Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

You'd be surprised at the level of self belief people have. There's what actually happened, what the driver believes happened, and then the story they've told their partner.

I'm fairly confident that the other driver believes this to be my fault.

I'm frustrated that I haven't bought a dashcam yet despite thinking about it nearly every time I drive the car.

Either way, it shouldn't be £2k to sort that*. You could inform your insurer about a minor scuffle and pay for it yourself or ask them to pay for it. Problem is if you go through insurance and everyone thinks its everyone else's fault you might end up with a claim against you and that will matter.

* I have something far worse on my Octavia that quotes around £600 to fix.

I've asked one of the UK's best painters, who also does insurance jobs, for an estimate and that's what he's said so I'm going with his estimate. He said a good enough job will be £700+vat, so either way it's going to cost the same when you factor in long term premium impact.

Again, it's a surprisingly rare car, and out of all the current Superb 280s with this spec and age for sale, it's best maintained and lowest miles (by a considerable margin). To preserve that value and ease of sale, it needs a proper job doing, not a good enough.

My partner scraped the side of ours against an electric gate (thought it needed some help to get fully open) about a week after we bought it. Skoda dealer gave an indicative quote of over £2k, both door panels and one bumper needed attention.

I just left it, I'll take the hit if / when we trade it in.

Yeah, but it has the same front wing as a 1.6 diesel.

Yeah, and look up the price of buying a wing, painting it, painting a bumper, then blending the paint on the door and the bonnet to a high standard.

A £600-800 job is hammering out the dent and doing the most basic paint job without any blending with the rest of the car, or doing a mediocre job.

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My point was that it’s not a rare car, just a rare spec. You may well be able to buy a 2nd hand wing in the right colour from a breaker. Maybe bumper too if those are shared.

Let the insurance handle it and get it done properly. Hope hit on your premium is minimal. Surely it should be theirs that gets fucked. Mad how expensive car shit is.

And my point is these are all "just good enough" options which are fine if you aren't that bothered about your car, but why would I do those options when I can claim on insurance and have a proper job done to a high standard?

It's what you pay insurance for, no?

Shitty situation, sorry it happened to you.

I would go through insurance and have it done properly at whatever the expense needs to be to get the car back to the exact condition it was before the prang, which should surely be the only desirable outcome? As opposed to keeping it private with the other driver which could be a race to the bottom on cost/ quality of job.

This has spurred me to install the dashcam I bought which I have done this AM.

And your premium WILL go up, as you have had a claim so likely to have a second claim. That is inusrance logic.

Come on guys, this is basic spreadsheet maths.

Will it go up enough to cost me more over 5 years than paying for it myself + the hit in value of the car from a lower quality repair job?

What’s your excess?

You’ll also loose the car for an indeterminate amount of time because your insurers will go to town on it and do the most amount of work they can get away with. You’ll end up with a shitty rental for weeks.

Your premium will certainly go up even if it’s a no fault claim. They are looking for any excuse at the moment; the average cost for insurance is now £500 and rising, in part due to insurers going to town, lack of part availability (acute for VAG stuff) and car rentals cottoning on to the fact that’s it’s an absolute fucking gravy train for them.

Having had two insurance jobs on mine for no faults I’ll be fucked if I’m going through that again.

Don't worry I've already run the numbers, it won't

Nope because I'll choose to send it to someone I know is very good and isn't going to be a dick. I have access to multiple other cars so I don't need a rental or shit courtesy car.

" I have access to multiple other cars so I don't need a rental or shit courtesy car."
Golf club thread?

Too late

I was indeed

FWIW i was in a similar situation (bad scrape, non fault, driver didn't stop) and was quoted around £3K. I was worried what it would do to my premium but figured i'd take a cash pay out and see how bad my renewal was before deciding where/when to sort it properly (did a temp bodge). In the end i settled on £2K cash but my premium with my then insurer doubled. After asking on here i was recommended Keith Michaels insurance who got the price back down to my existing rate.

One year on i've just renewed with them for the same rate and have now found someone i trust to take on the work and repair the car properly. The car will end up better then before the hit and my premium is the same.

TLDR, as you know what you're doing you should get it sorted on your insurance.

Don't think the amount has much basis, just that you had a non fault accident

You aren't paying for it so you should get a similar car.

After a bike crash, the hire bike I got cost almost the cost to replace the bike that was crashed.

Oz classified, great description... I can see Leo DeCap crawling out.

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