Accident in my 350z - dented - car and pride!

[DaveyD]

Morning all,

Well, I rather stupidly had an accident this morning, completely my fault - changed lanes wrongly assuming car alongside me was turning right, and just went in to his front left wheel arch. It was dark, and raining heavy and I really should have known better. But nobody was hurt and it was only at about 15mph, right outside the main work gate, so plenty for everybody to see and stare at!

My car took the worst of the damage (as pictured), he 'only' got some scratches on the front arch and bumper on his brand new management XF

Looking at the damage, I'm lucky that it's all in the door and not on any other panel. My insurance excess is £350 - do you think I can realistically find a decent repair place that would be within that kind of cost? As his car is a JLR management car, I expect that he will have to go through the insurance and therefore get my insurance company involved.

Pics:

 

[ScoobyDoo69]

Would a repairer not prefer to replace the door skin on damage like that? Be easier that smoothing it out surely? If so, why not pick up a good door from a breaker in the same colour then get it sprayed if needs be?

 

[sovietspybob]

Purely for your car i'd think you could get that repaired for similar costs to your excess, even if it cost more i'd pay for it myself so id doesn't go down on my insurance history. I'd look on eBay for another door personally as they can be surprisingly cheap from breakers for some cars. However if the other party is going to claim i don't know how it works then as it may just be easier to claim for it anyway?

 

[DaveyD]

I will have a lookout for another door panel while I'm exploring options.

I am popping by two reputable body shops locally on the way home, so I'll get their opinions.

If it's a case of just replacing the door then I can do that myself hopefully.

Either way insurance or not I'm going to get several hundred pounds of claim against me for the repair of the Jag.

 

[Amos91]

Purely for your car i'd think you could get that repaired for similar costs to your excess, even if it cost more i'd pay for it myself so id doesn't go down on my insurance history. I'd look on eBay for another door personally as they can be surprisingly cheap from breakers for some cars. However if the other party is going to claim i don't know how it works then as it may just be easier to claim for it anyway?

He's going to have a fault claim on his insurance regardless. Depends on whether he can fix his own car for <£350.