't damaged.

he can probably pick ' his guy' but greediness can carry people away.

Atlantic Dawn

Dpends on the car, if it's a €1500 Corolla I'd say he's taking the piss, if it's a 171 IS300H I'd be paying him €700 all day long. If this goes through your insurance if will cost multiples of this, basically pay it and forget about it.

mickdw

He is right not to entertain you in having your garage sort it. Only a lunatic would agree to that.

Price sounds ok for bumper repair and respray unless the car is 300 quid banger.
If you are not happy, let insurance sort it

wonski

What people often forget is it doesn't matter if it is 300 euro banger or brand new Toyota.

Bumper respray cost will be similar.

tuxy

wonski wrote: »

What people often forget is it doesn't matter if it is 300 euro banger or brand new Toyota.

Bumper respray cost will be similar.

True, paint is cheap but labour is expensive.
He is entitled to a high quality repair.
Try to figure out if the amount he requests is cheaper than what it will cost in insurance in the long run. Just by getting back to you with a quote he is doing you a favour and giving you options as it would be just as easy for him to make a claim.

drunkmonkey

See will he take €300, insure your no claims bonus once you settle with your man it's not that expensive.

Andrewf20

It cost me 500 eu to get a reasonably minor dent taken out of my car recently on the rear wheel arch. Small dents can be suprisingly expensive to fix.

I'd avoid going through insurance for this. You wouldn't know what way your insurance would go upon renewal. I'd hazard a guess yous end up paying 700eu more on insurance in the next 3-4 years anyway with a higher premium. It happened to a guy I know.

Zak Flaps

His car is a 2008 Audi.

Tzardine

Is he taking the piss. Probably.

Is paying him 700 the best thing to do. Definitely.

You will lose your NCB and have a claim on your file for at least the next 3 years. Will cost multiples of 700 over time.

_Kaiser_

Can't have it both ways OP. You backed into him. He's entitled to get it fixed wherever he likes, not where is cheapest for you. Does he have front parking sensors? Those aren't cheap if damaged.

This other argument of "it depends on the value" that comes out in these cases is nonsense too - particularly for a motoring enthusiast forum. My car is 9 years old, big engine and 750 tax (both unattractive to the Irish buyer), and has lots of miles on the clock (375k km to be exact).

In "money" terms then it's worth feck all here, but it runs perfectly, does about 3k km per month, and I'm regularly complimented on the condition of it. Absolutely would I want it fixed properly if it happened to me - in fact it did, and the prick that did it didn't have the decency to leave a note. Only for the building/site manager being a decent sort, I would have been completely out of pocket.

Pay up or let the insurance sort it.

begbysback

Walk up to him, spit into the palm of your hand, stretch it out and say “three fiddy”

sorted

Cee-Jay-Cee

Zak Flaps wrote: »

2 weeks pass.
The guy got a quote from a "lad he knows", says it will cost between €400 and €700 to fix, says "the complete bumper will have to be resprayed and maybe the sides as the colour of the car is not available anymore so both wings will have to be done." He want's it sorted asap!!

First of all you hit him and don't really have any right to question the quote as you offered to fix it without involving insurance companies.

Secondly, if the paint isnt unavailable anymore then where did he get it from?? There are very few paints that are unavailable especially as its an 08 Audi and not some sort of exotic supercar with unique paint. The vast majority of paint shops will mix the paint from the paint code. His story is BS and most likely he has no intention of getting the car fixed and just wants the money.

So you have two options, call his bluff and tell him you now want to go through insurance company as the quote is too expensive and you cant afford it or offer him €500 just to get rid of him and tell him that's all you have, take it or leave it and hope that he takes it.

bucketybuck

I would absolutely expect a front bumper repair and respray to cost between €400/€700, it doesn't sound untoward at all.

You hit him, he has every right to get it fixed where he wants and to chase you for the cost, so would you prefer he goes to a main dealer and gets a far more expensive job done with vehicle hire thrown in for good measure?

_Kaiser_

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

So you have two options, call his bluff and tell him you now want to go through insurance company as the quote is too expensive and you cant afford it or offer him €500 just to get rid of him and tell him that's all you have, take it or leave it and hope that he takes it.

If the OP does settle, I'd also recommend the cash comes with a letter signed by both that this is the full and final settlement of the matter.

