Girlfriend scraped a parked car... Looking to do everything as we should

Speak to the car's owner, give them about £100-150 to get the small scuff fixed. That should have been the end of it. If it's a banger they probably won't give a crap anyway.

But now it's been blown out of all proportion and is going to end up costing everyone 100s.
 
Kuros said:
I know what's done and done and you can't change it now, but if someone went into my old banger and caused very little damage, I would be more annoyed about not talking to me first.

A non-fault claim on your insurance still puts up the premium, could be more than the damage actually caused.
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This. I'd rather have a minor extra scrape on an old banger than have to pay 10-20% more for insurance for the next 5 years...
 
bledd said:
JAIL, NOW!
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I am all for doing the right thing but I would have waited a few days to speak to the owner of the other vehicle before taking any action.

Chances are their insurance will also be loaded in future.
 
This is all perfect advice IF...

1) She took any of the cars details
2) I knew where the incident occurred and it was a possibility that it was a neighbor
3) She didn't drive away

It's easy to say "just wait couple of days to report it" or "who cares, it was an old banger" but what advice would you be giving me if the police had gotten involved without her reporting it? "Should have reported it sooner"?

Some people might look at my car and consider it to be a banger, but I frickin' love that thing - and when I got a scuff from a hit and run 2 weeks previous I was fuming.

While with hindsight it's an overreaction in the first instance (I'll admit that!) it's literally doing everything by the letter of the law and the terms of her insurance.

It's obviously frustrating that we can't just talk to the owner in person (or let them see the damage in person) but we'll need to hold on to next week.

If anything, it's taught her the hard way what she needs to do if it happens again and ultimately (since the police have no longer any involvement) it will only result in a monetary penalty through insurance - something that's unfortunate but by no means a big issue.
 
Nasher said:
Speak to the car's owner, give them about £100-150 to get the small scuff fixed. That should have been the end of it. If it's a banger they probably won't give a crap anyway.

But now it's been blown out of all proportion and is going to end up costing everyone 100s.
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I had a small prang in my 350z where I clipped the bumper of a '13 plate Merc.

I got the crease and scuff fixed on my bumper for £150 (plus a couple of chips on bonnet and refixing the indicator light that had broken some lugs off)

The guy sent me the quote from mercedes to fix his scuff as I said if it was reasonable I would just pay it......£1,225.... :o

Honestly, if the quote could have had any more lines of padding to describe what they were going to do

"Remove the bumper
Wipe the bumper
Degrease the bumper
Prepare the surface
...." it just went on and on.....you mean fix the ******* scratch :p

The labour charge alone was £678 + VAT!

Absolutely insane, so I said just go to insurance.
 
The police would have closed the incident regardless of whether the insurance company was involved. It all sounds like you've gone way OTT with this. I understand you reporting it initially because you thought she hit a random car and drove off, but once you found out it was a neighbour's car, you could have just called 101 and advise that you found out it was a neighbour's car and you're in contact with them about it. There would have been nothing more done.

Involving insurance before speaking to the third party was silly too. It's going to involve an increase in premium for you AND the innocent third party who may not have wanted to pursue it.

Hell there would have been nothing more done had your girlfriend hit a random car and drove off then went to the police station to report it, provided witnesses/the owner didn't call in.
 
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Wildest over-reaction of the year thread!

It's a scratch on an old car. Inform the person, deal with them and then decide the best course of action.
 
You've just jacked up the insurance premium for both you and the other person car for the next 3-5 years.

The increase in price over the years will prob be more then the car that was hit is worth. :D
 
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