Parking scrape - hiding to nothing?

[kiethton]

So i've picked one up today - the first on my near immaculate 540i.

Needless to say I'm not best pleased, it looks like the car next to me has caught the far corner of my rear bumper with their car coming out of the space (very tight and diagonal)....luckily its just the paint which has come away in the total area of about a 20p piece (but longer and thinner, I've cleaned up the residue).

Luckily I know the car that was parked there for the duration (station car-park with the same cars in our little corner as far away as possible daily) and is in the vague CCTV coverage area, I plan on leaving a note saying I've obtained the coverage (I haven't) and asking for the costs of a SMART repair to be covered in a polite manner....

Am I on a hiding to nothing? What would the likely cost to touch in the corner of a 540i bumper (metallic grey) so I know what to ask for - £100?

[Sid's Dad]

Got to be worth a try. A lot depends on how you phrase the note. I'd go for a friendly, relaxed, but firm " you may not have noticed, but when you backed out yesterday you clipped my bumper. The CCTV shows it but you may not have noticed..." Etc etc.

Allows him to save face and do the decent thing. If you back him into a corner with a " you cheating scum I got you banged to rights" he'll just deny it and you're stuffed.

Let us know what happens....

[DickHerpes]

I know this is frustrating, and you want to get revenge/it sorted but given the size and location of this damage are you sure it couldn't have been picked up somewhere else? I practically guarantee that whoever did it isn't going to pay up, if they were going to they'd have left a note. If it's the same car parked next to you day in, day out check theirs for damage.

Might be worth a try though, the only thing you've got to lose is someone deciding to key your car because they took your threat the wrong way...

[williredale]

Can't help with the situation but I paid £132 to have my rear bumper filled and sprayed by chipsaway after I reversed into a concrete post. Chap did a good job of it too.

[kiethton]

Sid's Dad said:

Got to be worth a try. A lot depends on how you phrase the note. I'd go for a friendly, relaxed, but firm " you may not have noticed, but when you backed out yesterday you clipped my bumper. The CCTV shows it but you may not have noticed..." Etc etc.

Allows him to save face and do the decent thing. If you back him into a corner with a " you cheating scum I got you banged to rights" he'll just deny it and you're stuffed.

Let us know what happens....

This is my idea (after checking their car (they reverse in - i'm forward - same cars in the car-park day to day.

This was how i intended to phrase it:

'noticed a mark on the back bumper of my car yesterday that wasn't there when I parked, checked the store CCTV and it shows you catching me (and the damage on the side of yours - if there), understand it's very light and I'm sure it wasn't done intentionally etc. - happy to sort cheaply outside of insurance - please call me on xxxxxxxxx to discuss?'

Was definitely not there before - taken off the grime and dirt in a noticeable place

[topless360]

DickHerpes said:

I practically guarantee that whoever did it isn't going to pay up, if they were going to they'd have left a note.

I'd disagree, perhaps once they see the note and realise they have been caught red handed, they may just fess up and pay the costs.

Worth checking for damage though as mentioned, let us know how you get on OP.

[kiethton]

williredale said:

Can't help with the situation but I paid £132 to have my rear bumper filled and sprayed by chipsaway after I reversed into a concrete post. Chap did a good job of it too.

Thanks for that - it's so light just annoying on an otherwise immaculate car - plastic isn't scratched just the paint that's been removed so should be a touch up/quick blow over?

[topless360]

DickHerpes said:

I practically guarantee that whoever did it isn't going to pay up, if they were going to they'd have left a note.

I'd disagree, perhaps once they see the note and realise they have been caught red handed, they may just fess up and pay the costs.

Worth checking for damage though as mentioned, let us know how you get on OP.

[kiethton]

topless360 said:

DickHerpes said:

I practically guarantee that whoever did it isn't going to pay up, if they were going to they'd have left a note.

I'd disagree, perhaps once they see the note and realise they have been caught red handed, they may just fess up and pay the costs.

Worth checking for damage though as mentioned, let us know how you get on OP.

This is my hope, on the side of a light blue car its going to be fairly obvious....will leave the note come the morning and see what happens....think if phrased as above in a non-threatening manner it shouldn't be too bad, worst case is a little touch-up paint and detailing sponge

[williredale]

kiethton said:

williredale said:

Can't help with the situation but I paid £132 to have my rear bumper filled and sprayed by chipsaway after I reversed into a concrete post. Chap did a good job of it too.

Thanks for that - it's so light just annoying on an otherwise immaculate car - plastic isn't scratched just the paint that's been removed so should be a touch up/quick blow over?

