Accident - Dunno What To Do

Time: 2 weeks ago, party at fault asks not to go through insurance.

I get 3 quotes... 2 come back around £350, one (from a reputable company) comes back at £683!

My car is a 2001 Ford Focus and suffered a hit in the back. Results are deep scratches in the bumper, scratches on lower rear fog light, laquer scratches on rear quarter panel, and cracks in the framework within the bumper.

I asked fault guy to wire transfer me £180 and I will find someone to fix it and do some of the work myself (parts from eBay/scrappy). He finds person who will smart repair spray it for £155 but I know for sure he won't replace any of the broken parts. Here is damage inside bumper:


£155 guy told me if I want a new bumper I have to talk to fault guy, but now fault guy is telling me £155 guy will fix the lot for this price. What you guys think?

Who is the smart repairer in relation to the chap that damaged your car? Do you think the price is accurate or are they having you on? Should've just went through insurance, I think..

Don't let the at fault guy call the shots. He's at fault.

He either meets your request of replacing the bumper or you go via insurance.

Personally, I'd go through insurance. It's why you buy it - for situations like this. However for the sake of a 2001 Focus I can see why you are keen to avoid this. When I had a non fault accident in my x reg Focus 4 years back my premiums went up £200 a year, even though I wasn't at fault. Declaring that accident for 3 years cost me on average £600 in total.

The smart repairer just got back to me on WhatsApp. He is unhappy with the fact I took the bumper off to reveal the damage - he did tell me in person there's no need to remove it and said it was difficult to put back on - I did it anyway (it was very easy).

I replied to him and said if I hadn't taken it off I wouldn't have known there was damage underneath.

I would be happy with just £180 so I can buy some plastic parts (maybe a new bumper even) and have it sprayed when I know the rest is fixed.

shifty_uk said:

Who is the smart repairer in relation to the chap that damaged your car?

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They are not friends, I asked that when I met with smart repairer.

So much faff. Just go through insurance.

Ricochet J said:

So much faff. Just go through insurance.

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Im with this tbh

If hes not willing to pay the cheaper end of what you've foudn then ******* him/her, report to insurance

2 quotes around £350... so that's what you should be getting from fault guy... after all, he's faulty guy.

Personally wouldn't be offering to repair stuff yourself... You're not at fault here.

I'd say £350 or insurance... Have you checked if the other party is actually insured and not trying to pull a fast one on you?

https://ownvehicle.askmid.com/

on a car of that age I would just get some money from other party, pocket it and not bother with repair if you are keeping the car

yknow what, rotty is right

as long as the muppet has insurance get as much as you can out of him and just buy a bumper from a breaker

Rotty said:

on a car of that age I would just get some money from other party, pocket it and not bother with repair if you are keeping the car

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Same here, screw all that mucking around - give me £300 and clear off. I wouldn't bother fixing it, buff off some of the black marks at best.

Take £300 and go to the car breakers and get a bumper for no more than £30, spend the rest on beer.

Or as everyone says coke and hookers.

What the value of the car ?

I put in a Guess of somewhere around £400 to £600

Smart repair guy refuses to work on my car now. I'm thinking of just taking the 150 and doing half myself (sanding) and getting someone to just spray it. Don't know if it's worth going through insurance until they make a law preventing companies from raising premiums in non-fault conditions (which should have been done a while ago).

It's not your insurance you'd go through - the guy hit your car, go via his insurance.

Have you checked he is actually insured?

booyaka said:

It's not your insurance you'd go through - the guy hit your car, go via his insurance.

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Still pushes up his premiums though.

I had exactly this a few months ago. Bumper was cracked and scuffed from a rear end shunt in a queue. Completely understand how the guy did it as he was trying to avoid a parked car pulling out.

Got some quotes of around £280 for the work to be done including bumper removal at a reputable spray shop. I never pushed the issue and always kept referring to the insurance as it didn't really matter to me and the guy settled up. Then again i suppose it all depends who hits you in the end and how genuine they are.

Keep referencing the insurance and they may change their tune, if they were the once who asked to do it outside of the insurers, they may not like it if you start pulling that way.

You are seriously over complicating this.

You've been reasonable and obtained three quotes, two came in at £350 so he needs to pay you £350 or you put it through his insurance. I would also feed back that you have enquiried with the person he's put you in contact with but they have confirmed they will be doing a cosmetic repair only and not dealing with the damage which is unacceptable to you.

If after receiving the £350 you then choose to obtain parts yourself to do the work then that's up to you. I personally wouldn't bother though. Currently you are intending to put a load of effort in yourself to save the other person money.

booyaka said:

It's not your insurance you'd go through - the guy hit your car, go via his insurance.

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Only if they actually give those details to you at this stage. I doubt they will. I bet the other party will cut off all contact soon.

You would have to tell your insurance company and they will find out who he is insured with and recover costs if possible.

bledd said:

Still pushes up his premiums though.

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Depends on your insurance company.

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2016/08/car-insurance-claims-can-hit-blameless-drivers-hard-451415/