Private repair or insurance?
Discussion
Guys,
There have been millions of threads like this on here before but I'll start my own. Facts are as follows:
- Mrs 2Btoo has had someone run into the back of her car.
- Car is a 57-plate base model fabia hatchback. No idea what the value is but I'd want to keep the car as it runs well, is reliable and suits her needs.
- Other driver admitted to fault at the scene and is responding to text messages but can't talk as she's a carer and on a 24-hour shift.
- I'm comfortable enough with spanners to fit a new bumper
I know the usual route is to ask the other party whether they want to go through insurance or arrange a private repair, but am nervous about the risks of going down the private repair route only for the other party to decide to be difficult at the last minute.
Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much a private repair would cost? Bumpers seem to be around £150 on eBay (sometimes plus delivery), but will be the wrong colour. I guess the question therefore is "how much would it cost to re-spray a bumper?"
Plus any sage advice on the idea of private repairs and/or going straight to insurance. I can see merits of both, but don't want to end up exposed and out of pocket.
Thanks.
There have been millions of threads like this on here before but I'll start my own. Facts are as follows:
- Mrs 2Btoo has had someone run into the back of her car.
- Car is a 57-plate base model fabia hatchback. No idea what the value is but I'd want to keep the car as it runs well, is reliable and suits her needs.
- Other driver admitted to fault at the scene and is responding to text messages but can't talk as she's a carer and on a 24-hour shift.
- I'm comfortable enough with spanners to fit a new bumper
I know the usual route is to ask the other party whether they want to go through insurance or arrange a private repair, but am nervous about the risks of going down the private repair route only for the other party to decide to be difficult at the last minute.
Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much a private repair would cost? Bumpers seem to be around £150 on eBay (sometimes plus delivery), but will be the wrong colour. I guess the question therefore is "how much would it cost to re-spray a bumper?"
Plus any sage advice on the idea of private repairs and/or going straight to insurance. I can see merits of both, but don't want to end up exposed and out of pocket.
Thanks.
In my experience they always want to avoid going through the insurer until they realise their mate can’t fix it for you and it’s going to cost more than £50. The difficulty is that whilst you’re in limbo working out if they are going to pay or string you along, you are falling foul of having not notified your insurer and, should you then need to do so, have to explain why you didn’t do so for 3 weeks. You still have to notify even if not making a claim.
greysquirrel said:
In my experience they always want to avoid going through the insurer until they realise their mate can’t fix it for you and it’s going to cost more than £50. The difficulty is that whilst you’re in limbo working out if they are going to pay or string you along, you are falling foul of having not notified your insurer and, should you then need to do so, have to explain why you didn’t do so for 3 weeks. You still have to notify even if not making a claim.
That's pretty much my thoughts, on the nose. I can see much advantage in just going straight to the insurers. In which case, should my wife go to her own insurers or to the other person's insurers? I know that she has the choice but comments on here previously suggest that she may get better treatment if she goes to the other person's insurers. (Of course, the car will almost certainly be written off by the insurers, which will then mean that we buy it back and I probably end up repairing it anyway. I guess I'd better get the spanners out ready!
)Someone tapped the back of my 2005 3 Series last April and said he'd prefer to deal with it privately. Looked like just a couple of gouges in the bumper cover.
But when I took it to a bodyshop they noticed the rear bumper cover had a couple of tiny cracks, so I called BMW and a new cover in primer was about £650!
Called the other driver and he said it would have to be an insurance claim. I was hoping he'd have offered tow or three hundred and I'd have lift it at that.
Anyway his insurers got in touch and said I could send them photos, but as the damage was so slight I took it to one of the bodyshops they suggested as an alternative.
Next thing I knew the car was a Cat N. Over a week later they finally got around to telling me and their suggested repairer had padded their estimate up to over £2K!
Had an argument about their valuation, but I ended up keeping a perfectly usable car I really liked with half what I paid for it in 2019 in the bank. Albeit a car with a Cat N marker.
Given the age of the Skoda you may be looking at a similar scenario.
Here's what it takes to make a car uneconomical to repair these days.
But when I took it to a bodyshop they noticed the rear bumper cover had a couple of tiny cracks, so I called BMW and a new cover in primer was about £650!
