Help us not get rinsed for a scratch

krooton

krooton

krooton

Caporegime
Joined
9 May 2004
Posts
28,726
Location
Leafy outskirts of London
My wife had a small ding today when trying to get out of a cramped vet parking area, and took off some bumper paint of a large SUV that was in the way.

The yellow bit at the bottom was the damage. The owner wants us to pay for the fix, obvs, but we have no idea how much something like that realistically should cost to fix and don't want her to try and rinse us, and rough ideas?

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I wouldn't count on it being purely cosmetic - depending a bit on how thoroughly they look into it - even at relatively low speeds the bumper fittings could be bent, etc.

EDIT: You might find it a better idea to go through insurance anyhow - people often tend to try it on in these circumstances.
 
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Rroff said:
I wouldn't count on it being purely cosmetic - depending a bit on how thoroughly they look into it - even at relatively low speeds the bumper fittings could be bent, etc.
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Geez, what's the point of these SUVs then if an A3 trying to maneuver out of a parking space could cause issues like that? I though they were supposed to be tanks, lol
 
Bumpers are meant to deform under low speed impacts. It’s so when you run down a pedestrian, you don’t kill them.

Just let the insurance deal with it if you don’t like the quote they gave you. You are meant to declare it anyway even if you pay out of your own pocket.
 
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Just use your insurance. Yes, there may be a small penalty when it comes to renewing but it removes any hassle that can come when dealing with 'private' repairs like this. My wife has had a couple of prangs due to her car being hit by unknown lorry and having a tree land on her car and it has not made a huge difference to her insurance renewals.
 
I would declare it. They will want it to be done by the dealership no doubt which will cost a small fortune. A few months later you will then recieve a letter from their insurance company in regards to the whiplash they recieved.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
Bumpers are meant to deform under low speed impacts. It’s so when you run down a pedestrian, you don’t kill them.

Just let the insurance deal with it if you don’t like the quote they gave you. You are meant to declare it anyway even if you pay out of your own pocket.
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Yep, seems a lot of people don't get this. Bumpers should be the first things to collapse.

This is why their safer than old indestructible cars.
 
Even if it is just cosmetic, it's going to be £250+ to be sorted through a "chips away" type place.

I'd be exchanging insurance details to save any hassle - if it's your only claim it will likely make no significant difference to your renewal price.
 
They'll probably come back with a quote for a whole new bumper at >2K and a hire car for 2 weeks at another 2k. I'd bin this off on insurance, the entire industry is a scam for small accidents.
 
gailjon said:
Just use your insurance. Yes, there may be a small penalty when it comes to renewing but it removes any hassle that can come when dealing with 'private' repairs like this. My wife has had a couple of prangs due to her car being hit by unknown lorry and having a tree land on her car and it has not made a huge difference to her insurance renewals.
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Any time my colleagues have tried to avoid insurance it has just come back to bite them in the rear - people almost always try it on.

I've not yet managed to hit someone else but had someone reverse into me and left it with insurance and my next renewal actually went down - though I'm always suspicious they might just be waiting to load it on in the future LOL.

I got lucky - they reversed into the heavy duty bumper on my pickup with little more than an easily removable paint transfer and a hairline amount of movement to the bumper - the damage to their vehicle was not insignificant including bent in boot, bumper mounts shattered and several areas of impact damage on the bumper including a couple of places it had cracked (doesn't show on the photo) and it had displaced the panel alignment more generally on that side of the vehicle... poor girl had literally passed her test a couple of days before (not trying it on). Was a very low speed impact as well.

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Minstadave said:
They'll probably come back with a quote for a whole new bumper at >2K and a hire car for 2 weeks at another 2k. I'd bin this off on insurance, the entire industry is a scam for small accidents.
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This is the kind of thing colleagues at work have had for tiny car park dings :s not everyone tries it on but there is no shortage of people who will either.
 
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I once ******* someone at a roundabout in an old Ford Focus. I cracked a big hole in his bumper and gods know what underneath. I offered full charm offensive and to pay - he sent me a bill for £250 which I couldn't believe so I topped it up to £350. He emailed me back asking me on a date so maybe if OPs wife is hot enough she'll get a decent deal?
 
dLockers said:
I once ******* someone at a roundabout in an old Ford Focus. I cracked a big hole in his bumper and gods know what underneath. I offered full charm offensive and to pay - he sent me a bill for £250 which I couldn't believe so I topped it up to £350. He emailed me back asking me on a date so maybe if OPs wife is hot enough she'll get a decent deal?
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True story though it sounds a bit unbelievable - I had a colleague who was a fully qualified/trained car mechanic but had been struggling to hold down a job in that industry (he was young and immature), have a bit of a bump with another car - they got talking and the other guy owned a garage so was acting all nice and offered my colleague a job, so he quit his job and went to work for this guy fixing up his car. Once it was done the guy fired him and he had to take legal action to get his pay.

Joke was probably on the other guy though knowing the standard of work my ex-colleague did.
 
Large SUV? Only thing i think with those colours would be a Nissan Juke?

Danger of these events is they find more damage conveniently later
 
insurance. had similar and put through insurance, less than 50 mm scratch white vitara found out much later insurance payed over 3k out . annoying as we know the damage was a scratch but the insurance just rolled over.
we are on protected and even when changing companies we declared it and it made 30 pound difference .
 
dLockers said:
I once ******* someone at a roundabout in an old Ford Focus.
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dLockers said:
I cracked a big hole in his bumper and gods know what underneath.
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Not sure if innuendo, or just unfortunate wording given how the story continues :p

dLockers said:
I offered full charm offensive and to pay - he sent me a bill for £250 which I couldn't believe so I topped it up to £350. He emailed me back asking me on a date so maybe if OPs wife is hot enough she'll get a decent deal?
Click to expand...
 
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