Have I been ripped off ?

ATiRubyfan · 17 Jan 2021

My younger sibling was trying to park his car in a residential car park and he accidentally scraped the front bumper of another car. It was raining and he misjudged. He was trying to drive into the parking space while the other car was parked head front.

He told me the next day and I told him to immediately go down and leave a note on the driver's windscreen. As he was setting off to do it, he noticed it was too late as the driver of the car was already inspecting his car and my brother's car. The driver left a note on my brother's windscreen instead with his number.

He called him and together they had a look at their cars. The guy said he wanted to have the car repaired rather than going through insurance. He knew a body shop and wanted his car fixed there.
This body shop was 45 mins. drive from his house but only 10 mins. drive from my house. So, I told my brother I'll take care of it. I spoke to the guy and told him to meet up with me the next day at another body shop instead which was in the same car repair industrial area and only a few doors down.

He arrived half an hour early the next day and was at his preferred body shop! I told him to come to mine and he refused as his car was already parked there. I went to inspect his car and noticed that the body shop owner had parked up another four cars behind him. So, he had no way of moving his car quickly.

This was the damage ( 2015 diesel BMW 640 , bronze ) :
A scrape ( I did the nail test and my nail did not sink in ) and a circle above with paint missing.

This was the damage on my brother's car btw :

I spoke to the body shop owner and he said it would cost £300 as the car was matte and the whole front bumper needed to be resprayed completely. I told him I would pay £250 and the guy agreed as apparently the driver was a regular of his.

I went and spoke to my body shop and showed them pics and they said if it costs £200, just give the guy the money and be done with it. I went back to the driver's body shop and paid £250 ( cash ) and asked for an invoice which he gave me.

Whilst I was home, I checked the driver's body shop company details and the owner is from East Europe. The driver is also from ... guess where .... and they even spoke in the same language in front on me when I was there.

Have I been ripped off ?
How did the driver know that it was my brother who scraped his car ?
Why would that driver drive 2 x 45 mins. in total to this body shop ?

I have a feeling the driver didn't fix his car and pocketed majority of the money. In which case, should I have instead told him - F off, go through your insurance. But, what if he did - then my borther's insurance would increase considerably and he only has 2 year's NCD as he has started driving recently.

kindai · 17 Jan 2021

Be happy you got away with 250 quid and nothing effecting your insurance for 5 years.

If he pocketed it so what, would cost you more than that on the premium increases if a claim was made.

Haze · 17 Jan 2021

Cool story bro, you have paid already, what do you want us to do?

Haggisman · 17 Jan 2021

kindai said:
Be happy you got away with 250 quid and nothing effecting your insurance for 5 years.

If he pocketed it so what, would cost you more than that on the premium increases if a claim was made.

This.

Even if he did pocket it, if he comes to sell the car, he may be forced to accept a lower price due to the damage.

As to why he chose that particular bodyshop... Sure, maybe he's in cahoots with the owner.

Or maybe see it from his perspective; someone scrapes your pride and joy, would you rather take it somewhere with a good reputation or you've used before and trust, or to some dodgy bodyshop you've never heard of because the person who drove into you wants to save £50?

Dominic-Toretto · 17 Jan 2021

kindai said:
Be happy you got away with 250 quid and nothing effecting your insurance for 5 years.

If he pocketed it so what, would cost you more than that on the premium increases if a claim was made.

I agree with this.

Gibbo · 17 Jan 2021

Seems totally fair and very cheap to me.

So what if the owner has not repaired it the damage was still done and needs paying to be corrected and as to when the owner corrects its well that’s upto him.

tom_nieto · 17 Jan 2021

As already said - £250 is a good deal. A fault claim on your insurance stings for a number of years.

Amos91 · 17 Jan 2021

I'd say £250 was cheap tbh. Much cheaper and it will probably look like the paint job someone has already done on the Focus

AWPC · 17 Jan 2021

That's a decent quote actually as a bumper respray in London cost £200-400 depending on who gives you the quote! You lost what £50 that's nothing compared to how much more your insurance would cost

if you feel that bad about it put it through your insurance company :rolleyes:

Hades · 17 Jan 2021

I'd be happy with the £250 to be honest.

Drumroll · 17 Jan 2021

As long you keep records that the payment was made and it's FINAL, no problems what he does with the money.

ShiWarrior · 17 Jan 2021

The only thing id be worried about now, is the fact that there is NO invoice to him receiving this money, so another words, no money was transferred, he will then contact his insurance and get them to get in touch with you and get this all done, so he then pockets £250 and its a free repair

BongoHunter · 17 Jan 2021

The concern I'd have is what if he still claims anyway?

ShiWarrior · 17 Jan 2021

BongoHunter said:
The concern I'd have is what if he still claims anyway?

exactly

see my post

robj20 · 17 Jan 2021

I'd have gone through insurance it really doesn't go up that much.
I barely noticed a difference with mine with 2 claims on it at one point the difference was in the realms of yearly inflation it was that little.

dLockers · 17 Jan 2021

Should have topped him up rather than ask for a discount. He was doing you a favour.

OldKitMan · 17 Jan 2021

ATiRubyfan said:
Have I been ripped off ?
How did the driver know that it was my brother who scraped his car ?
Why would that driver drive 2 x 45 mins. in total to this body shop ?

You've not been ripped off, damage was caused and it either needs fixed or the owner compensated by an appropriate amount - this has happened

He would have seen the damage on the other car at exactly the same height as the damage on his car and put 2 and 2 together and got 4.

45 minutes drive isn't much, maybe he knows the owner and likes the quality of his work.

You've got a receipt for the car which you can use if required if anything else was to come of it - I doubt very much it will - looks like it's been dealt with a minimum of fuss and effort. Good result I'd say.

ATiRubyfan · 17 Jan 2021

I

OldKitMan said:
You've not been ripped off, damage was caused and it either needs fixed or the owner compensated by an appropriate amount - this has happened

He would have seen the damage on the other car at exactly the same height as the damage on his car and put 2 and 2 together and got 4.

45 minutes drive isn't much, maybe he knows the owner and likes the quality of his work.

You've got a receipt for the car which you can use if required if anything else was to come of it - I doubt very much it will - looks like it's been dealt with a minimum of fuss and effort. Good result I'd say.

Thank you.

I am pretty sure Meguiar's UC would have removed the scrape mark and the actual damage is the tiny circle. Does it really cost that much to fix a tiny circle?

ShiWarrior · 17 Jan 2021

without seeing it in person..

my local bodyshop had to take the bumper off and and respray it etc, cost was about 250 ish

OldKitMan · 17 Jan 2021

ATiRubyfan said:
I

Thank you.

I am pretty sure Meguiar's UC would have removed the scrape mark and the actual damage is the tiny circle. Does it really cost that much to fix a tiny circle?

It's a nice car so you'd want it fixed perfectly, I think it's a good price personally.

Have I been ripped off ?

Sgarrista