A few weeks ago I backed up into a parked car at a new job.
I’m a new driver and wanted to do the right thing, even though the damage was minor, so I left my details.
I get a text about it and we agree to go without insurance and I’ll pay for the damage.
They get a quote from a garage and give me a copy.
I’m just not sure she is getting the work done, but don’t know if she could then just make an insurance claim anyway.
The invoice for the garage has the address and phone number, but the landline doesn’t work, I can’t find the garage on Google (I can find everything online). I texted the mobile on the invoice to see about making payment with CC rather than bank transfer but they’re not set up for that they said.
So my question is, does it matter if she isn’t getting the work done and pockets the money as I have admitted to her in text liability after all so if I question the legitimacy of the invoice she could just decide to go get a real one and have the work done. Or if it’s fake is that fraud on her part and I don’t need to do anything.
Bare in mind this is close to work too so don’t want drama but also do want to keep the £150.
Are you even certain you are dealing with the person you hit and not some random person who grabbed your letter off the car you hit? I only ask because $150 is absurdly cheap - something smells off
Invoice shows it was just a simple repaint which sounds about right
Even 15 years ago a basic repaint was ~$500+ and with labor rates today this is estimating like a half hour or less which just doesn’t track. If this is the person, absolutely shell out the $150 as that’s a steal of a deal
You’re using dollars, and US based rates and labour costs, in a post that’s using pounds, in a UK community.
And yet that changes nothing. A quick Google search shows labor rates are fairly consistent between the US and UK (with the US a tad higher) - I’m seeing £350-500 as the estimate to respray a bumper which is over double the amount being shared ITT
Also if you look at how terrible the place looks on google maps, you would well believe it only cost 150 pounds 😂 because the guy is running a run down dirty garage lol
Depends a lot on the amount of damage done though. If its a tiny scrape, it would only take a few minutes to fix it
I am assuming you are from the US given you state prices in dollars, which may have varying prices to the UK
For a minor scratch I can’t imagine the price being 500 dollars or euros personally, I would have imagined it would be a lot less. 150 does seem a little cheap but it really depends on the extent of the damage, if its just a small scratch it could be 150. If its a decent scrape and its deep into the paintwork it will be a lot more
As certain as can be. The car was not there today as she said it would be in the garage. It’s there Monday to Friday.
If I was you I would just pay the 150 pounds.
The invoice looks pretty similar to garages because they tend to just be ran by one or two people and dont have sophisticated invoice generation. Their systems are old school and work off pen and paper, which is what your (or her) invoice was.
Also, you could argue that even if she didnt get the work done, 150 pounds sounds about right for a slight backup/bump into another car. If she wanted to pocket the money, or possibly wait and get the car fixed at a later date, that would possibly be her right too.
If the invoice is inflated (e.g. Its a fake invoice and a higher amount than you damaged) thats a different story. That would be fraud. But I am not sure 150 pounds is inflated. A worry about getting it done outside insurance is people will defraud you and make their mechanic produce a fake invoice, higher than the actual amount. But its hard to see that happened here given its such a small amount.
I am going to do that.
I was all along, pretty much for the reasons you have given. At the end of the day I hit her car and this is the figure. What she does with that is upto her really.
It was more family putting ideas into my head. I’d rather mark this off as done and move on, rather than dragging it out.
Thanks for the response.
No problem.
Given you did hit her car or scratch it or whatever, 150 pounds is about as little as you could have expected to pay. Whether she fixes the car or not doesnt really matter but I do believe she did it would not make sense to fake an invoice for that.
She could still TRY claim off insurance but given you have written confirmation from her that she fixed it already, I doubt that will happen
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Invoice is here.
Might want to block out personal information btw
Screenshot of that locale. Lol I’d avoid like the plague
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Sounds bait. Should have just gone via insurance.
Whats stopping her pocketing the money and then going to her insurance with your admission?
I would imagine him having the invoice of it being fixed and her sending it to him would hold up against an insurance claim. People settle minor stuff like this outside insurance all the time and that stuff doesn’t happen
Even if it is bait, which is why I posted this, it would be done then. She would have no recourse to make an insurance claim now.
I have texts from her, an invoice provided from her. As far as the courts would see if that we dealt with it outside of insurance and then she made a fraudulent insurance claim due to knowing we had settled based on her documented contacts with me. As well as the bank transfer.
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