Is this right?

limerickhurl

Just wondering if anyone out there could advise, or has been in a similar situation as me.

4 weeks ago, I was reversing out of my driveway. It's in an estate, and parked across the road, say to my (drivers) right was my neighbour's brother's car, parked. I was reversing to go to my left, and I didn't see this car. Unfortunately, I reversed into the right corner of his car, denting the corner near where the light is. Now, I have to emphasise, that the damage was very little; a dent for sure, but no broken glass or anything that would cause huge concern. I could have driven off, but that is not me, so I called into the man, brought him out, and we agreed that it wasn't a huge deal, and that it was unfortunate but fixable. He even said he knew a fella who would get a good price to fix it.

Last night I got a letter in the post. Total cost of repair...1734 euros. I literally could not believe my eyes. Now, bear in mind this guy is a solicitor. He had all the costs broken down - 650 for labour, 500 for two new wing units (how the opposite wing was affected is beyond me), 250 for a new side panel 100 for a brace and various other costs amounting to 1734. In a letter included with the cost breakdown, he states further costs will be incurred for renting a car while the car is fixed, which will be met by me. He then adds that he will not consider any depreciation costs for the vehicle.

I am shocked, I would love to display how little the damage was to show ye all, but 1734 euros is just...extortion. I thought it would be 200, 300 max. He also states in his letter that he purposely avoided going to a dealer to avoid high costs. The car is a 07 Audi.

Is there anyway of challenging this fella?
Without getting into it too much, I can barely afford the 300 that I had budgeted for this, 1734 could ruin my year to be honest. And I know, I was wrong, but I shouldn't have to take this blatant attempt of exploitation and, in my mind, financial thuggery.

Any ideas AH?

stovelid

Give him the 1734 quid but then smash up his car a bit more to get your money's worth.

liamhana

1. bring it your own garage and get a quote but
2. Its an Audi....$$$$

El Weirdo

limerickhurl wrote: »

...He even said he knew a fella who would get a good price to fix it....

Right there. That's where you fucked up.

Catxscotch

Probably be better in Motors forum..did you take any pictures OP?

FanadMan

Go find the car and do €1734 worth of damage to it......at least then you'll get you moneys worth

Seriously tho - that is bloody disgraceful! Did you take any pics of the car and the damage done?

wing for an A7 could be 300, he might not have gotten it in the same colour and removing old paint and painting same colour would have cost a bomb

davet82

limerickhurl wrote: »

Any ideas AH?

My AH answer: driving lessons...

but if you were to go to motoring section, i would say go through your insurance company

SEPT 23 1989

13 hours labour to fix a dent:rolleyes:

Mr Benevolent

Uh, OP, are you insured? If so, just call your insurance company. Sorted.

stovelid

stovelid wrote: »

Give him the 1734 quid but then smash up his car a bit more to get your money's worth.

FanadMan wrote: »

Go find the car and do €1734 worth of damage to it......at least then you'll get you moneys worth

I want royalties.

€1734 should suffice.

DirtyBollox

If he has already done it then tell him to **** off. in cases like this you get a mechanic of his and a mechanic of yours to take a look and estimate the damage costs. then and only then should an invoice be sent out. if you agreed to letting him go off and get it fixed and then bill you you're ****ed.

a fat guy

Surely you can just claim on your insurance?

And yeah, he's trying to charge you for wear-and-tear along with the damage you did.

Obviously you shouldn't pay it, he's just trying to bully you out of your money and probably knows that you're intimidated by the fact that he's a solicitor.

Make sure that he knows that either he's to blame, or the garage he went to changed things that they shouldn't have.

Or maybe there was some mis-communication between him and the garage. They could have thought that he wanted everything fixed, not just the damage you did.

FanadMan

stovelid wrote: »

I want royalties.

€1734 should suffice.

Never saw yours till after I posted lol

Biggins

You have admitted liability and in the eyes of a judge, thats good. As far as i know, you have the right to go and seek a possible cheaper alternative quote.
Not just accept the price that is given to you.

Any unethical person might come to a deal (car owner and repair-shop) and decide to screw a few extra quit out of someone.
Not saying this is the case here but you are (as far as I know) entitled to go get your own quote for any repairs that is needed.

