How much then?

[Mussels]

I'd like to know what people think these will cost to repair, my excess is £750 so I'm wondering if it's worth sending to a sloppy insurance repair shop or arranging it myself. The car is 9 years old now so I'm not looking for pristine.
The damage on my car looks worse than it is, apart from the paint being rubbed the only dents (and creases) are in the driver's door and the trim that fell off is just scratched.
The van needs a new panel and hubcap.

[cheb]

£250 to the van driver so he tells work that it happened in a car park and don't bother repairing yours.

[Mussels]

£250 to the van driver so he tells work that it happened in a car park and don't bother repairing yours.

Not a bad call, I think it might have been private but £250 might get that fixed anyway, I've not had any repairs done for a very long time. The new hub cap is £16 on eBay so not significant.

[v8-powered]

Your car at a local paintshop, I'd guess at £500 minimum for a budget repair.

As suggested a donation to tge other vehicle driver may make their issue go away other than if they've reported to their employer, then I guess its insurance time.

[Mr Moofo]

1k for him
4 k for you
If it was a BMW - don’t ask me how I know

[Mussels]

1k for him
4 k for you
If it was a BMW - don’t ask me how I know

I'm not looking for what insurance body shops say it costs!
I can polish most of that out of mine, my time is free. Looking round a few sites it looks like his sort of dent is about £350, but I'm appreciating everyone's opinions.

[MyLittleStudPony]

IIRC I think I paid about £350 for a smart repair on my previous car and when it was done realised I should have paid a proper body shop £450 (from memory) to do a proper job. That was for a pretty small scratch. I think you're looking at well over a grand to get your car half decent. I'd probably pay up to two myself rather than going through the insurance.

[Wossname]

Polish out what you can, then have a look. No point in paying somebody to do the remaining work if it still looks as if you’ve crashed it. That’s what GOOD body shops charge for - to make it look like nothing happened. If you don’t want to do that, don’t bother at all.

The bit I’d have difficulty with is that every time I approach my car, that would stare me in the face. But then, it’s only a car…

[Mussels]

I can buy an entire door for £150, handy because it would come with a new speaker to replace the one Kenny Loggins blew out a few months ago.
I'll do a clean, t-cut and polish and see how it looks.

All I need to do now is have a chat with the other chap.

[Mussels]

Bunging him some dosh won't work as it's a school minibus and I'm guessing the passenger with him wasn't his missus. He's been told it's just a little cosmetic work and probably a fill and spray over, he's taking it in Monday for a proper quote.

I saw in the dashcam video that the back of his van is all in his lane but the front wheel is in mine, odd as he was headed in the other direction. I wonder how much the insurance company would make of that, I bet they would try and pin the blame on him and take months to sort it out.

[Mussels]

Crash? I can't see any crash.

[Mussels]

Well he got some quotes and a guy doing some other vans the same colour at the same time wants £360, plus £16 for the hub cap.
I don't know if it's going in his back pocket in reality but the bank transfer will show a paper trail that I paid for it, I'm pleased with that result.
Now I just need a new door and bit of trim in pearlescent BRG and I'm all set, ebay searches are set.

[David]

New door? Are you mad? Made of money?

get the door trim off, apply size 13 boot. Or a gentle tap . A bit of boiling water might help.....

[wheelnut]

The trouble is, if a TP is involved, you need to report it to your ins co anyway even if there isn’t a claim.

It happened to my daughter last year, she followed a car through a green light, a driver coming the other way jumped a red. Car in front of my daughter braked and my daughter just touched the back of the car in front. No damage to my daughters car, slight damage to the the trim of the car in front. Daughter paid £150 to get it fixed. Everyone happy.

I told my daughter to report it to her ins co tho as if the TP had suddenly decided she had whiplash it would have caused a right mess.

She reported it as ‘notification only’ but it still ended up going against her as a claim.

[Mussels]

I was thinking about this report everything lark, there must be a cutoff point or people would be reporting stone chips. The van was stationary and I clipped the front wheel, good luck with injury claims.

[Mussels]

New door? Are you mad? Made of money?

get the door trim off, apply size 13 boot. Or a gentle tap . A bit of boiling water might help.....

I have been browsing dent repair tools today and will probably try one for the hell of it but if a cheapish door in the right colour comes up in the breakers I won't bother trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear.
Getting to it from inside the trim is not easy, it's pretty packed in there.

[wheelnut]

I was thinking about this report everything lark, there must be a cutoff point or people would be reporting stone chips. The van was stationary and I clipped the front wheel, good luck with injury claims.

I think the rule of thumb is that you report it when it involves an unpredictable third party.

[David]

New door? Are you mad? Made of money?

get the door trim off, apply size 13 boot. Or a gentle tap . A bit of boiling water might help.....

I have been browsing dent repair tools today and will probably try one for the hell of it but if a cheapish door in the right colour comes up in the breakers I won't bother trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear.
Getting to it from inside the trim is not easy, it's pretty packed in there.

Try one of the little suction cups and boiling water,....no dissassmbly required (apart from the bit you already did).