Am I an idiot?

It is always disappointing when you act honestly and honourably and you get the feeling someone else is taking the P. however it is pricey to get deep scratches sorted.

All you can do Phoenix is put it down to experience and take a photo of damage ..... if this should ever happen again..which it won't because, no, you are not stupid, just human!

Thanks, Penstemmon, you wouldn't believe the number of people that have said I should have just driven off!

I feel for you Phoenix. I recently made a similar mistake except I was trying to manouver my three week old car into the tiny garage I bought when I moved to a smaller place. Scraped the passenger side, not a huge amount of damage, but it cost me €300 for my carelessness. I shall only use the garage for storage now. It's too small for a car.

I hope the lady whose car you damaged will be reasonable about it.(((hugs)))

Not an idiot phoenix. They are probably trying it on.

Hope you're ok after your news.

If they have taken it to a main agent, £260 is not unusual, rather than touch up, they would re-spray the whole panel. I had a quote fo one panel being re-sprayed, the paint alone was £70 without the cost of repair and the labour, and that was from a local chap. Decided to live with the dent.
And, no, you were not an idiot, just honest. Also, if someone else noticed and reported it, you could be in trouble withe police.

Not an idiot phoenix - you did the right thing and trusted that the other person would do the same. Any work on the body if a car is horrifically expensive, if the other driver doesn't know how to repair scratches the quote could be accurate. I hope the next one is lower and especially that you are OK. for you.

Thanks kitty The owner of the other car sent me a scanned copy of the estimate from the repair place, so I don't know how I could tell if they were trying it on, I do tend to think the best of people, perhaps more fool me!

You did the right thing leaving the note. Cameras everywhere these days (for one thing).

I don't think she is trying it on. You will see the garage invoice before you pay it, won't you?

Ah. You've seen the estimate. It's a bugger, but you will have to pay up.

I guess, if she had someone repair it with T-cut or the like, it could lower the value of her car. She would want to have it done properly.

You might want to suggest that the garage sends you the bill when the work is done, phoenix That way you'll know the woman is not pocketing the money and doing a quick touch up job herself.

She probably thinks you'll claim on your insurance so isn't bothered about getting a lower quote. You did the right thing though!

Thank you all for the responses, I do try to adopt the "do as you would be done by" thing, however it goes completely out of the window over certain things, like who should have the left over cold sausage, which I might just casually eat whilst clearing up!

The company may have included the cost of a loan car, most do.
I'm sorry for you, but if it's your fault, not a lot you can say.

Thanks again, she did mention something about that quote was if I was paying, it would be different if it went through the insurance don't quite get that?

Anyway, as the excess on my insurance is £200, then we won't be going down that route!

shit things happen. Don't blame yourself. No one was hurt that's the main thing. The Monday after I had my horrible news I pranged my car in the works car park, I did the same thing in the same place the next day! I've been parking there for years. I think our spatial awareness goes array when we're upset. What ever your bad news was I hope it's not too awful and sympathy

Try ChipsAway for a second quote: www.chipsaway.co.uk/ They tend to be a bit cheaper.

A lady did this to me when I was parking at a hospital - I watched her do it - she just took the turn a bit too wide. I could not have stopped her. She had loads on her mind as her OH was very ill. It turned out her son was a ChipsAway guy, so it all got sorted. Poor lady.

You did of course do the right thing in fessing up. But it is chilling to think that insurance company funded repairs get a higher quote. No wonder premiums are so high.

Most insurance companies give you a hire car for the duration of the repair, two weeks when I wrote my Astra off a couple of years ago.

I think you were absolutely right to do what you did - I expect a lot of people have got back to their cars to find damaged paintwork, or worse. It is very upsetting and more so because you know that someone has deliberately evaded owning up and paying. Well done to you for being honest.

I suppose it's possible that the lady in question has got a genuine estimate - having paintwork sorted out can be very expensive.

Phoenix She might not be trying it on. My neighbour ran into the side of my car while reversing down his drive. He had little damage but my car needed £500 of repairs. It depends on what part of the car hits what. More than one panel needed to be repaired. Like you he owned up immediately.
On another occasion a lady hit my car in sainsbury's carpark and waited for me to come out to exhange details. She paid for the repairs. Again I would not have noticed the damage, a scrape in this instance, and would not have known how or where it happened by the time I did.
These examples of doing the right thing have really humbled me. If I am ever in the same situation I will do as you did and take the cost on the chin.

No, you're not an idiot, you're an honest person with nothing to feel bad about

I don't think the other driver is trying to make a fool of you. Our car was scraped recently and we had it repaired at a garage we trust. The bill was around £300, the same as our excess, and both facts came as a shock to me We didn't have a note under our windscreen, so had to pay up ourselves. And that's the last time I ever let DH sort out the car insurance renewal...

All in all, you did the right thing and she is probably not taking advantage of you.

If it's a respray of a side panel it is probably about right, and somewhere else could be even more expensive.

I 'bumped into someone' in the car park when I had just started a new job; because I was new I didn't argue that we had both been going for the same space at the same time, me going in forwards and him reversing very fast indeed.
He decided it was definitely my fault! and said it was probably only his number plate that needed replacing, then came back and said I had done £250 worth of damage. I meekly paid up to save any hassle.

One dark and stormy night while builders were in next door with many vans, DH reversed out of our drive into the back of a black van which he just didn't see-it was a foul night! It seemed to be just the light broken but, oh no, paintwork too!
anyway that cost us £250-gulp!
I agree you just have to honest and Hoover it up as they say.
My dear sister got into her car at the supermarket when she heard a noise at the back of her car so got out to be approached by a woman from her car nearby-she got the impression that she jolly well knew she'd hit sister's car with her trolley and was just going to drive off. They both checked car and found a bump. The other lady said she hadn't done it, it could have been done any time. Dear sister said well doesn't look like we're going to agree at which point other lady hopped smartly into her car and drove off!