Is this reasonable?

[Ellisg144]

Hello all.

I scraped someone's car the other day.

He has sent me a quote from a stone acre garage (where he bought it from, he said he would like the repairs doing there).

Does this seem reasonable?

[Ellisg144]

I appreciate that the panel is bent, but I'm surprised it needs completely replacing.

[Mexman]

Bullst.
He's having your pants down.
Replace broken bumper bracket, respray rear bumper £250 quid tops.

[aka_kerrly]

Offer to buy them this
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Fiesta-08-17-MK8-A...

And £100 tops for a garage to fit and supply a plastic clip or two.

[dhutch]

No expert but believe getting paint out costs real money, certainly if it's metallic, clear coat, done well, etc.

Still not an expert, but if it where my car and the damage was limited to the bumper, I think would consider a good condition factory painted used bumper from eBay preferable to a respray. However not everyone would see it this way and the condition of the used bumper would be critical and hard to assess prior to buying unless local.

Presumably your planning to settle with cash rather than via insurance? Your preference or theirs?

I paid something like £5-600 a few years ago for a knackered pizza delivery Yaris to have a new rear bumper painted and fitted. Few years ago now, but some deeply poor driving on their drivers account resulted in our cars contacting each other causing something the 100th dent to the steel valence at the bottom of the bumper. I stopped, and wanted a simple life, so they got a new bumper and I retained both my sanity and ncd. I did however insist I paid the garage directly, rather than the pizza co, as I suspected they planned to take the money and not repair it. I retained the garage receipt, which included their reg and my name.

Daniel

Edited by dhutch on Tuesday 30th April 20:11

[thebraketester]

What you have to ask yourself is what would you want if someone damaged your car?

Would you want an ebay bumper and a quick flash over or would you want a new OEM bumper finished in a OEM approved bodyshop.

[Ellisg144]

I just thought they would respray the bumper that is on the car now.

The guy wants it doing at that garage, so I don't have much choice it seems other than to go through insurance.

Will my insurance send someone to look at it? I've never been involved in any sort of accident so I'm not sure how it works.

[sgtBerbatov]

Ellisg144 said:

I just thought they would respray the bumper that is on the car now.

The guy wants it doing at that garage, so I don't have much choice it seems other than to go through insurance.

Will my insurance send someone to look at it? I've never been involved in any sort of accident so I'm not sure how it works.

I'd go back to him and you tell him to get three quotes. If he doesn't then go through your insurance and let them sort it out.

What will happen is that his insurance will look at the car, appraise the damage and get it fixed. They then send your insurance company the bill. All you'll hear about is that the insurance has settled it and you put it on your quotes for the next 5 years.

[V8covin]

The actual cost to do the job, 180 quid,is cheap.
There's no mention of materials so it looks like it comes pre-painted .
Some pattern bumpers are poor quality and don't fit properly

[craigjm]

thebraketester said:

What you have to ask yourself is what would you want if someone damaged your car?

Would you want an ebay bumper and a quick flash over or would you want a new OEM bumper finished in a OEM approved bodyshop.

This. For an impact like that they would never repair the original bumper. If you don’t like the cost then put it through your insurance because come renewal time you are going to have to tell them that you had the bump anyway

[Alex_225]

sgtBerbatov said:

I'd go back to him and you tell him to get three quotes. If he doesn't then go through your insurance and let them sort it out.

I think that's pretty sound advice. Looking at the damage, which I'm pretty sure could be repaired, that seems to be the maximum cost, as in if you literally replaced every part with OEM rather than fixing them.

I would normally use a local bodyshop and I would imagine that unless that bumper is totally irreparable, that would be a £300-350 fix.

[sgtBerbatov]

Alex_225 said:

sgtBerbatov said:

I'd go back to him and you tell him to get three quotes. If he doesn't then go through your insurance and let them sort it out.

I think that's pretty sound advice. Looking at the damage, which I'm pretty sure could be repaired, that seems to be the maximum cost, as in if you literally replaced every part with OEM rather than fixing them.

I would normally use a local bodyshop and I would imagine that unless that bumper is totally irreparable, that would be a £300-350 fix.

Exactly. Yes the OP damaged the car, but that doesn't mean the owner should fleece the OP.

And who knows, the garage in question might be a friend of the owner.

[mbwoy84]

As the owner of a car, you can insist on where you have it repaired, whether you go through insurance or not.

It is perfectly fair to assume that most people would prefer a new bumper to having one repaired in that instance. If they weren’t at fault then it’s up to whoever was to pay, so they will want the best they can get.

That price isn’t inflated in any way for what it is quoting. It’s a main dealer, quoting for a new bumper, bracket, fixings and labour to strip down and rebuild with the new parts.

It could be done for probably just over half that price if you supplied a good second hand bumper and a decent bodyshop repainted it and refitted it using the same parts which would be dealer-only anyway.

[stevensdrs]

The problem with these bumpers is that the clip holders which attach it to the holding bracket are made of chocolate and break away from the bumper making it impossible to re-attach to the car. Therefore any damage to these bumpers is seen as unrepairable and a new bumper and bracket is required. Put it through the insurance and come renewal time shop around.