Kid's accidental damage
Discussion
I think this may be more of a moral issue than a "legal" one.
My lad "may" have accidentally put a couple of tiny chips in the neighbours car, as he dropped his bike near it whilst playing, their kid made a song and dance saying that he had hit the car (the kid is a s
t stirrer to be fair), the trouble is that my lad is too honest and he doesn't know if he has hit it or not. He did say "sorry" to the car owner, who was in turn a bit of a dick with him, as apparently "sorry is just a word" 
.
The main issue we have is that we have a very akward relationship with them, for some reason they ignore us, and purposely ignore our "hellos", we used to get a "hello" back, but for some odd reason last year, they started to behave like this. My wife wouldn't let me confront them and ask "what's their problem?", as she's not too bothered
.
Anyway, back on track, who's to say that my lad actually did the damage? as it could have already been there. I questioned it, as the bike would have had to have bounced off the door and hit it again and bounced off again, as there's no downwards scratch (I'm not saying that this is beyond the realms of possibility). But as we don't want to seem to be the assholes, we did say that we would pay for the repair.
They haven't come to us with a bill yet, but is it more than reasonable to request a few detailed quotes, so that we are assured that we are only paying for the alleged damage and not for other remedial work, I am very cynical when it comes to other people's morales and this was peaked when I saw a mobile SMART repair person looking at their other car as well.
Nothing may come from it, but I would like to be armed with "my rights", as I am unsure where I stand in this.
My lad "may" have accidentally put a couple of tiny chips in the neighbours car, as he dropped his bike near it whilst playing, their kid made a song and dance saying that he had hit the car (the kid is a s
t stirrer to be fair), the trouble is that my lad is too honest and he doesn't know if he has hit it or not. He did say "sorry" to the car owner, who was in turn a bit of a dick with him, as apparently "sorry is just a word" . The main issue we have is that we have a very akward relationship with them, for some reason they ignore us, and purposely ignore our "hellos", we used to get a "hello" back, but for some odd reason last year, they started to behave like this. My wife wouldn't let me confront them and ask "what's their problem?", as she's not too bothered
.Anyway, back on track, who's to say that my lad actually did the damage? as it could have already been there. I questioned it, as the bike would have had to have bounced off the door and hit it again and bounced off again, as there's no downwards scratch (I'm not saying that this is beyond the realms of possibility). But as we don't want to seem to be the assholes, we did say that we would pay for the repair.
They haven't come to us with a bill yet, but is it more than reasonable to request a few detailed quotes, so that we are assured that we are only paying for the alleged damage and not for other remedial work, I am very cynical when it comes to other people's morales and this was peaked when I saw a mobile SMART repair person looking at their other car as well.
Nothing may come from it, but I would like to be armed with "my rights", as I am unsure where I stand in this.
Well if you've already said you'll pay for the repair there isn't an awful lot of point pondering whether your son did it or not?
Assuming the quote isn't egregious (a smart repair for two chips? could probably get a touch up kit and do it yourself) then attempting to maintain a reasonably harmonious relationship with your neighbour is probably worth a small sacrifice. Your missus might not be fussed about missing hellos, but it might be a different story if they start get antagonistic in other ways (parking, noise, etc)
Assuming the quote isn't egregious (a smart repair for two chips? could probably get a touch up kit and do it yourself) then attempting to maintain a reasonably harmonious relationship with your neighbour is probably worth a small sacrifice. Your missus might not be fussed about missing hellos, but it might be a different story if they start get antagonistic in other ways (parking, noise, etc)
If the car is generally tatty then who knows when those chips appeared. But if largely pristine all over except where your lads bike fell then who knows.
I'd just do what you are doing, wait for 3 quotes and go from there.
As an aside I keep my car fairly pristine (not difficult really). But I have a friend whose house is in a long row of terraces. Whenever I park there the kids are playing football in the street, doing spins/jumps and stuff on skateboards, hide and seek around the cars and all usual kid stuff. Doubt I'd get anywhere if one of the kids damaged my car, it sort of goes with the territory of living in that kind of neighbourhood.
I'd just do what you are doing, wait for 3 quotes and go from there.
As an aside I keep my car fairly pristine (not difficult really). But I have a friend whose house is in a long row of terraces. Whenever I park there the kids are playing football in the street, doing spins/jumps and stuff on skateboards, hide and seek around the cars and all usual kid stuff. Doubt I'd get anywhere if one of the kids damaged my car, it sort of goes with the territory of living in that kind of neighbourhood.
meatballs said:
For a small area of smart repair it should be something like £70-120 as a ballpark?