DON'T just be 'persuaded' by any legal stuff that the owner might hit you with.
He's not out to save you money at the end of the day if he don't want to or couldn't be bothered, just look after his own interests - which is understandable to some extent.

Allyall

EXACT same thing happened to my mother, but price quoted was €872.

I told my mother to tell him where to go, and get Quotes from someone else.

She did, and it cost €480 and €30 to hire a car for the day.

He initially was reluctant, but after getting, and showing him three different quotes, all around the €500 mark, he agreed. I still thought that was expensive, but at least she had looked around, and saw it was about the going rate.

The car hire for the day was also his "must have"..

limerickhurl

Cheers everyone

Maybe I'm a bit naive, but it all seems so excessive. It looks like the insurance route I'll have to take.

Genuinely thought looking at it that it couldn't possible be more than 300 to fix, looks like I was wrong. The side was just...pushed in. I mean, I was reversing, and there was absolutely no damage to my car, the contact was fairly minimal.

I'm sorry now that I agreed to have him send on the details, but I genuinely thought it couldn't be that much.

I also agree that he is trying to intimidate me. I'm going to ring him this evening, please god I won't lose my cool as I feel these type of people are just as bad as thieves, burglars, etc.

Kolido

If the work is already done, where is the proof you hit his car?

Fromthetrees

Move house maybe? That's what them pedrophiles do to keep under the radar.

Biggins

Your within your right to have it independently assessed.
Your insurance rep should confirm this as well as other details, by phone alone.

Make a quick phone call today before you talk to the chap tonight.

(Your insurance company will want to save money too, so you can be sure as in this case, they WILL have your back!)

P.S. Did you take pictures of the damage - just in case it suddenly gets worse!

Allyall

That is rotten, Nearly encourages people to do the wrong thing, and not report it, i.e. Drive away as fast as you can.

Shame having neighbours like that.. The Guy my Mother dented, was parked there because it was closer to the train station. :mad:

saintsaltynuts

Dont give it simple as.

mconigol

This is what you call an A1 asshole.

You'd have been better off saying nothing and letting his insurance cover it.

flanders1979

He is doing someone else a favour by giving them an easy job for top dollar.

Krispie

OP,
If as you say you only tapped his car, how can you be sure you did all, if any, of this damage in the first place?
Was the incident reported to either Gardai or Insurance since?
Was there any witness to you accepting responsibility?

I know you said he is solicitor but if he is a p***k about it, there are also ways to actually counter challenge him.......;)

Wife did similar a few years ago in Supermarket carpark to newish car and cost about €650 for front passenger wing, part spray and light console. Not an Audi but still reputable garage.

SEPT 23 1989

When he gets it fixed pay some local urchins to really do a job on it

that will soften his cough

Biggins

A good tip too, is to always have a disposable camera in the glove compartment of your car for eventualities like this.
Hopefully you will never need it, but for the sake of a tenner - you might save yourself serious money later, a lot of arguments and a satisfied judge (with picture evidence) later who would agree maybe with your side of a situation than another, just trying to screw someone for more money.

Winston Payne

mconigol wrote: »

This is what you call an A1 asshole.

You'd have been better off saying nothing and letting his insurance cover it.

Who says he was driving an A1?



Could have been any model Audi.

Nothingbetter2d

when a student crashed into my car which was parked outside my parent's house he did a fair bit of damage to the front of the car... smashed headlamp, damaged bonnet, passenger side wing, smashed bumper, and obviously scraped the ****e out of the side of the car.

he drove off... but my parents have CCTV cams all around the house (due to constant vandals) i got his reg plate on one of the cameras.... but he must have realised the cctv would have got his reg plate so he came back later that day...

anyways he agreed to pay for the repairs to my car. so off he went to get some quotes. he came back saying the cheapest he could get was €2400...and that he couldn't afford that and wanted to go through his insurance. (bare in mind he had a fair bit of damage to his car too)

when i got my quotes, and got the entire car repaired and resprayed for €1400. so i saved him €1000, he paid the bill in cash (his daddy bailed him out). i even gave him the name of the guy that repaired mine so he could get his car repaired for alot less than the quotes he got for his car.

