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Slight car bump - advice please

cantersaddickcantersaddick
in Not Sports Related
I've never had this before so just wanna check my rights so bare with me.

Couple of weeks ago the girlfriend comes to visit me at uni and bumps my neighbors car (trying to parallel park in a spot 3 times the size of her micra). Rips a spot of paint off my girlfriends car about the size of your hand, don't care it's her first car, not worth much gonna get scratches. Scratches their car a bit about 5 really thin scratches about 7 cm long. Had a look at it and it's really not bad (got photos etc). I'm pretty sure it'll polish/t cut out.

Went and spoke to them straight away, obviously said we don't want insurance involved and we're happy to pay if you want to take it off the garage etc. But I said I'm happy to buy some t cut and see if that'll get it out. She had a look and said they aren't very car proud, don't really care it already has scratches etc. I said give it a couple days see what your husband says and let us know.

They never got back in touch but I saw her around and asked the situation she said Ohh it's fine don't worry about it. So I didn't.

Now I took a parcel for them today and she comes round to collect it and mentions that she's gonna get a quote. I said of course rays fine but could I have a go at it first? Try and polish it out. She says they'd rather go to a garage.

Now I appreciate that is their right but it's a bit of a change from when they last spoke to me.

The thing is I know a garage will mug us off for something that is tiny and charge them labour and probably a whole new coat of paint. Especially if the garage knows they're not the ones paying..

So other than asking them to get 2 quotes what can I do? If they don't want me to see if they will polish out first I can't make them...

Being students £100 basically means no food/alcohol for 2 weeks.
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Comments

  • DaveMehmetDaveMehmet
    Wait for the quote, if it's ridiculously high, ask them to try someone like chips away. If they won't, tell them you'll go through the insurance.
  • benjest1989benjest1989
    wait for the quote, if its reasonable then may be worth just paying it. You have no rights as such, but they cant force you to pay for it either. Unless they go through insurance, and even then it would be very hard to prove. assuming they have no pictures of the damage to both cars? and her insurance details
  • RizzoRizzo
    I would imagine your girlfriend is paying a lot for her car insurance but if she's got any sort of no claims discount, even 1 year, it will almost certainly be cheaper to just bite the bullet and pay the amount in the best quote. Try to keep it civil with the neighbor though as they're more likely to screw you over if you get uppity.
  • Covered EndCovered End
    edited February 2017
    I don't know the answer, but perhaps if you make it clear that you have no money & you'd have to pay them £5 a week, they may not be so keen to accept a large quote.
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    DaveMehmet said:

    Wait for the quote, if it's ridiculously high, ask them to try someone like chips away. If they won't, tell them you'll go through the insurance.

    Thanks not heard of Chips away but there is one 10 mins away. I'll suggest that.
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    Rizzo said:

    I would imagine your girlfriend is paying a lot for her car insurance but if she's got any sort of no claims discount, even 1 year, it will almost certainly be cheaper to just bite the bullet and pay the amount in the best quote. Try to keep it civil with the neighbor though as they're more likely to screw you over if you get uppity.

    Yeah she is. She has 2 years and we're keen to keep it. I am in principle happy to pay but I have polished out worse scratches on my parents car over the years...
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    Thanks all. The frustrating thing is that it was late at night, dark and no one was around or saw it. We could have kept quiet and they would never have known it would have blended in with the other scratches on their car. But we thought we'd do the right thing and let them know...

    Don't really want to pay through the roof for something that can be solved with a bit of Polish.
  • DPFCDPFC
    Be careful. If they already have other scratches they might try to get you to pay for them to be repaired. Do they have any other proof than their word of you admitting liability for the damage to their car
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    DPFC said:

    Be careful. If they already have other scratches they might try to get you to pay for them to be repaired. Do they have any other proof than their word of you admitting liability for the damage to their car

    Yeah that's partly what I'm worried about. The worst other ones are left hand side on the doors and my girlfriend hit back right corner. There isn't any way they can claim that she also hit the pavement side of their car.

    Other than the 3 conversations we've had about it they have nothing.
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  • MrOneLungMrOneLung
    I keep telling you, you visit the girlfriend back home, not have her visit you at your Uni !!!!
  • Henry IrvingHenry Irving
    Blame your house mate who hates your GF
  • AlwaysneilAlwaysneil
    Curb_It said:

    forest hill Red is your man for advice on this on.

    Too quick for me.
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    MrOneLung said:

    I keep telling you, you visit the girlfriend back home, not have her visit you at your Uni !!!!

    Henry Irving said:

    Blame your house mate who hates your GF

    Very funny both. I've looked it up this was actually about a month ago which was I think the visit when he first started becoming an issue...