Smart repairs are the work of the devil, and you can’t just blow in a small patch on a door for example, as you have to lacquer to panel edges or to swage lines, otherwise it looks horrific.It also heavily depends what colour it is. If it’s something like black or an easy to match colour, then they could fix the scratch, blow colour over it, lacquer the whole door and it’ll be about £150+vat.
If it’s something like silver or grey, you are absolutely f
ked, as you cannot blow a patch of colour in as you will always see it. You may well end up painting 2 or 3 panels, just for one little scratch, to blend the colour out. £550+Vat.It’s it’s something like Pearl white, Renault flame red, or Mazda Pearl ‘soul red’ then you are utterly screwed beyond belief. One small scratch on a door could end up costing £600-800 to fix.
Paynewright said:
Isn’t that what insurance is for? Accidental and unfortunate.
Nearly all damage caused to cars is accidental and unfortunate. But if it was caused by someone else's negligence, it's not unreasonable to expect them (or their parents if it's a child), or their insurers, to pay. As opposed to your own insurance paying and having to pay an excess and suffer loss of no claims bonus. I’ll probably get stick for this. My recently purchased black car with lots of metalflake has a couple of areas that the dealer was supposed to correct. I called out a smart repairer who candidly said that due to having to lacquer the whole panel and working outside I might end up with more issues than before. I’ve decided that there is an honesty to a small touched up scratch than a seemingly painted panel which might raise questions from future potential owners. I’m not having the repairs done now even though I wasn’t paying for it.
Mikebentley said:
I’ll probably get stick for this. My recently purchased black car with lots of metalflake has a couple of areas that the dealer was supposed to correct. I called out a smart repairer who candidly said that due to having to lacquer the whole panel and working outside I might end up with more issues than before. I’ve decided that there is an honesty to a small touched up scratch than a seemingly painted panel which might raise questions from future potential owners. I’m not having the repairs done now even though I wasn’t paying for it.
Ok, I’ll go first with giving you stick.No one, apart from a tiny handful of car anoraks will ever notice that a car has had a panel painted. Seriously.
If a panel was painted to a good standard, and the factory finish lacquer matched, like any good body shop can do, even absolute anoraks would be hard pressed to tell that there had been paintwork done.
Why even discuss it with smart repairers? These lot are (mostly) people who paint cars outside in the weather and the dust, using inferior products that air dry rather than having to be baked in a booth.
If you want your car fixed, use a proper body shop with a proper spray booth. They won’t be anymore expensive than a smart repairer and the finished product will be better.
A properly refinished/repainted panel will always look better than a touched in mark or scratch.
Trust me on this, we repaired cars purely for dealerships all day long, and customers these days do not care if a car has had paint, but they get very upset if their ‘approved used vehicle’ has a tiny mark or a stonechip on it. They would quite literally rather have the entire car resprayed than have to look at a little scratch.
No one wants an honest looking car anymore. They want it all perfect and shiny so they can stick a private plate on it and not have anyone know it’s age by looking at it.
My qualifications: was the owner of a body shop for several years before I sold it on.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 17th June 22:02
monkeychild said:
I think this may be more of a moral issue than a "legal" one.
My lad "may" have accidentally put a couple of tiny chips in the neighbours car, as he dropped his bike near it whilst playing, their kid made a song and dance saying that he had hit the car (the kid is a st stirrer to be fair), the trouble is that my lad is too honest and he doesn't know if he has hit it or not. He did say "sorry" to the car owner, who was in turn a bit of a dick with him, as apparently "sorry is just a word" .
The main issue we have is that we have a very akward relationship with them, for some reason they ignore us, and purposely ignore our "hellos", we used to get a "hello" back, but for some odd reason last year, they started to behave like this. My wife wouldn't let me confront them and ask "what's their problem?", as she's not too bothered.
Anyway, back on track, who's to say that my lad actually did the damage? as it could have already been there. I questioned it, as the bike would have had to have bounced off the door and hit it again and bounced off again, as there's no downwards scratch (I'm not saying that this is beyond the realms of possibility). But as we don't want to seem to be the assholes, we did say that we would pay for the repair.
