Paying for damage to car- my fault?

If you know the make of his car, ring up a dealship of that make and ask for a quote for yourself. That will give you an idea.

Even small accidents cost a fortune these days. I think when you renew your insurance you need to look at your excesses and reduce them to a smaller amount. My daughter had an excess of £350 which I reduced to £150 it didn't make that much difference to the premium. Always take a claim through the insurance its less stressful.

Ha ha

Came out of the supermarket recently and found the wing mirror of my small new Skoda was missing and the plastic trim cracked. But there was no sign of any broken glass so in the end we concluded that someone had used a screwdriver to prise the mirror out. When we looked on line we could see why...we would have to buy the whole unit for about £90 which explains why someone just wanted the glass. DH bought a mirror from e-bay for £8 and has fixed the frame with superglue. Don't know how long it will all last. I can't get over the cheek of someone doing this in a busy car park though. Did think about asking if they had CCTV but probably not worth the hassle.

Something similar happened to me some years ago. It was my fault, knocked mirror when reversing out of my tight garage. Went to dealership and was quoted £300 just for the mirror. Bought one on line and got my local garage to fit it. Cost less than £100 plus my local garage fee which was not much. The mirror is electrically controlled. The cover off the old mirror just slipped onto the new one so no problem with colour match.

I think the guy has probably gone direct to the dealership and they will be top wack. As someone else is paying he won't shop around for cheapest price but if you put model no. year etc. onto a parts site you can get a part of the same model which for some reason has been scraped.

Well done you for your honesty!

Glad its sorted and turned out well ! I knocked the back 'shell' off my wing mirror reversing out of the garage ...was lucky, picked it up and clicked it back on ! Hubby did the same a few weeks back ...then drove over it going forward to straighten the car ! On basic Toyota it cost over 100 Euros ,,,most for the paint I think ! I could have bought one online for half but took it to the garage as they re sprayed it too in the correct paint ! Insurance didn't cover it ...but years ago when someone hit me, we simply exchanged details and the two insurers sorted it out (after they sent their expert to assess the damage !)

So lovely to hear that you knocked on the door and told the owner ! A friend was hit side on in a supermarket car park (no cctv then) and the person who hit her just drove away ....so well done for your honesty ! Pity there is not more about

Glad you've got it sorted Grandma. My car got scraped on the side when parked outside my house, I came out to find a note on my windscreen from the guy who'd done it giving me his contact details. I was bowled over by his honesty. The bill was far more than he expected but he paid up. We didn't go through his insurance but whatever his reasons for that, it was still a reminder there are good, decent people out there. It may cause a blip to your budget but you can hold you head high, you are one of the gooduns!

Thanks for all your advice. I have spoken to the guy and got all the details. Yes it is about right as he has electric sensors etc in the unit. He was genuinely sorry about the expense I think and said I might be better going through insurance. I had already decided that I would for my own peace of mind.

As for no claims - I'll hope for the best. They say honesty is the best policy!!!

Sadly for you sounds about right. Two years ago it cost us £350 to replace driver mirror on our Volvo S40 when speeding idiot from opposite direction took it off completely. Didn't stop of course. We paid up as excess was £250 and seemed better than affect no claims.

Do go through your insurance. I know that your £350 excess is a lot of money but it will probably cost at least that much.

I was in an accident some years ago where a smart Mercedes walloped into my boot, stopping it from opening. The driver wanted to settle in cash so we got a quote (very expensive incidentally, but from our normal garage) which he was happy to pay. However then he baulked about paying the VAT so we said we'd go through our insurance. It transpired that he had no insurance so faced a criminal charge - and probably other difficulties as he was a hospital doctor and from abroad. He did pay up eventually, though there was always the risk that he might simply disappear!

I'm now always suspicious about people not wanting to go through their insurance company as they may well not be insured.

tigger Are you still married to him?

A couple of years ago I was parked at our local garage/shop, I was in the shop when a young man came in to say he had hit my car. Very honest, we exchanged details & he went to get his Insurance details & met me back at my home where he rang his Insurance Company in front of me. I informed my Insurance Company as well. His Insurance Company paid for all repairs & hire car. This incident is noted on my Insurance now but does not affect my renewal.

