Advice needed - Hit n Run, but note left...

[500tops]

Right guys; not too familiar with the insurance claims sketch, so I'm looking to you good folks for words of wisdom!

I parked my trusty Starlet outside my council lock-up earlier and took the other car contained within out for a blast. Upon my return some goon had stoved my bumper in, but they did leave a note and kindly left a contact number. I have spoken to the woman - whose house actually back onto the garages; she was very apologetic and asked how I wished to proceed... She's been driving for 38 years and has never had an accident and I've been driving for 21 years and am in the same boat!

I like the car, it's reliable and rust free - I guess if I claimed on her insurance they would write it off? I would like to keep the thing, but would like the cosmetic damage repaired. What's the best way to go about it and how do I stand, legally?

[derskine]

I would just get a new bumper, indicator and take the cost on the chin.

[beko1987]

I'd be damn tempted to price up a red second hand bumper and ask for cash if she seems ok...

[richardmorris]

Well she hit a very red parked car. Get it costed at your local body repair place and give her the estimate. If she says no then tell her you're claiming against her insurance and get the details. I bet she'd change her mind then. Anyone who hits a bright parked car that hard really needs to stop driving.

[stripped fred]

Why not get a couple of quotes to fix it and let her know how much it will cost. She's obviously a decent sort leaving a note when many people nowadays wouldn't bother. I would get them quite quickly and keep in contact with her so she doesn't think you've forgotten. If you can source a replacement bumper that would help keep the cost down.

[beko1987]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-STARLET-1996-Front-Bumper-/131563698797?fits=Car+Make%3AToyota%7CModel%3AStarlet&hash=item1ea1ceba6dplus paint costs

 

Or, if she's really fit and lets you do her then http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-Starlet-Front-Bumper-/141737350113?hash=item21003453e1, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/U-POL-Davids-Isopon-P38-Easy-Sand-Car-body-filler-/111459658991?hash=item19f3836cefand http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Machinery-Enamel-Paint-Enamel-Paint-Royal-Mail-Post-Box-Van-Red-1Ltr-/171714775715?hash=item27faff8aa3

 

Dont forget to lick her eyeballs first though

[Jim Bell]

£150 cash and buy her a bunch of flowers. But then hit her with them.

[mat_the_cat]

Nice that there are honest people around.

 

  On 14/08/2015 at 21:28, beko1987 said:

I'd be damn tempted to price up a red second hand bumper and ask for cash if she seems ok...

 

Same here...I'd bet that the increase in her insurance would be more than this would cost, and somehow it seems like good karma to save her some money in 'reward' for doing the decent thing.

[500tops]

She's a rug muncher.

[beko1987]

Tell her to let you film her and her fittest mate and you'll leave the dent in there...

[beko1987]

The Meriva got caught on the arse when we lived in the flat and had to park in a hotel car park. Went and spoke to the manager, who seemed a little *too* keen to not go through insurance. It got hit by one of their taxis. I wasnt wanting to go through insurance anyway, so got £120 cash and me and swmbo got battered at their expense one night.

 

It put a massive scuff on the back corner, I machined it back, polished it up and black permanant marker over the paint spiders. Have to re-do the pen every so often though... We took the cash on the holiday we were going to 4 weeks later...

 

Since then, Amy's backed it into a concrete bollard a bit and it's been hit whilst parked again. Bloody glad I didnt make it have a new bumper through insurance, it would have been pointless now!

[beko1987]

Would most of that not pop out with a heat gun and your foot? Then a cheap refurb at a local place?

[Lacquer Peel]

Women are only good for sex, lol.

[MarvinsMom]

for something like that the last lot i'd get involved would the thieves and robbers insurance cos they will just write the toyota off.

 

give her a call, see if she is agreeable to settle the bill for cash and then get a couple of quotes, or if you have one prefered place just the one.

 

get the car fixed, and either get the lassy to settle up with you or with the body shop.

 

this is what i did when as a young foolish nipper i hit a car in tesco's car park.