Although I'm not a lawyer so have no clue whether this would stand up if the other guy decided to throw in a claim anyway.

mickdw

wonski wrote: »

What people often forget is it doesn't matter if it is 300 euro banger or brand new Toyota.

Bumper respray cost will be similar.

No insurance company will pay 700 to spray a bumper on a 300 quid car. He would be given 300. End of story.

Car99

mickdw wrote: »

wonski wrote: »

What people often forget is it doesn't matter if it is 300 euro banger or brand new Toyota.

Bumper respray cost will be similar.

No insurance company will pay 700 to spray a bumper on a 300 quid car. He would be given 300. End of story.

A 08 Audi if in good condition isnt a €300 car though.

R.O.R

The current colour of an 08 Audi won't be the same as the paint code, due to fading that's happened over the past 11 years.

To get a full and proper job done, the bumper will need to be painted and the adjoining panels painted and "blown in" to make a seamless colour match. Otherwise, the freshly painted bumper will be different colour to the other bits next to it.


€700 for a proper job sounds about right to me, based on estimates I've seen recently.

chicorytip

Tzardine wrote:

You will lose your NCB and have a claim on your file for at least the next 3 years. Will cost multiples of 700 over time.

Tzardine wrote:

Is paying him 700 the best thing to do. Definitely.

It would depend on the type of insurance policy you have and who your insurer is. Some will allow two or three claims before applying a penalty in the form of increased premium or loss of NCB. You should check that out.

mickdw

Car99 wrote: »

mickdw wrote: »

wonski wrote: »

What people often forget is it doesn't matter if it is 300 euro banger or brand new Toyota.

Bumper respray cost will be similar.

No insurance company will pay 700 to spray a bumper on a 300 quid car. He would be given 300. End of story.

A 08 Audi if in good condition isnt a €300 car though.

Please read my comments correctly.
One poster said it didn't matter if it was a banger or an expensive car, it would still cost 700 to repair the bumper. My point was that an insurance company will not spend 700 to repair a bumper on a 300 quid car, they would simple pay the value of the car. I'm not referring to the 08 audi, it is a general comment.
I believe the figure is fair. The only scenario I figured where it would not be fair was if it was a 300 quid car.

Car99

I agree

Del2005

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

First of all you hit him and don't really have any right to question the quote as you offered to fix it without involving insurance companies.

Secondly, if the paint isnt unavailable anymore then where did he get it from?? There are very few paints that are unavailable especially as its an 08 Audi and not some sort of exotic supercar with unique paint. The vast majority of paint shops will mix the paint from the paint code. His story is BS and most likely he has no intention of getting the car fixed and just wants the money.

So you have two options, call his bluff and tell him you now want to go through insurance company as the quote is too expensive and you cant afford it or offer him €500 just to get rid of him and tell him that's all you have, take it or leave it and hope that he takes it.

There is no requirement for the other person to repair the car, he is being compensated for the damage caused. If he spends the money on fixing the car or beer it makes no difference.

Del2005

chicorytip wrote: »

It would depend on the type of insurance policy you have and who your insurer is. Some will allow two or three claims before applying a penalty in the form of increased premium or loss of NCB. You should check that out.

You are then stuck with them for 3 or 5 years. Protected NCD is not what people think, the other insurance companies don't have to honour it.

corks finest

Zak Flaps wrote: »

Hi.

I reversed into a car a few weeks ago...my fault i didn't see it.
Did a small bit of damage to the front. Only a slight knock. I don't want to go thru the insurance.
I asked him to get a quote from a garage guy to see how much it would cost to get fixed. He said he would in a few weeks as he was going away.

2 weeks pass.
The guy got a quote from a "lad he knows", says it will cost between €400 and €700 to fix, says "the complete bumper will have to be resprayed and maybe the sides as the colour of the car is not available anymore so both wings will have to be done." He want's it sorted asap!!

I asked him to send clear photos to show the extent of the damage so i could show to my garage guy to see if he could do it for cheaper. But this guy isn't having any of that. He wants his guy to do it, as it's round the corner from him.
It's either that or let the insurance companies sort it out.
Is he being unreasonable? I haven't been in this situation before. Please advise. Thanks.

PS: He did send some photos but they were crap, hard to see what's going on!

