Just got back from a nice week in Cornwall. Unfortunately going down one of their many lovely single track roads with vague passing places I encountered a rather large motor caravan. Stuck in the passing place up against a brick wall I could all but watch as it inched past. Pulled my wing mirror in to give a bit of extra room and I knew it was very tight. Must have thought he was through.... and then scraped along the back of my car. :(

This was on monday - got his details, but as I've been away haven't done anything about it. I was annoyed as if he thought he couldn't get through I don't know why he tried. Plus the vehicle was far to big for those roads!

so how much do you think this will cost to repair? And any ideas what kind of place can fix this? There is no dents but the paint is down to the metal on the rear wing and plastic scratched on the bumper. And should I be sending him the repair bill, or is it one of those things I'll just have to cough up for? This is the first accident with another vehicle I've been involved in so I'm not that sure about it all!

Eek not pretty, but luckily theres no dents.

Either claim through his insurance or get a quote from a local skoda approved (is this necessary?) bodyshop, add on 20% phone him up and see if wants to settle without involving insurance.

Good luck

That isn't too bad tbh mate.

A lot of that might come out with a good polish, t-cut and wax.

Though where the paint has come off it will need to be blown in or resprayed. Silver is a bugger to get a 100% match with.

I wouldn't say it's going to cost a huge amount.

I had a massive crease down the entirety of my 3/4 panel on the Corsa.. and it was a 3 door so it was big.

I had it filled in and resprayed... **** hot job perfect match for

And should I be sending him the repair bill, or is it one of those things I'll just have to cough up for? This is the first accident with another vehicle I've been involved in so I'm not that sure about it all!

Assuming you have fully comp insurance, from my experience, the simplest way is to simply phone up your insurance and fill out the forms and let them sort it out.

but the loss of no claims and excess would probably be a lot more than the cost of repair!

Should I notify them anyway, incase he claims off me or anything? I've heard that premiums can go up if you notify insurers of accidents even if you don't claim though!

If the guy is going to pay up then fair enough go down that route. From my own personal experience I've only ever got someone to pay out for damaged caused by them once.

Let your insurance deal with it as it wasn't your fault as you was not moving at the time. After all it's what you pay them for, loss of NCB should happen again as it's not your fault.

Good luck with not going through the insurance as it does save money but only if the other guy will play ball, still might be worth asking your insurance company for some advice my was very helpful when it came to settle a claim outside of the insurance company (after all it saves them money!)

but the loss of no claims and excess would probably be a lot more than the cost of repair!

Should I notify them anyway, incase he claims off me or anything? I've heard that premiums can go up if you notify insurers of accidents even if you don't claim though!

As polocoupe says, you shouldn't lose your NCB if it's not your fault, and whilst you have to pay the excess it'll be recovered by your insurer from the 3rd party (or if they admit liability up front then you may not even have to stump it up). The catch here is if the 3rd party contests it and the insurers settle 50/50. They shouldn't, but... Do you have any independent witnesses?

You should tell the insurer that you've had the knock anyway, as when they ask "any accidents?" they're not just asking about claims. And the bit about premiums going up makes sense - if you run into half a dozen other vehicles in 6 months you're a bit of a liability, claim or no claim

Ay up,

Just to re-iterate what one of the first posters said, get a quote add 20% (for the inconvenience) get them to send a cheque, jobs a good one.

I'm sure they'd rather settle out of insurance, rather than lose no claims bonus, providing your bill is going to be less than

Had some quotes now...

The bumper comes off bloody easily. All you do is remove the rear light clusters, and undo the two bolts which are under the clusters when they're fitted. Around 10 bolts to undo to remove, and 10 to do it up again. There might be some other bits like the rear arch liner where a few torx screws may be holding on to the bumper. I did a standard to vRS rear bumper swap in well under an hour, with plenty of time taken too.

It shouldnt affect your NCB as you were "Stationary" he was "moving", therefore he did the "hitting" and you were an "innocent 3rd party".

Just one word of warning. Before you proceed with anything with the insurance company make sure you are fairly sure how it will affect your no claims and your premium. I lost 3 years worth when I was hit by an uninsured driver several years ago. Admitedly I was only about 24 at the time but I was seriously stung with my premiums for the next several years and it cost me far more than getting my car fixed myself would have.

Just got back from a nice week in Cornwall. Unfortunately going down one of their many lovely single track roads with vague passing places I encountered a rather large motor caravan. Stuck in the passing place up against a brick wall I could all but watch as it inched past. Pulled my wing mirror in to give a bit of extra room and I knew it was very tight. Must have thought he was through.... and then scraped along the back of my car. :(

This was on monday - got his details, but as I've been away haven't done anything about it. I was annoyed as if he thought he couldn't get through I don't know why he tried. Plus the vehicle was far to big for those roads!

so how much do you think this will cost to repair? And any ideas what kind of place can fix this? There is no dents but the paint is down to the metal on the rear wing and plastic scratched on the bumper. And should I be sending him the repair bill, or is it one of those things I'll just have to cough up for? This is the first accident with another vehicle I've been involved in so I'm not that sure about it all!

:bigcry::bawl: ouch

It shouldnt affect your NCB as you were "Stationary" he was "moving", therefore he did the "hitting" and you were an "innocent 3rd party".

Correct, your ncb will be unaffected. BUT (speaking from work colleagues experience), you will have to declare the accident claim even if not your fault come renewal. At this point your basic premium WILL increase, even though you still have the same NCB. If the insurance can be avoided and they want to pay, I would always go that route. Most of the damage looks easily sorted. Give the area a good clean and polish, and I think you will find most of it goes completely as all it looks like is paint transfer from the other vehicle. The only area left should be near the edge.

Update then: He claims he wasn't moving at the time, had the handbrake on, he was in the passing place and I did the damage. I know he's lying, but I think I'm just going to have to take this one on the chin as it would be more expensive to lose my excess plus 4 years no claims! :(

Tried contacting him and remonstrating about the blatant lying?! That person want's to take a good look at himself in the mirror. I can't believe he'd just change the story like that!

I still think it will be a relatively inexpensive repair.

I cannot believe what the other drivers said!

I have been to Cornwall this week and stayed in a Caravan at the bottom of a winding country lane just big enough for 1 car with a few passing places along the way. I was travelling along one day and another car was approaching and I had visions of my car ending up like yours :eek: Then I looked in my rear view mirror when I was about to reverse and my dad was right behind in his Range Rover Sport so the other driver had no choice but to back up! I thought if my dad can get through then I defintely can

Topgear and Brainiac need to step up their caravan killing :(