 

we exchanged numbers, the guy i hit sorted out a quote, got the work done and i paid for it.

 

no insurance, no loss adjusters/insurance/no claims/excess and everyone was happy.

 

pleased that the other driver has done that, leave a number as it restores some of the jaded view of the world that i have, and its a shame cos the starlet looked a nice old car....

[MrDuke]

The only thing you should need to actually buy, is the light cluster. As Beko87 says, the bumper will probably come right with careful* pressure*, and any half-competent garage would bend the wing straight in return for some beers.

[dollywobbler]

I think I'd want to get the bumper off to check the damage, but agree that if she's good enough to leave a note, perhaps she's good enough to pay for a repair. Even if it's just for some second hand bits. Totally agree that the insurance clowns should be kept out of it. Not on the Queen's highway so none of their business. Unless you like being pestered for personal injury claims every five minutes. I shouldn't think the fact you weren't in the car would stop them... arseholes.

[cobblers]

Ignoring all this bollocks about the fact that she is a woman so you should be able try and provoke intercourse with her videos of it with some other woman she has met, if you can keep the insurance out of the way then you are doing both of you a favour. 

 

An insurance repair would look 95% right but you and her would both pay for it with increased premiums and nuisance phone calls for 5 years. (Someone reversed into our lasses car 3 years ago and she still gets a couple of calls every week asking if she wants to claim for an injury)

That said they would most likely write your car off anyway as it would be £500+ for a new wing, bumper, indicator and paint and an insurance place (I'm not knocking the car but it's "old" so "worthless")

A DIY repair with a 2nd hand bumper, indicator and touched up wing would maybe be £50 for a bumper, £20 for an indicator and £120 for paint. Maybe 85% right but no cost to you  insurance wise and less than the third parties excess. 

 

If people insist on you turning a car accident into low level intercourse you could always add £25 to the quote and "sort by price" on adultwork.com

[Stanky]

A nice lad slid into the back of the Almera last winter on an icy bit of road on the way to work, was happy to provide details - I weighed up the options and decided to call him and ask for £50 to cover my time and effort to sort out the damage to my car and I'd say no more about it.

 

If you value the car, work out what it'll cost you to fix youself and then add 20% on top to cover the effort and a few beers and suggest she pays you that and you say no more. The fact she has left her details makes her more honest than 90% of the twats out there, so don't unfairly penalise her IMHO.

 

the danger of going through insurance is that an otherwise good car gets cubed as 'uneconomical to repair' when there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it. unless there is damn good reason, sort it outside of insurance.

 

I agree with the karma point - we pride ourselves on being able to bring shite back from beyond where any normal person would just weigh it in, so put that ethos into practice & post the fixage thread up on here for us all to enjoy.

 

and maybe bosh her as well, and post saucy pic in the cars and girls thread too

[Pillock]

I dunno, driving for 38 years means she's hitting 60 so she'd have to be pretty special to make me want to take some jiggery-pokery over cold hard cash compensation. 

 

Not sure the bumper would pop out without leaving a mark, looks like it will have stressed the paint as it's on a corner so might crack and flake. Might get away with reusing that bumper, and just repainting it though. Same with the wing. I'd probably have the parts out, fix it anyway, see what the paint situation is like and then just charge her whatever it's cost you plus a box of wine.

[scaryoldcortina]

I just went through this with my neighbour. His MGZR Express was parked outside of his friends house, he was inside playing GTA5. They heard a bang.....

 

 

There was a locked and driverless fiesta making friends with his nearside wing. It lives over the road and up the bank - someone didn't put the handbrake on.

 

Fiesta owner was apologetic and interested in settling without insurance involvment, and J didn't want his car written off. I got some quotes together and a second hand wing, some bumper repairs and a bit of paint was going to be just north of £200.