    Is there any time frame they have to sort this in before it becomes invalid? Like it's been over a month already. How long can they drag it out for?
  • letthegoodtimesrollletthegoodtimesroll
    If they waited two weeks or so before deciding to change their mind and getting a quote despite telling you it's fine a couple of days after the (superficial?) marks were done then tell them to take a running jump.
  • The_PresidentThe_President
    Curb_It said:

    forest hill Red is your man for advice on this on.

    What are their wing mirrors like?
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    letthegoodtimesroll said:

    If they waited two weeks or so before deciding to change their mind and getting a quote despite telling you it's fine a couple of days after the (superficial?) marks were done then tell them to take a running jump.

    So I've checked the dates and it's 5 weeks today since the incident and more than a month since the second time they told us it was fine...

    If I didn't live 2 doors away they wouldn't even be able to contact me..

    I'm gonna see what the quote is and make away bless decision then.

    On terms of the marks they are visible but given the general appearance of the car and the number of marks they're pretty irrelevant and I'm still convinced polish would male them near enough blend in and at worst t cut would solve it.
  • Robbo on the wingRobbo on the wing
    T Cut it without them knowing.
  • cafcnick1992cafcnick1992
    If someone hit my car (an inconvenience to me), i'd expect them to repair my car to the standard it was before at the very minimum.

    If you offered to go to halfords and buy a load of crap to fix it yourself, i'd give you a labotomy.
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  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    cafcnick1992 said:

    If someone hit my car (an inconvenience to me), i'd expect them to repair my car to the standard it was before at the very minimum.

    If you offered to go to halfords and buy a load of crap to fix it yourself, i'd give you a labotomy.

    Sure thing. And if they'd said that from the start I'd have been happy to do that. It's more a case of given they weren't bothered about it for 5 weeks and given the existing state of the car and also given the tiny amount of damage I offered to simply polish it out. They refused even that 'we're not car proud, don't care about a few more scratches'.

    But now suddenly they have changed their mind. They do care and they want us to pay.

    To reiterate what I've already said a few times, I'm happy to pay just don't want to be taken for a ride over the whole issue or taken the piss out of on the price of something tiny.
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    Incase anyone is wondering why I'm having to deal with this. She's now bogged off to Switzerland for a 5 month placement and I'm left to deal with all the shit she leaves behind!!
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    cantersaddick said:

    cafcnick1992 said:

    If someone hit my car (an inconvenience to me), i'd expect them to repair my car to the standard it was before at the very minimum.

    If you offered to go to halfords and buy a load of crap to fix it yourself, i'd give you a labotomy.

    Sure thing. And if they'd said that from the start I'd have been happy to do that. It's more a case of given they weren't bothered about it for 5 weeks and given the existing state of the car and also given the tiny amount of damage I offered to simply polish it out. They refused even that 'we're not car proud, don't care about a few more scratches'.

    But now suddenly they have changed their mind. They do care and they want us to pay.

    To reiterate what I've already said a few times, I'm happy to pay just don't want to be taken for a ride over the whole issue or taken the piss out of on the price of something tiny.
    The first ting I said to them was take it to a garage and get a quote. I've always been happy to pay. It was only when they declined that I offered to try and polish/ T cut it myself as it would make the scratches less visible.
  • AlwaysneilAlwaysneil
    Where in Switzerland?

    As to the car bump, I suggest you go round and talk to them rather than to us.

    Hiya, happy to go the insurance route but it's a bit unexpected and may cost us. How about you let me have a go at sorting it out first and if you aren't happy we can take it on from there?

    Take photos of the whole car before and after, sort out a few other minor issues nothing to do with you and if you do sort the problem you caused, and they try again, tell them to eff off.

    See them try that one in court
  • cantersaddickcantersaddick
    edited February 2017
    Alwaysneil said:

    Where in Switzerland?

    As to the car bump, I suggest you go round and talk to them rather than to us.

    Hiya, happy to go the insurance route but it's a bit unexpected and may cost us. How about you let me have a go at sorting it out first and if you aren't happy we can take it on from there?

    Take photos of the whole car before and after, sort out a few other minor issues nothing to do with you and if you do sort the problem you caused, and they try again, tell them to eff off.

    See them try that one in court

    Geneva! I'm yet to visit but got a couple planned after exams! Can't wait!

    Thanks. I just wanted to make sure I'm being sensible as I've not been in this situation before. I'm gonna wait to see what the quote is, if it's reasonable I'll just pay it. If not I'll try alternative options but probably end up just paying it...
  • guinnessaddickguinnessaddick
    Sounds like they have damaged The car when parking (wall or a post) and trying to get you to pay for it.
    Check the car and take photos.
  • i_b_b_o_r_gi_b_b_o_r_g
    ...good luck Canto
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