Called the other driver and he said it would have to be an insurance claim. I was hoping he'd have offered tow or three hundred and I'd have lift it at that.
Anyway his insurers got in touch and said I could send them photos, but as the damage was so slight I took it to one of the bodyshops they suggested as an alternative.
Next thing I knew the car was a Cat N. Over a week later they finally got around to telling me and their suggested repairer had padded their estimate up to over £2K!
Had an argument about their valuation, but I ended up keeping a perfectly usable car I really liked with half what I paid for it in 2019 in the bank. Albeit a car with a Cat N marker.
Given the age of the Skoda you may be looking at a similar scenario.
Here's what it takes to make a car uneconomical to repair these days.
A good initial question would be to ask the other driver what their excess is, i.e. if its only £100 its then worth going down the insurance option, if its £750 then sell them the benefits of paying cash.
I had an A4 S Line Avant, 5 years old at the time, that a girl ran into the back of whilst on her phone... she admitted it and said her dad would ring me. He saw her insurance going through the roof and the crazy excess. Paid me the £750 to get it repaired straight away.
I had an A4 S Line Avant, 5 years old at the time, that a girl ran into the back of whilst on her phone... she admitted it and said her dad would ring me. He saw her insurance going through the roof and the crazy excess. Paid me the £750 to get it repaired straight away.
66HFM said:
A good initial question would be to ask the other driver what their excess is, i.e. if its only £100 its then worth going down the insurance option, if its £750 then sell them the benefits of paying cash.
I had an A4 S Line Avant, 5 years old at the time, that a girl ran into the back of whilst on her phone... she admitted it and said her dad would ring me. He saw her insurance going through the roof and the crazy excess. Paid me the £750 to get it repaired straight away.
Excess is only relevant if the other party also have damage to their car and are claiming for it. They won't have an excess on third party claims.I had an A4 S Line Avant, 5 years old at the time, that a girl ran into the back of whilst on her phone... she admitted it and said her dad would ring me. He saw her insurance going through the roof and the crazy excess. Paid me the £750 to get it repaired straight away.
So the car is a 16 year old skoda. Literally a small scratch will likely get it written off, and pittance paid out. I'd steer well clear of insurance if you want to keep the car.
Some pics of the damage would help... I'd likely source a spare bumper and have a go at painting it myself.
Or, make a claim, get a meagre payout and buy the car back to repair yourself, and have the liberty of running around in a free car, albeit a cat n.
Some pics of the damage would help... I'd likely source a spare bumper and have a go at painting it myself.
Or, make a claim, get a meagre payout and buy the car back to repair yourself, and have the liberty of running around in a free car, albeit a cat n.
Guys,
Thanks for the answers - there all helpful.
To my significant surprise the person who drove into the back of Mrs 2BTOO'S Fabia has just paid several hundred pounds into our bank account, meaning no need for an insurance claim.
This solves one problem but presents another one - I need to replace the back bumper. Very annoyingly there are no parts of the right colour (dark red) anywhere within 100 miles of our house, despite there being quite a few cars on the road in that colour. Ho hum, it's not urgent so we'll look again in a week or so!
Thanks again for your help.
Thanks for the answers - there all helpful.
To my significant surprise the person who drove into the back of Mrs 2BTOO'S Fabia has just paid several hundred pounds into our bank account, meaning no need for an insurance claim.
This solves one problem but presents another one - I need to replace the back bumper. Very annoyingly there are no parts of the right colour (dark red) anywhere within 100 miles of our house, despite there being quite a few cars on the road in that colour. Ho hum, it's not urgent so we'll look again in a week or so!
Thanks again for your help.
Edited by 2Btoo on Saturday 23 March 22:21
brillomaster said:
So the car is a 16 year old skoda. Literally a small scratch will likely get it written off, and pittance paid out. I'd steer well clear of insurance if you want to keep the car.
This. It’s ridiculous. My “main” car is my SL. It’s absolutely flawless, you could eat your dinner off the engine, unmarked interior and drives like new. These days I am very aware that if someone sideswipes me, scrapes the side or runs into the back of me then my car will get written off. I am therefore really really careful when driving in busy urban traffic.
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