 

Next day, the woman had changed her mind. Her insurer said that they would fix her fiesta, give both parties a courtesy car and settle the claim on the MG and all* it would cost would be her £100 excess. J got an insignia for almost a month while they faffed around, and eventually they gave him £1100 for the car, made it cat C and let him keep the salvage. It got a yellow wing flung on and the bumper cabletied, The sting of lower value is tempered by the free grand.

 

And we wonder why car insurance is so bloody expensive!

[D Spares & Tyres]

Go through insurance

 

Your car will be deemed not worth repairing. Say you want paying out for it and keep the salvage. You should end up with around £400 plus your car.

 

If she has admitted liability, her insurance will pay out so you won`t lose your no claims and your car won`t end up on the register

 

Then buy her some flowers for her honesty

[Taff]

 

"big sigh"

 

give her a call, arrange to meet for coffee and sort it out as grown ups.

 

Please

[Cavcraft]

  On 14/08/2015 at 21:29, richardmorris said:

Well she hit a very red parked car. Get it costed at your local body repair place and give her the estimate. If she says no then tell her you're claiming against her insurance and get the details. I bet she'd change her mind then. Anyone who hits a bright parked car that hard really needs to stop driving.

 

 

Disagree. Nobody is perfect and at least she was good enough to have left a note, a lot of people would have just done one and a lot more people are probably (wrongly) inclined to do in future if that's what they face.

Also, it was outside a lock-up, so maybe the other person was reversing out or something and didn't see the car. Yes, they should have spotted it but nobody is hurt. 

 

I'd price up a second hand set of bits for it and see what happens, making sure you record it's a verbal agreement not to go through the insurance.

[garbaldy]

Just talk to her and sort it out as taff said.

I was sat in our car outside school dance waiting on daughter with side lights on, a guy pulls up in a jeep and reverses into the front of the car breaking the grill with his spare wheel, as he was getting out I asked if he was blind and then I saw his thick rimmed glasses and I felt a right arsehole,

He was a sound bloke and he sent his daughter in to school with a letter and print out of all parts required to fix my car, I still felt a bit shitty about the way I spoke to him so fixed it myself and left the poor guy alone,

There are plenty decent folk about and I'm sure she will be willing to pay.

[New POD]

Some bloke I worked with, drove into the back of me as we drove out of the works car park, and it was his 5th accident in 3 years of driving.

 

He'd smashed the rear light, bent the rear panel, with a crease inside the boot and the bumper was bent.

 

I got 3 quotes, and he paid the cheapest. £450 vs £800.  Car was worth about £850 at the time.

 

I was changing jobs, and needed the Mk2 cavalier daily, so put it on my list to arrange, as replacing the rear panel would take the car out of action for a couple of days,

 

to get it through the MOT about 3 weeks later I fitted a second hand light cluster from a scrap yard.

 

I guess all my bad karma has come from my "need" to take my family on holiday and spending the money on that instead.  About 2 years later I sold the car for £450. Still with Dent.

[New POD]

A mate of mine had a mk1 astra that was almost worthless (oh how I wish I'd bought the salvage and owned a barn), which was damaged by a bin lorry.

 

He had 3 quotes from £600 to £1200, and only had TPFF.

 

The insurance company of the bin lorry, tried to get him to write it off, but he ended up taking them to the small claims court for £1200. Which included some loss of use.  He repaired the car with second hand parts, about 3 days after the accident.

 

Nobody turned up to the court, so he was kicking himself for not inflating the claim a bit.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

  On 14/08/2015 at 21:29, richardmorris said:

Well she hit a very red parked car. Get it costed at your local body repair place and give her the estimate. If she says no then tell her you're claiming against her insurance and get the details. I bet she'd change her mind then. Anyone who hits a bright parked car that hard really needs to stop driving.

Tripe!!!

[fordperv]

As said give her a call, have a chat and offer her the chance to repair it before going the insurance route

[barefoot]

If you go through insurance, you'll both be declaring a claim and paying a loaded premium for the next five years.

[Christine]

/\ W.H.S /\    And you'll have to remember the date ... time...place...for 5 years