Insurance co needs to be at least contacted - get their advice

corks finest

Del2005 wrote: »

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

First of all you hit him and don't really have any right to question the quote as you offered to fix it without involving insurance companies.

Secondly, if the paint isnt unavailable anymore then where did he get it from?? There are very few paints that are unavailable especially as its an 08 Audi and not some sort of exotic supercar with unique paint. The vast majority of paint shops will mix the paint from the paint code. His story is BS and most likely he has no intention of getting the car fixed and just wants the money.

So you have two options, call his bluff and tell him you now want to go through insurance company as the quote is too expensive and you cant afford it or offer him €500 just to get rid of him and tell him that's all you have, take it or leave it and hope that he takes it.

There is no requirement for the other person to repair the car, he is being compensated for the damage caused. If he spends the money on fixing the car or beer it makes no difference.

Personally I'd offer up e500 and hope he took it,and get him to sign off a note saying damage paid for in full

comerla

I was in this situation a few years back. Did some research here and got freaked out about him potentially coming back with a claim afterwards - read about one or two horror stories (although the guy I hit was sound and happy for me to get it sorted). So I notified my insurer of what happened- I did not make a claim, told the insurer (RSA) that I was going to get it sorted, and just in case, a small bump had occurred. A lad I worked with told me in the insurance company would help me manage this, and I’ve seen my dad get hit with 12k whiplash claim a year after a small tip where he didn’t notify his insurer.

Immediately my notification was registered as a claim by RSA. It is impossible for them not to register it as such apparently. Turned out the whole bumper needed to be replaced (2010 insignia) so I was looking at 800/900 ish at a panel beaters to get it done privately. The insurance company offer a service where they will sort it, make sure it’s assessed so no other issues come up later, and you can pay them back before renewal and it’s not a full claim.

It ended up costing me 1100 but I didn’t have to pay it for 6 months so this suited me. Since then (3 years ago) i’ve Had the incident on my policy renewal but my premium has dropped way back- from 700 a year to 400 a year so they’ve been fair with me.

Sorry for the detail but I found it interesting to see how it all works.

kev1.3s

Similar happened to my wife a couple of years ago. She backed into a new Hyundai Santa fe at the time. There was a relatively small mark in the bumper which I told her to take pictures of, j spoke to the owner on the phone and said I'll pay what it costs rather than going through the insurance but when I contacted him he was looking for €1700, claiming that the bumper bar and headlight were damaged.
In the end the insurance settlement came to €600 which I had to pay an excess of €500 but they told me if I paid the balance before the dew date it wouldn't affect my bonus.

stecleary

find out who he is insured with, get a list of their approved garages and see what kind of price you get for the job in cash from them.
Tell him you are going that route and see how much he takes. €700 isn't a lot of money but he is chancing his arm to see what he can get out of you

bucketybuck

stecleary wrote: »

Tell him you are going that route

Why do people think that is the OP's decision?

The owner of the car is perfectly entitled to arrange the repairs himself and then forward the costs onto the OP. He doesn't have to dance around waiting for the OP to find an option that suits the OP.

If somebody damaged my car and then started dictating to me about the repairs there would be a call to the insurance company about 5 minutes later. I'll do somebody a favour and allow them to stay away from insurance if they are fair, but the first sign of messing and I'll go to insurance just to cover my ass.

You hit somebody else and don't want to go to insurance, those 2 facts leave you depending on the good graces of the person you hit so I would consider carefully before dictating to them where they need to bring their car.

stecleary

bucketybuck wrote: »

Why do people think that is the OP's decision?

Why do people think they can demand more money than they are entitled to?

I'm not saying thats the case here but if i was paying for it out of my pocket i'd be looking to get value for money

honda boi

stecleary wrote: »

Why do people think they can demand more money than they are entitled to?

I'm not saying thats the case here but if i was paying for it out of my pocket i'd be looking to get value for money

If people want value for money then surely you'd let the insurance handle it since your paying them every year and your never using them for anything?
€700 isn't alot in the grand scheme of things.
If op is anyway iffy about it, surely getting his insurance to Handle it is the best bet.

Gumbo

stecleary wrote: »

Why do people think they can demand more money than they are entitled to?

I'm not saying thats the case here but if i was paying for it out of my pocket i'd be looking to get value for money

In that case you let your insurance handle it.
There’s also hire car costs associated with this too as the injured party will be without their car for 2 days.

