repair cost dispute

[davethecabbie]

about six weeks ago i was reversing onto a customers driveway to pick them up to take them to the station (im a taxi driver)

i happened to just catch her husbands car.

 

after she got in the car i told her what i had done and on arrival at the station i gave her my phone number and she said she would pass it on to her husband.

 

After about a month i got a text saying the cost to repair the damage would be £275+vat.

This was the day before i was going on holiday ,

 

I replied straight back to tell him this .

i also said that i thought the cost was quite excessive and i would seek some more estimates when i got back

 

When i got home and went back to work i again got the job to take the wife to the station when i got to the house i took the opportunity to take photos of the damage to the rear bumper.

 

This amounted to a single scuff mark about 1mm wide by 10mm long.

this confirmed my suspicion about the cost,

 

with that the wife came out and started giving me grief because i hadn't done anything about it and told me to get away from the car.

the long and the short of it is we are now arguing over the cost.

 

He is insisting it goes to a garage that wants to charge £300+ without any proper invoice after i have got estimates between £120 and £160 .

 

I should add the £160 for which i have a proper estimate is from a different branch of the garage he is insisting on using.

 

i know the garage he wants to use is at some point going to do further work on his car and i suspect i am going to make a contribution to this.

 

Needless to say this is getting a bit heated now with him threatening me with the police for leaving the scene of accident notifying the council who provide my license and going through the insurance company which i don't want to because my excess is more than this and i don't want to lose any ncb and he has even mentioned court.

 

i should also point out that he is not willing to take his car to any of the garages that i have got estimates from.

[unclebulgaria67]

If it were me i would just offer to pay them £160 based on the estimate and i would do that in writing. Perhaps send them a cheque for £160 with a copy of the estimate and advise them this is full settlement for cost of repairing the scuff to their car.

 

Do not speak to them about this again.

 

They are just trying it on, hoping to make money out of the situation.

[davethecabbie]

i might just do that.

I'm not trying to get out of paying

i just refuse to be ripped off.

 

he is being uncooperative

two of the garages I've been to have said to send him to them for a proper quote

 

he wont go there because he is hell bent on going to the one that is twice the price of any of the others.

 

i am a bit concerned as he has said about charging for car hire, taxis and i dare say loss of earnings because of the time it is taking but this is because he is being awkward and greedy

[heliosuk]

Actually the price he has quoted I don't think is unreasonable as they have to probably re paint the whole bumper. This tends to happen nowadays, a small scratch means associated panels have to be blended.

 

 

Forget the localised repairs as they just don't work in the end despite what is said. Unless you paint complete panels it will show.

 

 

Years ago you could get away with a localised repair when paint was based on a cellulose mixture but not now with these water based paints.

 

 

I'd pay what they are asking personally but would also ask you get it repaired on their behalf.

[davethecabbie]

i can see what your saying but i have four quotes of £120(2), £150 and one of £160 from the same company that he has said is £300+. i was also given two quotes of £50 and £70 which were probably touch up jobs and i rejected as a cheap solution. so i would say the estimates i have are reasonable for the work involved.

[sgtbush]

How do you have four quotes?

Did you take their car to the garages?

Metalic flake paint is more expensive and the whole panel/bumper will need spraying to blend in.

 

If you dont like the quote say go thru my insurance

[king12345]

Your cheapest option is to give in unfortunately.

If you don't they'll claim through your insurance and it will cost you tenfold because you will have to disclose for the next 5 years.

There's also the matter that you didn't notify your insurance within 24 hours as required by most, so they could even play dirty and cancel your policy in which case it will cost you even more.

It's a sorry situation, but they have you by the attributes, they know and want to profit from the situation.

That's why many drivers drive off after hitting cars and very slightly damaging them: Wolf eats wolf society.

[ukguy2k]

police don't care about hit and run unless someone injured my sis had a hit and run with her car and police said its not serious just ring your insurance

 

 

also if they want to claim off your insurance it still backfire on them as there insurance will rise because when I had a crash 2yr ago wasn't my fault it went up still