This was the before on mine. Right in the middle of the bumper!

Chipsaway Bristol (Paul) picked my car up from my work, took it to their workshop, sprayed the whole bumper and delivered it back to me.

[kiethton]

williredale said:

kiethton said:

williredale said:

Can't help with the situation but I paid £132 to have my rear bumper filled and sprayed by chipsaway after I reversed into a concrete post. Chap did a good job of it too.

Thanks for that - it's so light just annoying on an otherwise immaculate car - plastic isn't scratched just the paint that's been removed so should be a touch up/quick blow over?

This was the before on mine. Right in the middle of the bumper!

Chipsaway Bristol (Paul) picked my car up from my work, took it to their workshop, sprayed the whole bumper and delivered it back to me.

That is a lot worse...mine (very bad picture) is below:



just annoying on an otherwise perfect car!

[Sid's Dad]

kiethton said:

Sid's Dad said:

Got to be worth a try. A lot depends on how you phrase the note. I'd go for a friendly, relaxed, but firm " you may not have noticed, but when you backed out yesterday you clipped my bumper. The CCTV shows it but you may not have noticed..." Etc etc.

Allows him to save face and do the decent thing. If you back him into a corner with a " you cheating scum I got you banged to rights" he'll just deny it and you're stuffed.

Let us know what happens....

This is my idea (after checking their car (they reverse in - i'm forward - same cars in the car-park day to day.

This was how i intended to phrase it:

'noticed a mark on the back bumper of my car yesterday that wasn't there when I parked, checked the store CCTV and it shows you catching me (and the damage on the side of yours - if there), understand it's very light and I'm sure it wasn't done intentionally etc. - happy to sort cheaply outside of insurance - please call me on xxxxxxxxx to discuss?'

Was definitely not there before - taken off the grime and dirt in a noticeable place

Bang on. Plus if you phrase it like that you won't piss him off, which is important as you're bound to bump into him again or park next to him. One last thing - if he denies it, give up gracefully and do the "lets not fall out - must have been mistaken.." Thing, so you don't have to dodge him every time you see him on the platform. Ultimately facing embarrassment every bloody morning is much worse than a scraped bumper....

[DUMBO100]

When I worked as a car salesman we had a fixed price deal with a local dent/scratch removal guy which was £40 per small imperfection or £100 to paint a panel in situ. We did have a trade discount so I'd guess £60-£70 for a 20 p piece sized repair

[kiethton]

And here is the other car...

[kiethton]

and good news, had a message - he is going to call later to see if it can be sorted outside of insurance - thought it was just his car damaged.

[williredale]

kiethton said:

and good news, had a message - he is going to call later to see if it can be sorted outside of insurance - thought it was just his car damaged.

Excellent news. Did you leave a note or did the chap speak to you?

[kiethton]

williredale said:

kiethton said:

and good news, had a message - he is going to call later to see if it can be sorted outside of insurance - thought it was just his car damaged.

Excellent news. Did you leave a note or did the chap speak to you?

Left a note and had a text what must have been an hour later - can only assume they work in one of the close buildings

[benjj]

Well done, you played it perfectly and will get the result you want.

You may also want to consider the following:

1) Perhaps you were taking a snooze on the back seat that morning. Is your neck aching? COMPO.

2) You're going to need a like for like hire car while yours is in for paint. I guess the most suitable car is a 550i for a few days. COMPO.

3) Has this whole thing made you feel scared and a bit odd? If so you may want to go off work on the sick for a few months. COMPO.

4) Any other dings and scratches? You may as well blame them all on this bloke and get your whole car sorted. COMPO.

[Sid's Dad]

Well played OP! Fair play and good manners wins the day!

When a very similar thing happened to me, we agreed £100 quid cash to repair a scrape on my two-week old car. I thought it was a reasonable amount to pay for an honest mistake, but I expected the repair to cost more. In the end, the dent man was able to polish it out and charged me £40, so I went back to the guy and gave him his £60 back.


Hope yours runs smoothly from here - and thanks for letting us know!

[kiethton]

So I've had a quote from my local chips away guy - £144 inc. VAT which is a bit steep IMO. Although he has ok'ed it I don't want it to be extortionate but do want a decent job. To complicate matters he wants an invoice to pass to his insurance co. if he goes that way - need to make sure that my name and Reg isn't on it if so as I can't be dealing with another thing on my record in that sense.

Can anybody recommend me somebody to do the job around the SE London/N Kent area (Orpington) - worst case I'll call a local dealer and see when their smart repairer is next on site to do their stock.

Edited by kiethton on Wednesday 22 January 22:57