Pandora2

This guy didn't see an accident, he saw an opportunity!! I would trust him as much as a teenage lover who told me he'd be very, very careful!!! Get your own quotes and go with this.....Any inflation of damage on his part will be uncovered in the process but, being a solicitor I suspect once he sees you are going to fight it...he will do a cost benefit analysis and settle..I would not call him other than to get his address...everything in writing,

Biggins

Pandora2 wrote: »

This guy didn't see an accident, he saw an opportunity!! I would trust him as much as a teenage lover who told me he'd be very, very careful!!! Get your own quotes and go with this.....Any inflation of damage on his part will be uncovered in the process but, being a solicitor I suspect once he sees you are going to fight it...he will do a cost benefit analysis and settle..I would not call him other than to get his address...everything in writing,

Couldn't agree more!

Biggins

I asked around to a number of drivers where I am.

They all agreed with the above advice.

1. Your entitled to get your own couple of quotes.
2. Your certainly NOT obligated to just accept the first quote you get from the owner.
3. Get everything in writing.
4. Do not get pressurised in to meeting up with the man for 'a discussion'.
5. Try if possible to take pictures, side-view, general area and up close.
6. Sign nothing till you are happy too!
7. Never upright admit liability right away. That can be assessed later by Gardi or a court if need be. You can admit that an accident took place, that you were involved in - but don't get tired down into accepting full liability just right away. It could have been another's partial fault in some cases for parking where they shouldn't have been at times or not at all. They might have even parked in such a way that was a danger to other road users anyway.

limerickhurl

Update, just to let you know.

Brought car to my own dealer on Saturday. Was quite civil with your man, but didn't pretend anything. Anyway, short time later, my man gave the quote of 170. And yes, that is the correct amount and no mistake.

The other guy's quote was over ten times that.

I'm considering reporting his garage.

Jesus Shaves

limerickhurl wrote: »

Update, just to let you know.

Brought car to my own dealer on Saturday. Was quite civil with your man, but didn't pretend anything. Anyway, short time later, my man gave the quote of 170. And yes, that is the correct amount and no mistake.

The other guy's quote was over ten times that.

I'm considering reporting his garage.

So has he agreed to get it done for that price?

hondasam

limerickhurl wrote: »

Update, just to let you know.

Brought car to my own dealer on Saturday. Was quite civil with your man, but didn't pretend anything. Anyway, short time later, my man gave the quote of 170. And yes, that is the correct amount and no mistake.

The other guy's quote was over ten times that.

I'm considering reporting his garage.

Did he just give you his car to take to your dealer or did he go with you?
Your man might not do the job as well as the other man, if it was me I would want my car repaired by my choice of dealer.

Jiminy13

Taking advantage of your honesty ring a few places explain aprox size of dent and ask how much it wud cost to get a rough idea if its close to 1400 1500 then ur just getting slightly ripped but if theres a big diff fuk his car up rightly.

limerickhurl

I met him there at the garage. God, looking at the paucity of the damage done again really brought home how ridiculous this situation was.

Your man agreed on the 170, no problem. So fair enough in that regard.

Just delighted this whole thing is done now, I've had a few sleepless nights worrying about it

Bruthal

hondasam wrote: »

Did he just give you his car to take to your dealer or did he go with you?
Your man might not do the job as well as the other man, if it was me I would want my car repaired by my choice of dealer.

So the price doesnt matter, once you get your choice of dealer? You might change that outlook in a role reversal.

wendell borton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqk-CLxrW6s

Jiminy13

Actully go with the flow fuk him in the ass kill him

hondasam

robbie7730 wrote: »

So the price doesnt matter, once you get your choice of dealer? You might change that outlook in a role reversal.

No but I would want it repaired properly, I would not just agree to any dealer without checking if they will do a good job.
If I hit someone I would ask they get a quote and I get a quote, compare them and them let the other person choose.
The difference in these quotes was outrageous.

ClosedAccount

limerickhurl wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone out there could advise, or has been in a similar situation as me.