They haven't come to us with a bill yet, but is it more than reasonable to request a few detailed quotes, so that we are assured that we are only paying for the alleged damage and not for other remedial work, I am very cynical when it comes to other people's morales and this was peaked when I saw a mobile SMART repair person looking at their other car as well.
Nothing may come from it, but I would like to be armed with "my rights", as I am unsure where I stand in this.
How old was your lad?My lad "may" have accidentally put a couple of tiny chips in the neighbours car, as he dropped his bike near it whilst playing, their kid made a song and dance saying that he had hit the car (the kid is a s
t stirrer to be fair), the trouble is that my lad is too honest and he doesn't know if he has hit it or not. He did say "sorry" to the car owner, who was in turn a bit of a dick with him, as apparently "sorry is just a word" . The main issue we have is that we have a very akward relationship with them, for some reason they ignore us, and purposely ignore our "hellos", we used to get a "hello" back, but for some odd reason last year, they started to behave like this. My wife wouldn't let me confront them and ask "what's their problem?", as she's not too bothered
.Anyway, back on track, who's to say that my lad actually did the damage? as it could have already been there. I questioned it, as the bike would have had to have bounced off the door and hit it again and bounced off again, as there's no downwards scratch (I'm not saying that this is beyond the realms of possibility). But as we don't want to seem to be the assholes, we did say that we would pay for the repair.
They haven't come to us with a bill yet, but is it more than reasonable to request a few detailed quotes, so that we are assured that we are only paying for the alleged damage and not for other remedial work, I am very cynical when it comes to other people's morales and this was peaked when I saw a mobile SMART repair person looking at their other car as well.
Nothing may come from it, but I would like to be armed with "my rights", as I am unsure where I stand in this.
kestral said:
How old was your lad?
He's 11, but he's not a streetwise & too cool for school 11 year old if you know what I mean, i.e. he still enjoys playing with toys etc.I didn't want to get into the realms of how good smart repairs are etc, I don't want to be seen as the dick in this situation, even though he may not have even done anything. Basically, I'm trying to be reasonable without them taking the piss.
Edited by monkeychild on Friday 18th June 08:37
What condition the car was in before would surely determine the standard of repair.
My previous car was an old shed of a 208. To be honest a few extra marks wouldn’t be noticed. A smart repair would be more than adequate.
Me new car which is only months old I’d expect it put back to as new condition and it costs what it costs.
Lord Marylebone said:
It’s it’s something like Pearl white, Renault flame red, or Mazda Pearl ‘soul red’ then you are utterly screwed beyond belief. One small scratch on a door could end up costing £600-800 to fix.
Got to disagree with you here. My wife has had two smart repairs on her mazda (soul red) and they look perfect, and I'm a total perfectionist.Lord Marylebone said:
Ok, I’ll go first with giving you stick.
No one, apart from a tiny handful of car anoraks will ever notice that a car has had a panel painted. Seriously.
If a panel was painted to a good standard, and the factory finish lacquer matched, like any good body shop can do, even absolute anoraks would be hard pressed to tell that there had been paintwork done.
Why even discuss it with smart repairers? These lot are (mostly) people who paint cars outside in the weather and the dust, using inferior products that air dry rather than having to be baked in a booth.
If you want your car fixed, use a proper body shop with a proper spray booth. They won’t be anymore expensive than a smart repairer and the finished product will be better.
A properly refinished/repainted panel will always look better than a touched in mark or scratch.
Trust me on this, we repaired cars purely for dealerships all day long, and customers these days do not care if a car has had paint, but they get very upset if their ‘approved used vehicle’ has a tiny mark or a stonechip on it. They would quite literally rather have the entire car resprayed than have to look at a little scratch.
No one wants an honest looking car anymore. They want it all perfect and shiny so they can stick a private plate on it and not have anyone know it’s age by looking at it.
My qualifications: was the owner of a body shop for several years before I sold it on.
Agree on the cost side of it being a better investment having a body shop do it. No one, apart from a tiny handful of car anoraks will ever notice that a car has had a panel painted. Seriously.
If a panel was painted to a good standard, and the factory finish lacquer matched, like any good body shop can do, even absolute anoraks would be hard pressed to tell that there had been paintwork done.
Why even discuss it with smart repairers? These lot are (mostly) people who paint cars outside in the weather and the dust, using inferior products that air dry rather than having to be baked in a booth.
If you want your car fixed, use a proper body shop with a proper spray booth. They won’t be anymore expensive than a smart repairer and the finished product will be better.
