Bloke reversed into my Trophy. What would you do?

[jesus]

 

[jesus]

Basically I was in Royal Mail car park picking something up and as I was leaving an honest , friendly looking chap came over and told me he'd hit my car and to have a look. Upon first inspection the damage was minimal, it looked looked like his paint on mine and vice versa. However, I pointed out to him that it had taken paint from my bumper and the scratches and scuffs were quite deep.

Now, my fromt bumper does already have a small amount of damage on it at the bottom and also a few small stone chips which means it's not in absolutely mint condition. However, these additional scratches etc were not my fault and obviously I didn't really want them there as the black one in particular stands out where my red paint has come off.

We swapped details anyway but he only gave me his name and address which I don't think will be a problem as he lives local.

My options seem to be:

- Ring the insurance and let them deal with it (and get stung on renewal/no claims)
- Write to him and see if he'd like to offer anything towards a repair
- Leave it and have a worse looking bumper than before

Obviously I'd be annoyed if I had a minty mint car but with it already having a few (not obvious but I know about them) scratches and chips already then it just looks a little more battered than it did before.

I was tempted to just leave it due to his honesty but they are a little worse looking than I originally thought. Here is what my iPhone could quickly capture.

 

[Adam93]

Do you know who i did it ? do you have their details etc.... ? surely its an offence to drive away without leaving details..... ?

ETA - just seen your post above.

I would have it re painted and speak to Adam about some new front grilles or get the back to black on them

 

[Goodj]

Insurance claim, or accept it's an 8yr old car and thing like this will happen.

Do a confused.com on what your insurance could be if you went down the claim route, it may not be as bad as you're expecting.

 

[Knuckles]

Kick @bloke's head in.


Get in touch and ask if he'll give you £150 for a bumper respray?

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

I'd speak to him and ask for money to paint the bumper.

Sod going through insurance - really not necessary... IMO anyway. It'll cost both parties a fortune in the long run.

Get a quote or three and give him some figures. Get the money off him and then decide if you're going to paint it

 

[imprezaworks]

Dont go through the insurance, pita all round. Get a couple of quotes for the bumper to be repainted and go from there.

End of story imo.

 

[Goodj]

Get in touch and ask if he'll give you £150 for a bumper respray?

That's a much better idea.
Either it works or you end up claiming

 

[clioben182]

If it were me I would speak to him and possibly look at getting a quote from a bodyshop and going halves, bearing in mind you say there is some defects with the bumper already which were not his fault and obviously the damaged which he caused.

 

[dangerous dave]

I've seen that little pushed in part pulled out with a heat gun before... Slowly warming the plastic and will a little help it can return to its original shape..

As said, find a painter quote, show him and see if he's happy to pay.. If it was a £1000 of damage then it's a job the insurance, but Id you claim it's a tick against your car and he losses his no claims, or at least has to pay the excess anyway...

 

[MicKPM]

If it were me, i'd go round to his house and knock his teeth in and then shag his wife... but i'm a CSer

In reality though there's nothing you can do that won't result in you paying out money. Personally, did deep and have it repaired at your cost (or do the insurance thing and pay out more but in instalments at renewal). I have a customer with a V plate Megane as a daily for this very reason. Nice cars attract knuckle dragging types that seem to cause damage to other peoples property, except it's never their fault.

 

[Sir_Dave]

Ask him for £150 to cover the cost of a respray, then buy a red market pen, fix the damage & spend the money on a trackday instead.

 

[clioben182]

If it were me, i'd go round to his house and knock his teeth in and then shag his wife... but i'm a CSer

In reality though there's nothing you can do that won't result in you paying out money. Personally, did deep and have it repaired at your cost (or do the insurance thing and pay out more but in instalments at renewal). I have a customer with a V plate Megane as a daily for this very reason. Nice cars attract knuckle dragging types that seem to cause damage to other peoples property, except it's never their fault.

Lol! Reverse into his car after you have shagged his misses!

 

[Matthew]

Thisd happend to my GTI. Really nice older guy, gave me his details. The only difference was my GTI was mint and left some quite big scratches.

Dont go through insurance! As already said, get two quotes and ask him for a 50% contribution (given it wasnt mint before anyway).