Marlay

mickdw wrote: »

No insurance company will pay 700 to spray a bumper on a 300 quid car. He would be given 300. End of story.

Is that correct? If you are claiming from your own insurance for an accident that was your own fault I could maybe see that. But if you are claiming for repairs from someone else's insurance why would value come in to it?

Eggs For Dinner

stecleary wrote: »

find out who he is insured with, get a list of their approved garages and see what kind of price you get for the job in cash from them.
Tell him you are going that route and see how much he takes. €700 isn't a lot of money but he is chancing his arm to see what he can get out of you

You don't have to use your own insurer's approved repairer when you are claiming against another person. You do not have the option to make him have the work done there

Doop

mickdw wrote: »

No insurance company will pay 700 to spray a bumper on a 300 quid car. He would be given 300. End of story.

That is not the case the value of the damage is the value of the damage regardless of the value of the car.

Few years back someone hit my rear side door I was driving a car worth about 500 quid. Cost of the repair was around a €900 the insurer said I can have it fixed and they will pay the bill of €900 or they offered a cash settlement of €700... I took the cash which was still beyond the value of the car.

Eggs For Dinner

Doop wrote: »

That is not the case the value of the damage is the value of the damage regardless of the value of the car.

Few years back someone hit my rear side door I was driving a car worth about 500 quid. Cost of the repair was around a €900 the insurer said I can have it fixed and they will pay the bill of €900 or they offered a cash settlement of €700... I took the cash which was still beyond the value of the car.

That's a compromise solution that suited both parties and for low enough money. The principle however is that you should only receive a maximum of the market value, even if you are a third party

Del2005

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

That's a compromise solution that suited both parties and for low enough money. The principle however is that you should only receive a maximum of the market value, even if you are a third party

The car is repairer with new parts by the insurance company regardless of the age of the car. If the person insists on a repair then they get a repair unless it's a structural issue.

IJS84

Go through your insurance, safer in the long run. Theres nothing stopping him next year or whatever putting a claim in against you. (Im not trying to scare you here but it happens)

He does not have the right to force you to deal with ''a fella I know'' garage. Get 3 quotes for yourself and make your own mind up on the re spray. Unless the garda were called on the day, theres feck all you can do other than ye come to an agreement or go through the insurance company.

Just my 2cents, no matter how small a tip it is, ALWAYS call the garda, at least you have some comeback then.

I learned the hard way a few years ago with a similar issue and they guy thought I was taking him for a ride looking for €200 for a front bumber done and he done a runner, gards werent called and didnt help me and didnt swap insurance details on the day (it was christmas day, so christmas spirit and all that) and figured we would sort it out ourselves. Long story short, buddy fecked off and left me high and dry and I had to pay for it myself in the end.

Auguste Comte

stecleary wrote: »

Why do people think they can demand more money than they are entitled to?

I'm not saying thats the case here but if i was paying for it out of my pocket i'd be looking to get value for money

How much do you think they should be entitled to?

Padraig Mor

bucketybuck wrote: »

Why do people think that is the OP's decision?

The owner of the car is perfectly entitled to arrange the repairs himself and then forward the costs onto the OP. He doesn't have to dance around waiting for the OP to find an option that suits the OP.

If somebody damaged my car and then started dictating to me about the repairs there would be a call to the insurance company about 5 minutes later. I'll do somebody a favour and allow them to stay away from insurance if they are fair, but the first sign of messing and I'll go to insurance just to cover my ass.

You hit somebody else and don't want to go to insurance, those 2 facts leave you depending on the good graces of the person you hit so I would consider carefully before dictating to them where they need to bring their car.

This. I got hit in my 6 week old car last September. Minor scrape but needed repair - these things happen. Traffic was already mental so I was damned if I was going to block half of Cork city waiting for the Gardai to come (in fact, a Garda car went past and ignored us). Took guy's number, and pictures of his insurance details, damage, reg plate and the guy himself. Done and sorted within three minutes. I went to three reputable workshops to get quotes (I would have felt perfectly entitled to just get one, but I felt sorry for the guy as he was only a young fellow) and he paid cash to the cheapest - in the end I think he handed over €350 for a full bumper respray which wasn't bad at all.

terrydel

Ring an indy audi place and get a quote for what's involved, if it's ball park what he has said, pay him the money and move on.
Unless his quote is multiples of a quote you get, I think it's best to pay up.
You should always take your own pictures at the scene in these situations.