4 weeks ago, I was reversing out of my driveway. It's in an estate, and parked across the road, say to my (drivers) right was my neighbour's brother's car, parked. I was reversing to go to my left, and I didn't see this car. Unfortunately, I reversed into the right corner of his car, denting the corner near where the light is. Now, I have to emphasise, that the damage was very little; a dent for sure, but no broken glass or anything that would cause huge concern. I could have driven off, but that is not me, so I called into the man, brought him out, and we agreed that it wasn't a huge deal, and that it was unfortunate but fixable. He even said he knew a fella who would get a good price to fix it.

Last night I got a letter in the post. Total cost of repair...1734 euros. I literally could not believe my eyes. Now, bear in mind this guy is a solicitor. He had all the costs broken down - 650 for labour, 500 for two new wing units (how the opposite wing was affected is beyond me), 250 for a new side panel 100 for a brace and various other costs amounting to 1734. In a letter included with the cost breakdown, he states further costs will be incurred for renting a car while the car is fixed, which will be met by me. He then adds that he will not consider any depreciation costs for the vehicle.

I am shocked, I would love to display how little the damage was to show ye all, but 1734 euros is just...extortion. I thought it would be 200, 300 max. He also states in his letter that he purposely avoided going to a dealer to avoid high costs. The car is a 07 Audi.

Is there anyway of challenging this fella?
Without getting into it too much, I can barely afford the 300 that I had budgeted for this, 1734 could ruin my year to be honest. And I know, I was wrong, but I shouldn't have to take this blatant attempt of exploitation and, in my mind, financial thuggery.

Any ideas AH?

Take good quality photos of the damage. And make sure you get a photo of the wing on the other side that he said needs to be repaired.

This may sound stupid but tell him your not giving him a single cent and you want to get insurance companies involved. They will send out an assessor and he'll assess the damage.

If he doesn't want to do that, tell him you'll look for a place to have it repaired.

BTW, who did he get the quotes off? Thats about double what you should be paying if the damage is as you described.

limerickhurl

As I said, the guy was perfectly happy to accept the job that to be done for 170 euro.

He even asked my mechanic to check the other side of front (which was detailed in break down costs of the other mechanic), and my guy showed him that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

We shook on it, and as far as I'm concerned that's it. A fair deal, unlike the one in the letter.

Chorcai

limerickhurl wrote: »

Update, just to let you know.

Brought car to my own dealer on Saturday. Was quite civil with your man, but didn't pretend anything. Anyway, short time later, my man gave the quote of 170. And yes, that is the correct amount and no mistake.

The other guy's quote was over ten times that.

I'm considering reporting his garage.

170€, christ on a bike,

If his garage is a proper Dealership then use the link below, I don't know how you'd go about reporting a "garage" if ya get me.

http://www.simi.ie/Consumer+Information/Consumer+Services/Contact+Complaints+Service.html

ClosedAccount

limerickhurl wrote: »

As I said, the guy was perfectly happy to accept the job that to be done for 170 euro.

He even asked my mechanic to check the other side of front (which was detailed in break down costs of the other mechanic), and my guy showed him that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

We shook on it, and as far as I'm concerned that's it. A fair deal, unlike the one in the letter.

Glad to hear

Teyla Emmagan

Biggins wrote: »

A good tip too, is to always have a disposable camera in the glove compartment of your car for eventualities like this.
Hopefully you will never need it, but for the sake of a tenner - you might save yourself serious money later, a lot of arguments and a satisfied judge (with picture evidence) later who would agree maybe with your side of a situation than another, just trying to screw someone for more money.

So sad I actually have one of these, and for this purpose.

Old Tom

limerickhurl wrote: »

I didn't see this car.

It's hardy anyone else's fault...

Todd Gack

Old Tom wrote: »

It's hardy anyone else's fault...

Which the OP stated in the OP

limerickhurl wrote: »

I know, I was wrong

Old Tom

Todd Gack wrote: »

Which the OP stated in the OP

Excuse the old man. My eyes are not as good as they used to be when I was a young boy in his 30's...

jupiterjack

i would have told him to go to the main dealers it would have been cheaper, labour would never cost that much.

southcentralts

I don't know about the legal stuff sothe only advise I can offer is not to give him any money, if you are paying for mechanic or parts or for car rental then request invoice for you to pay it and not hand him any money.