A properly refinished/repainted panel will always look better than a touched in mark or scratch.
Trust me on this, we repaired cars purely for dealerships all day long, and customers these days do not care if a car has had paint, but they get very upset if their ‘approved used vehicle’ has a tiny mark or a stonechip on it. They would quite literally rather have the entire car resprayed than have to look at a little scratch.
No one wants an honest looking car anymore. They want it all perfect and shiny so they can stick a private plate on it and not have anyone know it’s age by looking at it.
My qualifications: was the owner of a body shop for several years before I sold it on.
Edited by Lord Marylebone on Thursday 17th June 22:02
Some t
t cracked my bumper and fked off leaving me with the repair. Out of interest got prices for both smart repair and bodyshop.Body shop was £25 more expensive, cash in hand as machine was "broken" than smart repair. Had it for 3 days, plastic welded the damage, resprayed the entire bumper and inserts, fitted a new reflector and it was absolutely perfect. Dread to think what state Chips Away would have made.
Subsequently found out he does the bodyshop stuff for local Seat, Toyota and Mazda dealers. My £300 repair would have been about £1200-1500 through dealer the robbing bar stewards
pavarotti1980 said:
Agree on the cost side of it being a better investment having a body shop do it.
Some tt cracked my bumper and fked off leaving me with the repair. Out of interest got prices for both smart repair and bodyshop.
Body shop was £25 more expensive, cash in hand as machine was "broken" than smart repair. Had it for 3 days, plastic welded the damage, resprayed the entire bumper and inserts, fitted a new reflector and it was absolutely perfect. Dread to think what state Chips Away would have made.
Subsequently found out he does the bodyshop stuff for local Seat, Toyota and Mazda dealers. My £300 repair would have been about £1200-1500 through dealer the robbing bar stewards
It utterly baffles me when people actually chose to have someone repair their car on their driveway in the weather and the dust, rather than the clean, controlled, and temperature regulated environment of a proper spray booth. Some t
t cracked my bumper and fked off leaving me with the repair. Out of interest got prices for both smart repair and bodyshop.Body shop was £25 more expensive, cash in hand as machine was "broken" than smart repair. Had it for 3 days, plastic welded the damage, resprayed the entire bumper and inserts, fitted a new reflector and it was absolutely perfect. Dread to think what state Chips Away would have made.
Subsequently found out he does the bodyshop stuff for local Seat, Toyota and Mazda dealers. My £300 repair would have been about £1200-1500 through dealer the robbing bar stewards
Not only that, but most decent bodyshops will be using air compressors which have air-dryer units costing thousands of pounds, and banks of filters to ensure the air for spraying is perfectly clean and dry, because the biggest cause of repairs going bad after a few weeks or months is moisture of contaminants in the airline. Often this shows up as little dots and micro bubbles in the paint which start appearing after a few weeks.
Someone in a smart repair van will have a little compressor and some filters, but certainly won’t have air dryers and suchlike.
Bodyshops will also be far more likely to do stuff like take the bumper off the car, remove the grills and lights, and generally do the job properly.
With smart repairers you will be saving £20 or sometimes not even that.
monkeychild said:
My lad "may" have accidentally put a couple of tiny chips in the neighbours car, as he dropped his bike near it whilst playing,
Some years ago, but this happened to a colleague of mine when a neighbour's kid rode a bike into his car and repair estimates were much higher than expected. Neighbour's household insurance covered it under housholders liability to third parties.monkeychild said:
He's 11, but he's not a streetwise & too cool for school 11 year old if you know what I mean, i.e. he still enjoys playing with toys etc.
I didn't want to get into the realms of how good smart repairs are etc, I don't want to be seen as the dick in this situation, even though he may not have even done anything. Basically, I'm trying to be reasonable without them taking the piss.
If he is only 11 he has no duty of care (16 onwards he has) so cannot be negligent.I didn't want to get into the realms of how good smart repairs are etc, I don't want to be seen as the dick in this situation, even though he may not have even done anything. Basically, I'm trying to be reasonable without them taking the piss.
Edited by monkeychild on Friday 18th June 08:37
If you are a good un and are playing fair don't let the complainant take advantage by producing a large bill for you to pay.
You should consider taking control of the situation and paying what you think is fair. This is not a RTA claim. You can make it clear that you do not accept any liability but because you like him will offer a payment at your descretion.
The complainant would have a very difficult job of proving a 11 year old has a duty of care.
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