If he's resonable, he will pay. If not, contact an accident solicitor and get them to sort it. Dont contact your insurer though as they will class it as an accident, even when its not your fault, and even if you dont make a claim.

Been there and done it.

 

[jesus]

The only thing is that he didn't leave his contact number so I'd have to either go round (which I don't want to do) or write to him and possibly include some body shop quotes for the repair. Would that be a good idea?

Thanks for the replies so far, it's always nice to hear others' opinions and there can be some good advice/reasoning on here.

 

[Knuckles]

Yellow pages/Facebook stalk him?

 

[GrahamS]

I'd just wait for a second hand bumper to turn up and put that on. I know that may take a while though.

How's your neck? (on the wind up)

 

[imprezaworks]

Get quotes, pop round to see him. Have a brew, agree some dollars, drive home.

 

[Addicted]

Yep I'd go round, if he's interested in going out of insurance he'll tell you, if not you'll get a door to the face. If the latter happens, then you just go through insurance!

 

[Goodj]

One point which has only been skirted over.
You can't reasonably expect the offender to front the entire cost of a respray on a panel which, as you said, wasn't exactly concourse fresh.
It may be worse now than it was before, but it was still an 8yr old Clio with as many stone chips and scuffs as any other (which hasn't spent its life under a heated blanket)

 

[imprezaworks]

But, the chap will be panicking so the chances are he will just say ok, unless its a daft amount. Id be amzed if he questioned a realistic bill.

 

[jesus]

I liked the 50/50 idea which seems fair enough and I get a cheaper bumper spray out of it. I had another quick look on my break at work and the scratches are quite deep (to the point where they wouldn't polish out) so I'll say that he's welcome to have an inspection of the damage of his own.

I may write to him and leave my contact number so I don't appear confrontational.

 

[Addicted]

Typical CS, scared to meet in person/phone :smiley:

Unless it was Mr T, or some triangle from the gym, go round imo - writing just makes you seem like a twerp imo - keep it to a meeting and it's more informal, and he's more likely to pay imo (at least that's how I'd see it).

 

[Matthew]

I wrote to the guy who went into me. Was quite nice actually having a talk via letter, over a week or so.

Old school.

 

[imprezaworks]

Me personally, just go round. Letters can get 'lost'

 

[dangerous dave]

I'll shag his misses if you want...

 

[car.crash]

Whiplash claim

 

[dangerous dave]

Has anyone thought of suggesting the guy gets some tuition?

 

[midge]

Split the cost of repainting the bumper? i'd just say it needed doing but now it needs doing sooner so you would be willing to split the cost.

 

[Gus]

Also worth checking that the parts above in yellow havent snapped. I have seen these snap quite easily and worth checking by getting your fingers under and gently lifting to see if there is any separation.

 

[Typhoon]

Isn't there x amount of time you have to report it to insurers? Letter would long it out. Just pop over there.

 

[bloke]

that's a £50 repair, tell him it's going to cost £150 but you'll split it down the middle with him for being so honest, this will leave you with £25 for a takeaway tea:smile:

 

[ADS_V6]

go round be polite,and as above get some cash ,bet he would rather that than claim insurance best of luck

 

[realnumber 1]

I don't know where people get the idea that there insurance will jump up for making a none fault claim?
Not saying you should go necessarily through them but if you do you shouldn't get stung come renewal.

 

[imprezaworks]

But will

 

[MicKPM]

I still say it will be faster to just take your car to a local body shop and say "can you repair and paint this please"

It'll cost you £120-180 tops

 

[realnumber 1]

But will 😧

I completely disagree with you on that tbh.

After my accident at the end of last year plus having my cams fitted/mapped and declared my insurance cost a whole £10 more this year!

 

[imprezaworks]

I knew someone who had someone bump into him, his insurance went up with that company

 

[realnumber 1]

I knew someone who had someone bump into him, his insurance went up with that company

Should've shopped around then:wink:.

 

[Matthew]

Toby, even if you don't claim you are more of a risk to the insurer as you've had a bump - regardless of fault!

Agreed though, that if you shop around at renewal it shouldn't really affect you but the same insurer usually puts the premium up.