For your protection I would hand this over to your Insurance Company & let them deal with it. Make sure you have all details of car owner's Insurance as well as registration & make & model of car + full name & address of owner.

Good luck

Many years ago I hired a car through my workplace as that was their policy. It was a model my husband was interested in so he decided to take a run in it. After reversing into a tree and tearing off the wing mirror he gave the keys to me and left me to take responsibility for causing the damage. The cost of repair then, some 20 years ago was £300 so £500 doesn't sound so bad really.

Does the person's car have a turn signal light incorporated into the assembly? That can get expensive, too. Was it a new or old car?

Have you seen the quote yourself? Ask to see the original... not a photocopy or scanned to you. People can 'change' things.

Insuring your no claims really works ours is about 10 to 15 pounds a year

Check your insurance policy, first. Many companies, when you renew, ask whether you've had an accident in the past year, irrespective of whether you've claimed or not.

Not telling the truth about this could invalidate your insurance, should you have another accident, so you may as well claim it on your policy in the first place.

A local bus company knocked my husbands wing mirror off whilst we were at traffic lights. We didn't go through their insurance. We insisted they used the main dealer for the repair and that cost over £500. I know this because we had to pay the bill and the bus company reembursed us. Depending on the make/model of the vehicle bare in mind it's not just the cost of the wing mirror, it will probably have to be painted and the costs for fitting can be ridiculous. Ring a main dealer of the make of vehicle and ask them how for a quote and then you will know if the price they are asking is correct. If you go through your insurance then your policy will go up and you will end up paying more.

Meant to add....that's the thanks you get for being honest. I wonder if the owner has just rang a main dealership and asked the price for replacing the mirror? No negotiation. There are plenty reputable small garages that could do the work equally well and probably charge half of what a main dealer would charge.

So glad I have an old car, generally held together by the mud splashes from living in a rural area. Has never let me down, passed it's MOT first time over the last 3 years that I have had it, fingers crossed it does the same this year. I don't think I would ever have a 'posh' car I'd be too worried about it. But with respect to the original advice requested, definitely ask for other quotes too or get quotes yourself then you can be sure they are genuine. Then hopefully you can decide whether or not it's worth just paying up or going through the Insurance and suffering the inevitable rise in the next premium.

There are scammers and chancers out there and the insurance protects you from them

Really J52 ? In my experience of running a small fleet of vans (and cars) I would say the insurance companies are only interested in settling the claim. They scratch each others back in terms of often paying out far too easily without investigating whether the claim is genuine. We uncovered a massive (and I am not exaggerating) scam involving false claims and people calming to be in cars that weren't etc. after one of our drivers was involved in a very minor incident. There were even doctors involved who were happy to write reports that their client/customer/patient had suffered whiplash etc. when they weren't even in the vehicle at the time. I was determined to take it all the way without any help from the insurance company (or the police who were more interested in staying very politically correct) . We did not get so much as a thank you from our insurance who told me that it was easier to just pay out than go legal. The scammers who were using various versions of a similar name had various car body parts stashed at their home that they were putting on vehicles and removing accordingly.

My advice to Grandma2213 would be to do some research yourself regarding the prices of replacing the mirror of the car concerned. £500 does seem excessive to me and going via your insurance (unless you have no claim protection) could mean you will pay it back 10 fold ! Good luck.

I think it's about right unfortunately. These days wing mirrors are fairly complex things with wiring for adjusting electronically and some have heating elements.

Grandma2213 Do it the legal way.Exchange insurance details and make sure you have his car reg.Did you have your phone with you to take a photograph? If the guy refuses to exchange details making note of his reg is important.
If this is your first claim although you may lose your no claims you can't be too careful with those who appear 'nice'.Had a similair encounter with a Mr Friendly Nice Guy several years ago.

I completely agree with J52.

Unfortunately I think it sounds about right, if someone had damaged my car I wouldn't be prepared to go anywhere other than the main dealership that I always use I'm afraid either. As mentioned previously electrics and even heat run through the mirrors and could even be a special/limited edition paint "job". Please don't regret doing the right thing though, accidents happen and you have been honest.