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Someone scraped the side of my mums car today - didn't bother to stop - and so we are left with a big scrape down the drivers door, rear door, rear wheel arch, rear bumper and scrape on rear alloy wheel.
The car is relatively old but was in good condition, only done around 20,000 miles; to be honest it isn't used that much.
My mum is going to go through the insurance but I'm unsure it is worth it, after paying the excess and increased premiums.
It's a matallic colour, how much do we recon to spray the 4 panels and blend in? There is a dent on the arch as well which will need fixing.
Would £300/panel seem ok? £100 for an alloy refurb? So £1,300 ish total.
There is cctv on the back lane so maybe the police might find the culprit and we can claim off their insurance.
If it’s old there’s a good chance it will be written off. Get some firm quotes before going to insurance company.
The insurance company might intimate that they will write the car off. If so, you can just change your mind and tell them that you don't want to make a claim and you are just notifying them. Then you can either leave it or get it repaired without it becoming a cat car and you having to buy it back etc - if you weren't aware
Obv. You have to notify them even if you don't claim through them.
300 a panel is very low at insurance repair prices.
I'd expect 500 upwards.
My 15 year old v70 was close to being written off from needing a new bumper and associated parts when someone hit it while parked last year. I think they valued it around 5.5k and the repairs were just under 3.5. they worked on a 65% value for write off.
Tbh unless it's a very valuable car, I'm afraid I suspect they'll write that off 🙁
What car and how old?
Its a Vauxhall Astra - webuyanycar valued it at £2,400 - in good condition!
So yeah if it was £500 a panel, plus repair to the arch and alloy wheel......
I was quoted £650 just to respray a bonnet last year (due to pealing paint). Straightforward job.
It still has peeling paint! 🤣
Obv. You have to notify them even if you don’t claim through them.
Sorry - I’d be getting quotes first. A car valued at £2400 is certain to be written off for that amount of damage. They’ll file it under ‘not worth the hassle of chasing’. And your premiums will rocket.
I was just pointing out that even if his mum decides not to bother claiming through the insurance, she still legally has to inform them of the Incident.
It will be recorded as an incident, no claim made. If she doesn't inform them, her insurance would be voided most probably.
The insurance company might intimate that they will write the car off. If so, you can just change your mind and tell them that you don’t want to make a claim and you are just notifying them. Then you can either leave it or get it repaired without it becoming a cat car and you having to buy it back etc – if you weren’t aware
Someone asked something similar a while back and there was a discussion about this.
IIRC the optimal solution is to get them to pay out the cash for the repair, and not write it off (and then not bother repairing it unless you really want to).
I'd do that (claim), my car got written off and even before they settled in my favor my premiums barely changed. Car was only worth £900 to them as a write off, and my premium went up by £30 or so.
Don't think it can be left like it is - looks really bad if I'm honest!
TheGingerOne
Full Member
The insurance company might intimate that they will write the car off. If so, you can just change your mind and tell them that you don’t want to make a claim and you are just notifying them.
I would not do that as it's what I did years back and regretted it. As an fyi I informed my insurance id been hit in a slow speed shunt, very minor damage done to paint that was so tiny I wasn't going to make any claim on the other driver.
Didn't think anything of it till the next year when I changed insurance company and got a nasty letter saying I hadn't declared a no fault claim/incident. I had to then declare that bloody incident for the next 5 or 6 years every renewal with a new company...
I had 2 panels done recently and it was £1k cash, would have been more if I’d gone through the insurance.
That was by a fairly reputable place, I could have got it done cheaper at dodgy back street place but I wanted it done properly.
if I remember correctly scratch repair is about £300-£400 per scratch/panel. If this is more substantial bodywork and paint then I’d guess this might come in at £2,000 - £5,000.
Based on only a couple of past inquiries. One of which was somewhat less than what you describe OP - bonnet rock dent, short key scratches on a rear door and rear panel, small scratch on hatch door frame - £6,500
Any pics? If it looks really bad there's a good chance some of the panels need more than just paint
Thanks all.
There is a dent on the rear wheel arch, so that will require more than paint. Otherwise it just looks like deep scrapes on the side of the car.
As said I'd think you are looking at around £1,500 minimum, probably more. I don't want my mum to pay out that herself to avoid insurance costs, we'll see what the insurance says.
I had half my 20yr old VW Golf v6 resprayed last year, 2 door version, Passenger side door to the back of the car. Cost about £1100.
My tame (top notch) painter is ~£200 a panel assuming there's no dents/rust and its a relatively simple prep and paint job.
if you go through the insurance they will write it off.
You either repair it yourself and dont tell the insurance (its going to increase your premium and youll have to find a new car for the payout (good luck with that)
or pay a couple of grand and sort it yourself.
no winners im afraid.
I would take it to a local body shop and get them to quote.
Prices vary massively through out the country and locally garage to garage
the term suggested above from another thread is 'Cash in lieu of repair'.
If it's really only scratches & a small bump it may be wise to look at polishing the worst of it out and getting the dent pulled. probably won't be invisible, but may well be perfectly acceptable on an older car. I've completely polished out a number of significant scratches on cars that people swore would need a repaint. obviously depends on how deep the scratch is, and whether there is any cracking/flaking etc.
Also, an insurance repair is inevitably more expensive than going to a body shop direct.
if you go through the insurance they will write it off.
You either repair it yourself and dont tell the insurance (its going to increase your premium and youll have to find a new car for the payout (good luck with that)
or pay a couple of grand and sort it yourself.
no winners im afraid.
or just ignore it
My front wheel arch (metal) and front bumper (plastic) got lightly scratched recently. The two quotes i got were £625 & £400, so it’s worth shopping around .
Rustoleum and some foam rollers. £50.
I’d take it to a body shop first and get a quote, then decide from there.
You might also find that a smart repair type place would do it for you to a not quite as good but perfectly acceptable standard for less.
Stickers
My daughter's car is scratched and dented all the way down the passenger side. It was like that when she bought it, and as a result it was very reasonably priced. She doesn't give a monkeys and it doesn't actually affect anything at all about using the car as a car. The bits that were through to bare metal had been badly touched in with nearly the right colour... enough that they're not rusting. Being her first car, she's added a few little ones of her own to various corners but it makes zero difference 😉
I'd say unless it's dangerous or stopping a door closing/sealing properly, just do the same - paint on any bare metal and simply keep driving it dented. Tho keep trying to pin down the offender, in which case by all means get a proper job done through their insurance.
A scratch right down the side?
I think this is going to be the best solution.
This is the damage that was done to my Octavia by an idiot driver:
And this is what they did to their own vehicle, she was still arguing the toss with the insurance company a couple of years after - thankfully she openly admitted responsibility to my insurers over the phone the following morning. I just had it MOT’d to show roadworthiness, kept the car and accepted 2/3 of the value, which was about £650.
When someone scratched my car door few years ago, almost between the two panels, I got the car body shop here in the North East to fix it. Cost around £450. The dent was not deep (flatten the side of the door a bit) but the scratch was about a feet wide on one of the door. This is the car body shop I used and they are friendly and reasonable. Give them a try if you are in the area. Speak to Alan.
https://www.alspray.co.uk/index.html