MacDanger

chicorytip wrote: »

It would depend on the type of insurance policy you have and who your insurer is. Some will allow two or three claims before applying a penalty in the form of increased premium or loss of NCB. You should check that out.

Once a claim is notified to the insurer (regardless of fault), your premium will go up i.e. in this case, both his and your premium will go up. As far as I understand it, this is because both of you are now seen as "higher risk".

If I were you, I'd pay the E700

MacDanger

IJS84 wrote: »

Go through your insurance, safer in the long run. Theres nothing stopping him next year or whatever putting a claim in against you. (Im not trying to scare you here but it happens)

In a case like this, what proof would he have that an incident occured? Or that the OP was at fault (assuming there's no dash cam footage)?

stecleary

Auguste Comte wrote: »

How much do you think they should be entitled to?

the cost of repairing his car, why should he be entitled to anything else is there is no injuries?

Del2005

IJS84 wrote: »

He does not have the right to force you to deal with ''a fella I know'' garage. Get 3 quotes for yourself and make your own mind up on the re spray. Unless the garda were called on the day, theres feck all you can do other than ye come to an agreement or go through the insurance company.

He has the right to make the person who crashed into him use any garage he wants. You can get 3 quotes and he can deal with the insurance.

You crash into someone you use their garage or the insurance company will deal with it and they can still use their garage, or just pocket the money.

Gumbo

Auguste Comte wrote: »

How much do you think they should be entitled to?

The full cost of repairs and loan car to continue his daily work/life without too much hassle.

*assuming no injuries here.

Its also worth noting that the insurance company will only pay out the ex VAT amount if he decides to take the cash instead.

Auguste Comte

stecleary wrote: »

the cost of repairing his car, why should he be entitled to anything else is there is no injuries?

What about the time he has to spend doing the leg work to get quotes, arrange repairs, time spent without the use of his car etc. Who should cover that?

stecleary

Auguste Comte wrote: »

What about the time he has to spend doing the leg work to get quotes, arrange repairs, time spent without the use of his car etc. Who should cover that?

I'm guessing there's loads of people commenting here that have never had to deal with this stuff.
I'm currently waiting on a claim to be settled, I was 12 weeks with out my car every time a rental was mention i was faced with the same answer from insurance companies, "you need to be seen to be mitigating your losses" An insurance company will laugh at the idea of paying out for time spent getting quotes and so should the OP.
When it comes to buying tyres does the place you buy off give you a discount for shopping around? would you get a discount in a dealers when buying a car? the sad reality is this crap is all part of owning a car.
If someone wont help you help them screw them, let it go through insurance, at the end of the day if the quote is too much for the OP to pay out of his pocket that's what his insurance is for and the OP will always have the option of covering the bill insurance companies agree on

Auguste Comte

stecleary wrote: »

I'm guessing there's loads of people commenting here that have never had to deal with this stuff.
I'm currently waiting on a claim to be settled, I was 12 weeks with out my car every time a rental was mention i was faced with the same answer from insurance companies, "you need to be seen to be mitigating your losses" An insurance company will laugh at the idea of paying out for time spent getting quotes and so should the OP.
When it comes to buying tyres does the place you buy off give you a discount for shopping around? would you get a discount in a dealers when buying a car? the sad reality is this crap is all part of owning a car.
If someone wont help you help them screw them, let it go through insurance, at the end of the day if the quote is too much for the OP to pay out of his pocket that's what his insurance is for and the OP will always have the option of covering the bill insurance companies agree on

Assessing the damage arranging repair and hire car are all things that an insurance company will look after in a case like this where there is no question about liability and they will do it quickly to mitigate their loss.

The other guy is doing the favor by not going through insurance.

stecleary

Auguste Comte wrote: »

Assessing the damage arranging repair and hire car are all things that an insurance company will look after in a case like this where there is no question about liability and they will do it quickly to mitigate their loss.

The other guy is doing the favor by not going through insurance.

but he's not doing him the favor, he's dictating where the work needs to be done, he wont let the OP look elsewhere for a quote. I'd be going through insurance and let them deal with it, its what they are paid for.