ski-bum

Sat in front of the telly last night, pint of beer in hand, front window open and Car parked in front of house in full line of sight. Life is good....

...until I see the car opposite back out of their driveway and straight into the front wing of my S - crunch!!!

Went outside immediately where the chap admitted that he just didn't see it. He was very frustrated with himself as he admitted that he had seen me pull up and park there just 30 mins before and thougt to himself "nice car".

I've taked a quick photo of the car with the mobile and it looks like a straight forward replacement wing and luckily hasn't done damage elsewhere (possibly moved the bumper by a miniscule amount). Any idea of the cost of a new wing?



So far they have been really helpfull and I am now presented with 3 options.

1. swap cover details, get quote from Honda and then claim of his Ins Co.
2. turns out the driver is a friend of my neighbour and was driving a beater (Rover 45) so is going to feel the pinch of a claim. The neighbour has suggested that she say she was driving her car and claim through her work policy that has no excess. Mmm not too sure about that.
3. turns out another neighbour/friend of the driver works for a Midlands based Car manufacturer and has suggested getting a quote with them to repiar, loan me a courtesy car and get it all done cash in hand as a favour to their mate, the driver.

I'm tempted by the third option as I don't want any claims on my policy, but not too sure about the quality of the repair at a non-honda garage. Any suggestions, comments, help greatly appreciated.

Rich

ps - annoying thing is that my Spoon N1 should arrive today and I was looking forward to fitting it and blatting around at 110Db in a nice shiny car - preferably without dents!

Beardie

IME Honda bodyshops are crap.

The only reason to use them is to keep your paint warranty.

Neil.H

What a pisser

Definitely a new wing needed, my estimate from Chiswick gave the cost as

gaddafi

I would always insist on it going through insurance

Too many 'arrangements with mates' have a habit of going pear-shaped

Damaged no-claims is his problem, not yours

Youy are also likely to find that at least part of the door, maybe the entire side of the car, will require repainting to avoid a shade mismatch

People doing work as a favour tend to be less keen on such options

alex.stanley

Another vote for going through the insurance here

euan

It's not (relatively) a huge claim, so your insurance company is unlikely to be interested when you disclose it as a material fact, and hopefully it will not impact on next year's premium.

You want to get things moving asap, and keep records of all correspondence, use recorded delivery where appropriate etc.

jimpom23

If you go through insurance, fine, but you WILL take a hit next year - Someone drove into me, I told my ionsurance company but told them I was paying to have fixed and they keep it on their database and you HAVE to declare it as a no fault no-claim which WILL add to your policy.

Dirty bastards the lot of em' - If it is only

Lurking Lawyer

Not necessarily!

It depends on who you insure with. I have a no-fault claim from when I was rear-ended a few years back. I ran the quote disclosing it and not disclosing it and it made no difference at all to the premium.

reg

My car has just been hit and I am claiming on the third parties insurance. I am paying the excess on my policy and then my insurers will claim it back. This will not affect my no-claims and will not affect my policy.

Always go through insurance thats what its there for and tough b*lls to the person who hit it IMO.

Nick Graves

Actually, I'd seriously look at bolting on a s/h wing, if you can find a better one in silverstone. It's easy for a few quid.

Avoids all the hassle and the paint match should be no worse.

If you CAN do that & avoid insurance grief, so much the better.